Back home we watched the snow accumulate, thought nostalgically of our time with Dick's cousins, Rosie and Phil, in Venice , Florida , and began to mull over the idea of buying a place down south. Dick had loved North Carolina on his visits there, so we narrowed our internet search to North and South Carolina , finding areas near beaches that we thought we'd enjoy. As we gathered sap for maple syrup and skied to put up the trail signs I gave Dick for Christmas, we'd escape down south by computer. In April we put all the planning to use and flew to Charleston , South Carolina where we met old neighbors, Bob and Jessica Hervey, who hosted us on both ends of our trip.

         On our first day out we drove to Holden Beach , NC and met with a real estate agent Dick had contacted through the internet, Dwane Lane . He had lined up some places to show us, both small houses with a bit of land and larger land packages. By the end of the evening we had seen a small bungalow on 2 ½ acres and a 7+ acre package, both of which we liked and both of which had other viewers the same day. On the way back, when Dick asked me what I thought, I surprised myself by saying, “I could swing the house if you wanted to buy the property”- and by nine that night we were well on our way to agreements on both! Business done, we spent the rest of our time down south on vacation, checking out beaches and towns in the vicinity of Ash where we were both on our way to becoming property owners. By early June we were anxious to move some furniture into the bungalow in Ash, and left New Hampshire hauling a trailer that overflowed with necessities for the new house. We alternated working to make the house our home with walking beaches. We spent time at Dick's property too, walking it to see the lay of the land.
          Back up north we spent the summer gardening, including gardens started from seeds gathered on our Scandinavian trip, and the usual veggies. I put my property in Andover , NH up for sale to get a bit of free money again, and we both continued with volunteer activities, Dick helping supervise the student trail crew as Trail Chair of the Wonalancet Out Door Club and me doing one afternoon a week at the town library. We spent the Forth of July with Rosie and Phil in Randolph , Vermont at their old fashioned parade and fireworks and had a great time with their family.

          At the end of July we did a bike trip in the Laurentines in Quebec , riding a converted train trail called Le Petit Tren Du Nord. A van moved our suitcases from hotel to hotel while we biked our 30 miles per day, socialized with fellow club members, and ate great meals provided in the hotels each night. For the most part the trail was level with just one challenging uphill day, so it was a good feeling to do 125 miles in four days, while seeing the sights and picking blueberries and raspberries growing along the trail.