We came, we saw, we left.

Ok, we haven't really left yet, but we are leaving South Carolina in the morning, still houseless, but not homeless.  After spending a whirlwind few days checking out houses, we did see one that we like, but after decompressing for a day or so and thinking about it, we don't really like it enough to buy it. What we figured out is that neither of us is really in a rush to find a place to settle down, and buying a house felt like it would put pressure on us to stop traveling.  Plus, without checking out other areas of the country, we aren't positive that this is where we want to be.

Osprey

     Once the decision was made, we spent  a couple of days just dinghying around the lake and hanging out.  There are quite a few Osprey in this area and the last two days they have been sitting in the trees above us, hunting for fish.  They dive down into the lake to grab the fish, which was pretty startling the first time it happened about 20 feet from where we were sitting. After the first time, I tried very hard to get a picture of an Osprey diving, but none of them dove where I had my camera aimed! It was really fun to watch them though.  Tonight we went out to dinner to a restaurant on the lake, and watched the sunset as we ate dinner.

So, tomorrow we leave for Muncie to see our daughter Jessica for the next few days. It will take us two days to get there.

house shopping galore

The last few days have been spent looking at houses and doing research about this area, comparing it to other areas of the country that we might be interested in.  Some of our house hunting has been done with a realtor but some of it has been by boat.  We've been tooling around the lake in the inflatable checking out coves and some houses that have For Sale signs on the dock- kind of mixing business with pleasure, stopping at some islands for a quick swim, etc.
   There hasn't (yet) been a house that leaps out at us as perfect, but we are going to look at quite a few more in the next couple of days.  We're really just trying to get an idea of what's available and what the going rate is-I'm not feeling any urgent desire to buy anything and settle.
     Last night we went into Irmo to have dinner with some friends who are in the area for a doctor's appointment.  Paul and I went on a cruise a couple of years ago with the Burns's and their daughter Christina, who is our daughters best friend. The girls had their own cabin on the ship and had a blast, as most teenagers would! We haven't seen them in a year so it was a great dinner- we closed up the restaurant, and then stood outside talking more! 
The weather here has been hot- record heat in some cases.  Yesterday and today there were some really nasty storms in the area, but so far they have all bypassed the lake, so we can hear the thunder but we don't get the wind and rain.

Turtles, butterflies and fish

That just about sums up the past few days.  We have spent lazy afternoons on floats on the lake, watching the turtles pop their heads up for a minute or so at a time.  Its too hot to do any hiking, in fact its too hot to do much of anything.  We did spend a day with a realtor in Gainesville, GA checking out some houses on the lake.  We drove through a few towns to see what they were like.  I definately like the lake, but a lot of the houses on the lake were built a long time ago and are actually just cottages- really old and small cottages. We may come back here some other time and spend a longer time checking out the area.  Unfortunately, we were so lazy, and the weather was so lousy (windy with potential thunderstorms every day) that we did not put the dinghy in the water to check it out.  We really should have.
   We left Georgia yesterday, and are now in a campground on Lake Murray, near Columbia, SC.  This lake has much easier access, and the water is about 15 feet from our door, with a sandy/rocky bottom. Yesterday we once again floated around, staying cool.  The high yesterday was 102, and the low temperature last night was 80°.  This morning we made sure to get the dinghy in the water before it got too hot to move.  We took it around for a while this afternoon, getting an idea of how the lake is laid out, and then drove around Chapin, the nearest town to us.
Not very adventurous stuff, and the next couple of weeks will be spent checking out the area more.  There is a rodeo coming into town on Saturday, so I hope we remember to go see it!