Virginia Beach with One September

Norfolk includes several cities: Norfolk itself, Portsmouth across the river to the west, Hampton and Newport News, across the river to the north sharing a peninsula, and Virginia Beach to the east along the Atlantic Ocean. Mike and Judy from One September are from Virginia Beach so they are home now. They finished the loop and got their Gold Looper flag when we were in Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago.

Coming home is odd. It is good to watch Mike and Judy go through it. As with most of this trip, we are able to observe how to handle new and complicated issues from folks with a little more experience. 

This one is a doozy.

The last post described the logistics of our Norfolk metro/Virginia Beach experience. After all we visited  marinas in three of the five cities and spent a little time in four of the five cities (only seeing Norfolk from the water or driving through).

Mike and Judy are generous, funny, and energetic. We have such fun with them! We noticed the tension increase as we came up the river. Tension is not the right word. Maybe apprehension, regret, sadness. No one wanted to move quickly north. We all knew the travel experience was coming to an end. If it wasn’t for the weather I think we would still be moving glacially through North Carolina, putting off arrival in Virginia Beach as long as possible.

When we arrived in Portsmouth, we rented a car and drove Mike and Judy home to Virginia Beach. We finally met Jaxson, their son Matt’s bull mastiff. We always teased Mike that he had more pictures of Jaxson on his phone than he has Judy. He was always sending us photos of this huge lovable creature when they returned home. Jaxson lived up to his billing. He has a huge head and these big expressive eyes. He just makes you want to give him a big hug. He follows Judy around and listens for her voice. 

Their son John was there, a little hung over from the bachelor party the night before. Mike said, seen one and you’ve seen them all and this is true. Their sons all look alike!! I’ve never seen anything like it.

Their home is beautiful. It is a 100 year old rambler with original wood floors, lots of fire places and windows overlooking the water. They added an addition a few years ago that gave them a larger kitchen and a new family room with a huge master bedroom upstairs with windows over the water on three sides. It feels like a tree house.

We could tell this is Judy’s domain. She was home again. We drove home to the boat alone, hardly arguing over directions, and contemplating the experience of going home.

The next day they picked us up for lunch with their crew. We picked up Mike’s mom, Hattie along the way. This was the day before we moved the boat from Portsmouth to Hampton. We met son Matt and friend Sandy as if they were long lost cousins, we have heard so much about them and they us. We spent a week with Sandy and Jay Tischler when they joined us in Alabama. We knew then that they were true friends because who else goes to Alabama along the Tenn-Tom voluntarily unless they are on the Loop. It is not a place for a random vacation. This was the couple we left in Demopolis at 5:30 in the morning so they could catch a plane and we could continue down the river. They are easy going and have a great sense of humor. We fell into a familiar happy pattern with them like old friends.

Hattie and Matt

Lunch at Chicks along the river was delicious with great conversation. Before the food arrived, Mike took Kermit over to show him the pilot house where Matt works. We passed it a few days later when we brought the boats from Hampton to Virginia Beach.

Then there is Hattie, Mike’s mom. She is quite a character at 99 years old. Mike and Judy threw her a birthday party a few months ago. We felt like we were there because it took so long to plan and both Mike and Judy were so excited about it. In fact when we visited the house we could see the party remnants with card tables still set up and glassware not yet put away. They held the part then split town to return to wherever we were with the boat.

Hattie is a blast. She is lively and vibrant with wise eyes and curly hair like Mike’s. She laughs and jokes and tells the best stories. She is usually the center of attention, as she should be. At lunch she told us about how she waves at people from the balcony. So we did just that when we passed her apartment when we brought the boats to Virginia Beach. She gives lots of people the weather. They call from the marina and ask what are the conditions on the Chesapeake Bay: “Hey Hattie, how does the bay look today?” “Well, it is kind of choppy but it should be ok.” They reconsider their plans if she has a bad weather report!

Rusty and Joy on the bench
Mike and Judy donated at
Cavalier

The marina at Cavalier

The view from the marina at Cavalier

Friday evening Mike and Judy took us to Cavalier for dinner with Jay and Sandy and Mattie. We had been hearing about Cavalier for months too. We were not prepared for such a lovely club. This is nothing like Sandusky Yacht Club or Clearwater Yacht Club. It is closest to Sarasota Yacht Club in elegance. It is elegant. People dress up. No hats in the clubhouse. And be absolutely certain your cell phone does not ring. Oh lord, no cell phones.

Rusty enjoyed walking around Cavalier

Now I am allowed to have crab cakes. Boy and I glad I waited. They were sweet and succulent. Just crab. No fillers. Served on “vegetable hash”, tiny bits of vegetables lightly sautéed with just a hint of salt. It was magnificent and so rich I could only eat one. I took the other one home and had it for lunch later. It was still delicious even reheated.

Mike and Judy took Jim, Joy, Kermit, and me to the beach for breakfast and to see the boardwalk. This place is very pretty. It is sort of a combination of Outer Banks beach with old city boardwalk.

L: Jim, Kermit, Judy and Mike at the boardwalk

Joy enjoying the water

 Lots of tourists. Lots of places for locals that tourists can't figure out. Lots of naval and ship memorials and statues mixed in with beach activities, music, and noisy military aircraft overhead. Kermit's head was turning just tracking the military  jets.

Kermit checking out the memorials

Judy checking out the
Norwegian Lady

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Cool, touristy transport

Sculptures

K and K in front of Poseiden

Naval jets overhead

Mike and Judy are great hosts. They took us all over. That is the odd thing. They were the hosts, the harbor hosts not the loopers anymore. It is odd. We piled in the car like old times – Mike and Judy in the front seat, Joy sitting on Jim’s lap, Kermit and I smashed together next to Jim getting groceries, wine and liquor just like old times. But it wasn’t.

Enjoying the gold looper certificate

We are seeing what it is like to finish the loop. It is odd. I know I am supposed to use my words to describe experiences, to draw a word picture but this is very hard.

Joy and Judy

While we are on the loop we are in a little bubble with friends, a floating home, and a new experience every day. We have things to do, stuff to read, charts to understand, places to go. When you go home it stops. Just like that you move into harbor host more hauling people around as they prepare for the next leg of their loop. And you do what?

L: Hattie, Sandy, and Joy

Jaxson and Rusty marking the yard

Judy is in nesting mode. She made a wonderful dinner for us all at her home (baked chicken, yummy fresh corn, and a great salad). Jay and Sandy came, Matt brought Hattie over, and Mike brought over Jim, Joy, Kermit and me.

Mike and Judy

Jim and Joy

L: Jay, Kermit, Hattie and Joy

Jaxson and Rusty

And Rusty finally met Jaxson. We have been talking about this for months. Rusty and Jaxson circled each other, smelled each other, peed on each other's spots then settled on the floor and slept.

Jim with Jaxson

We kept threatening Judy that Rusty wouldn't stay in the kitchen. Rusty would teach Jaxson how to get around those silly gates leaning against the doorways to keep Jaxson in the kitchen.

Sure enough, Rusty went around them till he came into the dining room to find us!! With Jaxson right behind him. And Judy leading them both back into the kitchen where they stood behind the gates and pouted at us!!

Sandy and Jay

Rusty figured out how to get around the gates

Kermit and katherine

Judy: You guys stay right where you are!

Ok, they fell asleep in the kitchen

We laughed and talked like we always have but it was different. Mike and Judy are home and the rest of us are loopers. It is odd and more than a little sad.

It is definitely impacting Mike and Judy. They have these great stories, a magnificent blog, and a lifetime of experiences. But what happens tomorrow? When we go to stores they meet friends and acquaintances who invariably say, “Boy I haven’t seen you in a while. Where have you been?”. Mike and Judy say, “We’ve been on the Loop” and describe the experience. Then there is the moment. The other person says, “Wow, that is amazing. A whole year, huh? What was your favorite part?” They all said it.

You get 1 or 2 minutes to respond. Pick something. It doesn’t matter what. The other person answers, “Great. That sounds wonderful. So what are you going to do now?” or “Great!! Will I see you at cards/golf/tennis/fill in the blank next week?” and your moment is over. That is it. No one wants to hear more. Mike and Judy have this amazing blog filled with beautiful pictures and experiences and they get 1 or 2 minutes and then nothing else. It is odd. It is a vision of our future too. And we are having trouble handling it. It appears Mike and Judy are having trouble with it too. What to do next?

In a short time we have to say good-bye to Mike and Judy and it doesn’t feel right. They have to move on to whatever it was they did before or whatever it is they decide to do next and we have to return to Ohio. Jim and Joy are moving north. We will see them again for a few days then they will return to Savannah. Dick and Deanna are already in New Jersey. No idea when we will see them again. Joe and Edie are in Charleston or somewhere in the world visiting their family and taking amazing photos. Who knows when we will see these people again? How to return home to normal? Will I immerse myself in my work immediately, deeper than I already get? What happens to this experience? It is odd. Words fail me.

Oh well, back to our adventure.