Half Head

When we first got here we learned that Charleston is known as one of the most haunted places in America. Neat! I thought. But I never believed much in "ghost" stories.

I went about my business and got a job at Embassy Suites, which turns out is the old Citadel. First built as an Arsenal in 1830 then later converted into a military college in 1842. It was citadel cadets who fired shots at a Union relief vessel approaching Fort Sumter... starting the Civil War.

Well the hotel is haunted. There are places where some of the personnel refuse to go. And the hotel keeps a record of stories told by guests about encounters with ghosts. Some of these guests switch rooms. Some leave in the middle of the night.

One ghost is called "half head" or "the lost cadet.” He is young, has no head from the eyebrows up, and is often reported as a happy ghost.

Half head seems to like the ladies there are a few reports of him trying to get into bed with women: One lady was awakened by an eery feeling that someone was in the room and asked if anyone was there. The reply was, as stated by the lady, that his name was George. She then asked "George" what he wanted and he replied that he was looking for his pocket knife which he had lost. As she reached around to -touch -George, she found that his head "was not all there" as she stated later upon having her room changed to another part of the hotel.

Amazingly enough, we do have an old pocket knife in our hotel lobby display cabinet that was excavated from this site along with many other artifacts of Civil War and Colonial origin.

There are people who say they've seen men in full confederate uniforms walking around. These "ghosts" are mistaken for Civil war re-creators.

I haven't seen any ghosts... yet. but I will be keeping my eyes open!

Cool Quotes from Cool Cats

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

What if the spell of a place falls upon a youthful heart, and the bright horizon calls! Many a thing will keep till the world's work is done, and youth is only a memory. When the old enchanter came to my door, laden with dreams, I reached out with both hands. For I knew that he would not be lured with the gold that I might later offer, when age had come upon me. - Richard MacCullaugh

Life is something to be devoured because at any moment it might be snatched away. You just can't trust life. You have to seize it by the throat. You have to pursue your dreams relentlessly, recklessly. It is too much of a gamble to waste time. - John Kretschmer.

Two courses, by the chart, now lay before us: the open sea and an inside passage between successive islands and the mainland. The outside course was much longer, and dirty weather was in prospect. That was, however, was my choice, and being then at the tiller I headed seawards. -Rockwell Kent

Immerse yourself in the minutiae of [sailing] somewhere slowly and deliberately, while secretly hoping you'll never arrive. –Paul lutus.

Not all who wander are lost.

slow post

Living in Charleston. We've settled into a 6 month slip contract.
I'm working banquets/bartending at the embassy hotel, and LeeAnn is working at Victoria's secret (oh yeah!).

So we are pretty settled back into a normal(ish) life, and I probably won't post much until we start moving again.

We've got a few ideas for the next adventure... U.S. West coast? British Columbia Canada/Alaska? but before anything else we hope to hit the Bahamas and the Caribbean this fall 2008. I'm sure no one really saw that coming! try to contain your shock ;)

So thanks traveling along with us so far. I'll be throwing a few posts out, but for the most part we will see you this fall!

A sad joke

Homeland security?
After we all took off our shoes, and made sure our liquids and gels (3 ounces or less) fit in one-quart sized plastic, clear Ziploc bags, then I walked through the metal detector with this knife in my back pack. No alarms. I got on the plane, flew to Detroit, boarded another plane, and flew into Muskegon.

Traveling with two foreign boats, for two months down the East Coast, we saw one coast guard boat, and we were never stopped or questioned.

My resulting opinion: Homeland security is an inconvenience to the American people, and a joke to terrorists.

Ben Franklin said: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety."

Read that again, think about it. That's quite a statement these days in our age of fear. War on terror, War on drugs, War on blah blah blah.

The Iraqi people were safe, under a tyrant. Now they are free, and dying. Keep that in mind when you hear about laws that are being passed to "protect us." (I'm not passing judgement on the war here, just making an observation.)

Freedom is not free, it costs your security. To be secure you have to give up your freedom.

Anita Ramasastry, director of the Shidler Center for Law, Commerce, & Technology at the University of Washington School of Law warned that "Indefinite detention (jail with out trial) upon secret evidence — which the Patriot Act allows — sounds more like Taliban justice than American.

Chad and LeeAnn's sailing

Lake Michigan Sailing:

Chaumont, New York to New York City

Bermuda to the Azores:

New York City to Charleston, South Carolina