The next morning, we awoke to the heat.  Sure, it was hot and sticky outside...but now, it was hot and sticky inside, too.  That was when we discovered that the power was out; there was a city crew down the road, working on the electrical wires in the area, which meant that it could be hours before we had electricity.  Although we had a lot of packing and cleaning to do, it was going to have to wait until we had air-conditioning again.

Instead, we paid a visit to Omi and Opa - our last visit with them before leaving to drive back across the country. 

As soon as we arrived at their house, Omi asked if we could take her to the Home Depot.  One of the trees in her yard was dying and she wanted to replace it while we were still in town to help her.  (In other words, she wanted to utilize John's manpower to dig up the old tree and plant the new one.)  John, of course, would never say no to his grandmother and agreed.

We took Omi to the Home Depot to select her new tree and we brought it home for her in our 4Runner.  This was no easy task, transporting a small tree in an SUV; but John was able to make it work by rolling down the back window to allow the tree's canopy to go through it.  It worked well, and we were able to get the tree home without damaging it.

While John worked to dig up the old tree, Omi took Mary and me shopping at Dutch Square Mall nearby.  She wanted to buy us - and John - some nice clothes.  We found some very cute dresses for Mary, as well as a pair of spring dresses for me; we also picked out a couple of polo shirts for John.  John was grateful for the new shirts, because it gave him something to change into when he was done planting the new tree!

To thank John for a job well done, Omi made lunch for us, and we sat around the table chatting and enjoying the company.  We stayed until it was time for Opa's nap; then, we said our good-byes.

Upon returning to the Lake House, we discovered that the power was back on and the air-conditioning was working.  That was good news, because, as I said earlier, we had a lot to do.  While John took a nap, I started packing up all of our stuff, including all of the swimwear and the fishing poles from the boat.  Later, after John woke up, he put the cover on the boat and made sure that it was secure; he also helped me clean the Lake House - this would ensure that we would be able to stay there again!

That evening, we didn't feel like cooking - not after all of that hard work - so we decided to go out to dinner again.  This time, we went to Lotte's favorite pizza place and discovered that it was her favorite for a reason.  The pizza was delicious, and they even had a decent wine list!  We enjoyed a yummy pizza and a nice bottle of wine to celebrate our last night in South Carolina.

After dinner, we returned to the Lake House and loaded the 4Runner with all of our luggage, so that it would be ready to go when we pulled out of there at 3:00 a.m.  Then, we all turned in for the night...

Return to South Carolina or Bust.

Return to Naked in the Woods.