Recently a retired firefighter and well-known author, Shane Hopkins, journeyed from Newport, Rhode Island, to New Bern, North Carolina, in a restored 42' Nordic Tug named Penelope. All the while, this author of the novel Welcome to the Absolutely Astounding Life of Whistle Evel Fonzarelli Starr, journaled his travels and adventures.
I wish I could share the full journal with all our neighbors, but it would be much too long. Of special interest were the entries regarding New Bern and, in particular, Fairfield Harbour and The Pointe Restaurant.
With Shane's permission, I'm sharing some excerpts below from his journeys:
"Today's events were easy peasy. We took it easy again untying from the dock at 10:30 A.M. Dennis joined Captain Pete and I while the girls drove to our final destination and enjoyed some shopping before meeting back up with us after we made our final docking of the trip. We had a short glide back across the Neuse River and in no time we tied up to a dock in New Bern.
"A huge mum festival was going on, we poked around a bit but then we decided to leave that for tomorrow. We met back up with the girls, looked at some waterfront real estate, then explored everything we could. It was delightful.
"This was followed by an incredible dinner at a very cool place called The Pointe. The cocktails, conversation, and plenty of dancing all flowed flawlessly.
"When finally back on Penelope and everyone else was safely in bed, I stayed up and waited. Finally Georgie and his new friends stumbled aboard and I put them to bed. My head finally hit my pillow just as the morning sun kissed the eastern sky with a delicious and mellow pink. Hopefully I can get maybe two hours of sleep before I have to get up and deal with everything. The bottom line is this. Tomorrow is the mum festival, but in the morning Lisa and I are hiking a few miles to the New Bern Fire Department."
When asked if I could share his daily journal, his comment was "Absolutely!!!!!!! We were at the Pointe and it was FANTASTIC!!!!!! A night that flowed perfectly. I won't (with respect for privacy) use names but everyone was above and beyond."
Shane is in the process of finishing up his second book and I would bet that his third one will be based around his adventures in New Bern and Fairfield Harbour.
