20 Jun - Father's day at Camp LeJeune and Beach

 

Nice, quiet day here.  We are having sporadic rain, but nothing serious.  Then it quits, the sun comes out and the humidity spikes.  

This morning we drove to the main base and visited the commissary, MCX (Marine Corps Exchange), the wine and spirits store and the base fuel station.  As explained before, Camp LeJeune is a massive Marine Corps training base.  It has a 246 square mile footprint and 14 miles of beaches.  The waterfront supports amphibious assault training and it has two deep water ports that support deploying Marines quickly.  On our drive from Onslow beach to the main base we pass many ranges and maneuver areas.  It is an interesting place.

The commissary and MCX are huge to support the large base population.  They are set up here like a typical Air Force BX, where there is a food court and other shops and stores all together.  Here we passed the most popular place in the complex - the barber shop!!  It was packed with young Marines and they were rolling them in and out of there quickly, and all of them were "high and tight"!  Looking sharp Maines, looking sharp!

At the commissary we picked up the usual supplies but also some frozen peaches to be used in our peach flavored Margarita drinks later.  Neither the commissary nor the MCX were busy at all.  We finished our shopping, filled up with diesel and headed back to Onslow Beach.

Many of the RV's have departed the campground and we have no neighbors on either side.  We watched the Cubs defeat the Marlins this afternoon and then headed down for a walk along the beach.  The wind was howling and the Atlantic was angry.  There were not many on the beach at all.  

The angry Atlantic.  Check out the skies.

We walked further down and checked out the Villas. As I mentioned yesterday, for those who don't have an RV you can still stay here and enjoy the beach, staying in one of the many villas they rent. It looks like they are building more of them also.  

There is a small MCX here for the necessities, which is really handy.  

We grilled outside for dinner since we had a break in the weather, and enjoyed Doreen's peach drinks also.    

We are in a tropical storm warning as I type this.  We are expecting winds gusting to 50 mph starting tonight and bad weather extending into the next couple days with heavy rain.  All is calm right now, but I did stow the satellite antenna as Winegard does not recommend it be used above 30 mph.  

We won't likely make it to at least one of the lighthouses we had planned since it requires a ferry ride and the ferry has been suspended due to the forecast.

Tomorrow we plan to visit Walton's Distillery in nearby Jacksonville, and the LeJeune Memorial Gardens which includes a Beirut memorial, a Vietnam memorial and a 9/11 memorial.