From Charleston to Florida

By the time we were ready to leave Charleston we’d had overload springs installed on our car and we had also bought electric brakes that we could operate with a lever from inside the vehicle. This was a great saving for the car brakes. Chuck had never pulled a trailer larger than a boat trailer, but he had a lot of experience driving large vehicles.

He didn't think we’d have any problems moving our mobile home back to Florida.  He would not have time to take us to Key West; the Boat was leaving Charleston and going back to the North Atlantic.

Our plan was to drive to Dade City and park it in my parents’ yard till he came back from the North Atlantic, and then finish the trip to Key West.

Old Ashley River Bridge

Towers on Bridge

We left Charleston just at break of day, and were on the downhill grade of the old Ashley River Bridge heading south on old Hwy 17, a Greyhound Bus passed us and as it passed it was sucking us toward it. We had just cleared the end of the bridge.

Chuck braked enough to slow the process, but he over steered a little in turning away and we almost left the road on the right, he turned the wheel in the opposite direction and even though he was not pressing the gas we were going a bit faster because of the downhill grade and the weight of the trailer pushing us.

He tapped the brakes again to slow us down some more, but again he over steered in the opposite direction.  This time we almost left the road on the left side of the highway.

He turned the wheel right again and as soon as he had it going in the right direction this time he locked the electric brakes and really stomped down on the the car brakes at the same time, black smoke boiled out from under the trailer and car. The early morning air was filled with the powerful odor of burning rubber.

We came to a full stop; thank God nothing had been coming from either direction we had the road to ourselves after the Greyhound passed. We just sat there for a minute or so letting our nerves chill, and then we got on the road again.

He learned volumes from that near mishap; the rest of the trip was smooth sailing except for overheating in the hills of Ocala, Florida. We had to stop for awhile and let everything cool down. He even let me have a go at the wheel.  Something I would never have tried alone.

Stock Island Florida
Opposite Golf Course on Overseas Highway

When the Boat came back to Key West he came up to Dade City and we finished our trip to Key West. We moved into a Park next door to the Islander Drive Inn Theater on Stock Island. We lived there for a few months till we could get a spot in town closer to the base.

The Citadel

Winnie, a young single mother with two children lived in the same park where we lived . She was a native of Charleston, after we became acquainted she taught me a lot about Charleston.

We lived in North Charleston and it was not a large town at that time. Winnie and I would ride into Charleston at least a couple of times a week. Just drive around and she would give me the grand tour and spiel. 

A Flag Ceremony

The Citadel

We would usually drive past the Citadel at least once each time we went into Charleston, I was quite impressed, it was the first Military School I had ever seen. At that time it was an all male school.

Nicole (center) was the first female in the Rifle Legion

Never in our wildest dreams did we ever dream that one of our grandchildren would some day graduate from this school. Chuck and I had no children and were not even expecting any at the time.We were there in late 1957 and early 1958.

Graduation
Nicole's Parent's
Stormy and Warren pinning her bars on

But 44 years later in 2002 one of our granddaughter's, Nicole Villareal Bastian, graduated from the Citadel, she was among the first females ever to graduate, and she did it in three years!

Almost all of our family went up to see her graduate. I was lost most of the time, both Charleston and North Charleston are huge towns now. The only parts that were familiar at all were just the old Historical District and the Citadel.

I have to tell you that I was a very proud grandmother, and Chuck would have been popping buttons to watch his grandchild graduate from a Military College. Until the day he sailed on Eternal Patrol he was military to the very core of his being!

Nicole Villareal
1999 -- 2002
In Parade

Our Crazy Dog

We decided after a while in a small mobile that we liked it and we would buy our own. Bobbie Hickman gave us a lot of good advice about buying one.

We shopped around a bit and found one that we really liked and it was on sale. We bought it and moved it into the same Park we were in while renting and stayed till the Boat was finished overhaul in the yard.

Bobbie also gave us a pup while we were in Charleston; she had rescued him one night during a fire in their Park. He was running loose and she was afraid he would be killed in all the traffic.

She had scooped him up and put him in their Spartan till it was all over, she already had a dog, an old Wire Haired Terrier named Pud, she could not find the pup’s owner after the fire and didn't want to keep him she had already named him Goofus when she gave him to us.

A Canaanite Pup

We never knew what breed of dog he was or if he was just a mutt, but I found some photos online and this one looks like he did when she gave him to us.

What a dog he turned out to be, he had personality plus and we just called him Goofy. He was a natural comedian if he did something and you laughed he would really outdo himself then.

He was white with brown ears and was a medium/large sized dog when he was full grown. We had him for awhile and then gave him to my dad when we moved into a Park that didn't allow pets.

He loved to go fishing with us and he would watch the cork a lot better than either of us. When the cork went under he jumped in and if you weren't really good at reeling it in he would get all tangled in the line and nine times out of ten you lost your fish.

He also loved Pizza, back in those days I made homemade and had a gas stove with a glass oven door. He knew when I was making it and he would sit and watch the oven door like someone watching T V. As soon as it cleared the oven he would start yelping for a piece.

We had to let it cool first or he would try to eat it while it was piping hot and burn his mouth. He was like a spoiled child. If we left him home alone he would tear the house apart while we were gone.

He would tear up all the magazines and string the toilet tissue off the roll all over the house; he would tear all the sheets and covers off the bed and pile them up in a pile.  In general everything was a real mess with his tantrums at being left home alone.

He looked like the photo below when he was older, all white, but with brown ears.

Older Canaanite Dog

He was a great watch dog, and he would not let anyone in the car with me if Chuck wasn't in the car. Many times in the mornings several of the guys would grab a ride with us from the barracks to the Boat, but it was a big no/no till Chuck was back in the car. You will hear more about our crazy dog in other stories.

Skating and Dancing

While we were in Charleston some of the snipes (enginemen) when they were going up for their next rate would come over to our house and Chuck would help them study. One night Chuck and Rocky were talking about skating after study was over.

Rocky was a little shy and I asked him if he liked to dance, he said he had never learned how to. So I made a deal with him if he and Chuck would teach me how to roller skate I would teach him how to dance.

A Roller Rink

And every time he came to study afterwards we would practice dancing later. He did learn to dance! They took me skating, and they both tried to teach me how to skate, but I never got the hang of how to remain upright even with them holding me up one on either side and I finally called it quits, there are only so many bruises that one body can take!

To celebrate Rocky’s learning to dance we decided to go out on a double date to the old Fan-Tan Club, and if memory serves it was on King Street. We met him and his date for the evening there.

Jitterbug

He was doing a jitterbug with the young lady who was his date for the evening and when he swung her, somehow the heel of her shoe caught in the cuff of the man’s pant leg of the couple dancing next to them on the dance floor.

It happened so fast, the man fell and she fell on top of him, Rocky still had hold of her hand and he snatched her up, up and away so quickly. 

The poor guy gets up and is totally dumbfounded as to how he fell, and the lady he was dancing with never missed a beat. I don’t think she even realized that he had fallen.

It was so funny and I still chuckle about it after all these years! And he will kill me if he ever sees me again for telling this story.

Rocky was a powerhouse of work muscle, there was a guy on the Boat who kept asking him what course, what course?

And one day Rocky asked Chuck, “C B what is he talking about?” Chuck said, “He is asking you what kind of body building course you took to build all of those muscles.” 

Rocky answered, “The only body building course I ever took was moving rocks around, following the backside of a mule on the hills of Tennessee.” And this was how he got the nickname Rocky!

Rocky had a plan to invest in pig farming and did a good deal of research, and the other thing he did was save as much of his pay as he possibly could. 

When his hitch in the Navy was up he went back home and he eventually realized his dream and became one of the largest pig farmers in the State of Tennessee.