Not as many miles as we would have liked we covered today..We woke up the wind still blowing at a dreadfully high rate. We pulled anchor and left anyway. As we arrived in the ICW the cool winds remained so high they persisted in making us heel over from port to starboard depending on which way it blew.It was so cool outside so Bella was covered in a blanket in the cockpit. She's not spoiled is she... As we entered a large river( I mean big it is bigger than Tampa Bay) called the Neuse River the waves began to grow with the wind. Carl fought the 4ft waves and strong winds 18mph gusting to 25mph. Using our Skipper Bob's book( Thanks Jimbo and Mary Francis) an anchorage was found a few miles across the river, that had a used marine store, so we headed for that, Oriental N.C.  We had been looking for anchor chain since we left Florida , so this seemed like a good stop. Happy to be out of the wind , we dropped anchor and planned to stay and figure out our weather window,so it would be smooth sailing when we left. Once anchored we  hopped in our dingy and headed for town. What a cool quaint little shrimping village it is...It reminds me of  Madeira Beach years ago, only we had bandit and long line boats.  The town provides a dingy dock at no charge, even has poop bags as you entered,( never can have to many of those) we were off to a good start! I called the used marine store got directions , only the guy misunderstood where we were so we took the scenic route through town. OK by me and Bella! The store didn't have what we needed so we just kept walking . Had lunch at a local cafe, (spinach soup and spinach salad yummy) then stopped to share an ice cream.While there we asked a lady if she knew where there was a hardware maybe they would have chain(we are getting close to the Chesapeake Bay so we will need it) she said yes but what did we need. Carl told her and she says her husband is taking chain off their boat and replacing it , we could have it if it would work for us... Are you kidding chain for FREE.. Oh happy day...She called her husband but he didn't answer, so we gave her our card, and Mike called back in 10 minutes..The chain was a little larger than we would have bought but if its free it will work. Mike took the chain to the dingy dock, all 125 ft of 3/8's chain, more than what we needed. Carl took me and Bella back to the boat, while he got a hack saw, chisel and hammer and went back to take what we needed. The chain was brought aboard and stored till tomorrow when Carl will attach it. After dinner Carl found a great radio station that played the blues mixed with real old oldies and we danced in the cabin out of the cool weather until time for bed.. What a marvelous stop...Hurray for us...