I spent most of the day thinking I was in Louisiana. The low country of eastern North Carolina has the same low boggy, swampy, flat vastness as southern Louisiana. One phenomenon I noticed was new to me here was the fishing pole racks bolted or welded to the front of pickup trucks. These are vertical tubes and the racks don't have room for one or two poles, but for at least eight. Some may hold as many as twenty. Funny I never saw more than two poles in any of these racks. The advanced racks also contain a plastic cooler and a bait tank. Bill Daughdrill, my fishing expert, you've got the pickup truck, but where is your fishing pole rack?
My destination was Cape Hatteras on the North Carolina outer banks or barrier islands. Knowing of its reputation as a hurricane alley, I expected to see windblown sand hills and minimal structures. The sand hills are there, larger that the gulf coast barrier islands, but the construction and development is every bit as great as, say, Panama City Beach. Cape Hatteras High School shows its sense of place, if not humor: its nickname is the "Hurricanes."
I took the obligatory picture of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, which is below. I made the 257-step climb to the top of the lighthouse, leaving my complaining knees at the top. The ranger said that if your knees were hurting you needed to breath more. I was huffing and puffing like a choo-choo and it certainly was not assisting my knees. I think I fell prey to Ranger Folk Medicine 101.
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| Cape Hatteras Lighthouse |
I found an interesting article on the development of the outer banks barrier islands:
"The Nature of the Barrier Islands", by Thomas Yocum. According to Mr. Yocum, the current set of barrier islands is at least 17th such chain in the past two million years. The current barrier islands date from the last ice age (which ended about 12,000 to 15,000 years ago) and they are migrating westward due to wind-blown sand erosion. Oysters, which live in the brackish waters of the sound side, have over time been covered with sand as the islands move west, and their shells have been unearthed as the ocean side of the island erodes. Scientists date the exposed shells at eight thousand years old.
Mileage: 240. Cumulative mileage: 1,411. Today's earworm: "American Tune" Simon & Garfunkel
