Ken's Journal - Summer 2003 -Hatteras Island, Ocracoke, Lighthouses, Merritt Island, Sandhill Cranes

I arrive at Bethpage Resort at about 4 pm and am set up on a nice site by 5 pm. I chat a little with my "neighbor," also a LoW member, and find there is a potluck dinner tonight at 6 pm in what they call the Pavilion, a building next to the Pool. Dinner gives me a pretty good preview of the demography of the LoW group. It looks like that at age 59, I'm at the low end of the age range - I'm a youngster so to speak. The mix appears to be 3 to 1 favoring the females.

There's a sign-up for the group activities and I sign up for two area tours. The first, going out tomorrow, is a bus/boat tour to Tangier Island, an island community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. The second is a bus tour on Friday to Williamsburg. I haven't been to Williamsburg in at least 20 years so that might be interesting.

After taking a look at the schedule of activities for the next few days, it appears that the activities all seem to be geared toward the "elder" end of the range. Although they seem to be really nice people, I don't think this group is really what I'm looking for. I think I'm looking for a younger, more active group. Read on and you be the judge.

The bus leaves the campground at 8 am sharp. There's about 40 of us aboard. We make it to Reedville VA by 9:30 am and board a boat for the 18 mile trip across the bay to Tangier Island. It's a nice calm trip across and we arrive at the dock in Tangier by 11 am. The boat leaves on the return at 2 pm so we have three hours to look around.

Tangier Island is about 3 miles long, north to south, and at most, 1 mile wide, East to West. The island is divided in half, East to West, by a channel to the Tangier Harbor. The Island is just about equi-distant from the East and the West shore of the Chesapeake bay. The highest land on the island is perhaps six feet above high tide. The southern half, south of the channel, is the site of the town of Tangier. The northernmost half and a fragment of land to the east, is mostly swamp and inhabitable. Tangier is served by three pedestrian only ferries, one from Reedville another from Onancock, and a third from Crisfield. Most of the passengers today are tourists - in a good year, some 20,000 visit the island. There is also a daily Mail boat. Most of the residents get about the three major paved lanes on the island in golf-carts, motor scooters, bicycles or their own feet. The only big vehicles I saw were a couple small pick-ups being used for delivery of ice and produce and a small dump truck being used to move some building debris. You can circle the whole town on the main lanes on a bicycle in about 15 minutes -- about a mile.

Tangier Island was "discovered" by Captain John Smith in 1608 or so. The island was then ignored until the mid 1600s when it was used as pasture for beef cattle by large landholders on the mainland. The island provided the perfect pasture as the cattle were naturally fenced by the surrounding waters. It wasn't until the late 1700s that part of the island was purchased and settled by a Joseph Crockett - the first resident of the Island. Tangier has been continuously occupied since that time by farmers, fishermen, picaroons (pirates), oystermen and crabbers. Today, there are several hundred permanent residents, mostly crabbers and those in the tourist industry.

After that, many in the group took a guided tour of the island in stretch golf-carts seating 12 people - price $3.00, time 15 minutes! I walked back to the city dock and rented a bicycle - price $1.00 an hour. It took me just about that to circumnavigate the town, investigate a few of the dead-end lanes and stop at the three gift stores to do a little shopping.

Back on the boat at 2 pm for the return trip. After the boat was out of the harbor and in open water, I checked out the views and it looked to me that we might be in for some rain. Many of us were on the top deck covered only by a tarp to keep out the sun. I opined that we could be getting a little wet. About a half hour later I checked the horizon again, and it was pretty black - and we were headed straight into the blackest part. There was also a bit of lightning too! Shortly thereafter, the Captain advised on the intercom that we might be getting a little wet and might want to move inside on a lower deck. Hmmm. Most of us on the upper deck ignored that advice - it hadn't started raining yet. Big mistake. I had my raincoat with me and put it on when the rain started. Most of the others had nothing for protection. We were fine as long as the Captain kept the boat heading straight into the wind as the upper wheelhouse blocked most of the wind, rain and hail. Coming into the creek for the harbor, he had to quarter into the wind and everyone was almost immediately soaked to the skin. We were being pelted by wind driven rain and hail and some of the plastic chairs set-up for passengers were starting to blow overboard! Sort of a "Perfect Storm" in miniature. We decided to ignore the "No Admittance - Crew Only" sign on the upper wheelhouse and seek shelter in there - better late than never I suppose.

The day dawns under a slight overcast, which quickly clears out. The weather forecast is for clear, cool and sunny. About 30 of us leave for Williamsburg at 8 am. It's a nice trip, nothing exciting. The Williamsburg Historical District hasn't changed much in the past 25 years. The surrounding metro and urban area sure has grown though - possibly double what I remember. The bus trip back at 4 am is uneventful as well.

I've scheduled none of the organized activities for today. I've found a State Wildlife Reserve near Jamestown - my plan is to go there and see what I can find. I find a Harley dealer on the way and bag another good HD Tee-shirt. The State wildlife reserve appears to be undeveloped and inaccessible by the general public - no hiking trails, no parking area, no road access, no nothing. The day is a bust so it's back to the park to pack and get ready to leave tomorrow. Dinner was followed by a costume party - dress to reflect you heritage. I'm not much of a costume person. Some had some interesting ideas, but I prefer something a bit more active.

Lessons Learned - LoW, Loners on Wheels, seems to be a group that I'll be prepared for in another ten years or so. I did get a line on a couple of other groups that may be more what I'm looking for. One, Singles International, is a sub-group of FMCA, Family Motor Coach Association. Those are the RVs on the road that sport a large, oval, pewter looking placard on the back with a big number in the center of it. I'll have to check out a couple of SI gatherings this fall or next spring. Another younger group is WIN, Wandering Individuals Network. I've checked out their newsletter and it appears they are into kayaking, biking, hiking, etc. They are also into dry-camping -- which is camping without hookups -- so you have to be self-contained with power, water and sewer -- which I am. Unfortunately, most of their organized gatherings and caravans are west of the Mississippi. I may have an opportunity to check them out this fall on my swing through Arizona/NM on my way to Florida. They have two events in the east this winter, both in Florida, one in Stuart the middle of December and the other in Lake Panasoffke over the New Year. Next year they have a caravan to Alaska starting May 30 in Montana and actually make it to Fairbanks by July 2, a month later. They make it to Valdez by the middle of August, turn around and make it back to Vancouver BC by the first week in September - that one sounds mighty attractive as I am planning an Alaska trip - going with this group might make the planning really easy for me!

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