Pirates and Earl

Eli and Luke

The Grandchildren loved being on the beautiful The Outer Banks, Blackbeard's former stomping grounds: they are going through a pirate phase, which is more difficult in Upstate New York.  Meeting the Hart family there allowed us to revisit Avon, Hatteras, and Ocracoke, coming home by ferry--before Earl struck.

This marina bar on Ocracoke served up a tasty lunch of grilled drum.

The storm was a non-event in Craven County, where we live. However, Ocracoke lost all power, and Route 12--the vulnerable road that extends along the sometimes very narrow sandbar that is the Outer Banks--was flooded, by water and sand.

Preparing for Earl, however, did inspire me to put together our household emergency kit.

Everything but a whistle and a change of clothes.  And a good book.

We also hauled the boat out of the water.  This precaution was a somewhat nerve-wracking process for us novices.  But as usual, neighbor Ted, our creek guru, helped us out.  Tim did a fine job of driving the truck and trailer.  This was a fortunate exercise, since when we were done, the winch strap gave out.  If this had happened sometime when we were cranking the boat onto the trailer, the SS Sweet Caroline would've slid backwards into the water without anyone at the helm.  We replaced the strap right away.

Still, no rush to relaunch: now that we have a boat sitting on a trailer in the yard, we feel like real Eastern North Carolinians.

Except most Eastern North Carolinians probably don't have organic soup in their emergency kits.