Vol. 11
No. 4 29th June 2007
Bodie Island Lighthouse, the Outer Banks
of North Carolina
(click image to enlarge)
By
Jim & Lesley Casey
We left Daytona Wednesday afternoon, 30
May and headed towards Thomasville, Georgia (400kms) to load there the
next morning. Loaded plastic pipe and delivered it to a construction
site the next day in New Stanton, Pennsylvania. Loaded insulation
that afternoon in the next town, Youngwood, Pennsylvania. Only had to
go 600km to Hampton, Virginia, and had the weekend to get there.
Saturday afternoon we parked the truck at a
truckstop in southern Virginia, 100 kms from our delivery and unloaded
the motorbike. Our destination was the town of Nags Head on North
Carolina's Outer Banks.
From Internet: The Outer Banks are a
100-mile (160-km) long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of
North Carolina They are approximately the northern half of North
Carolina's coastline. The Outer Banks are a major tourist destination
known for temperate weather and wide expanses of open beachfront.
The treacherous seas off the Outer Banks and the large number of
shipwrecks that have occurred have given these seas the nickname
Graveyard of the Atlantic.
We also visited the town of Kitty Hawk, made
famous by the Wright Brothers' first flights in a powered,
'heavier-than-air vehicle' which took place in 1903. Orville and Wilbur
Wright spent three years in Kitty Hawk while they experimented.
We went as far south as Bodie Island
(pronounced 'body').
Internet: The current lighthouse at Bodie Island is actually the
third lighthouse that was built. The first was built in 1847, (54 feet).
Due to faulty construction, within two years began to lean over. A
second lighthouse was built (80 feet tall). It was far more sturdy, but
had to be abandoned during the Civil War. Departing southern troops
blew it up so it could not be advantageous to the northern troops.
This present lighthouse was completed in 1872, is 156 feel tall and is
visible at a range of about 19 miles. The light was electrified and
automated in 1932.
The remnants of a tropical storm came in
Sunday morning and plenty of heavy rain. We spent a few hours on the
bike on the way back to the truck and had a quick look at 'the historic
triangle' towns of Yorktown, Jamestown and Williamsburg. The
'birthplace of the USA' since English colonists arrived in Jamestown in
1607. The Queen of England visited this area last month for the 400th
anniversary. It would take a couple of days to see the living history
museums, archeological dig, replicas of the original forts, tours of
ships, etc. It was raining too hard for us to do anything, other than
ride around the towns. It is not good to enter a museum dripping wet
and leaving puddles ...
Delivered the roof insulation to a
construction site in Hampton on Monday 4 June, then loaded a heat
exchanger in Richmond, Virginia that afternoon. Wednesday morning we
delivered the heat exchanger to an ethanol plant construction site in
Cambria, Wisconsin. That afternoon loaded military vehicles at a combat
support hospital in Milwaukee. Delivered them Friday morning to Fort
Gordon, Georgia (near Augusta) -- a medical training site.
We drove down to Albany, Georgia that
afternoon to be ready to load on Monday. We took the bike off Saturday
morning and rode to Cordele for their Watermelon Festival. We were
there for the first weekend and not much happening -- the parade and
activities were the following weekend. It was a tickle for us comparing
it to the Chinchilla Melon Festival. Looking at the program --
Chinchilla appears to be much more exciting!
Cordele city had more 'watermelon' permanent
decorations: We had lunch at a Mexican Restaurant and the whole front
stained glass window was done with melon shapes. The Chamber of
Commerce has a large watermelon 'statue' out front, the park in the city
centre is "Watermelon Park". We saw a small bus painted like a slice of
watermelon.
It was Cordele's 57th annual Watermelon Days
Festival. Cordele is a major city in Crisp County -- so the slogan is:
"Watermelons - a 'Crisp' Slice of Life".
From website: The oldest Watermelon
Festival in the state of Georgia, people from all over the nation are
attracted to this annual celebration. Several years back, Cordele and
Crisp County won the title "Watermelon Capital of the World" for
producing the sweetest and most abundant watermelons in the nation.
Note: To many Americans 'nation' and 'world' are the same thing ...
These titles are usually self proclaimed and no evidence to back them
up.
Trivia: China produces the most watermelons in the world. Florida
is the highest producer in the USA: California, Texas then Georgia.
On the way back to Albany we went through
the small town of Leslie (wrong spelling, but interesting). The tourist
attraction is the Georgia Rural Telephone Museum. (Might stop
there next time.)
We loaded at the Marine Logistics Base in
Albany, Georgia on Monday 11 June -- a hummer and an ambulance. The top
deck of the trailer was empty, so we loaded a partial shipment (an LTL
-- less than truck load), a boiler in Coolidge, south of Albany.
Delivered the boiler in Roanoke, Virginia the next morning.
Delivered the two vehicles in Limestone,
Maine (almost on the Canadian: Quebec/New Brunswick border). This was
the furtherest we had been in Maine -- beautiful in the summer. Potato
growing is the main agriculture. There were moose crossing signs, but
we didn't see any moose!
The town is best known for the Loring
Commerce Centre which was the Loring Air Force Base now closed. The
military has a storage facility and workshop where we delivered.
Trivia: Limestone is known as the meth
lab capital of Maine (crystal methamphetamine). Many meth labs get
busted, and the police force is constantly busy trying to shut down meth
labs that keep popping up all over town. Population is 2,237.
(Oh, and limestone was mined there in the early days.)
Our reload was in Medway, Maine -- a load of
Miracle Gro fertilizer and mulch and delivered that the next
day at a hardware store near Syracuse, New York. Took the truck to the
repair shop in Buffalo that afternoon and we went to our RV and spent
the weekend at Joe's. Jim worked on the moto guzzi convert and got it
running, needs some brake and light work, but he is very excited about
it. Sunday was Father's Day in the USA and we spent the morning with
Jim's mom, sister and family then the afternoon with Michele's family.
After previous front end work, the truck
needed a wheel alignment and new steer tyres. That took up Monday and
Tuesday in Buffalo. The truck had to be left for a couple of hours for
the wheel alignment, so we had to opportunity to wander around downtown
Buffalo. It is a financial and theatre district and being 'revamped'
with restaurants and night entertainment. A bit rundown off the main
streets, but we had an interesting time. Jim worked at the Greyhound
Bus Depot downtown in 1970 and had not been back in that area since. He
noticed many changes. We had lunch at the Texas Red Hots
original downtown restaurant. Texas Red Hots are a Buffalo cuisine.
(For anyone who has had hot dogs at our place in Chinchilla -- the hot
dog and roll with meat sauce, mustard and chopped raw onion is a 'Texas
red hot'.)
Wikipedia: Texas Red Hots, a
traditional Buffalo indulgence. A standard Sahlen's brand hot dog is
slathered with a thick, chili-like beef sauce called 'red hot sauce',
but more commonly referred to as 'slime'. In addition to this sauce,
the hot dog is topped with mustard and onions. A hot dog in this
configuration is usually ordered using the terms "up, with everything",
or simply "Red Hot".
There are many "Red Hot" restaurants in the Buffalo area. The Casey men
refer to them as "sliders".
I have never asked why ...
We loaded Thursday morning in Buffalo --
steel going to Schaumburg, Illinois (north west Chicago).
We delivered on Friday 22 June and reloaded machines in Milwaukee in the
afternoon going to Massachusetts.
We didn't waste any time getting there so we
could take a whole of Sunday off. The weather report for the northeast
was hot and no rain. We stopped Saturday evening at a truck stop in
Connecticut 100kms from our delivery and took the motorbike off early
the next morning. Our first stop was Marcus Dairy in Danbury.
From website: The Marcus Family
purchased their small dairy farm in Connecticut in the early 1900s. Even
though they had purchased several small, independent dairies over the
years, in 1946 the family decided it was time to sell their cows and
focus on packaging and marketing milk products.
In 1947 they build a new milk processing plant and the Marcus Dairy Bar
Restaurant.
It evolved into a real 'happening' on Sundays for a wide cross section
of motorcyclists. On any nice Sunday you will find hundreds of
motorcycles that cruise into Marcus Diary, have coffee or breakfast,
look around and leave for a day's riding in the hills.
We had breakfast and checked out the bikes for an hour, there were
six other moto guzzi's. Approximately 50-60 motorcycles total when we
left, but that was early. We saw hundreds more heading towards Danbury
in the couple of hours after we left. We spent the day 'riding in the
hills' of western Connecticut and into eastern New York State.
Delivered the machines Monday morning in
Springfield, Massachusetts. Loaded galvanized pipe and concrete late
morning. Met Jimmy for lunch at a truckstop in Springfield. Delivered
the concrete forms near Syracuse early Tuesday morning and pipe in
Niagara Falls mid morning. Reloaded steel in Buffalo that afternoon.
Had a nice trip south to deliver in Florida
on Thursday -- three stops in Orlando and Tampa. Hot and humid in
Florida. Arrived in Daytona late in the afternoon.
