November 7,
2017
Tuesday morning we went to
Kiptopeke State Park on the Chesapeake Bay with the big bridge behind us. Kiptopeke state park used to be the ferry
dock before the days of the Chesapeake Bay bridge when ferries transported the
vehicles. To protect the dock, they sunk
over a dozen concrete ships in two outer “U” shapes. These ships were built in World War II when
all the metal was being used for war and so was scarce. This ships hauled supplies for the military
to Japan. It was a pretty cool sight!
We then headed back over the
bridge/tunnel system. This time we all
had our eyes on the lookout for dolphins – and sure enough – God immensely
blessed us – all 6 of us saw multiple dolphins frolicking in the water beside
the bridge!
We headed to Virginia
Beach. Dave has been trying for multiple
weeks to arrange with Stihl a tour of the factory. We finally got an answer – no – everyone has
to be over the age of 18. So we headed
on down the road to the Outer Banks of North Carolina – referred to as
OBX. For those not familiar with OBX,
they are a long chain of thin islands that are connected on the North end by
bridges and the South end by multiple ferries.
Our first stop was Kitty Hawk. If
you remember from grade school, this is the famous location of the Wright
brothers flying. But, once again we were
made aware that what stuck in our minds from history class, was not the
facts. For some reason we thought this
was the location of first flight – but no!
Kitty Hawk was the location of the first CONTROLLED MOTORIZED
flight. Basically, this means they took
off on flat land, with a motor, and controlled the plane (somewhat) with
controls they used their arms and legs to operate. Before their famous flight, they practiced on
the sand dune right above. They would
make gliders and climb to the top and attempt to fly them. Now this all sounds fun, except when you stop
to think about this. They were making
these big gliders that weren’t light – and they had to climb up a high mountain
of sand. Have you ever played in a sand
dune? It is not an easy task to get your
own body weight on top of the dune, let alone haul a huge glider up there! The people of Kitty Hawk were very kind
though and many people from the Chicamacomico life saving station would come
just to help them carry their glider.
The Wright brothers would tie a white sheet up high in the air to let
the locals know when they were ready for a day of flying and needed help. Kitty Hawk was chosen because a landowner
wrote the Wright brothers in Ohio and told them they had the perfect location
with steady winds for them to try their experiments. An interesting note is the Wright brothers
shortly afterward mastered the art of flying because of their tests done here
at Kitty Hawk that helped them learn the laws of flying. They then offered their designs and
information to the US Army, but then declined.
The Wright brothers then thought their flying in vain and stopped flying
for 5 years. During this time many
people thought it just a conspiracy theory that the Wright brothers had
flown. This finally ended when the
Wright brothers met up with the French and showed them what they could do. And now we fly in Airplanes across the World…
We then went to Roanoke Island – another place from the history books –
and went to the location of the “Lost Colony.”
He’s my wrap up… British killed
Indian. Indians got back by killing more
British. British got back by killing
more Indians. More British settlers were
brought into renew the population
(why?!?!?! – in the hopes of getting more riches!) Indians get back by killing British – British
get back by killing Indians – British leader leaves to England to get supplies
and returns 3 years later with nobody there and no direct sign of what happened
to them. Surprised? I think you can figure out what happened to
the “lost” colony… This reminded me of
another Story – the Story of Nate Saint and the Waodani people of S. America –
considered the most cruel and savage group of Native Americans. They killed 5 Americans, and in return the wives
and children still reached out to this group of people, several even moved into
the village, and their love converted them and a decade later the man who
murdered Nate Saint baptized his son and daughter: Steve and Elizabeth Saint. How do we change the world? By getting back at people for what they did
to us? NO! that only creates bigger
devastation each time! The Bible plainly
says “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” How would history of changed if at the first
skirmish the British took it and did not get back? How would history have changed if the Indians
had just took it and not fought back?
Who will take the high road? The
same question is asked today in 2017.
How can you and I take the high road in our lives? Who has been unkind to us that we can win
them over with kindness, mercy, and humility?
The refrigerator stopped working.
Dave went out in the dark with flashlights, kept sending boys back
inside to get more tools, and within 30 minutes it was working again. We could never do this trip without Dave the
mechanic on board! Not to mention his
expert driving either! As we look at our
map we realize time is running out. The
U.S. is HUGE!!!! We are going to start traveling faster next
week and might need to do some night driving at times. So far I have driven only a couple hours in
the last two months.
NEW
WORLD/PIRATES/PRIVATEERS
The real reason Roanoke Island
and Jamestown and these others were attempted to be settled, is for
Pirating. Well, they use another nicer
word: Privateering. Spain was getting
all these riches from the South – so the “get rich scheme” of the day was to
just raid the ships. Privateering was
done even in the name of the rulers of many of the countries – it was
considered a great way to “spread the wealth” between the countries and not let
one country get too far ahead of another.
November 8,
2017
Wednesday we awoke to some rain
and wind on OBX. As we crossed a bridge
we were able to see them building a new bridge right beside us. The waves were pounding and the equipment
they were using was massive and fun for the boys to look at. We stopped at a beach and played catch with
the waves and the boys flipped off sand dunes.
The wind was blowing the sand across the road. The boys as we drove sang “Don’t build your
house on the sandy land, don’t build it too near the short. Though it might be kinda nice, but you’ll
have to build it twice, ‘cause you’ll have to build your house once more!” It definitely wouldn’t take much to level all
of these gorgeous vacation homes.
As we drove down Cape Hatteras
National Seashore we noticed how thin the island was and how there was only a
sand bank between us and the high ocean waves on our left. We stopped at Pea Island National Refuge and
had the beach to ourselves to play chase with the waves, run through the
seafoam, and flip down the sand dunes.
We went to the U.S. Weather
Bureau Station at Hatteras. This was one
of the first weather reporting stations.
Today of course we have the U.S. Weather Service and most people get it
via radio or cell phone. These were
diligent workers who sent out balloons every 6 hours around the clock to gain
weather information and displayed flags that would warn people of incoming
storms and their severity.
We went to the Graveyard of the
Atlantic Museum. We learned why this
area is the graveyard of the Atlantic – there are so many shallow sand bar
areas that especially in storms ships would crash – over 600 shipwrecks have
occurred here. Of course, that might
come in handy if their cargo came on shore and you got free goods! One time several containers of Dorito chips
felt into the ocean and floated ashore.
Too bad I wasn’t there then! This
is also the location where the military showed they could successfully use
airplanes to sink ships – they sank 2 old ships to prove this. The Confederates removed the light house lens
during the civil war to prevent the Union from coming in safely; the Union then
accused them of committing an act of murder because of endangering lives. We walked along the shore and found a section
of old ship washed ashore and lots of beautiful shells. We then unknowingly experienced the Graveyard
of the Atlantic firsthand when we took the ferry from Hatteras to
Ocracoke. We kept the green cones to our
right and the red cones to the left as we meandered all through the sandbars
for an hour on our way to the island to the South. It is a miracle any ship made it in! We went through 4-5 foot rollers; the ferry
was hitting the waves and it was splashing up and spraying across our
motorhome!
Benjamin has been begging for
days to buy a boogie board. We found a
little shop and got 3 of them and then headed to the beach for 15 minutes
before we had to leave to catch our next 2.5 hour long ferry from Ocracoke to
Cedar Island. It was 60 degrees, rainy,
windy, and Levi and Benjamin were having a blast. Serenity stayed wrapped in her blanket in the
motorhome and the rest of us were bundled up on the beach. No snow shovels needed around here, but does
anybody have a sand shovel? As we came
to the ferry and got in line I saw the most hilarious thing… a Canadian goose walking to the left of the
car and it would stop by each driver’s window and stop and look up before going
onto the next car. It was literally a
bumming Canadian goose!
We took the second ferry – a two
and a half hour ride back to the mainland.
We wove like a snake in and out through the canals. We saw a dredger dredging in one area. We found out that dredging is a full-time job
to keep the ferries operating here in North Carolina. The sand is constantly sifting. The dredger has a 3 foot pipe they pump sand
up into and then pump it out onto an
island that they make where they put a bulldozer that pushes the sand where they
want it. They then officially on paper
donate the island to the Audubon Society so nobody can come along and claim it
as their island from generations ago and build a house on it. When
loaded, a ferry only sits about 5-6 feet in the water. They purchased a new ferry a little while ago
that sits 6-7 ft. It got stuck. They had to sit there for 3 hours until the
tide came up so they could get off! The
water is literally that shallow all over the place.
November 9,
2017
On Thursday we drove into
Wilmington, NC. We have 3 families we
know from separate occasions that have lived here and attended the SDA
Church: The George & SueEllen Baute
(Lisa knew George’s parents as a kid from Wenatchee and met George &
SueEllen at Southern Adventist University), Mark and Debbie Balvin from Startup
SDA Church a decade ago, and Brian, Melissa, and Anna Xavier from Pathfinders
in Monroe. Villaney, Anna Marie, Joshua,
and Isaac arrived in Monroe last fall stayed with Xavier’s and Balvin’s. Their boys joined our pathfinder club, and we
had a great time! Unfortunately, they were only in Washington for a couple
months before they moved back to Wilmington, NC. God has been very good to them – took care of
their immigration issues – and has given them a free beautiful home on the
beach to live in and a great job and community.
Villaney remodels historical homes in the area. He lives rent free in the guest house on his
boss’ retirement property right along the beach in North Carolina.
Wilmington has a little mission
school with 18 children. We arrived at
noon and were treated to a fabulous lasagna lunch. We then gave a presentation of our trip. We showed pictures and talked about where we
have been, talking about some social issues we have learned, about what really
matters in life, and gave the kids a tour of the motorhome. One activity we did was ask the kids to put
items in order of value. Here are the
items and the order they put them in from most valuable to least: Bible, can of beans, blanket, jacket,
compass, spoon, $100 bill, cell phone.
We were really impressed that these kids had really been taught the true
value of things in life! Dave was a
talented driver has he drove the motorhome down a narrow dirt lane with lots of
trees on all sides and overhead to park at their beach house. Ana Marie, made us some DELICIOUS soup, we talked
about life and how good the Lord is – we felt at home! We are going to stick around here through
Sabbath so we can spend some time with our friends.
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