up before the sun and out into the pungo river at first light, crossing the pamlico river and then into goose creek, upper spring creek and through the ICW cut into gale creek, bay river and the neuse river. on the bay river, the sailboats put up their sails and blew right by us - hey, we are a slow boat, right? but we cut quite a few corners and when all was said and done, those who sailed lost some time and still ended up behind us. there is a reason our pennant has a caricature of a turtle on it - slow but steady, yes? however, to give them credit, they did get a chance to put up their sails. the wind picked up on the neuse river, right on the nose, and by the time we got in at oriental, NC, it was really starting to blow. the fleet trickled in one by one and those who were already secured "helped" the ones who were coming in. there was a lot of shouting and "instructions" on how to do what. lots and lots of shouting and what i call testosterone poisoning. one boat got towed in. anyway, tom and i stayed out of that mess - too many chiefs, not enough indians - until wally on GYPSY WIND straggled in at last. we stayed close by and watched everyone going nuts trying to get him in only because he was going to be in front of us and we didn't want TADHANA to get accidentally dinged. well, and that went on for quite some time because he kept circling. probably trying to drive the boat in instead of coming up against the piling and doing the piling/pivot thing and letting some of the other men take the lines. anyway, as i mentioned, LOTS AND LOTS of shouting back and forth.
tom, consuelo and i took a little walk around oriental. i say "little" because it is a little place. and our walk was soon done. we were at the free town dock but the others were at the oriental marina and inn that had bands playing one after the other all afternoon and all evening at the tiki bar. the wind howled and the bands played on. everyone milled about the lawn chilling out and socializing except for anti-social me. i had intended to go to work but then there was a knock on the door and there went that plan. it was a young man, a friend of tom's son and daughter-in-law. nice young man.
i didn't have the opportunity to take any photos in oriental and we didn't stay long either. as for work, i tried, but by 9:30 p.m., i was totally beat and simply could not stay upright anymore so i gave up and went to bed instead. unfortunately, consuelo got up at 5:30 a.m. the next day but i went right back to bed after taking care of her. and we didn't get to leave until past 8:30 anyway, blocked in by a couple of other boats - until they got going, we didn't have a choice but to twiddle our thumbs until they finally got out of the way.
ok, my thoughts so far could probably be summed up in one sentence: "i don't do well with groups."
it has nothing to do with the people - they all seem very nice, very eager, maybe some are ill-prepared, but my contention has always been that the bigger you are, the more complicated it gets. i have full-time work to contend with, a geriatric dog, and my standard of cleanliness to maintain and it keeps me pretty busy. i simply don't have time for anything else - socializing or waiting for others. it probably doesn't help that i don't drink because then i'm never "loose" or chilled out. i don't like crowds or tight places. and i hate noise. gosh, that really makes me sound.... well, SOME people find me likeable in any case :) if people were to ask my advice about doing this trip, i would say: 1) know your vessel way in advance so that you have worked out all the kinks before you even leave; and 2) do your homework every night so that you know what to expect the next morning. anyway, that's my two cents.
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