Virginia Dare and the Gosmic Triglor III

A Week at the Beach Always Goes Fast...


Sunset on the Sound from Jockey Ridge.

...Unless its Raining!

Funny, how random names in a comic book you read aloud to your little brothers stick in your head. Forty-five years later I still recall us all sitting in the Volkswagen Bus. I was reading as we waited to find out if the rain would let up so we could see 'The Lost Colony.'

Being the children of Aeronautical Engineers [Mom worked for the Martin Company too], a trip to the Wright Brothers Memorial was an essential part of any visit to the Outer Banks. The first flight of the Wright Flyer was shorter than the length of the Boeing 747 that took me to Japan! Still, the simple Wright Flyer is the ancestor of modern aviation as we know it.

Today you can see people hang gliding off of Jockey Ridge and Parasailing in the Sound. Kites are everywhere! The two bicycle mechanics from Ohio really started something.

Virginia Dare and the Gosmic Triglor II

Symphonic Drama, Lighthouses and Ferry Rides


Storm over Nag's Head.

"I can't believe you remember the NAMES in that comic book" my lovely wife remarks. We're waiting for the drama to begin. Forty-five years later [if the rain holds off], I'm actually going to see 'The Lost Colony.' The story is bittersweet as it opens to Native American life on Roanoke Island before any settlers arrive. If you know the history you know the ending. Sadly, the murder of a local chief seems to settle the colonists' fate. The first settlers simply vanished.

We had sunny weather for the first half of the week and our children and their significant others played on the beach with us. After they left and we had the place to ourselves came the rains and reminiscences.

When I was almost thirteen and the rain was continuous, my Uncle suggested we drive down highway 12 and ride the ferry to Ocracoke Island. My wife and I decide to follow in the family tradtion so we pack a lunch and drive down this amazing stretch of thin terra firma between the Atlantic and the sound. We cross the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, an engineering marvel that impressed my NASA engineer Father. "That thing will not be crossing the channel in ten years! The sand is MOVING!!!" Dad knew his stuff! As we crossed the bridge we saw dredging rigs hard at work keeping the channel open UNDER the high arch of the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge.

We decide to head straight for the ferry and ride over. We'll explore Ocracoke and make our way back North at a relaxed pace. We arrive at the ferry as a storm does. We spend a soggy afternoon on Ocracoke and I enjoy some memories.


Ocracoke Ferry.


Ocracoke Ferry. Notice the dog in the pickup.


Ocracoke Ferry. Rain and salt spray.


The Ocracoke Light.


The Hatteras Light.

We arrive at the Hatteras Light as the setting sun peeks under the clouds. The light was saved from falling into the ocean by Expert Housemovers Company. Expert Housemovers recently moved the American Farm at the Frontier Culture Museum which wa a piece of cake compared to the lighthouse. The hydraulic jacks and creeper track that had to be built for the Hatteras light would certainly have impressed Dad!

The Hatteras Light has to be the most photographed lighthouse on the Carolina Coast. After I took a few photos I watched a stream of people all trying to get a photo of the lighthouse. The lady after me admitted she was going to Photoshop a better sky in! By the time we made it to Bodie Island light it was too dark for me to get a photo.

Virginia Dare and the Gosmic Triglor

Every Generation Has a 'Final Frontier'Press photo from 'The Lost Colony.'

When I was almost thirteen our family travelled to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the first time. We arrived on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, so did a weather system that stalled for the week. Monday morning we awoke to a grey wet world that stayed until we departed.

My Grandmother was an Outer Banks regular and she rented a large Nag's Head cottage from the village postmaster. Mom remembers Grandpa using tractor gas to get the family to Nag's Head during the War. My younger brothers were old enough to travel well so our family was ready for new adventures on the road.

Halfway through our soggy sojurn someone suggested we take in Paul Green's 'Lost Colony.' The story is about the first attempt to plant a British settlement on Roanoke Island in 1587. Eleanor Dare, dcaughter of the colony's governor John White gave birth to the first English child in the New World and named her Virginia.

Think about it. It was in a sense more remote than the International Space Station. There was no communication with home. It took a special kind of courage to sail off into the unknown and start a family. These people were brave folks!

War with Spain delayed the colony's resupply ships and some sixty souls simply vanished. They were never seen or heard from again.

We arrived at the Waterside Theatre as another torrential rain began. They would wait thirty minutes before deciding to go ahead with the play or cancel the performance. We sat in the Volkswagen bus [Mom had her minivan before they were cool], and read aloud from a 'Space Action' comic book. Some noseless aliens were involved in a life and death struggle and Cam Remba aquired the 'Gosmic Triglor,' a device that looked like an old radio antenna that would bring peace to the galaxy.

Thirty minutes passed and the galaxy was saved but the British wouldn't be colonizing Roanoke Island in the unrelenting rain. We headed back over the bridge to our beach cottage.