Friday, June 23

Leaving the C oast

On Friday, July 16, I got into a bright blue Dodge Durango with four other people and drove to Lawrence, Kansas. On Sunday we came back. More of that trip later. Then on Monday I drove southeast to Hunting Island, South Caroilina, where I camped for two nights under live oaks, long-leaved pines, and cabbage palmettos. When the nearby RV's air conditioner was still I could hear the waves on the beach. Insects shrilled in the trees at night and grackles gracked noisily by day. These trees must have been the grackles' special ones: the branches were numerous and stretched over my campsite. I burned hardwood at night in the firering and cooked shoulder lamb chops. Scorpio was rising at nightfall over the ocean, and the stars were brilliant before I went to sleep. It's lights out time on the beaches after dark, so the baby sea turtles will crawl and swim out to sea. Far out on the horizon shrimp boats show their lights, and the Hunting Island lighthouse beams sweeps by every 22 seconds as the balmy sub-tropical braaze blows in the palmettos. The ocean is a pleasant temperature, refreshing and easy, and the waves are child-sied. I thought of the long, rolling, jade green brakersd on the Oregon coast. In Lady's Island Publix grocery store, oysters in their shells are $1.89 each, and little necks $.79. But shoulder lamp chops are cheap and succulent on the grill.

When I got home, I found that Zack had been to the beach, too, near Depoe Bay, with Jenisaurus, but then after he got back to Portland he wrecked his car on the highway. No human injuries but also no collision insurance. I'm thankful but also sorry for his wallet. Luckily he lives in a town where people ride bikes, walk, and take buses. Posted by Picasa

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