by Pa Rock
Tourist in Time
Back in the early days of 1975, January or February, I was a young US Army lieutenant stationed at Ft. Eustis, Virginia, (just outside of Williamsburg), and preparing to leave the military service in April. One of the things that I wanted to accomplish before my discharge was to get my "wisdom" teeth extracted by an army dentist - whose dental work would be free. It turned out not to be a "wise" decision at all, taking two trips and requiring one tooth to be split and re-split several times before they could get it all out of my poor, abused gums.
After the second visit I was in a great deal of pain, but for some reason my wife and I decided to pack up the VW bus, bundle up Baby Nick who was about a year-and-a-half old, and head out on a weekend drive south, down past Virginia Beach and on into North Carolina. Ultimately we ended up on the long chain of islands off of North Carolina's Atlantic coast that are known as the "Outer Banks," the place where pirates once partied hearty and where the Wright Brothers made the first airplane flight.
We drove through Kitty Hawk and on to Nag's Head - in fact I think that is where we stayed - and on down south to Cape Hatteras where we climbed the famous Cape Hatteras lighthouse. The reason the Wright Brothers chose to make their first flight on the Outer Banks was the wind - which is always blowing and would help lift their plane. And the wind was really blowing that day at Hatteras.
As I remember it, there were only a few people visiting the lighthouse that winter day, and we decided to enter and climb the metal spiral stairs to the top. I carried Nick, who, although he was not yet two-years-old, was a chunk - and I was plenty tired by the time we reached the top. At the top I remember pushing the big door open and stepping out. onto the platform that surrounded the outside of the chamber where the lights were - and when I stepped out, with Nick in my arms, the wind caught me and it was all I could do to get back inside! The experience was traumatic enough to remain clear in my memory nearly fifty years later!
(Years later as beach erosion threatened the famous lighthouse, residents and others - though a system of jacks and logs - literally, and manually, moved (rolled) the massive lighthouse several hundred yards further inland!)
Back then the Outer Banks were more primitive than they apparently are today, with lots of cottages (and shacks) right out on the beaches resting on stilts - cottages that routinely got washed away each time a hurricane came too near the islands. I'm sure even then those cottages and shacks were expensive, and today they seem to have been largely replaced with brick and stone mansions that sit further back from the beaches - and I'm sure those are well beyond the financial reach of 98% of Americans.
I never made it back to the Outer Banks following that initial visit, but another trip there remains on my bucket list.
What I know about the Outer Banks today comes from watching the Netflix series of the same name. "Outer Banks" is an action-packed teen drama that bears some resemblance to "Stranger Things," another Netflix series that also appeals to a young audience, but is also well enough done to resonate with older viewers as well. The show also brings to mind "Riverdale," yet another Netflix teen drama, one based very loosely on Archie Andrews, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica, and the gang from Riverdale High School, a cohort also familiar to those of us of a certain age. They all feature disaffected teens out trying to solve oddball mysteries or find missing treasures - and there are always villainous adults out to thwart their efforts and get the gold, or power, or whatever the prize is, for themselves.
I watched season one of "Outer Banks" last year because I wanted to relive that trip from all of those years ago and get some sense of how things had changed on those thin, sandy islands in the interim. And the first season was good - it pulled me right in. Then, a few weeks ago, the second season came out - and it is even better!
The show involves a group of young people who live on the poorer side of Ocracoke Island at the south end of the Outer Banks and who interact with the children of the island's rich people in the local school and the businesses. The poor teens refer to themselves as "pogues," an appellation that apparently goes back generations on the Outer Banks, and when they aren't in school, which is often, they are busy partying, stealing their parents' vehicles, and roaring around the islands solving crimes and looking for treasure.
And while that all may sound like light fare, the show is very well written, and the tales compelling, and the acting first rate.
(I told my son, Tim, the professional screenwriter, how much I was enjoying the show, and he replied that he hadn't seen it - but that it was one on his daughter's favorites. Olive is nine!)
One more note: I have now officially taken to referring to Ralph, the king rooster, and his merry band of banties and guineas as "the pogues" as they race about the yard in a never-ending search for juicy bugs, worms, and all sorts of edible treasure.
It's a "pogue" life here at The Roost!
Alexa, toss me another cold one!
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