Our Trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina
Sept,
20-25, 2004
Left to right, Paul and Pat Brown, Sam and Marty Coulbourn
A while back we drove down to Fairfax , Virginia
We first met the Browns when he was
an Army lieutenant colonel and I was celebrating my promotion to that same rank
in the Navy, commander. We were
stationed in Iran
Advising Iranian officers on
long-range planning was a bit of a problem, because the Shah had a habit of
hearing someone brief him on what his forces could look like in five years, and he would say, “Right—let’s have
that—NOW!”
Not even the best army in the world
could build itself up that way. The idea
of long-range planning was to work out the kinds of people you wanted to enlist
in the Army, the equipment you had to buy, the schools you had to build, and so
on. You did some things this year, some the next, and so on. Even with all the oil money the Shah was receiving, you couldn't have sailors, airmen, planes, air strips, ships and ports instantly!
This was in 1972. Little did the Shah know then that in seven
years, he would be gone.
But
back to Paul and Pat. Patricia was a
pretty brunette who had married Paul right after he graduated from West Point in 1951.
Since we left Iran we’ve gotten together with the Browns to
visit a lot of places along the eastern seaboard of the United States
Paul Brown was the son of an old
Virginia Judge, and they lived on a part of the Judge’s old estate in Burke , Virginia Bull Run ,
someone was always finding an old Confederate or Yankee bullet or belt buckle,
or some other memento of the Civil War.
After a nice breakfast we departed in Paul Brown’s
ten-year-old Ford Explorer, with four-wheel drive. He had recently had the car detailed, and the
engine cleaned, which somehow screwed up the ignition connection, so he had to
use a screwdriver under the hood to jump start the car every time he wanted to get
it running.
We stopped for lunch at a favorite place of the
Browns’ in Williamsburg ,
VA. Manteo , NC Roanoke
Island , is the site of the Lost Colony. Although it is still lost long after Sir
Walter Raleigh left it to languish four centuries ago, the local folks seem to
make it the center of their commercial enterprise.
We left Manteo and drove to the
Outer Banks and Ocracoke. We drove down along the string of islands in North Carolina that form the barrier against the Atlantic Ocean . We
arrived at Cape Hatteras ,
the ferry landing where we awaited our ferry that would take us across the
inlet to Pamlico Sound, to Okracoke Island
Because of the problem with Paul’s car, he got out to
jump start it, and when it started he had left it in gear and it started easing
forward toward the end of the pier, with the three of us in it. I fumbled for the gear shift, and was able to
shift to neutral just before we (1) smashed the ticket taker’s booth, and (2)
plunged into Pamlico Sound .
It took us a few moments to realize that three of us
nearly drowned that day!
Leaving
Hatteras for Okracoke
When we finally boarded the ferry at
Cape Hatteras
We managed to drive off the ferry
without any more dramatics, and spent the night at the Castle Inn in Ocracoke.
Then we drove to Hatteras and stayed at an inn near Hatteras Light. We drove
onto the beach, which requires letting a lot of the air out of your tires, and
then we tried a little fishing. This was
what Paul was anxious to show us— the beauty of the beach at Hatteras, on the
North Carolina Outer Banks. We stayed on
the beach and watched the sun set.
We didn’t catch any fish. However since we managed to keep from
drowning at the ferry landing, we figured we had had a pretty good time. Somehow
we managed to get the tires re-inflated.
Here are some books and
papers for your consideration…
New England Economical Housekeeper title page
Family
Companion, The; Containing Many Hundred Rare and Useful Receipts, on Every
Branch of Domestic Economy; Second Edition by J.R. Wells, M.D. 1846 Boston,
MA: J.R. Wells, M.D. Recipes for making tea, coffee (with shavings of isinglass
or dried fish-skin); how to boil a calf's head; cures for apoplexy, cancer
(carrot poultice), ear ache (a roasted onion in the ear), dropsy, bleeding
lungs (eat salt); tips on boiling molasses; Cheap paint for a barn; how to
preserve potatoes till spring; how to destroy bed bugs, rats, mice; how to
remove stains from Broadcloths; Directions for washing calicoes; To keep moths
out of carpets, sprinkle tobacco or black pepper on the floor before you put
the carpet down. 72 pp. 11.4 x 18.2 cm. Paper booklet binding carefully hand
stitched, original blue paper cover replaced by a later cardboard cover, pages
foxed, poor. (5981) $27.00.
Cooking/Medical
World's
Fair Souvenir Coupon! 1894 Chicago , IL : American
Cereal Co. Advertising booklet includes
souvenir coupon for FREE complete set (12 pictures) of our beautiful panorama, "The
Procession of the Seasons" as it was shown at the World's Fair. Ad for
Pettijohn's California
Eating
the Russian Way, by Gould-Marks,
Beryl, illustrated by Geoffrey Walker, first edition 1964 New York, NY: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Rich collection of Russian recipes--Blini,
Tvorozhniki, several kinds of Borsch, Shchi, Okroshka, Pelmeni, Hussars'
Roast, and many more. 128 pp. 13 x 19 cm. Black cloth on board with gilt
decoration. Very good. (3235) $20.00. Cookbooks/Russian
White
House Cook Book, a Selection of Choice Recipes original and selected, during a
period of 40 years' Practical Housekeeping by Mrs. F.L. Gillette,
1889. New
York , NY
Elegant Extracts of Natural History;
Collected and Revised frin a great variety of the most elegant and authentic
writers in this Science, with a Preface on Education by Robert Heron. Volume 1
only. By Buffon, Thomas Jefferson, et
al. 1792 Edinburgh , Scotland
Cyclopædia of Wit and Humor, The;
Containing choice and characteristic selections from the writings of the most
eminent humorists of America, Ireland, Scotland, and England, Ilustrated with
24 portraits on steel, and many hundred wood engravings, 2 Volumes; Burton,
William E., Editor; 1858 New York, NY: D.
Appleton & Co. 1136 pp. 17 x 25.5 cm. Here is a rich collection of the
humor of English-speaking people up to its publishing date of 1858. Droll
stories, poems, songs by American and Irish writers and speakers in Vol. I and
Scottish and English writers and speakers in Vol. II. . Beautifully illustrated with 24 steel
engravings of notable humorists, all with tissue guards. Two volumes, quarter leather with marbled
boards, marbled page ends, five-ribbed spines with gilt titles. Minor rubbing
to leather spines, altogether very good copies. ( 8330) $150.00. Humor
Loves
and Heroines of the Poets Stoddard,
Richard Henry, editor 1861 New York , NY : Derby & Jackson
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