trip - part 5, the end

Monday morning – October the 9th – Columbus Day

We got up ate a free complementary breakfast and started loading the car.

It was still very windy. I had most things in the truck and Anna started straightening out things more organized when a gush of wind whipped down on the truck lid and knocked it down with force striking her head. That was very painful.

I checked her head for blood or a break of skin. There was none, but I think it did swell. I suggested we go find an ER but she declined. She suffered with a headache the rest of the day.

We went again over to Roanoke Island – this time to seek the Lost Colony Park and the Sir Walter Raleigh Fort Park. Little did we know it was one in the same park.

In the park was a museum. The Park Ranger met us at the front desk and told us a movie would be showing at 9:30. We asked him would we have time to see the Sir Walter Raleigh Earth Fort… he said it was 200 feet down that path, if we hurried we could see it and be back in time for the movie. The fort had about the same square feet as a good size house, but not any bigger. It was just a big mound of dirt, with no insides and it had two or three opened entrances. It was designed to protect them from Spanish invaders who might stumble upon them. It was never used as a defense fort.

However, it was designed by the famous Sir Walter Raleigh and dug into shape by him and his men. He came to find a new hold on the new world for England for settlers. This he actually did, but he is more famous for putting his coat over a puddle so a female member of the royal family wouldn’t get their feet wet – which is believed he actually did not do.

We made it back by 9:25. The park ranger came out and looked at us standing there waiting. It bothered him we were just standing there. We didn’t say anything to suggest we were impatient but he was. He said, “well, I guess I could start it early – if you would go in the theater and have a seat.” – which we did.

The movie was very interesting. It told of Sir Walter Raleigh coming to America for furthering his own self-interests and that of England’s. That is when he made the earth-fort. On that voyage he brought along an artist to record things, a guy by the name of John White who made some great illustrations of fish, animals, terrain, and the Indians.

They returned to England and a trip with returned the next time with a group of settlers with John White over them. John had a daughter who married a guy named Dare. They had a daughter named Virginia Dare, who was the first English person to be born on American soil.

The settlers and the Indians first got along greatly. They were both curious of each other. Then, the old quote “Familiarity Breeds Contempt” came into play. There were a few fights and few on each side killed. The Indians decided to keep their distance.
John White had to sail back to England for more supplies and hopefully more financing, which wasn’t coming alone so good. He left the settlers there.

Two or three years later he returned to the settlement and they were not there. And that is the mystery.

On a tree is carved the word “Croatian” which was the name of a nearby island. But they were not found there either. And there destiny remains a mystery.

After the movie started several people together came in and when they realized they missed some one it they acted somewhat confused. I think they were on time like they were supposed to be… they missed the beginning because the ranger didn’t like seeing us stand around.

I heard of one theory years ago, it is called “The White Family Group”.. it is a large group of people that mostly live in the Appalachian Mountains who prefer to stick to their own kind, who intermarry and have their own distinct dialect. They have a dark shade of skin and none seem to know their origins… they kind of resemble the Gypsies of the old country.

I didn’t realize why they were called the White Family until the other day when I realized if true, John White was their first known ancestor.

Or you could just look around the settlement area – maybe if you stand still you might see something other people didn’t. Maybe they are not lost, just misplaced.

After that we hit the road going back home. In some town a “Shaw’s BBQ” sign lead me in an old part of town, I couldn’t find Shaw’s BBQ but did find a Wendy’s on the outskirts. A deputy sheriff sat at the next table and I asked him for directions how to get back on Hwy 64 West. He was friendly and told us. He went on to tell us his daughter lived in a nice house in Cumming, Georgia. And added, “Have a safe trip” – which he is probably programmed to say.

We decided to take the I-95 south to the I-20 in South Carolina and cut across that way, just as a change of scenery.

Not long after we got onto the I-95 we saw a huge outlet shopping center. We got off the exit and drove down and I couldn’t find how to enter the shopping center, but on the outskirts was a shoe shop Anna went into. I read a while and then went in myself. I asked the salesman how to get to the shopping center, he told us, and added, “You can’t miss it”.

I wanted to punch him out.

But we went by his directions and found it.

I forgot to mention at Nags Head we also went to an outlet mall and I bought a pair of shoes and Anna bought a pocketbook.

After we went to the outlet mall, where Anna bought her shoes just before we got back on the I-95 we went into a gas place. While I was filling up Anna went inside to the restroom. After I filled up and paid by credit card at the pump (which was unusual for the week) I went into the store and went back to where the restroom area and a lady was standing there. I almost opened the door but she halted me saying she was sorry, but a lady was in the men’s – she said they have been waiting a long time. I nodded, no problem. So, in a minute the woman’s door opened and a little girl stepped out and the woman stepped in. Then the men’s door opened and Anna stepped out. A black man near the door cracked up laughing. He said, “You an’t suppose to do that!”

We headed on down the I-95. About dusk we were getting tired of driving and I almost made a couple of mistakes, so it was time to pull over in a cheap motel.

Near Columbia, SC, we pulled off an exit and went to a Ramoda Inn. A sign outside said “High Speed Internet”. We went in and signed up. I asked the clerk where the computer station was and he said you had to supply your own computer.

I’ll just be damn.

We went out to eat at a place called Rushes. We came back to the motel and I noticed a lot of big 18 wheelers parked around. When we pulled around to the front of our door also a lot of pickup trucks. A lot of truck drivers type standing around talking. No women. I asked Anna, “Brokeback Remoda?”

The next morning we drove on home. We were eating lunch at Williamson Brothers Barbecue in Marietta at noon.

All’s well that ends well.