First Flight (the ride down to Ocracoke)

Resolution, detail of the memorial to the Wright Brothers.

First Flight, metal sculpture of the historic moment

On Saturday morning, Jenne and I awoke at 4:00 AM to finsih packing the car and loading the bikes on the rack. At this point we discovered that my bike's rear tire was flat, but I wasn't concerend, as the main form of local transportation on Ocracoke Island is bicycle and I was sure that they would have a bike shop. More on that later. Anyway, with the car loaded we took a moment to pray that we would be blessed with good travel & great times and that our cats and home would be safe. We then headed on our way. Why leave so early you may wonder? I like to maximize my daylight hours and I wanted to be well away from Baltimore and Washington before the traffic built up. Mission accomplished on that part and we had a whole lot of daylight ahead of us.

Jenne and Wilbur take off!

We also left early so we could feel free to stop anywhere we wanted along the way and a primary stopping point was the Wright Brother's Memorial. I had never been there having only passed by it in the middle of the night - around 11:00 PM - in the mid 1980s on the way home from a family vacation from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. As we drove by at 60 mph I recall my dad saying, "well there's the Wright Brother's monument. Next time we'll stop by in the daytime and see it." Next time would be this past weekend with Jenne approximately twenty years later. In spite of the overcast conditions - the only overcast day of the whole vacation - I was able to take make some photos that would look good in B&W and sepia. What I didn't expect from our stop was how emotional I got. I guess it's not surprising being that I am a big fan of early aviation and this is the place where it really took off. Jenne and I walked from the metail rail where the brothers launched their plane from to the granite marker at the end of each flight. I closed my eyes and imagined what it sounded like and what the event looked like. As we stood at each marker and looked back at the starting point I closed my eyes and let history come alive in my mind. I told Jenne that I could almost see the plane lift off, almost hear the engine and the cheers, and almost feel the jubilation and exhaltation that these men must have experienced on December 17th, 1903. Jenne and I talked a lot about how far flight has progressed since that day 102 years ago and what would Wilbur and Orville have to say about jet planes, daily passeneger flights all over the world, the new airbus that can carry over eight hundred passengers and the space shuttle! Both Jenne and I agreed that the site was well worth visiting. We will be going back again on the next trip to Ocracoke.

Hey, Wilbur, I think I see some mermaids sunning on the beach over that way.