January 15, 2008

Today's miles: 9.5

Back to the mainland I go. There are four men on this ferry with me, talking in really garbled accents. I mean, I am having trouble even figuring out what they are talking about, but I’m getting the impression that it is politics. And they don’t like Hillary “Chelsea’s Mama”. This is a 2 hour, 15 min ferry. I resupplied this morning at the variety store and got a new raincoat (much more heavy duty and costing $4).

What resonates most with me today are the varying reactions that I get to this trip, especially this afternoon. On the ferry, the four men all had something to say about my trip. A couple gave practical advice, told me to use my intuition. A third man, who as been living on Okracoke for 30 years, talked to me about for a long time. He told me about his jobs (commercial fishing, the Marines, and now maintenance work on the islands) and the water systems (Hatteras Island uses desalination, Okracoke uses a deep well and filtration system, but it used to be rainwater fed, and Cedar Island to Morehead City have mostly personal wells). He called hurricanes the natural water bucket of the coast. We talked about fishing, and how government regulations made it cheaper for frozen fish to be imported because fishermen can no longer make a living off of what they are allowed to catch. And then out of the blue, he asked me what my church is back home and fumbling some, I replied, “Methodist!” and we talked a little bit about religion. He gave me a benediction, kind blessings for safety during my trip.

In contrast to the third kind man, the fourth one asked me straight out – Why would you want to do that? And so I explained the circumstances, that I am almost done with college, want to explore before I get a real job and settle down, etc. And he came back with a sarcastic (I think) reply of, “No girl, you need to get a job! And apartment, settle down, make money!”

I replied, “I have the rest of my life to do that.”

And he said, “I’m 66, and the last 25 years have felt like about 3. It flies by. You need to start playing the game so you can start losing at it.”

And that was his parting sentiment. The “you are not normal” speech. I wonder what made him so cynical about life – maybe it was because his job consists of riding a 2 hour ferry back and forth on the same route, every day. The third man said that the other three used to be commercial fishermen for a living. Foraging… to service sector. Does that a cynic make?

Off the ferry, I walked until dusk on the road, past the little community of Cedar Island (population 301), getting a few unsolicited ride offers, a lot of friendly waves, and one man who wagged his finger at me. I passed through the Cedar Island Wildlife Refuge, with marsh as far as the eye could see, waves of grass towards the horizon of saltwater sound.