Part 2 Gateway to the Outer Banks

Columbia N. C. is on U.S. 64 in Tyrrell County. U. S. 64 is central North Carolina's main highway to the Outer banks. The population was 819 at the 2000 census.
The Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula is located in northeastern North Carolina, inshore of Nags Head and the Outer Banks in the Inner Banks region. The peninsula is framed by Albemarle Sound to the north, Croatan Sound to the east, and the Pamlico Sound/River to the south. In addition to the Scuppernong River, Tyrrell County is bordered on the north by the Albemarle Sound, one of the East Coast's largest estuarine systems, and to the east by the Alligator River.
Tyrrell County was formed in 1729 from Chowan, Bertie, Currituck and Pasquotank counties. Named for Sir John Tyrrell, one of the Lords Proprietors of the Carolina colony. Tyrrell County's original boundaries originally stretched westward from Roanoke Island to near present-day Tarboro. In 1870 the territory was divided and resulted in what is now known as Tyrrell, Martin, Washington, and Dare counties. Elizabethtown, later renamed Columbia, was established on the banks of the Scuppernong River in 1793. The town has a beautiful riverfront and nature walk.

From here you head east on U.S. 64 thru beautiful Dismal Swamp toward the Alligator River.

I-40 in N.C. closed. Which is easier? Build a bridge or move rocks

Update Apr 26, 2010: After being closed for 6 months, I-40 is now open.

The I-40 Bridge Disaster was a bridge collapse that occurred in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma on May 26, 2002. Joe Dedmon, captain of the tugboat Robert Y. Love, experienced a blackout and lost control of the ship. This, in turn, caused the barge he was controlling to collide with a bridge support. The result was a 580 foot (180 m) section of the I-40 bridge plunging into Kerr Reservoir on the Arkansas River. Fourteen people died when several automobiles and tractor trailers fell from the bridge.
An estimated 20,000 vehicles per day were rerouted for about two months while crews rebuilt the bridge. Traffic resumed Monday, July 29, 2002, only two months after the disaster. The reopening set a new national record for such a project, which would normally be expected to take six months.

Now fast forward to Oct. 25, 2009. Rock slide closes I-40. How long will it be closed? This isn't the first time Interstate 40 has been shut down due to a rockslide in Haywood County.
The highway closed July 1, 1997, following a series of rock slides near mile marker 1. Three people were injured when their vehicles struck the falling boulders. None of the injuries were life threatening, and the couple hospitalized went home later that week.
The interstate was closed to all traffic from July 1 until two lanes were reopened Sept. 10. The cost of the nearly yearlong cleanup surpassed $2.5 million.

Part 1 Outer Banks Storm on Ash Wednesday March 1962

Photos of Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962. The 'perfect storm'.

The 'Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962' occurred on March 6-8, 1962 along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. In an area accustomed to a hurricane season from late August to early November each year, and the periodic major winter storms known as "Nor'easters", the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 was unlike anything anyone living could recall. It was considered by the U.S. Geological Survey to be one of the most destructive storms ever to impact the mid-Atlantic states. One of the ten worst storms in the United States in the 20th century, it lingered through five high tides over a three day period, killing 40 people, injuring over 1,000 and causing hundreds of millions in property damage in six states.
Combination of atmospheric conditions: The massive storm was caused by an unusual combination of three pressure areas, combined with atmospheric conditions of the Spring equinox which normally cause exceptionally high tides. The storm stalled in the mid-Atlantic for almost 3 days, pounding coastal areas with continuous rain, high winds, and tidal surges, and dumping large quantities of snow inland for several hundred miles.
Coastal impact: Homes, hotels, motels, and resort businesses were destroyed along North Carolina's Outer Banks from Cape Hatteras, Nags Head and Kill Devil Hill. It was the 'perfect storm' before the storm that became a movie. This is the first in a series about one of my favorite places in the world. The Outer Banks of North Carolina. I know about this because we drove thru the area after the storm. You could see large houses sitting out in the Atlantic and in the back sound. Every building was damaged to some extent, most had major damage. It was the time when telephones poles had five arms and were loaded with glass insulators. Along Hwy 12 every pole was snapped off at the base; mile after mile of them.

Sebastiano Conca

Sebastiano Conca Italian, born circa 1676-1764. One of his greatest paintings was the one of 'Alexander the Great in the Temple of Jerusalem'.

The silent majority?

300,000 Silent Churches
Everyone has Freedom of Speech except 501c3 churches.
1. 501c3 Tax Exemption.
2. A Deal With the Devil
3. The Silenceof the Shepherds
4.Who is Really Lord of Your Church?
5.Hushmoney
Today, 4000 innocent precious lives of unborn babies were snuffed out. Their arms and legs were torn from their bodies, their skulls crushed. One and one half million times each year our "civilized" society will take and innocent life. And 300,000 pulpits are silent.
Six hundred thousand children, between the ages of 3 and 18, are involved in child pornography. Twenty thousand of them will disappear each year, never to be seen again. And 300,000 pulpits are silent.
The TV networks make a mockery of Christians, the Christian faith and Christian values with nearly every show they air. Greed, materialism, violence, sexual immorality are standard fare. Program after program, movie after movie contains anti-Christian episodes and plots. News articles condescendingly refer to the "fundamental, right wing Christians." Those who speak out for the sacredness of life are branded as extremist. And 300,000 pulpits are silent.
Teenage suicide is the highest it has ever been. The number of teenage alcoholics and drug addicts is the highest ever. Christian morality cannot be taught in schools but atheistic immorality can. Divorce is taking approximately one of every two marriages. The number of children living in broken homes is fast becoming a majority. And 300,000 pulpits are silent.
Rape has increased 700 percent in the last fifty years, and that takes into consideration the population growth. The FBI says one in four 12-year-old girls will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. Pornography has become an eight billion dollar business, with some of the largest companies in America involved. The Internet is flooded with pornography. And 300,000 pulpits are silent.
Rock music fills the airways, and our children's minds are polluted with music which legitimizes rape, murder, forced sex, sadomasochism, adultery, satanic worship, etc. And 300,000 pulpits are silent.
A majority of states now have lotteries. We have eliminated that crime by making it 'legal' and putting it under the control of the state. And 300,000 pulpits are silent.
What important matters are being dealt with in our churches? The church bulletin says there will be a meeting to plan the church-wide supper. We are raising money to put a new floor cover in the kitchen. (The old one doesn't match the new stove and refrigerator.) The sermon subject last Sunday was "How To Have A Positive Attitude." We are organizing a softball team.
At a meeting of church officials a program was announced to recruit new members. We need the new program because we are losing membership. The new program was worked out by some of the very top professionals, people who have had success in gaining new members for the Lions Club and other organizations. We really need professionals to do the job.
Sometimes blasphemy comes unnoticed while 300,000 pulpits are silent.
In America we make a big deal about 'freedom of speech". Few realize that the churches DO NOT have freedom of speech.
Everyone has freedom of speech except the clergy!
The pulpit has great power to do good when the clergyman is free to speak on on matters of politics as did the prophets of old such as Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and others including Paul.
The modern churches are corporations silenced by voluntarily accepting 501c(3) tax exempt status and state licensing of the clergy.
In effect, the system had bribed them with money to be silent churches.

The Founding Fathers

Just recently, The History Channel had a program on 'The Founding Fathers'. I don't know if you caught it but during one conversation they made the statement about Jefferson's 'separation of Church and State' and said that these were the same words that we find in our Constitution. SHOW ME! History is being rewritten one sentence at a time. Just slow enough that most people believe them to be Truth. The American media is far greater than anything Nazi Germany could have imagine. The Internet might be a two edge sword but it's the last place you can find the truth if you search hard enough. Once it and Talk Radio comes under government control truth will be gone forever.

Ken Burn's America's National Parks

Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park is America's first national park. Located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, it is home to a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk. Preserved within Yellowstone National Park are Old Faithful and a collection of the world's most extraordinary geysers and hot springs, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. National Parks was an American Idea. If they hadn't been established, there would be no buffalo, no sequoia trees, no redwood trees or wolves left in America. John Muir could be considered the father of conservation of out National treasures. He was instrumental in the saving of Yosemite. At first, Yosemite was a State Park, later to become a National Park.