Chincoteague, VA

Today started early for me (Bill).  Some fire alarm went off at 6 AM (volunteer fire department) and I was up for good.  So I put 15 miles on my bike and was back by 8:30.  My odometer says I've done 54 miles so far this trip.  I know that for some of you who may be reading this 54 miles is a light amount for a DAY, much less a month, but I'm still somewhat pleased.  Anyway, as a benefit from this ride I saw some Sika Elk (they look like white-tail deer fawns, but a very different tail), white-tailed deer (and real fawns) and a whole bunch of birds.  I also dipped the bike wheels in the Atlantic.  I don't know why, since I have no particular hopes of any specific accomplishments related to this, but I just figured since the bike was there and so was the Atlantic, I oughta do it.

I didn't see any of the purported wild ponies of Assateague.  None so far in the whole time here.  I figured what with all the beach activity on the south end of the island and so much of the north end to themselves, that's where they'd be.  So I didn't hold much hope for seeing any.

We were still not too anxious to hit the beach right away, because we were all sunburned.  So we lolly-gagged around the RV.  Mandy and I think we should name it Harvey (after the six-foot tall rabbit and because it sounds good -- Harvey the RV -- say it).  When we did roll out in the rental, we toured the island.  We came THIS close to seeing the stuffed Misty of Chincoteague (Mandy was up for it, but I couldn't see doing it).  All of us were along on this day, it just seems that Mandy and I were the only ones with opinions -- or we had the least painful sunburns. When we finally worked our way out toward the beach, there they were:  wild ponies.  They weren't exactly flying with the wind, like the Phantom in the book.  As a matter of fact, they were still in about the same place four hours later when we came back.  You can see them in the picture if you look really hard!

You can't go to the beach and not bury someone.  We seem to get serious about these things.  First, Mandy and Joe got buried.  But Jeff and Joe had gone this day with a major hole in the sand in mind.

We dug a hole.  We are standing.

My sister Elaine made a really cool composite picture for us last year of the three kids buried in the sand.  So we figured we'd try it live this time.  No, they aren't standing.  However, the tide was truly coming in.  The sand castle in the back was getting hit just as we were taking this.  That gull in the background figured he was soon to get something out of this. It was a pretty good challenge trying to get them out of this once we had the pictures.

We came back to the RV, cleaned up a bit, ate dinner and played Tripoli.  Ready to pull out tomorrow AM.