TOO COLD FOR ALLIGATORS

Day 5, January 25 What’s that white bird flying? Are those swans in that pond? There are a lot of them. Can it be? I’ve never seen so many swans in one place. With no traffic, I can stop, but by the time I slow down and pull over, I have passed the first pond and come to a stop beside another with more of those white birds on the far side. They look like swans, but I didn’t know swans could fly. Many have disappeared by the time I grab the camera and extend the lens. They still look like swans. I take pictures the best I can out the window. I’m excited. There has to be about fifty of them. I continue on my way and come to Rte. 17S sooner than expected. There is more green grass and green fields. How nice after all the dull colors of winter. My head is on a swivel looking first to the left, then to the right. This is a more leisurely drive even at 55 mph. The temperature rises to 34 degrees. The highway narrows to a regular two-lane road and the sides are dotted with white. I remember seeing this yesterday and thought it was snow, but here it doesn’t seem right. The fields are white dotted, too. Could it be cotton? I pull over and pick some off the ground. It IS cotton! Wow, it must blow off the plants like a thick, heavy milkweed or dandelion puffs and it’s almost like the cotton balls bought at the store except it’s denser and dirty from being on the ground. I keep it and also pick up a couple of pine cones. I take a couple photos of a nearby dilapidated building. A lot of run-down buildings are along this route. There are also some high-flying birds which look like vultures. When I look back to the road, a bunch of them are on the ground up ahead and as I drive by, I see they are feeding on a dead deer. Oh, I cannot resist, I have to turn around. Of course, they fly off when I stop. These are not our turkey vultures. These are bigger with more brown on them and their wings are beautiful. Hopefully, I got some good photos of them in flight. I drive out into a field to take pictures of an abandoned building in which the trees have grown up so close around it that it looks like the derelict is imprisoned. The roofs of the homes along this route are flatter than those seen in the northeast. Most of these buildings are run down and in need of paint jobs. Many are modular or mobile homes. After awhile it dawns on me that these are one-story houses. I wonder if these are the homes of farm hands. I also notice quite a few small houses have the name of a church or chapel. Maybe this is so people don’t have to go far to worship. The road eventually widens with a big area between north and south bound lanes. Crossing the Tar River is a trip! This is an Oh-My-Gosh bridge; high above swamp and river where the Tar River becomes the Pamlico. I see my first moss-laden trees. They look like huge gray ghosts creeping out of the swamps. Are these cypresses? The moss on some trees looks like furry gray creatures hanging from limbs and wrapped around trunks. The highway climbs. The entire bridge is cement with K-rail sides and it goes up and up. Aaargh, to be able to get photos! The river is sleepy and I want to look and look. There’s not even a break-down lane, not that I’d dare stop on a bridge in this traffic. But I oh, so want to! My mind is babbling. These first sights of the moss-covered trees have me practically jumping in the seat. Soon I approach another bridge. This one crosses the Neuse River into New Bern. I don’t even know how to describe it and if I wanted a picture of that other bridge, this one is the most impressive I’ve ever seen. The cement roadway makes the tires give off a funny whistle and it’s like driving up a hill. Two lanes between cement walls going up and up make me feel a little claustrophobic and above there is nothing but sky. This would be tough for anyone afraid of heights. And the VIEW! If I thought that other bridge was Oh, My God, this one is OHHH-MY-GODDD! It’s scary high especially with traffic moving at 60 mph. This bridge immediately turns into another bridge crossing the Trent River from which there is an off ramp which is also a bridge and clover leafs. How anything like this could be built is totally amazing. I have GOT to come home this way. Maybe I’ll figure out where to get photos. Then to top it off, the bridge continues on through swampland with more of those moss-covered trees. These tall, colorless giants, naked except for the furry moss hanging in long clumps, trees that seem to come out of the wetlands like zombies creeping up to grab travelers have me squealing inside with excitement. The bridge eventually gives way to “normal” dry land, but my mind continues to run wild. I take the Rte. 17S By-pass around New Bern, a long, desolate stretch with pines on both sides of the road not allowing any view. At this point, I don’t know that my mind could take any more. I stop in Jacksonville, N.C. at Applebees for lunch at 12:30.