A Walk to the Watery Regions

[Monday]  When we lived in Oriental we often walked down the street to Smith Creek, or took a bike ride to see the Neuse River. Now we live in Bayboro, quite near a different river -- the Bay River. The Bay River runs out of the Pamlico Sound just like the Neuse, just a few miles further north. The Bay is neither as wide nor as long as the Neuse. Today we took a family walk down the road to see the swollen Bay River.

Adam and I donned our Gill coats and wore boots. The girls put on hoodies and went barefoot. ((sigh)) I have tried, I promise you, I have doggedly tried to force them to wear shoes -- shoes, I tell you!  -- but to no avail.

 Drizzly and floody:

 Little drowned crayfish:

About a quarter mile down the road we came to the river, flooded well over its banks. This narrow road simply wanders into it.

 Does that spot look familiar? I posted a photo of it last week. Here it is, today:

 Here it was, last week:

Notice anything missing? Yeah ... the house! I don't know where it went .... floated down the river? Removed by some devoted owner? (hardly!) Did those cranes lift it to safety?
The doggies were happy. See them grin?

 You should understand that in moving from Oriental to Bayboro, we have leapt from one world to another. A mere 15 minute drive. But Oriental is populated by many retired people from New England. They are used to a very ordered, tidy, attractive, upper-class way of life. It's a lovely little village, a bit out of place in the rural South -- a clean, sparkling jewel. Oriental has a few derelict buildings, a few run-down fisherman cabins. But generally ... it's trending up. To us who are used to living in the true rural South, it sometimes felt a little artificial. I quite liked it :)
Bayboro is a real Southern town in the back end of nowhere. Here are some buildings we passed Monday on our half-mile walk to the river.

I find them interesting, appealing, forlorn.

See those big ole trunks on the porch? What are they? Below is the house from afar.

 And yes, people live in that house.

As we neared the river the large fish-processing buildings dominated the road. They were flooded all around.

Not nearly so many shrimp boats as in Oriental, and more of those in the Bay are small and junky. But the "Karah D." is lovely.

They're replacing the bridge near us and have been working on it for months. This causes an annoying detour every time we go anywhere. Since the river is swollen we thought it would be a good time to walk to the bridge, see the work, and view the river.

 Here's the north prong of the Bay River as it flows up toward Aurora.

I don't know that we'll walk this as often as we did in Oriental. Traffic is faster and thicker. Lots of people do walk our road though, all day long -- lots of poor people without vehicles. They walk to Bayboro and walk back home. The detour is even more onerous for them. Adam has met and chatted with many of our rural neighbors because of this. It's a good thing. We are quite happy to be on our farm.