“The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.”

Today is Christmas and to save Santa the trip, I decided to be naughty. Not really of course... instead we drove from Myrtle Beach to Morehead Island on the beginnings of the Outer Banks or Barrier Islands - depending on who you talk to.

We left a very rainy Myrtle Beach at a little after 11:00AM and its still raining now as I watch the Miami Dolphins play the New york Jets on Monday Night Football. We are of course on Morehead Island as I mentioned... and I'm watching drenched football players in Miami... apparently this rain covers a pretty decent stretch of land.

Unfortunately there isn't much to report on as far as the transition from South Carolina into North Carolina is concerned. The rain kept my focus on the road and for the most part we couldn't see that far into the distance. I can say we took the coastal route and with that came some of the typical coastal scenes... some interesting lagoon crossings, lots of vegetation and the somewhat small but rinky dink towns who's main industry seems to center around fishing or at least fishing boat sales.

Once we arrived in Morehead we discovered that we were in the town that Black Beard (The Pirate) called home... no doubt due to its remoteness... its kinda out there a bit. Its easy to close your eyes in this windy and rainy weather and turn back the clock a hundred or more years... the ocean today is rough and menacing, the cold rain gets through your clothes without much of a fight and suddenly its easy to see how only the really tough and rugged sorts would be attracted to these remote shores. Page through the glossy brochures in the lobby of the hotel however and suddenly Morehead looks like the ideal summer escape.... the beachy town looks reminiscent of "sea side" towns in England. Colourful beach side homes, sandy parking lots and ice cream shops that only a kid could find inviting. our experience though very pleasant has been anything but beachy... the only eatery open on this Christmas Day was a little Chinese hole in the wall... I was reminded of the "Christmas Story" movie where Ralphy and his family sat down to Christmas dinner in a Chinese restaurant after the next door neibors dog ate their turkey. "jingle brows, jingle brows".

Tonight we need an early night... tomorrow we have a date with a Ferry at 10:00AM and its a good one hour drive away... for the Price's that's the equivalent of waking at the crack of dawn.