Russ & Erin's Roadtrip: Erin

Ocracoke Images

The Ocracoke Lighthouse (oldest in North Carolina)

Renting bikes is huge here (also golf carts)

Blackbeard was killed in a bay in Ocracoke

We were originally going to stay here for only a night or two, but we've decided to stay just "one more night" (our forth), which is what we tell the Park Ranger every morning when we pay for that night's campsite. It's just been too damn gorgeous to leave. This has thrown our East Coast schedule off a bit (sorry Ed, Joni, Jamie, et. al.), but we've been hankering for some sandy beach hang-time for quite a while. So we should be off tomorrow . . . or will we?

Erin reading on the beach ("State of Wonder" by Ann Patchett) . . .

. . . and Yours Truly walking off into the sunset (okay, it's a sunrise, but how ineloquent is it to "walk off into a sunrise")

I haven't done a video in a while, but this one gives an idea of the size and underpopulation of the beaches here:

Atlanta, Georgia

Cat, June and Erin in front of Shear Love, where Carla (Cat's oldest daughter) works

Erin and I have been here in Atlanta a week now. Lordy, how time flies. Cat's hubby, Dr. Dave (formerly, Dr. Detroit), just happened to be in Iceland this week, so Cat -- who is recovering from foot surgery -- has welcomed the company. (David's been working with the Decode project, and helped isolate the gene for RLS, or Restless Leg Syndrome -- not too shabby.) Erin and I were here two days and then I drove to Charlotte to pick June up and bring her back to Atlanta, so we could all have some quality hang-time together. June is recuperating from a recent surgery herself and her spirits are remarkably high. All in all, it's been fantastic to see my two Southern Sisters.

Cat, June and Erin

Cat, Carla and June

Cat has been very involved with Unity in Atlanta

Even though we're down south here, we can already start to feel the first inklings of Autumn. It's been cool in the mornings and whenever the wind blows hard, leaves are beginning to fall off the trees. I feel myself starting to prepare mentally for this, our last leg of the trip. Our tentative itinerary is as follows: dropping June off in Charlotte, the Outer Banks in North Carolina, the Smoky Mountains and Skyline Drive in Virginia, a brief visit to D.C., a brief visit to see my step-dad, Ed, in Baltimore, Cape May, N.J., the Jersey coast, visiting friends in New York City, up to Vermont and Maine for the Fall colors (with numerous stops throughout the region) and then the 3,200 mile ride home, stopping in Niagara Falls, Chicago and Boulder, Colorado on the way. . . . Makes me tired just to write that.

But for now I'm just chilling with my sisters. So a few images of the city and the road to wrap this post up: