VACATION

[Storm.3.1.14]

  I’m taking a week off, and headed to the Carolina coast, to Edisto Island (pronounced like “Eddie’s toe”). 

  Every year, I get the same circular beach house, surrounded by a wrap-around deck…

  

  There’s not much to do all day but unplug and disconnect, stretch out in a hammock, sip salted-watermelon tea, and read Truman Capote novels, which is exactly what I’ll be doing. Then, when the sun starts setting and the trawlers chug past on the way back to port, I’ll pedal on over to the marina to eat a dinner of the day’s catch -   fresh from the boat! 

  

  I thought I’d share a preview of some of the whimsical curiosities and natural splendors of the island.

  First, when you cross over from the mainland, you’ll see "The Mystery Tree"…

  

  For decades upon decades, an unknown someone (or family of someones) has festooned the same tree, under the cover of night. This “folk art” tradition is legendary, and has been going on so long that the original tree has all but rotted away. The googaws are now mostly strapped to poles in the mud.

  One of my favorite places along the entire coast is Botany Bay. To get there, you drive down a red-clay road that’s canopied by moss-draped oaks…

  

  When you reach the end, the “boneyard beach” at Pocknoy Island awaits…

  

  I string my hammock between two salt-and-sun-bleached gnarls, and watch pelicans and dolphins frolic all day.

  Finally, when you leave the island, you pass “The Goodbye Girl“….

  

  Someone noticed that this particular roadside tree was curiously "buxom" in all the right places, so they gussied it up accordingly. (Tourists often call her “The Hula Girl”, but because she can only be seen as you’re driving off the island, her traditional folk name has always been “The Goodbye Girl“.)

  So, there you have it, a glimpse into my getaway. 

  I may hop aboard a select Freedom Train here and there, but it’s really my intention to “go native”. The island’s way of hurry-free life has been dubbed “Edi-sloooow”, and I’m totally ready to zone out, off the grid.

  Stay true to your promise, people, and respect   your  next 10 days or so! 

   STORM: 932