April 22-23: Elizabeth City

5:55 AM at DayBreak: I am slipping out of the marina in a sleeping Elizabeth City with a blue gray sky just beginning to dawn. My drive takes me over the Elizabeth City bridge and out into Currituck County. I pass acres and acres of plowed farm land, rows upon rows of black dirt, almost as far as the eye can see, creating a feeling of great wholesomeness. There is an occasional homestead flanked by huge hardwood trees planted by a previous generation and old red barns with angled roof designs.

What a beautiful drive to the Norfolk bypass and the Norfolk International Airport where I catch my quick flight to New York. I have left the boat for a two day business meeting at IBM’s office at 590 Madison Avenue where my new manager works. What a contrast from my morning – lunch at the Trump tower and the rest of the day in strategy sessions. For dinner that evening 20 of us gathered at the Tang Pavilion on 55^th Street for a family styled Chinese dinner which was delicious. Since I couldn’t seem to catch a cab, I walked the 10 blocks from my hotel noticing all the grand shopping along 5th Avenue. This is where I led my shopping tour for a couple of retailers from Australia in January. And since the walk seemed like good exercise, I also walked back to my hotel. It was good to meet with these teammates face to face since so much of my work is just ideas shared with mysterious voices on the phone or remote contact through email. I feel much more connected after actually conversing with these people and knowing something about each personality and knowledge base. It was good.

While I was gone, Tom took his bike and visited the Coast Guard Station, the largest in the United States, with about 1000 enlisted men. They not only do search and rescue, but also repair aircraft (similar to Cherry Point, NC). He also went to the previously mentioned dirigible factory and the NC/VA visitor’s center near South Mills. All in all, he biked about 60 miles. He said that at the dirigible factory there was still a burned out hanger from an explosion during WWII. At that time they were using hydrogen for the filling gas which of course is extremely combustible; now they use helium instead. Next door to the factory, there was a group from Canada who were testing a newly designed wind turbine for generating electricity. It was a huge elongated bubble tethered on both ends which spun with the wind - fascinating. Also, he walked several miles from the marina in the evening to the Golden Corral to attend the local Kiwanis Club meeting and had a great time catching up with them and discussing future projects (like distributing dictionaries to third graders) with there incoming President – what else would you expect!