I tried to get over to the beach this morning to get some sunrise pictures. Unfortunately when I got to one of the ocean access points, at 5:55 am, the gate was still locked.
The Emerald Isle, NC police who are usually very prompt were running a little behind schedule since I waited until the 6 am opening time and then left.
I managed to catch this sunrise over Bogue Sound as I was heading back to the mainland. I posted a few more shots at my Picasa Web Albums site.
It was a beautiful ride back to the house in the cool morning air which had only warmed to 57 dgrees Fahrenheit.
On the way home, I swung in and bought a copy of the Raleigh News & Observer to catch up on my favorite comics.
I wasn't surprise to see the article, Double Threat, which listed Carteret County, NC as the most likely county to have a hit from a hurricane this summer. Something similar had been in the local papers earlier in the week.
Actually the same numbers probably led us to move to Carteret County. That might seem like a funny statement to make, but it is based on the numbers. Carteret County hasn't had a hit from a major hurricane in a long time. There are some very old buildings in both Beaufort and just out of the county in Swansboro that have survived a lot of hurricane seasons. My assumption is that is good at dodging hurricanes. Some other folks read the same numbers and came up with a prediction that the county is overdue.
I am not sure we have the scientific models to predict where hurricanes are most likely to hit anymore than we can predict where the next mass murder will take place. Our other home is near Virginia Tech, and I can tell you no one predicted the events there in April.
While Carteret County might get a hurricane this summer and might be completely spared, I am comfortable with the odds. I have looked at the data and made a different conclusion, but I plan to be prepared just in case because storms do happen on the coast.
It is a little daunting to be new at selling coastal real estate in the supposed bullseye for hurricanes. On top of that there is already a shortage of buyers compared to people wanting to sell their property. About the only thing going for us is that interest rates are still reasonable.
Even gasoline prices can add another layer of negative thinking.
Still I remain positive, mostly because I have learned long ago that "bad news sells." I worked for Apple from 1984 until 2004. The first prediction of Apple's death was an Infoworld cover with a cracked Apple logo. The magazine appeared in June 1982. Just from 1995 until 2002 there were 52 public predictions that Apple was dead. Those included a couple of Business Week covers and a famous one from Wired Magazine which had an Apple Logo with barbed wire wrapped around it.
As you all know, Apple is doing very well these days. I continue to believe that coastal property in Carteret County will do just as well.
There are plenty of risks in life, I think the small town lifestyle and great weather most of the year makes our county one of the places where people will continue to move because the advantages out weigh the risks.
Life wasn't meant to be risk free.
Living in Bluewater Cove on the banks of the White Oak River a few miles from the beach has some risk, but I would rather face that risk than daily traffic on the Washington Beltway.
The air we breathe is pretty nice down here.
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