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February 11, 1999 - They're on the road again6A • The Suffolk Times • February 11, 1999 They're on the road again The weather forecast predicted a cold front moving down from the north and rain moving up from the south. That combination didn't sound good to me. We were still comfortably parked at Bob White's Fox Trail Family Campground, 3,000 feet up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. In our general con- versation with Kris, Bob's wife, FOCUS she casually men- tioned, "Well, ON that combination NATURE of weather could mean no school by Paul for the boys on StoutenbuMh Monday. Last year they had to stay home three days in a row because of ice." Seems ice storms often pass through this high ele- vation and so, if we wanted to miss the slippery mountain roads, I thought it better to head down the mountain, where Bob assured me there'd be "no problem." So, early the next morning we were up, dressed, packed and squared away, ready to be off. The temperature had dropped during the night to 26 degrees. I saw ice as I unhooked the camper's water supply from the site. Was this a warning of what might hap- pen if the rain and cold predicted came together? Promptly at 8 a.m. we rolled out of the campsite. Ahead to the south lay the seven -mile grade and the warmer valley below. Warning signs like "Truckers use low gear" and "One mile to runaway truck ramp" promptly told me to slip our vehicle into a lower gear. Our trip down the mountain was uneventful and we soon found our- selves heading south on Route 77. The red soil of Virginia reminded me of that classic movie, "Gone With the Wind," for it was there I first re- membered seeing red soil. By now it had clouded over and every once in a while we'd get a bit of a shower or sprinkles. North Carolina and South Carolina slipped by. Often we'd see a casualty of today's moving world dead on the roadside. Skunks were the most prominent, with young opossums run- ning a close second. As you could imagine, we had no problem detecting the skunks as we drove by! One was almost white, while most of the others had the normal black- and -white mark- ings of the striped skunk. Of course, crows and starlings were the most common birds seen, along with the soaring turkey vultures that were always drifting above, looking for the unfortunate to make a meal of. It wasn't until we reached the Wel- come Center to Georgia that we saw boat - tailed and com- mon grackles scav- enging about the parking lot. Sorry to say, we had little time for birding as we moved along. Gas is cheap It seemed the fur- ther south we went the cheaper the gasoline became. At one stop we paid 79 cents a gallon and I'm sure if you looked around you could find it even cheaper than that. It was in 'South Carolina we picked up Route 95 and joined the multi- tudes heading south. Our destination was a park we'd stopped at before called Fort McAllister State Park, along the coast of Georgia. It's a huge, spreading park with campsites under live oaks dripping with Spanish moss. By the time we registered and hooked up to electricity and water it was dark. Barbara had gone in ahead and gotten supper started. Then with a bit of writ- ing and reading we were off to bed. During the night the predicted rain came down in earnest. It was music to our ears as it played on the camper's roof. . As we lay there I reminisced about how years ago I was captured by the lure of travel - trailering while reading an article about an adventurous cou- ples who trailered into Yellowstone National Park to photograph wildlife in one of the first wooden box -like campers. I can still see that picture of them in the National Geographic as they stepped out the next morning into had to cut our walk short. Back inside the camper we were warm and dry and soon darkness took over. Next morn- ing with the world still dripping from the night's rain, we headed out along the park's entrance. We noticed some- one had put up a bluebird box trail along the entranceway. It was still too early for tenants. The next leg of our journey heading south would find us stopping for the night at Faver -Dykes State Park in northern Florida. This park is located at the Junction of Route 95 and Route 1, 15 miles south of St. Augustine. It would turn out to be one of our more "wilderness" parks. To get to the camp- site you travel along what seems like miles of a single -lane dirt road. Then in the middle of this 1,600 -acre park of hardwoods and pines, partially hid- den campers and tents were seen. We were there. We found site No. 16 and settled in for the night. Cloudy weath- er had followed us. To help cheer us up the next morning a Carolina wren sang its lively and always happy song under our camper. Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Because of its night prowling, the raccoon often becomes roadkill on our East End. As we traveled south the skunk, another night marauder, became the most common animal hit by cars. Often we'd miss seeing the unfortunate victim, but we could never miss its telltale odor. LET'S LOOK BACK 75 years ago Feb. 8, 1924 Cutchogue news: Henry Wolfe and family have moved into the old Dan Webb house. Mr. Wolfe will use the old blacksmith shop for a place to demonstrate autos. John Griffin has arranged his supply store so as to largely increase the business there. The new shoemaker is doing a good business as is also Mike Hand's fruit and ice cream parlor. Pequash has become a lively place with all its new houses and we also hope to have a good bank organized soon. Now we must have a good drug store and will have a first -class business equipment. East Marion news: Skating on Marion Lake has been affording much pleasure for the young people, but as yet it has not been thick enough for the fishermen to harvest. If it reaches the depth of five inches, they will make a start. 50 years ago Feb. 4, 1949 Pollution threatens shellfish: According to an article in one of the metropolitan dailies, a state conservation official warned that the shellfish industry on the western half of Long Island was nearing extinction because of the ever - rising rate of pollution from metropolitan areas. The first and most important [condition to blame] is six inches of beautiful, new, white snow. Though the time and tempera- ture and camper are very different, the same wonderful feeling of snugness and contentment fill us as it must have them. It rained most of the next day and we just relaxed and enjoyed the day since we had no immediate plans. We took a long walk when the first break came in the sky. Our luck ran out when we got caught in a downpour and reluctantly inadequately treated sewage, human and industrial, according to Alfred Tucker, superintendent of fisheries. The next blot on clean waters, Mr. Tucker said, is the duck farm area near Riverhead, where "vast areas" have been spoiled in Moriches and Peconic bays. The third major source of pollution is found on central Long Island shorelines where "miles and miles of sewer pipe feed directly into our waters," he said. 25 years ago Feb. 7, 1974 Vineyards on North Fork ?: Since John Wickham reported success in grape growing on his Cutchogue farm and his young neighbors, the Alex Hargraves, announced they hope to have a 66 -acre vineyard on their former potato farm by 1975, numbers of farmers on the North Fork have inquired at the Suffolk County Extension Service about the advisability of turning their increasingly expensive land from vegetable crops to higher -yield grape production. Last Wednesday agricultural agent William Sanok gathered a group of wine experts and representatives of upstate wineries for the first of a series of meetings with local farmers to discuss the area's potential in grapes. They toured the Wickham farm, which has several acres in table grapes, and the Hargraves' farm, which will have a total of 40 acres in vinifera grapes this year with another 20 to be added next year. Its voice is a famil- iar song back home and it brought to mind the first Caro- lina wren I saw over 50 years ago, over in Eastport on the Roberts farm. They had an old barn built partway into a hill and under this a Carolina wren had built its nest. It was a new bird for me and I was truly excited. Little did I know that years later one would build its nest in our garage. What pleasure it gave us as it went about the business of feeding its young, cleaning its nest and paying little attention to us as we went in and out of the garage. On the lookout for birds As we drove along our eyes were always unconsciously looking for birds. One of the big advantages of being interested in the world around us is that no matter where you go, there's always something to see. Over the great salt marshes of Georgia or the many waterways of Florida, we'd often see marsh hawks working. Terns and gulls started to show up whenever we passed over water. We'd spot red - tailed and red - shouldered hawks perched in trees along the road as we sped along. By now pines and palmetto were common and we'd even occasionally see a palm tree. This was northern Florida. Hardwood trees beginning to bud out reminded me of the swamp maples of Moores Woods in Green - port, where in late March and April they, too, will be turning to new life and vigor. The temperature had warmed up to 60 and 70 degrees by now, which was a bit unusual for this part of Florida at this time of the year. Predictions were for still warmer weather ahead, which didn't bother us one bit.