I type this as we are ferrying from Okracoke Island to Cedar Island, which is really the mainland for all intents and purposes. We are one of three paying vehicles, and we’re riding with four others, all pickup trucks. Here’s the deal. One of the paying vehicles is a 75 ton crane, just a wee bit bigger than the one that lifted the tree off our house in May. The other paying vehicle is a little four-door, not unlike ours. Add one heavy vehicle and two not-heavy vehicles, and you get a tilted ferry. So, crew guys drove on their pickup trucks, and now our list to starboard is only eight degrees.*
By the way, we’re riding in the M/V Silver Lake, which first motored about in 1965. It’s been remodeled and re-engineered three times since, including once when they added almost 60 feet to its length.
Our ride is one of the unsung deals of the century (unlike, I suspect the bailouts we’re paying for): this two-plus hour ferry ride is $15, and that’s for the car. We ride free with it, subsidized by North Carolinians’ tax dollars…. (Full disclosure: our first ferry ride of the day was free!)
* I am unclear if this is actually a metaphor for life, that not all things are on the level, or something….