Same Kind of Crazy

Those massive ships on the horizon are on the move today, or at least one of them is.  I have decided that the larger one, military grey in color, must be a Naval vessel of some kind; it is larger than the typical Coast Guard cutter and almost resembles an aircraft carrier on the horizon with its flat wide decks.  This morning it slowly turned about and headed out to the open ocean due east of here.

The other two ships are clearly freighters, red-orange in color, and through our binoculars we can see tall cranes for loading and unloading cargo.  This week the ocean seems to be swarming with ships of all kinds; they appear far out on the horizon and close to shore as well.  This little fishing boat came up so close to the beach this morning that I thought it would go aground.  Back and forth it went, fishing that shelf between shallow and deep water right off the beach which we have learned is a highway for fish.

Today we picked up our race packets at the Bask Hotel in Morehead City, which included light, thin, technical T-shirts.  We will not be wearing these in the morning; there is a freeze watch for the morning, and we will be dressing accordingly.  I love these ritual preparations before a long race:  the proper carbohydrate-rich nutrition, sipping of Gatorade and water throughout the day, careful laying out of clothes in the spare room.  We are ready.

One thing we do not ordinarily do the night before a race is stay out late, but tonight is an exception; we are going to hear Delbert McClinton, a talented songwriter whom we have enjoyed for a number of years.  We were surprised to learn that he was going to be here of all places, tonight, in the little auditorium where we saw a Sunday matinee theater performance a couple of weeks ago, and we wish it was tomorrow night instead.  But we won't be able to sleep anyway, and perhaps one of his songs will get us psyched up for the race in the morning!

We may even be thinking of this little song, one of our favorites, as we line up at the start in a stiff 40-degree wind off Bogue Sound:

Did you ever meet somebody that likes all the same things you do?
Somebody who can make you or break you anytime they want to?
I met her at a red light, love at first sight, can it be true?
Well, she's good for me, and she told me I was good for her too

Now I don't want to jump into anything;
I been trying to use some self-restraint.
But man it's amazing,
She's the same kind of crazy as me.