A Journey to the Dentist

On Thursday I had a dentist appointment. Previous appointments had been cancelled due to scheduling difficulties and I was determined to make it this time. As Thursday drew near, I realized that forecast wind speeds for Thursday could very well cause interruptions in the ferry schedule leading to yet another missed appointment. Should I risk missing my appointment across the inlet, or should I leave the night before? I decided to leave the night before, drive to Kitty Hawk and stay with friends. I got on the 3:30 Hatteras ferry on Wednesday and got to Nags Head in time to have dinner and visit with friends. The next morning I headed south for Frisco (67 miles away), stopped and did a couple of errands, and got to my 11 am dentist appointment right on time. The winds were still high and nasty squalls were sweeping across the Outer Banks as forecast. The ferries did keep running on Thursday, but since I had been unsure and didn’t feel like dealing with the uncertainty, I had committed to staying another night in Kitty Hawk. So, after my successful and uneventful hour long appointment, I headed back north. On Friday the winds let up and I knew there would be no problems with the ferry schedule. I packed up the car and headed south. I got the 9 am ferry and was only a little late getting to work after a 300 mile round trip for a routine dentist appointment.  Am I complaining? Absolutely not! Scheduling difficulties can be issues when you live on Ocracoke, but the perks of living here out-weigh these occasional inconveniences. My trip to the dentist was more involved than I anticipated it would be when I scheduled it, but I got to run errands, visit friends, drive a beautiful National Scenic Byway and enjoy two relaxing ferry rides. Where else can you go to the dentist and experience all that?

Hatteras/Ocracoke Ferry Photo by Karen Rhodes	Oregon Inlet Bridge Photo by Lachlan Howard	Ocracoke: it takes all types of people to make it the special place it is!