7 miles beyond the end of the road of North Carolina’s Outer Banks a new road begins. Each rubber tire lets out about 20psi of air and as a result every warm breathing body absorbs about 20x its normal amount of oxygen. The air is bigger, the ocean is wider and the road is defined only to the tide and the grooves of tire tracks already delved into the sand from other 4wheel drive vehicles.  I had been TO the Outer Banks before, but I had never been INTO the Outer Banks… a little fact that speaks volumes in regards to the manner of which we as individuals absorb our own lives. Lucky for me, I also had a destination- a going away party for my friend Jeremy Diner whose family friends own 30 acres of playground on this tiny long lonely strip of land north of Kitty Hawk where wild ponies still roam.  This location, beyond the mannequin on a bicycle (a.k.a Adrian Parsons), now marks the most glorious goodbye party I have ever attended. Perhaps the 20 foot bonfire drew light away from the lonely truth that Jer was about to leave us for 2 years- but whatever it was, the energy was bright and free flowing at this corner pocket of the world on the eastern seaboard. Naturally carved campsites hung out in the low trees, lights burned, minds and bodies danced and the wild ponies caught the setting sun in their manes to keep them warm till morning.
If you can ever carve out the chance to wander off, roaming where the ponies still roam is a fine idea indeed.