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Oriental NC

Sailing to Shackleford: The Adventure Begins With a Sinking

The last thing my wife Julia said as I pushed our two kayaks into the water instead of loading them onto the deck of our Nimble 24 sailboat Grit was, “Are you sure you want to tow the kayaks behind the boat?” I assured her that, yes, I did.

Sailboat Grit, a Nimble 24 yawl, heading out of Oriental, North Carolina, with two kayaks trailing behind
Heading out of Oriental on Grit, our 1992 Nimble 24 yawl. She only draws 1′ 4″ of water which makes her the perfect vessel for North Carolina’s Pamlico Sound. Note… Continue reading →

Brother Sister Dory Story

Siblings don’t usually live together on a 23 foot open boat. In winter. During a pandemic. But that’s what I recently wrote about for a story I wrote for TownDock.net.

I’ve written a lot for them over the years, from a fifty-foot cruiser with pizza pan portholes to a sticky-fingered Frenchman on a boat called Primadonna. You can read the most recent story right here.

Evan and Ariana Alexay with their boat Cod in Oriental, North Carolina
Evan and Ariana Alexay and Cod: the brother, sister and boat… Continue reading →

She Tracked me Down

I married Julia in February. By April I was gone. 4 months later she found me.

Google Maps route showing Bernie Harberts 1400 mile mule ride from North Carolina to Nebraska after his February 2019 wedding
My route after the wedding (Google Maps)
Bernie Harberts and Julia Carpenter's wedding at town dock in Oriental, North Carolina on February 23 2019
February 23, 2019: getting married at the town dock in Oriental, North Carolina. Officiating is our dear friend Keith Smith of TownDock.net. Standing behind me, my brother Christian.
Bernie Harberts starting North Carolina to Idaho mule ride on April 6 2019 in Caldwell County, North Carolina wearing wedding top hat
April 6, 2019: starting our North Carolina to Idaho ride. As of this writing (August 8) mule Brick and Cracker and I have traveled over 1,400 miles. Yep,… Continue reading →

How to End a Day on a Covered Wagon

Kerosene lantern inside Bernie Harberts covered wagon with fat wood kindling and patterned blanket wagon cover
A kerosene lantern inside the covered wagon. The patterned fabric in the background is a blanket that serves as part of my wagon cover. The sticks in the tin can are fat wood, also called lighter wood, I use to start my wood stove. It was gathered on a recent wagon outing.

It’s been a long week here aboard the covered wagon, hence the short post. In the past 8 days, Polly and I have traveled over 90 miles through… Continue reading →