"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round."

Knotts Island, North Carolina, where I live, hangs as an appendix into Currituck Sound, 30 miles south of Virginia Beach, Virginia. It is connected to the mainland my a long breathtaking causeway from the west that winds through the Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The Refuge, largely wetlands, covers most of the island. The Refuge bird list, issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, identifies 154 speciaes of birds from bald eagles to hummingbirds that may be observed (and checked off the list) throughout the year. There are also snakes, deer, racoons, an annoying rooster, and other predictable rural flora and fauna, including dozens of mostly hospitible pet dogs of every make and model that freely roam.

The northern third of the island, well above the causeway is physically in the state of Virginia. I often ride my bike down the road for a mile, pass a "Welcome to Virginia" sign, then ride another mile past houses, farms, stables, and trailers. The road ends abruptly at the edge of the Mackey Preserve.

So much for the Virginia part.

South of the causeway is all North Carolina. There is a small general store, the post office, and Pearl's, a restaurant of sorts. The garage, over which I reside, is on the island's southweatern point, about six miles from the causeway and several hundred yards from the ferry dock. I have three windows and each faces the water (east, south and west.)

The ferry crosses Curituck Sound eight times a day for a 45 minute ride west to the town of Currituck on the mainland. The ferry is very cool. It holds ten or twelve cars and is free. Were I in search of a morning maritime adventure, I could grab a book, walk to the ferry dock, ford the bounty main to Currituck, wait a few minutes for loading and unloading, then ride it back - and all before lunch!

What ever does all this have to do with "the wheels of the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round?"

It's all about the kids.

Knotts Island has an elementary school (The Knotts Island Elementary School) for the North Carolina children. The Virginia children from earliest age, thereby, must be daily transported to the Virginia Beach schools by busses that come down from Virginia, pass into North Carolina, cross the causeway, take a left, reenter Virginia via my afformentioned bike route, pick up a few kids and reverse the process. There are also busses that take the Knotts Island children to the Knotts Island Elementary School, but they travel exclusively on the North Carolina side.

It is a curious fact of island life to obseve, on a morning walk, a Virginia school bus directly behind a North Carolina school bus both heading south on a North Carolina state road. The Virginia buss peels off at the causeway, but still....

So, compared to the Virginia Knotts Islanders, the North Carolina kids have it made. Right?

Well, not exactly.

The Knotts Island North Carolinians, although well served by a resident elementary school, have neither a middle school nor a high school. They are no more welcome in the relatively proximate Virginia Beach Schools than that unfortunate Knotts Island Virginia kids are welcome at the Knotts island Elementary School.

Knotts Island is part of Currituck County. The Currituck upper schools are five miles across the sound in Currituck. Therefore, the North Carolina Knotts Islanders can either travel about fifty miles by bus (which they occassionally do during inclement weather) off the island, north into Virginia, west across the state, then south back into North Carolina again.

Or...

They can take the ferry which is of course what they do. Every morning, before dawn, the busses line up to take the Knotts Island North Carolina children five sea miles across to school. They seem to come home at all hours what with sports and after school programs - I haven't figured all of that out yet. The last ferry, however, comes back over at 6:30.

It seems to med that a five mile morning and evening ferry ride to school beats the five mile walk in the snow (uphill both ways) that we endured as kids.

Thank you for visiting.

Jack