When I grew up near Lewisville, NC, there were woods all around our home.  Most of us young boys in the area considered those our home woods.  We knew almost every nook and cranny. We played in the streamed and hiked the woods to their end.

Right after college, I went into commercial farming in the Canadian wilderness. We had four hundred acres there, and I knew the woods pretty well.  It was my home turf.  We had the Tay River running adjacent to our property. In most places the Tay was a foot or two deep in the summer.  Close to our property it was never more than twenty or thirty feet wide.

Fast forward twenty seven years and here I am on a beautiful coastal river that approaches two miles in width.  While the surface of the river is sometimes as smooth as glass, the bottom is as complicated as any set of woods that I have hiked.  While woods have hills and ridges, the White Oak has oyster rocks and deep holes.  It is a complicated place, and I am thankful that the channel out to the Intracoastal Waterway is well marked.

The mood of the White Oak can also change quickly.  With some wind the river can be a dangerous ride especially at low tide.

Still I am proud to have a river that I can call my home river. It will take me a number of years to be an expert on the river, but I am having lots of fun learning.

With any kind of luck, I might be able to make a quick run out into the river tomorrow morning.

It just depends, today the winds were strong enough that waves were crashing over the oyster rocks.  There were no boats on the river today.