I think I might have had my fill of route 347 and 47, both roads unknown to me previously, and now, I think I have driven every paved inch of them, I knew, well, I looked online, that the weather was set to be the best for my endeavors today in terms of outdoor activity, so I woke up early, um, at least I tried, 10am on a vacation day might as well be first prize, so I was out and about by 10:20, grabbed a large latte at the local coffee joint, I was THAT guy making jokes about ‘beating the rush’ (there we no one within 10 miles of the place), so in retrospect, ugghh to me, but at least the coffee was good, that is the important thing, dialed in my destination, once again off into townships and towns I had only googled about, destination: Seabreeze Beach, I mean, with a name like that what could be off ?

Most of the drive was an uneventful romp through alternating front yard scrap yards and vast tracts of farms, or something that resembles farms, and lots and lots of houses (some on wheels) with a pentacle symbol on them, the road to the beach was long and then became longer, oy does GPS boost the old confidence because there was a few times there I was convinced I was off the path, or lost, or both, but I stuck to my I-guns and followed along, seabreeze road just meanders for days though dotted by a house or two and turns that seem like streets but have menacing red emblazoned Private Property signs screaming along fences, some of them look electrified, maybe to keep in the livestock, livestock ? yeah, I think I left New Jersey at some point and was plowing through Nebraska or some other plains state, this is not my mother’s New Jersey, that is for sure, so, without a hitch, the GPS is dead on, 1 hour and some minutes, I find myself at a road closed sign (oh no, not again) but just to my right, seems like a path for cars, I take it, the road (as it were) abruptly ends and sand begins, granted I have four wheel drive, but there is no way I am testing it out here, wherever out here is, a sketchy road dotted with abandoned looking half houses or double shacks, I pop it into reverse and park up on what might be the side of the ‘road’, next to a pile of old tires stacked near an old tree, someone should film a horror movie here, but that is for another day, so onward to the beach, tale one…

this area has an interesting history, I won’t go into it all now but if you like (read up here ), so this beach is rather unique in that there were houses here, there was a town (booming shore/summer town), now? eh, not so much, in fact if you look closely in can be a bit depressing, there are still a few residents hanging on but I didn’t not see any (the road to the collection of houses that people actually occupy is blocked off, I respected their boundaries, even if I was quite curious), as the beach unfurls in front of you, well, you can see how this looks like modern ruins, cinder blocks, metal rusting in the ocean wake, concrete jigsaw puzzle with no solution, nature growing grass between or barnacles on, the northern exposure is the resident’s land with a ‘No Trespassing’ sign as desolate and alone as the flag on the moon, this place looks more apocalyptic than what Heston was cursing in the original Planet of the Apes, except I had no one to yell at, so for an hour plus drive this seemed like a real bust, I gave it the full walk through, a whole eight minutes later the beach was over, except, that curiosity itch, had to push a little further right? so southward there were no warning signs, just this weird house up on blocks like a subaru brat your brother was working on, how do they even get in the door ? strange, creepy, I an definitely alone out here… aren’t I? so I walk along the sea wall which seems like a blanket of cinder blocks rolled up against the tides, there are some fresh tire marks on a semi-road, so… well, let’s just take a few steps I think…

the road less traveled, unfortunately not the case, there is nothing more disheartening than being in a wildlife preserve and seeing tons of human left garbage, for whatever reason the garbage of choice seems to be modelo beer cans and corona bottles, with a sunkist orange soda two liter or three thrown down, there seems to be some sort of construction taking place (underground pipes of some sort), so I am not sure what to think, my hopes sink but something carries me on, I suppose I just go until I hit a natural obstacle I can not overcome, I’m a stubborn one like that, I press on this logging road, well, not literally a logging road, the tracks kind of remind me of that, of course the ocean is off on my right the entire time, then there is this shack hidden in the brush, intact enough to be occupied and the door is open, damn that is creepy, again, I am trusting in being alone out here, I’m not armed, with a gun at least, we’ll leave that at that, so I press on along the road next to the cinder block wall, I pass a couple of camp sites, more like ‘we had beers here’ sites, campfires that remind me not of camping as a kid but sloppy drunk people burning most anything in a ring of rocks, suddenly, the whole thing opens up, I might have well passed into another realm, another place, another dimension, behind me to the left opens up a beautiful tidal marsh, in front of me this little island between and then a pristine beach on the other side of the channel, as is my rule, laid out earlier, I press forward, the water looks deeper than I am willing to go (knee deep is the limit today), but in actuality I can see the shoreline under the water, where the tide marsh and ocean are colliding, I can see the bottom and follow along, such a strange revelation, this almost feels like I am walking on the water, if I step a few feet in either direction I will surely be up to my waist, there was this little bridge, in essence, for me to take, to the little atoll in the middle of… well, wherever I am, I can not call this Seabreeze beach, this is something else, something in complete contrast, maybe what this place was before the hand of man, test the water to try and reach the far beach, not today, way too deep, damn, I will have to settle for a look, and come back when the weather is warmer and certainly the water, so I may explore further, but my nature battery is recharged, from the depth of the depression of recent ruins to pristine beauty and amazing views, I wonder how many have not come this far and stopped only in that sad spot near where I parked.

post script… on the drive back I encountered a flock of about twenty wild turkeys, and they were skittish and did not even allow me a photo ! I get it though, this time of year I would be nervous if I were as tasty as they are…

For those interested… I have been uploading a bunch of videos to my YouTube Channel, this has been a strange week but a good one, the wind has kicked up, I can hear it behind me, tomorrow is not going to be a fun day, a storm is coming off the water…