Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
This is Page 3 of 3 of The Dragon Launch
(Our thanks to Ben Casey for providing most of the photos for this story)

Heading out to set the Dragon.

No! Over here....

Anchor down!

Russ Stewart and son Tristan provided a New York Harbor style welcome for the Dragon - a plume of water streaming over the Duck Pond.

For a while after the Dragon was launched Saturday, a lot of people lingered on the shores to look at it, and to wonder aloud – as we do a lot here in Oriental – about the ancillary business opportunities that might present themselves. Boat tours were mentioned. As was a binocular viewing stand such as one would find at Niagra Falls or the Grand Canyon.

Grace Evans had the best Dragon welcoming hat.

Four year old Gabriel Huff took the first boat tour around the Dragon with part of the TownDock.net crew – ( though Gabriel thought the purpose of the trip was to bring the Dragon back to shore.) The Dragon does not have a name. Even after months of working on it, Gary says he has just called it Dragon because he’s “not big on naming things.” (He shares with us that he has not even named his cat, on the theory that the cat wouldn’t respond to anything so “Cat” works as good as anything.) Gary’s wife, Lizann Taylor, on the other hand, has written before of a “Loch Neuse Monster” And we’re guessing that with something so whimsical and vibrant as this dragon, names will likely come up.

A well earned moment of rest for Gary Gresko after the launch.

Click here to return to page 1