Outer Banks

October 12^th we left the Elizabeth City Air Station campground and made the 50+ mile trip to our next campground on Roanoke Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Indian Summer eluded us as we experienced day after stormy day of 20 mph winds, overcast skies and rain confirming why the region has been dubbed the “Graveyard of the Atlantic”. Being the “sailors” that we are we braved the elements to see as much of the area as possible in the 5 short days of our stay.

First stop, of course, was Kill Devil Hills to see the Wright Brothers Memorial. What an inspiring place it is to see the exact location of where man first flew. The original sheds they used to live in and where they stored the Wright Flier are recreated and markers indicate the location of the distances flown on their four attempts of that memorable day of December 17, 1903. Their first flight lasted a mere 12 seconds for a distance of 120 feet. Each successive flight was longer in time and length with the fourth resulting in a distance of 852 feet in 59 seconds.

Bronze plaque honoring the Wilbur and Orville Wright with the memorial in the distance.

Detail of the Wright Brothers memorial.

Recreations of the original sheds and granite markers designating where the Wright Flier lifted off and landed.

The Wright Flier

Intrigued by the wildlife and remoteness of the northern beach areas, we set out the following day (the only sunny one of the week but, the winds were still howling) to investigate the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, the towns of Duck and Corolla, and drive the beach in search of the wild ponies that have lived there since Spanish settlers released them in the 1500s. The exposed brick Currituck Beach Lighthouse was the last lighthouse to be constructed along the Outer Banks filling the dark space between the Cape Henry light to the North and Bodie Island to the South. It was activated in December of 1875 and automated by the Coast Guard in 1939 which eliminated the need for lighthouse keepers. As a result, the keeper’s houses fell into disrepair. They have since been renovated and they and the lighthouse are open to the public. Click here for the informational brochure on the Currituck Beach lighthouse. Go to this link for an informational brochure on the lighthouses along the Outer Banks.

The Currituck Lighthouse and one of the lighthouse keeper’s homes.

There are many companies that offer guided or unguided Jeep rentals to view the wild ponies, but we opted to take Big Red since it had four-wheel drive capability. Driving the beach was a bit of a challenge as we needed to drive during low tide. Some areas are hard packed sand but much of it consists of softer areas riddled with tire ruts which tried to wrench the wheels in directions contrary to our desires. Chris found that increasing the speed helped, much to Jay’s discomfort. We were blessed to see a pony idly standing next to a fishing rod looking like he was actually surf fishing. See photo below. Click here for an informational brochure on the ponies.

One of the Outer Bank’s resident ponies fishing in the surf.

Big Red on the beach.

Wednesday we spent driving south through the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and saw colorful parachute-looking things flying in the sky. We decided to stop and investigate and found an instructor with two students preparing to kite board on the ocean. Never having witnessed the like we stuck around and watched as they donned harnesses, raised their kites, braved the surf, mounted their surf-board like platforms and skidded across the choppy seas. The strong winds that day enabled the instructor to launch into the air a good 25 feet, land upright and just keep on truckin’. As we continued driving south we could see the kites from the road all the way to their destination north of Rodanthe.

Jay chatting with the instructor while his students brave the surf.

A highlight of our day was visiting the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station in Rodanthe. Although the structures are original, their locations are not. They have been moved five times – three by storms and two by man. The site boasts stations built in 1874 and 1911, a cook house, a wreck pole, stable, the Midgett House (where the brother of one of the Keepers, John Allen Midgett, Jr. lived and is indicative of how people lived at the time), and other buildings. The station was particularly interesting to us because of Jay’s past and Chris’ daughter, Jessica’s, current Coast Guard affiliation. Go to this link for a view of the Station’s brochure.

The 1874 Life Station building with other buildings on the site.

A surfboat in the 1874 Life Station building.

Returning north to our campsite we decided to seek out the house that was used in the film Nights in Rodanthe. Not seeing any that matched our vision of a weathered, multi-story, oddly shaped dwelling with blue storm shutters on a remote stretch of beach, on our first pass, we made two trips up and down the highway looking for it to no avail. We recently discovered its location and indeed we had unknowingly passed right by it at the northernmost part of Rodanthe. Go to this link to learn about its new ownership and view a video of its 2,500 foot move to a safer location, not threatened by encroaching surf, by the same company that moved the Cape Hatteras lighthouse.

Our last sightseeing day was spent at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Built in 1870 the lighthouse was in peril of succumbing to the advancing Atlantic Ocean’s erosive effect on the surrounding beach. The Visitor Center has a lengthy movie showcasing how the lighthouse was moved to a new location one-half mile inland in 1999. It had to be cut from the base, lifted to a support structure of steel beams then make a 23-day trip along a specially laid bed of railroad tracks to its present location. The original Keeper’s houses were also moved and contain a museum about the lighthouse and history of the Outer Banks. Some of the stones from the original base remain at the old lighthouse site and are inscribed with the names and dates of the men and women that served as Keepers. Go to this link to learn about the lighthouse. Go to this link to learn more about the lighthouse move.

The Cape Hatteras lighthouse in its new location and one of the keeper’s residences.

Some of the original stones used in the base of the lighthouse, inscribed with the names and dates of keepers gone by, and a view of where it currently stands.

A view of the distance from the original location to the ocean.

Where the lighthouse currently stands in relation to the beach.

Despite the cloudy, cold, windy weather, we did enjoy our stay at the Outer Banks but had to move on to the Morehead City area to attend a dinner party at Dave and Theresa Arnold’s house with other Coast Guard buddies that Jay served with in Cape May, NJ.

Clock Reset

After a 5 month “sidestep” we finally got back on the road on the 8^th of September 2009. As we did last December, we only went the 10 miles to Ft. Meade so we could make last minute adjustments before trekking off. It’s a good thing we did too! We weighed Sonny just after leaving Crownsville and found the RV was 1,700 pounds over gross weight. Even though our holding tanks were full, from living in the trailer for nearly a month while sitting in the driveway of our house, we figured we were still at least 1200 pounds too heavy. We spent an extra week removing stuff we decided we could live without including some photo lighting and Melaleuca stuff that was pretty heavy. The local library got an unexpected supply of hard bound books and we dumped as much paper as we could scan in the short time we had. Naturally both our scanners crapped out on us during this marathon so we took the rest of the papers with us, along with a new HP All-in-One to continue scanning as we went south. It’s amazing how heavy paper is and how much space it takes up. It’s also interesting how little we actually need to “file” in our lives and if it wasn’t for taxes, and the government requirements therein, we could get rid of most everything. Anyway, after cramming our storage space in Maryland as full as we could and shedding weight like a crippled aircraft, we headed south on the 24^th of September and reset our two-year time frame for our Odyssey.

Based on the experiences of our first endeavor we decided to stay OFF Interstate highways, travel back roads , scenic byways and keep each day’s travel to 100 to 150 miles. To this end we only made it over the bridge from Maryland into Virginia on Rt 301 to Fort A. P. Hill; a huge, even peaceful, quiet, out of the way place that was very considerate of us sleeping in by not starting their artillery barrages until after 8am. It was a nice place to make some adjustments and catch up on housekeeping items early in our trip. We detoxed from our elevated stress levels acquired with yet more rushing to “get everything done” prior to our departure and were finally able to relax on our journey. Due to our “get it done” natures, we have to constantly work on maintaining a geared down pace; otherwise we could have just kept up the “rat-race” from home.

We took a day to visit the Civil War battlefield of Fredericksburg, which was featured in a TV special we viewed a few years ago. The National Park Service has done a wonderful job of explaining the battle via a movie, and other aids in their visitor center immediately adjacent to the famed sunken road where the Confederate army made their stand. It is mind boggling to imagine thousands of Union soldiers marching through acres of open field to the Confederate line who fired volley after volley into them from the protection of a low stone wall. Over 5,000 Union soldiers died that day compared to just over 1,000 Confederates.

This is the original wall the Confederate forces stood behind while they fired on the Union soldiers advancing up the hill to the left.

A cannon positioned on the hill where the Confederate forces fired volley after volley into the Union Troops that were down the hill to the right .

An ardent fan of Stonewall Jackson, Jay was surprised and pleased to find the Chandler Plantation Overseer’s house where he died of wounds obtained at the battle of Chancellorsville. The house contains the original room, bed where he lay, and other items of furniture and household objects present at that time.

A marker on the Jackson Shrine site.

The original plantation house burned long ago but the Overseerer's home, above, is where Jackson died.

On to Elizabeth City, NC for the annual Ancient Order of the Pterodactyl Roost that was held this year at the Coast Guard’s huge aviation facility there. Along the way we had to stop and have dinner with Al & Sue Brassel at their favorite Mexican restaurant in Yorktown, VA. The best part of this whole travel thing is being able to spend time with dear friends along the way. The Roost was excellent with several special events. The Commandant was there to participate in the change of watch for the Ancient Albatross; Vice Admiral Vivien Crea retired and Rear Admiral Gary Blore took over the duties of the Coast Guard Aviator with the earliest designation date. It is a mostly ceremonial position but it does carry on a long tradition of CG aviation, complete with leather coat and helmet with goggles and white, silk scarf, reminiscent of the open cockpit days of flying.

Admirals Crea and Blore during the Ancient Albatross change of watch ceremony.

The new Coast Guard exhibit at the museum in Elizabeth City was exceptional. They have a helo rescue mock-up for children to raise a basket with a teddy bear in it. Naturally, Jay had to try it out. See below.

Jay reliving his flight days while hoisting a teddy bear.

The banquet was held in a large hanger with wine and glasses donated by Lockheed (we think) and the young aviators that received awards for excellence showed that the CG is now allowing high school kids to fly – at least they looked that young to Jay. But then the Admirals are just kids now too. Jay treasures the memories of his all too short career and thoroughly enjoys seeing old friends and meeting the new kids coming up the ranks. We always fill up a table of people Jay served with in Puerto Rico or Cape May and we look forward to attending the next one in Jacksonville, FL in 2010.

A street sign at Elizabeth City Air Station in honor of the Pterodactyls.

Especially fun was being able to visit with Bob and Ann Mueller, who are restoring an old house in E-City. Bob and Jay went through flight training together in 1967 and have not seen much of each other since. They had a lot to catch up on.

Bob and Ann Mueller in front of the house they had moved to this site and have been renovating for years. It's almost done.

Part of the Ptero Roost weekend is visiting the interesting places in the area. We chose the ranger guided tour of the Great Dismal Swamp State Park. We normally go for the nature activities and besides, both of us had traveled the Dismal Swamp Canal in our boats during our cruising days.

Chris and Jay on the raised decking at the Dismal Swamp State park.

The Dismal Swamp Canal. The boats are tied up at the North Carolina Visitors Center. Chris and her family tied their boat up to this dock and rode out a hurricane that was coming up the coast in the early 90s.