We survived the snow!

We made it through the blizzard last night! :)  We visited Hatteras and half of the Outer Banks yesterday. I took a drive out on the beach while Laurie was asleep and threw the ball for Holly a little bit. It was very chilly with the wind blowing so we didn't stay out on the beach too long.  There were no surfers out but a lot of guys surf fishing.  Supposedly the red drum (fish) are running down the beach close to shore, but I didn't see anyone catching.  I think all the guys go out on the beach with their coffee, to talk and gossip more than they catch anything. :)

We got to see the lighthouse and many beautiful beaches while we were driving around yesterday. We didn't get to walk up the lighthouse because it was closed for the season. They have small deer in the park, just like the ones down in the keys. We saw a few of them on our way out to the highway. It's nice to see the National Seashore so undeveloped, where everywhere else has houses right on the beach...nice houses though. We stayed up in Kitty Hawk last night and planned on seeing Nags Head and Kitty Hawk today.

The truck turned over 224k miles while we were driving around yesterday!

This pic turned out great! There is a glow around the top of the light and I have no idea where it came from.

That's a deer in the yard! He took off shortly after we stopped.

Sunday Dec 5th

I woke up and took a walk down on the beach this morning. The breeze was blowing pretty hard and the waves were about 5-6 feet.  Definitely surfable but with a wind chill of 30 degrees, there was no chance of me getting in the water today. We got moving and drove to the Wright Bros. memorial park to see where they first took flight and to visit the museum. The wind and temperature today was about the same as it was on the day that they took flight. It was so cool to stand out at the very same place the Bros. managed to get the "plane" to fly for the first time, 107 years ago. We walked around the museum and around the grounds until it got too cold. Then, we drove down to Nags Head and saw the park where there are sand dunes that are 90-100 feet tall.  They hang glide off of them in the summertime!  I would love to do that. Here are some pics from today. 

The 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th (way in the back) distances of how far the plane flew.

View from the monument 

Laurie and Holly taking a ride around with Orville

We drove over to Roanoke Island and visited Manteo. Roanoke Island was where the first English baby was born. 

Marsh Lighthouse in Manteo

We are sitting in the Walmart parking lot right now and we are going to explore Elizabeth City tomorrow. Then, we are going to start our trek to the West and then back South for Christmas. I'll keep you posted of the progress. Good night!

It's snowing!

We are having our first snow of the trip tonight. Its not sticking but it's nice to watch from a warm rv couch. :)

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A little typing and some pics.

We made it to Hatteras today. What a cool place.  My kinda town. Sportfish boats at the dock, beaches to drive on, surf, good food and beautiful sunsets. Enjoy the pics!

We're back...in NC.

Good morning!  We are back in NC after a quick trip home on Monday and Tuesday. We got back into NC on Wednesday. We are out on the Outer Banks on an island called Ocracoke. The island is about 15 miles long and the beaches are beautiful. There's a small town with a couple of roads surrounding it, but there is only one road that runs the island length. It's a little chillier then when we left, but still not frigid yet. It's 48 out right now, and breezy. I checked the surf report this morning, but there are no waves around here so I don't have to put myself through the pain of getting in the cold water today...unless we find a spot that is surfable on our drive today.

We got the motorhome out of the storage lot at 10pm on Wed. night and we took it to the Walmart. Yeah!  Our favorite campground! Actually it worked out nicely because I had to get some groceries before we came over to Ocracoke. I wasn't sure of how many grocery stores they would have over here. I shopped at midnight and it was great. No one around and no lines. We had a 1.5 hr drive in the morning to get to the ferry for Ocracoke.

 The ferry ride was about 2 hrs and I slept for an hour of it. We checked into the campground and then took a drive around.  A lot of people close their business this time of year, because it is very slow around here, until Spring. I guess we came at a good time because April - Oct is usually very busy and there are people everywhere. We drove out on the beach let Holly play with her frisbee and ball for a little bit. We've all been couped up in the truck for so long, we were all itching to get outside. Even Laurie got out for a few minutes...then she got back back in the truck because she was cold.

We are going to drive up to Hatteras today. There's another ferry that we will have to take to get there also. We are going to camp up there and continue driving North. So far, the weather is nice and will stay "pretty" nice throughout the weekend and next week.  Here are some pics taken from last week and last night on the beach.

Nice Trawler-Sail boat! For sale too!

Beaufort Port. Nice town on the water!

Swansboro boat parade. Yes there's a boat beneath the swan!

Poseidon in Morehead City

Birthplace of Pepsi. The Pharmacy where it was created.

Bow of the ferry yesterday

We love this pic!

Da man!

Beach on Ocracoke last night

Lighthouse and lighthouse keepers house.

Up and blogging again!

Happy post Thanksgiving! We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We missed you.  We have had a great couple of days. Wednesday, we rode our bikes around New Bern for most of the day. We don't get moving too early in the mornings. We usually end up leaving camp at 11am to start the day's activities. So, by most of the day, I mean from about noon to 4pm.

 
We saw a lot of historic homes, all of which were beautiful. We talked to some more nice people in town also. We ran into one guy that dives a lot. He dives down in SC and finds megalodon sharks teeth. They dive in about 30ft-60ft of water, with a clay bottom, and dig around in zero visibility to find them. He showed us some of the ones he found not too long ago. They are 1.5 million - 25 million years old. Very cool! It's funny, most of the people that we run into ask us what we are doing, what we did for work and how we are able to travel like we are. I usually tell them that we are just having fun while we can. (With a little love n luck also) I got grilled the other day from an old lady!  I was waiting on Laurie to finish shopping (nothing new) and the lady was sitting on a bench outside. She started asking all kinds of questions about our age, background info, where we were born, where I worked, etc...I left when she took out a needle and asked for a DNA sample. :) But, I'm going to come up with a great story to really knock them off their feet soon. Most people just give me this weird look like, "well, why aren't you out looking for another job?" I am, and I think I found one. Campground Host!  ha!  Rent plus utilities are paid for! Walmarts need campground hosts. Now that would be a good job for a retiree!  Zoom out in an electric wheelchair and greet the overnight campers.  Tell us where the clean restrooms and where the good restaurants are. Where to find the earlybird-special buffet. You know, all that good, interesting stuff.

We decided on Wednesday afternoon that we were going to cook for Thanksgiving. We stopped by the Food Lion and muscled our way through the people to find what we needed...Mac n Cheese, Potatoes, an already smoked turkey that was small enough for 2 and of course, the cranberry sauce (not sure why Laurie likes that one.) The checkout lines weren't bad at all.

After the grocery store, I took Holly for a bike ride (no, she didn't sit on the handlebars, she has her own bike :)) down by the river.  There are 2 nice trails here for biking. One, Laurie can ride on and one is too hilly and bumpy for her.

Thanksgiving was nice too. I went on a bike ride after breakfast and when I came back, Laurie was up and preparing lunch already! It's a challenge to cook in the motorhome kitchen because of the size, but I guess that talent has been passed down from generations, because Laurie did an excellent job. The weather was beautiful again (seems to be a theme) so we sat outside on the picnic table. 

Doin' the potato mash!

We bought Holly some turkey and pumpkin shaped cookie treats the other day at a pet store, so she was able to enjoy Thanksgiving also...

Stop bothering me! I'm trying to get a nap!

We played a few games of Triominos and Rummikube in the afternoon, then we took a bike ride to help digest the food a little, and then I laid down on the couch and took a little nap. It was a late nap at 7:30, but well needed. What Turkey Day would be complete without a nap anyways?!

Today, the weather started off sunny and 70 degrees. I took a bike ride with Holly again and by the time I got finished, the sky had clouded up and I could smell rain in the air. We took a drive over to Oriental, NC today. It's a small town with a few shops, restaurants and old houses right on the Neuse River. They call themselves the sailing capital of North Carolina...You know there are some strange people that live there!  No offense sailors. We ate at a marina and the food was great. I had a grilled flounder sandwich and Laurie had chicken fingers. We drove around a 30 mile loop across from New Bern, that includes Oriental, Pamlico, and some other tiny towns that I can't remember right now.


We drove into New Bern tonight to see the Christmas lights but a lot of people didn't have them up yet. Probably because it's only the day after Thanksgiving. Right now we are sitting out by the campfire. The rain (drizzle fo' shizzle) has stopped and it's starting to cool down. Holly keeps growling at the noises in the woods. By noises, I mean leaves falling, crickets chirping and dogs barking miles away. Wimp!  Tomorrow we're going to ride down to Beaufort (pronounced Bo-Furt) and Morehead City.  There are some Christmas parades and other festivities going on so we think it will be fun. Plus, Beaufort is supposed to be a nice town.
We hope you all have a good weekend!  Blog ya later! (C'mon, that was funny!)

Lunch is served!

View from the bluff this morning.

This pic doesn't do the tree justice. It is golden!

Camp Griswold

My Hero & Mentor.