Well, we are on the road again. This week we went to the outer banks of North Carolina and stopped at a few campgrounds along the way. From My House the Outer Banks Bridge is about 6hrs, and then the ends of the sand spit is another hour or two in either direction. So I really prefer to take a 2-3 hour drive to get to someplace interesting and enjoy the overnight or activities, before moving on to the next destination. Therefore, from home I went to the Raleigh area of NC and stayed the night at the Falls Creek Recreation area. It is a big impoundment of a lake with many arms and legs and has many preserved wild lands around it. Obviously, in the south, you are going to find a gazillion anglers and boaters, but because the lake has so many arms and coves, they do not seem as bad as they are on some other lakes. We enjoyed sitting on the shore for a while and watching the boats. Akela was fascinated by the wake waves as they came into shore. Biting and snapping at them as they curled over and hit the beach. This was the second time we stayed at the Holly Point Campground.  This time going left as we came into the campground, versus the right

side, which seems bigger and has many more campsites. Its also closer to the boat ramp and large swim area. We choose a primitive site, as we didn’t need electricity or water. However, most of the campground is electrified and has hook-ups. Dogs are unrestricted where they can stay, but the 6ft leash restriction is enforced. We stayed just one day and night, and escaped the next morning early to get out before the pollen started falling down. Our campsite was in a pine tree forest and the pollen from these trees was over powering. There was a heavy coating of pollen on everything. Moreover, it got into everything too. The camper was coated inside, and my car is still coated inside. And we were only there for 5 daytime hours.  But even in that short time, I did meet a couple who knew me and my channel.  It is always an honor to meet viewers.  I should have gotten their names so I could post it, or their “YouTube ID”.  But it was fun talking to them and know for sure now at least 12 people watch my channel !!  Another thing we noticed about our campsite, and we expected this, since it was early spring, was the number of ticks. Akela got several before I sprayed him down. And I brushed several off me. I will say though, that Akela has gotten quite a few at home now in places where I could not easily spray him with repellent. I think it is really the season. Ticks are most active in 45-75degF weather. Therefore, they are hatching and coming out hungry. I’m working on a video about what I know and what I do to try to repel ticks. Hopefully, you will see that video shortly after this is published.

Nevertheless, despite the downsides of the area, we had a good time. We hiked around a lot, explored all the facilities and watched the boaters. Explored the nearby town of Wake Forest and bought a delicious pizza made just the way I like it. In the little mini market I went into looking for some last minute supplies, an ATM machine that was exclusively for Bitcoin blew me away. Many firsts on this trip!! Ha ha ha. But we got up at our “Regular time” and headed out to our next destination and grabbed breakfast on the road. Just as a note, Akela prefers to get breakfast on the road. For some reason he believes McDonald’s Sausage biscuits are to “Howl” for.

So our next stop was the Goose Creek State Park Campground, in Washington, NC. The park was along the Pamlico River, which empties into the Outer Banks sound about 28miles down river. I was surprised the river did not have any tidal effects, since where I am from, the upper Hudson River,  has a 6ft tide 150 miles upriver. The Indians called it “The River that runs both ways”. I guess that must be a unique situation. Anyway, they had a nice beach area on the river (Which at 2 miles wide was much more like a lake with current). There were also many little secluded points along the river to call your own private beach and had couples sunning on this beautiful spring day. We did some hiking around the park and met a few other hikers with dogs and most of them did not have their dogs on leash. I spoke with them and they were first timers, so maybe that just them, versus any policy of the park. But it was all good with us. Akela tends to be off leash when we are alone, on leash and at heal when we see other people or animals.  But that is just me, and my way of training him.  The Campsite we were on was on a special loop for RV’s. It looked brand new and that was fully evident in the bathrooms/Showers. It was spotless and wonderful. The individual RV sites were a bit exposed out in the open, but there were very tall trees about every 50-100ft. It was nice to be out in the sun and clear air (no Pollen) and the full sun quickly recharged the battery with the solar panel. The area was like an open meadow with tufts of tall grass, and I was certain we would have ticks there, but we did not see any. Though we were both fully sprayed with repellent by then. Our site (4) had a little pioneer’s gravesite just behind it and the park hiking trail through the park/campground was right there too. For me that is very cool, for some it might be spooky. But the campsite was a full hookup site, and practically level. Again I had no reason to hook up and stayed using my solar and battery power. Around 3:30pm it started to sprinkle a little and so I opened the 3 roof vents and the windows to get some fresh cooler air into the trailer. After 30 minutes the temps had dropped nicely and we sat outside playing with sticks and watching lightening in the distance. Suddenly this big black cloud moved in our direction and it began to rain a little more. So we packed up and went inside to read pamphlets about what we needed to see nearby. All in a sudden, the pitter patter of raindrops turned into a booming drumming on the roof and the wind picked up and water was being blown into the roof vents. I jumped up and started closing them, but there were three and they need to be screwed down, so by the time I was done, I was soaked, the trailer was wet almost everywhere, except my bed, and Akela was hiding under the dinette!! And of course, that storm lasted just as long as it took me to mop up all the water and get dried off, and then it was sunny again. I inquired of my neighbors how they had fared. They had just pulled in and were in the process of erecting their canvas popup. They got fully wet. They had taken refuge in their car during the storm.  But they were able to get cleaned up and finally properly set up.  One good thing, this campground has excellent cell service. I had gotten several warnings on my phone from the National Weather service for heavy rain coming in 15, 10, and 5 minutes. But none said “Shut the roof vents stupid”. I have easily been in 40+mph winds in my Aliner without any effect and have pretty good faith in it keeping me safe.   I guess now maybe not always dry (unless I close the vents in time).

But while the State park was nice, it even had a education/visitor center, the Nearby town of Washington was really nice too.  They had a very nice marina park – boardwalk along the river and if it had not been for COVID, I am told they would have had music and open dining.  But since it was early season and some places were struggling to find workers, they were still getting organized.  A cool thing was there were baby turtles crawling through the lawn from neighboring yards to get to the river. Very cool, but you had to watch your step a little.  So we walked the board walk and visited with people and gazed at boats tied up along the river.  Many peso’s of toys in the water!  So while we were in town we grabbed some quick dinner and headed back for a nice cool night for sleeping and got up early the next day to head to the outer banks.  According to Google, about 2 hours to Nags Head, and another hour to Carolla, NC. where my brother was staying in a rented beach side mansion.

More about that in the next post…

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Hope to meet you on the road,   Rick & Akela !