Well, it must be time!   Has it been a week since my last post here on “Da Blog”?  We did the trip to the outer banks, and had a great time stopping at interesting places along the way.  I really do believe that “Going No Where Fast” is the right way to travel.  And it’s not because I’m old,  but with age, comes wisdom. And I know I have missed a lot of great things in my life because I was in a hurry to get someplace.  I rode a motorcycle from NY to Tennesee and through the Blue Ridge when I was young. Then I went from the Blue Ridge to Cape Cod and spent a few days there.  Then I traveled back home to rest and recuperate before returning to work at the local Chrysler plant.  If I had been smart, I would have spent more time enjoying the trip and the journey and relaxed and had a much more relaxing trip and come home relaxed and ready to go right back to work.  But so many us rush through our time off and regret it because things go wrong and throw us off our schedule.  Slow down and smell the flowers,  look around at the mountains, the forests, and oceans, and enjoy life.  It could all end tomorrow!

So we went from home 2 ½ hour east to Falls Lake Recreation area and the Holly Point Campground.  We had stayed here before in the fall and it was a good campground on a very big snake like lake.  It is an impoundment of the Neuse River and pretty much maintains the rivers course. While getting much deeper and wider in spots.  It snaked around and has many “arms” and “Legs” the branch off making it a very interesting lace to boat. I wonder how many people get lost on it.   While we were sitting on the shore and enjoying the water, we saw several boats speed up our section of water and then come back in 20-30 minutes still going fast.  I thought to myself, “I bet they aren’t sure where they are going.”  Akela thought they were making too many waves and when the waves came into the shore he snapped at them for splashing at us.

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Falls Lake Recreation area has many campgrounds.  Shinleaf, Holly Point, BW Wells, and Beaver dam. I can only speak about Holly Point, but I dare say there are plenty or campsite to meet the demand of all but the most perfect holiday weekend.  Next, we traveled 2 hours further East to Goose Creek State Park. They had what appeared to be a brand new “RV Loop” campground.   There is a “Primitive Campground” with no hookups and no bathhouse or showers further into the park.  We toured through,  it was very primitive. Even the road made you feel like you were driving through a forest just barely making it through the trees. They had some pit toilets, and there were a few camper trailers squeezed in between the trees. But, it seemed to be basically just a tenting campground.   On the other hand, the RV loop was super spacious between sites, though it was open and not much privacy.  The road in was wide and smooth.  And the Bathhouse had nice hot showers and great bathroom facilities. They also had some nice little cabins with A/C and tiny little front porches.  I do not think the cabins had bathrooms, (since people were making the trek to the bathhouse), but they seemed nice and tidy. While Goose Creek had nice hiking trails and wonderful water access and views, we decided to take a tour of the nearby city of Washington, NC.  The sign in Washington says that this was the first established town in the US named after the first President.  I’m going to bet there are other towns with the same claim.  Just saying, I’m basically a questioning person. But the “Board Walk” along the river was really nice and the view and boats were a great treat.  We also found some baby turtles making their way back to the river after recently hatching I guess.  They were so small!!  The people watching was almost as good as the boat and water watching.  Lots of interesting people.  We missed being able to tour the Estuary Museum and did not take in any of the fine restaurants or food establishment (Dogs not allowed. Maybe on another trip.

But of course, the highlight of the trip, was just 2 hours further east.  The Outer Banks of North Carolina. OBX for short. We made it over the bridges to Roanoke Island and then over to the actual outer banks. Taking Rt 64 you end up at Nags Head, more or less in the middle of the OBX.  At first I had to head north to visit with my brother and his family for a few hours.  My nephew was there with his German Shepherd, and Akela wanted to meet him.  Apparently only to fight.  They did not get along too well, but we kept them on leash and that often does not make an easy meeting and relaxed situation.  But we visited until around Noon, then Headed back down the Road to make the 84 mile trip to the other end.  And Not a fast trip, but pretty interesting.  Traffic on the outer banks main rd is from 50mph to 20mph depending on where you are.  And on a weekend, the traffic is tight.  It appears the beach house rentals are from Sunday to Saturday, and so there are tons of people going out on Saturday, and tons more coming in on Sunday.  We did the opposite, and boy am I glad we did!   The Lines leaving were 3 stop lights long.

We Stopped at Kill Devil hill, the site of the Wright Brothers memorial and saw the many monuments there.  There is a lot to do there, and a lot of room to walk around and visit different exhibits.  Right next door there is a little airport.  I kind of assume they are getting airplane rides since planes were coming and going pretty regularly.  It’s really kind of interesting to see what the “first flights” were.  I mean they were only a couple of feet and then back down onto the ground.  Only the 4th flight was really a flight of any distance.  Reminds me of when I was learning to fly.  The best thing about the Wright Brothers memorial at kill Devil Hill was that it was free with the agency pass.  If you’re going to go to many places it’s a good thing to have around the national forests and parks.

We also drove to the very end of the main road, route 12.  It kind of, sort of, ends at the ferry dock.  But if you get on the ferry that’s free and will take you to Ocracoke Island, it picks right back up as route 12 on Ocracoke.  Originally when I saw the map I assumed there must be a bridge somewhere that just wasn’t shown on the map, guess I was dumb.  We did take the ferry over to Ocracoke Island, they packed us in so tight I couldn’t get out of my car.  I had to roll down the window and sit on the windowsill.  And even then I was practically leaning on the car next to me.  The ride back was better.  I was the last car on the ferry and had a lot of space.  I think I left at the right time, around 3:30 PM.  I think most people stay there to have dinner and I wasn’t paying the prices they wanted for a fish dinner on an island.  There is a fairy that goes from Ocracoke to the mainland, but it was down at the time due to the dock needing to be cleared out on the mainland.  Dredged that is.  Apparently the boat no longer could get into the dock due to shifting sands.  I think that’s what’s happened to me, I have some shifting sands that will allow me to get into some of the close I used to have.  I believe there’s a dredging program for me, but it’s a little expensive.

We also went to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse.  The story about them moving it from the beach to where it currently is is pretty phenomenal.  It was closed for repairs of the stairs, and we didn’t go in the museum because it was too hot to leave Akela in the car.  But we were really going a little too fast anyways.  We may go back someday.

But of course, the best part of the trip was just camping out under the stars and listening to the ocean and being able to relax.  We didn’t do any cooking on this trip because we’re sightseeing so much we’d grabbed food on the road or just made sandwiches and cereal at the trailer.  I think our next trip will do some real camp ground cooking.  I used to love to cook over a fire.  But so far in North Carolina and the South generally I don’t find much hardwood to cook over.  It’s mostly pine and leaves your food tasting rather pitchy.  See stay tuned, Akela and I will look forward to send you sending you to someplace interesting soon.  Don’t Forget to stop and visit the Shopping page of the website

Thanks for stopping by

Rick and Akela