First Flight at Kitty Hawk OBX
4 October 2023
114 miles
We were up at 8:30 and had a very leisurely morning – drinking coffee and cooking a breakfast of eggs and leftover beans. Even with our sloth, we were on the road at 11:00 and got to the Woodrow Wilson Museum in Staunton, Virginia by noon. We spent almost 2 hours there – very interesting. I didn’t know much about his presidency other than that he was president during World War I. He was also president of Princeton and was elected governor of New Jersey before becoming president in 1913. His wife died during his term (1914). He remarried in 1915 and his second wife, Edith, is probably best known as First Lady of his administration.
From the museum, we drove to Shenandoah National Park with a quick stop at Kroger for provisions. The route was mainly on backroads, and it took us more than an hour and a half to get to the park and the Lewis Campground. Unfortunately, we didn’t like the campsites at Lewis at all. They were quite small, and there was no privacy. We made the decision to head south to Loft Mountain Campground to see if we liked it better, even though it is much larger than Lewis. We found a decent site and were fortunate that neither of the campers in the adjacent sites showed up, even though they were reserved for the night.
We got set up and drove back out to Skyline Drive to get firewood. We settled in for the night around 6:00, which is a little late for us, but all went well in the evening, and we enjoyed chicken and pasta for dinner. We kept the fire going until 11:00 and had to call it a night.
Footnote 1: We heard coyotes numerous times throughout last night at Todd Lake – didn’t see any though.
Footnote 2: We saw several deer coming through Loft Mountain at dusk – what an awesome sight, and one that we never tire of!
5 October 2023
294 miles
Today was a travel day. We left the campground at 11:00 and drove south on Skyline Drive to the park’s southern exit near Waynesboro. We got on I-64 east, all the way around Richmond, Newport News, and Norfolk. We picked up NC 168 towards the Outer Banks. All in, it took us six hours to get to Kitty Hawk. After checking in to the hotel, we drove to Harris Teeter for dinner (Italian sausages with peppers and onions). The balance of the night was spent watching Thursday Night Football and planning the next several days of our adventure.
6 October 2023
115 miles
We left the hotel at 10:30 this morning and drove north through Duck and Corolla to where the pavement ends. To go further required a four-wheel-drive vehicle so onward we went. We drove about 2 to 2 ½ miles and turned around. It was deep sand in some places and compacted sand in other places. Sadly, we didn’t see any wild horses – the traffic might have been too heavy. On the way back south, we stopped at the Currituck Beach Lighthouse (although we didn’t climb it). It looks very similar to our lighthouse in Ponce Inlet. We also briefly toured the Wildlife Education Center.
We then continued south to the Wright Brothers’ Memorial of Flight (U.S. National Park). It was very interesting to learn about Orville and Wilbur‘s efforts over the period 1901 through 1903 when they made the first powered flight on December 17, 1903. Before that they spent 2+ years testing (and improving) gliders.
Following the Memorial of Flight, we drove about 50 more miles south to Buxton/Hatteras where we are staying for the next two nights. We have a full kitchen with two bedrooms, so we had a steak dinner with sautéed mushrooms and garlic bread. Since we skipped lunch, it was even more delicious!
Footnote: The hotel is old, but adequate. It is surprising how old this part of the OBX is compared to the beautiful (new) homes we saw on the northern beaches earlier today.
7 October 2023
39 miles
We had a very lazy day today, but finally managed to get out of the hotel at 12:30. We drove to the end of North Carolina Route 12 to scope out the ferry terminal. The ferries to Ocracoke transport about 30 vehicles, assuming no oversized vehicles or RVs. From our observations, the ferry unloads, reloads, and heads back to Ocracoke in less than 20 minutes. As such, we will aim for the 10:00 ferry tomorrow morning and if that one is full, hopefully we will make it on to the 11:00 departure.
We left the port and headed back north to the Cape Hatteras Light Station. It has a very interesting history. The sea had encroached on its original position and was threatening to erode and topple it. So, plans were made to move the lighthouse ½ mile further inland. It was moved upright and intact – a true feat of engineering!
Following the lighthouse, we shopped at the Food Lion. We needed to stock up for a couple of nights of camping. This wasn’t quite as easy as it sounds, since we couldn’t find all that we were looking for. In the end, we made a return trip to Connors Supermarket, but they didn’t have fresh seafood, and we ultimately ended up at Diamond Shoals Seafood Market, where we were able to get fresh shrimp for dinner.
As an end note, when we got to the village of Hatteras (near the ferry), the homes were much nicer and larger! More like what we expected for the OBX. Also, we thought there would be a small business area with shops, boutiques, and cafés in a pedestrian friendly area. That is not the case at all. There are two small tourist shops and one bar/café at the ferry terminal and nothing more.