“USA 🇺🇸 North Carolina ~Part 2 of 2 Outer Banks Adventure: Bodie Island, Rodanthe, Hattaras, Okracoke Island and More!”

 


Part 2 of 2: Our Outer Banks Adventure Continues…..


If you missed Part 1 of my 2 Part Blog Series, I will provide a link for Part 1, at the end of this blog

 

…..We left Ronaoake Island and continued, South, on Highway 12, where we would begin traveling along the Cape Hattaras National Seashore, where our next stop would be Bodie Island.

 

 

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore, on the Outer Banks, stretches from Bodie Island, all the way to the southern tip of Ocracoke Island.

 

 

South Nags Head

South Nags Head is part of the town of Nags Head, up north, where it begins, at roughly Mile Post 16.5, which is also the location of Jennette’s Pier.

South Nags Head runs all the way down to roughly Mile Post 25, boarding the Pea Island Wild Life refuge. South Nags Head is nestled away at the southernmost part of the Northern Beaches, located near Cape Hatteras National Sea Shore home to the famous bird sanctuary and reserve Pea Island.

This area offers beautiful serene views and is quiet, with less light pollution, offering a more old school OBX experience.

 

 


Bodie Island Lighthouse

 

 

The Bodie Island Lighthouse, as it stands today, is the third such beacon, built, to help mariners maneuver the coast from Cape Hatteras to Currituck Beach.

The original Bodie Island Lighthouse was built in 1847, on the south side of Oregon Inlet in an area known today as Pea Island. Abandoned twelve years later, due to a poor foundation, the lighthouse was rebuilt in 1859, again south of the inlet, but was blown up in 1861 by retreating Confederate troops who feared the Union would use it to their advantage for navigation.

Today’s Bodie Island Lighthouse was completed in 1872 on the north side of Oregon Inlet, near the northern border of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

The familiar black and white horizontal striped structure was partly built of materials leftover from the construction of the newest Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, (which we will get to, soon)

Standing 150 feet high, and equipped with a first-order Fresnel lens, it flashes its 160,000 candlepower beacon 19 miles over the ocean.

The Currituck Beach Lighthouse, which we visited on our first day of this road trip, is considered its architectural twin. ⬇️




 

 

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Not my photo, but just love this aerial view!

 

 

Next up, we headed for Rodanthe

 

 

 

Take note:

Did you know that the World Atlas states that there are more than 3 million shipwrecks under the ocean waters around the world, many of which haven’t even been located yet?

The “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” off our North Carolina Outer Banks coast certainly has its share of them! It is estimated there are 3,000 shipwrecks, along the islands, going back to the first English settlements in America.


Rodanthe

This area of Rodanthe, also used to include villages named: Waves and Salvo. These three distinct early settlements, were once referred to as the Chicamacomico Banks.

Believe it or not, this area was heavily wooded, and these three small settlements were separated by creeks and bridges, only. However, even though these settlements were friendly and tight knit, their separation in topography and varied interests, caused them to grow, individually.

As of 1850 the census reported the area with 37 families, with a total of only 205 people living in the area. The villages of Rodanthe and Waves were the more closely knit of the trio.

The original name for Rodanthe was actually North Chicamacomico, and then Waves was simply called South Chicamacomico. At that time Salvo was originally referred to as Clarks or sometimes Clarksville.

Although the three villages were closely located geographically, Clarks functioned more independently then its two northern neighbors.

As might be expected, the Chicamacomico Banks had many historical ties to the Manteo and Wanchese areas. Also, despite the reputation of being people from a very isolated area, the locals from the area were actually well traveled because of the area’s close connections with the US Coast Guard and family relocations all up and down the east coast.

For a few decades of the mid-twentieth century, Rodanthe was the northernmost stop of the Manteo-Hatteras Bus Line, which used sand roads. This bus line helped familiarize the southern Hatteras Island villagers with their northern neighbors.

Rodanthe also had the distinction of having the area’s only man-made refuge, for boats in the region. In 1936 the US Coast Guard built a channel and T-shaped harbor, which was named the Blackmar Gut. They used the location for the US Chicamacomico Coast Guard Station we stopped at, earlier,

Today, nearly all remnants of the earlier villages have all but disappeared, along with much of the original natural landscape.

Many, like myself, remember watching the movie “Nights in Rodanthe;” in 2008, based on Nicholas Sparks book. Well, I was obsessed with this beach house they used in that movie, and I vowed to see it, in real life, one day.

That day was, today, 16 years, later.

 

 

Unfortunately, I did not get there, in time, to see it, in its original location; directly on the beach, but it is still a magnificent structure, seen in its new location, with quite the story of its transformational journey,


 

 

Not my photos, but this is where the home stood, originally, and at the time the movie was filmed ⬇️


 

 

Just two years, after the movie was released, in 2010, the big news in Rodanthe, was the moving of the star of the movie “Nights in Rodanthe.” The iconic house, known to locals as “Seredipity,” but to movie goers as “The Inn at Rodanthe,” was moved.

For years, the first house that you came to, as you arrive in the village of Rodanthe, was notable. The large oceanfront home (an amazing 45 feet tall), with the weathered siding, distinctive roof lines and blue shutters, was always the focus of attention, as drivers slowed from highway speeds to the local 35 mile per hour zone.

With its pilings never more than a few feet from the high tide line in the best weather conditions, folks always wondered how the property fared, after any given storm.

Over the past few years it seemed countless times the ocean would breach the dune line, just to the north of the old cottage, and her driveway would disappear under inches of sand only to be dug out again.The cottage always weathered the storms, with its pilings sunk deep into the sand, in concrete sleeves, but there was always the thought in the back of the local’s minds, that the Ocean is a force that can’t be held back, even by an epic movie star like “Serendipity,” and one day she would exit, like so many before her.

The fall storms inexorably moved the ocean farther west, and one particular Nor’easter, combined with the remnants of Hurricane Ida (local weather folks named the storm “Nore-ida”) finally did “Serendipity” in.

The owners were hit with a nuisance declaration by Dare County and told the house had to be moved, or destroyed, because after the storm, the pilings on the east side of the house were officially standing IN the Atlantic ocean. The county officials were concerned about the safety of visitors, who were constantly stopping at the house to take pictures, and see for themselves the house that was the Hollywood star.

As everyone was speculating about what the owners of the property would do, the names Ben and Debbie Huss of Newton, North Carolina emerged, as the saviors of the property.

They translated their love for the movie, into the purchase of the home from the former owners, on January 4th, 2010. The Husses vowed not only to move the house from its location “in” the Ocean, to another location in Rodanthe, but also restore the home to its former glory in the movie “Nights in Rodanthe.”

The Huss family hired Expert House Movers (who was also the company that moved the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse), and the infamous Matyiko brothers, who own Expert House Movers, moved on the job quickly.

The house, which weighed in at a whopping 83,000 pounds, was jacked-up, and shored-up with cribbing underneath, loaded up on beams and with four pairs of huge wheels, readied it for its move, in a matter of just two days.

Permits were pulled, electric crews stood by to move power lines, as did the police, to stop traffic, while the behemoth was to take the approximate 30 minute journey down highway 12, to its new location.

The original move was scheduled for Friday, January 15th, and as the pilings were cut away and the massive truck pulled into position to move the big girl, everyone gathered in anticipation. The house jostled to the left as she started moving and everyone cheered, as she was pulled away from the Atlantic.

Unfortunately the excitement was short lived, as the house evidently wanted to stay in its long-time location, for one more weekend. The massive truck got its wheels stuck in the sand, as it was trying to pull the house out of its birthplace, and with nightfall coming fast, the move had to be rescheduled for the following Monday.

On Monday, January 18th with the truck unstuck, its wheels secure, all police, electrical, cable television and telephone company crews ready to take down their lines again; water department folks standing by, department of transportation officials there to supervise, and a village of onlookers in position, the house was moved at 10:30 AM.

The move was uneventful, if you don’t count the news helicopters, and hundreds of onlookers gawking at a once-in-a-lifetime sight. It took less than 20 minutes for her to find her new location on Beacon Road, and by the next day, the site that once hosted the grand old house, had been cleaned up and the Atlantic Ocean had made it look like nothing had ever been there.

Today, the grand structure is a called the “Inn at Rodanthe.” She is open for business and here’s the link for more info.

 

 

https://www.surforsound.com/hatteras-vacation-rental/property/1045

 

Well, that was a very fun stop, but we moved on down the highway, to explore more sites; the next one being another Life-Saving Station, part of the many that used to dot the eastern seaboard, back in the day.

 

Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station

 

 

With its two stations and five outbuildings, Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station (pronounced chi-ka-ma-COM-i-co) is the most complete site of all remaining life-saving stations, in North Carolina, and one of the most complete sites in the nation.

This site and museum is located on Hatteras Island in the village of Rodanthe on the Outer Banks.

Visitors will find heroes, the early history of US Life-Saving Service/US Coast Guard in North Carolina and the home of the state’s very first trained, shore-based rescue responders –

Chicamacomico was the first of seven Life-Saving Stations built in North Carolina in 1874, and is one of the most unique historical maritime sites on the East coast. The original building at Chicamacomico, commissioned December 4, 1874, was the first Life-Saving Service staffed in North Carolina.

Chicamacomico features two original Life-Saving Service/Coast Guard station buildings and their accompanying structures, such as cook houses, stable, water towers, a potable water beehive cistern, and assorted period rescue equipment. The unique historic site is carefully preserved and protected by the Chicamacomico Historical Association with help of dedicated local volunteers and generous contributors.

 

 

The US Coast Guard recognizes the 1918 “Mirlo” rescue by the Chicamacomico station, as one of the top rescues in maritime service’s history.

Late, in World War I, daring, well-trained Chicamacomico surfmen, led by the station’s Keeper John Allen Midgett, saved 42 sailors of the British tanker Mirlo, from a fiery Atlantic, after the ship was struck by a torpedo from German U-boat 117.  The actual surfboat No. 1046 used in the Mirlo rescue, photos, interviews, period and replica equipment which would have been used by these heroes and a sense of their daily lives can be found at the Chicamacomico site.

 

 

Moving along, we continued to enjoy this very beautiful, and historic area.

 

Hattaras

 

 

It is quite windy here, making it the perfect place for wind surfing enthusiasts.

Historians believe that the earliest residents of Hatteras Island date back to about 500 AD. Made up of small tribes of natives, these first locals lived off of seafood and game caught locally. The natives lived peacefully and never had any challenges with the weather or other tribes in the area.

Hatteras Island was also one of the first regions that was “discovered” by New World explorers, and was where the famed Lost Colony originally landed, before heading north to Roanoke Island. Though the fate of the Lost Colony is still not fully known, some historians believe that the original 116 settlers moved south to Hatteras Island to escape hostile Roanoke Island tribes. 

The island was effectively settled by European colonists in the 1700s, and was populated for the next several centuries by a small, but hardy local population that depended on commercial fishing and hunting, the North Carolina lumber trade, and sustenance farming.

 

 


By the late 1800s, the ocean waters off of Hatteras Island were among the most traveled, and the most dangerous for coastal mariners, due to the infamous Diamond Shoals. The US government was forced to step in after dozens, if not hundreds of shipwrecks were recorded in the region, within a few decades’ time.

 

 

In search of the Hattaras Lighthouse, we got out on the beach for a bit. When we drove to the lighthouse site, we were surprised to find it under restoration. It happens, and it is a good thing, they take care of these relics the way they do.


 

 

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Not my photo, but here is this lighthouse, without scaffolding.

Construction of a lighthouse at Cape Hatteras was first authorized in 1794, when Congress recognized the danger posed to Atlantic shipping. However, construction did not begin until 1799.

The first lighthouse was lit in October of 1803. Made of sandstone, it was 90 feet tall with a lamp powered by whale oil.

The 1803 lighthouse was unable to effectively warn ships of the dangerous Diamond Shoals, because it was too short, the unpainted sandstone blended in with the background, and the signal was not strong enough to reach mariners. Additionally, the tower was poorly constructed and maintained. Frequent complaints were made regarding the lighthouse.

In 1853, following studies made by the Lighthouse Board, it was decided to add 60 feet to the height of the lighthouse, thereby, making the tower 150 feet tall. The newly extended tower was then painted red on top of white, making the lighthouse more recognizable during the day. At the same time, the tower was retrofitted with a first order Fresnel lens, which used refraction as well as reflection to channel the light, resulting in a stronger beam.

By the 1860s, with the need for extensive repairs, Congress decided to appropriate funds for a new lighthouse. The Lighthouse Board prepared plans and specifications, and construction on the new lighthouse began in October of 1868.

Since the lighthouse was built before the present-day pile driver was perfected, an interesting problem immediately arose. The ground water levels on the Outer Banks are quite high and, therefore, when they began digging out the pit for the lighthouse foundation, it filled with water about four feet down. Working with the natural conditions, the foreman, Dexter Stetson, used a “floating foundation” for the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. This meant that layered; 6 foot x 12 foot yellow pine timbers were laid crossways in the foundation pit below the water table. Granite plinths (rock layers) were placed on to the top of the timbers.

The new lighthouse was lit on December 16, 1870. The 1803 lighthouse was demolished in February of 1871.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse received the famous black and white stripe daymark pattern in 1873. The Lighthouse Board assigned each lighthouse a distinctive paint pattern (daymark) and light sequence (nightmark) to allow mariners to recognize it from all others during the day and night, as they sailed along the coast.

The lighthouse is a conical brick structure rising from an octagon-shaped brick and granite base and topped with an iron and glass lantern. It is the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States and measures 198.49 feet from the bottom of the foundation, to the top of the pinnacle of the tower.

This height was needed to extend the range of the light-beam from the tower’s low-lying beach site. The tower’s sturdy construction includes exterior and interior brick walls with interstitial walls resembling the spokes of a wheel. There are 269 steps from the ground to the lens room of the lighthouse.

The Fresnel lens installed in the 1870 lighthouse was powered by kerosene, and could be seen approximately 16 miles from the shore. The keeper had to manually rewind the clockwork apparatus, each day. The Fresnel lens usually took 12 hours for a complete cycle.

When the lamp was electrified, in 1934, the manual mechanism was no longer needed. Damaged by vandals, the giant glass Fresnel lens had to be replaced by a modern aero beacon, in 1950. Today, electricity provides the rotating power and a photocell turns the light on and off.

Due to threatening beach erosion, the Bureau of Lighthouses decommissioned the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in 1935. The beacon was then moved to a skeletal steel tower, until 1950. On November 9, 1937, the Cape Hatteras Light Station was transferred to the National Park Service.

In 1950, the Coast.Guard returned the beacon; a 250,000 candlepower, to the lighthouse, since the beach had rebuilt over the years in front of the lighthouse. In 1972, the beacon was increased to 800,000 candlepower.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, efforts were made to stabilize the beach in front of the lighthouse, which had started to erode, again. In March of 1980, a winter storm swept away the remains of the 1803 lighthouse and caused significant dune erosion.

In 1999, after years of study and debate, the Cape Hatteras Light Station was moved to its present location. The lighthouse was moved 2,900 feet in 23 days and now lies 1,500 feet from the seashore, its original distance from the sea. The Double Keepers’ Quarters, the Principal Keeper’s Quarters, the dwelling cisterns, and the oil house were all relocated with the lighthouse.

The National Park Service currently maintains the lighthouse and the keepers’ quarters. The U.S. Coast Guard operates and maintains the automated light.

Incidentally, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the tallest brick lighthouse in North America, standing at 198.49 feet.

 

It was getting later in the day, and we were getting quite hungry by this time, and we were looking forward to checking in at our motel on the beach.

 

 

Being so far south at this point, Hatteras Island is often described as experiencing the Outer Banks, just as it was, 40 years ago. Unlike the locations up north, this area is quieter, less developed and has a notable laid-back attitude.

With the sound to the west and the ocean to the east, you’ll notice that most of the area, except for the small towns that dot the road, is undeveloped, since it’s owned by the National Park Service, which provides a vista that’s the same as you would have seen 200 years ago. That fact is pretty special.

Our motel choice was standard and just fine for our 1-night needs. We recommend.

 

 

⬆️ I got us checked-in, and on the counter was this basket and what I thought was a stuffed animal, in it. She was real, and enjoyed some loving on, by me, and it was clear she has the run of the place.

 

 

We got settled in our room and headed out for something to eat. There were not a lot of choices for what interested us, and those would be closed, till 4 or 5PM.

We picked the 4PM place and had the best Hush Puppies we’ve ever had. The special was shrimp and pasta, which was pretty good, too.

 

 

We were ready to call it a day, and then headed back to our room.

Getting an early-ish start, next day was important. We would need to drive the 30-minutes to the ferry terminal, for our visit to Okracoke Island.

We wanted to get there before the busy part of the day, so we didn’t have to wait in line, too long, if the ferries filled up.

Commercial vehicles take priority, then tourist or local vehicles. When it’s super busy, it’s commercial vehicles, local vehicles, then tourists.

 


Okracoke Island

Ocracoke Island’s first residents were a small tribe of Native Americans who were known as the “Woccocock.” Many historians believe that subsequent mispronunciations of this name by explorers, colonists, and later residents, eventually led to the island’s moniker of “Ocracoke.”


 

Our travel day to Okracoke Island has arrived. I was reminded of our road trip in Florida, (on a smaller scale) as we traveled the Keys, all the way down to Key West, with a sound on one side, and the Ocean on the other.

There are long bridges, and lots of water, with quaint towns to drive through.  We kinda love this scene!

Our perfect weather took a change, sometime in the night. We did not have sunshine and it decided to rain a little. We kept positive that it would blow over, for our time on Okracoke, and it did.

 

 

We arrived at the ferry and timed it just right, to get on the 8AM ride. This ferry service is free and they do run every 30 minutes till midnight, and in all kinds of weather (sans hurricanes).

 

 

The ride took just over an hour, and where we were directed to be, on the ferry, had us under cover and in a pretty tight row, so there was no opening our doors without getting them dinged up. We just sat and waited.

 

 

….And we arrived and drove off the ferry

 

 

The earliest record of the island’s name, on a map made by English explorer John White in 1585, designates the inlet as “Wokokon.” Subsequent spellings include “Woccocock,” “Oakacock” and “Okercock.” The name derives from the Woccon tribe of Native Americans, who lived in the mainland tidewater and established fishing and hunting outposts on the island. The inlet, the island and the village now all carry the name Ocracoke, which, incidentally, is pronounced like the vegetable and the soft drink.

One of the expeditions Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored between 1584 and 1587 landed here, and in 1715, a little more than a century after Jamestown was settled, the North Carolinian colonial assembly saw fit to pass an act placing pilots on the island. Many colonists lamented the hazards of the changing shoals of Ocracoke inlet, and the first residents guided boats over the shallow bar.

The isolated inlet was also prone to smuggling. One man in particular was comfortable navigating the waters of Pamlico Sound, and in 1718 Edward Teach, or Blackbeard, was caught and beheaded, as he and his ship hid in waters behind the island.

After the pirate’s death, people were more willing to settle, and by the time of the first census in 1790: 135 whites, two free persons of color and 31 slaves, lived on Ocracoke. There were 23 households and nine family names, most of which remain prominent, today: Bragg, Garrish, Gaskins, Howard, Jackson, Neale (in the 1800 census amended to O’Neal), Salter, Scarborough and Williams.

Early settlers kept livestock, fished and grew vegetables. The men piloted locally or worked on merchant ships traveling routes from New York to the West Indies. Through the Revolutionary and Civil wars remarkably little seems to have changed.

During the Revolutionary War, the shifting sands that had confounded early settlers enabled seafarers to foil the British Blockade. During the Civil War the Outer Banks quickly fell to Union Troops. Apparently islanders went about business as usual, in spite of the occupying army.

After World War II, a growing middle class found its way to Ocracoke. The Navy had paved the first road and deepened Cockle Creek, which was given the more picturesque name of Silver Lake.

More changes took place, in the second half of the 20th century than at any other time in the island’s settled history. Throughout the 1950s, the village’s roads were gradually paved.

A National Park Service Seashore was established in 1953, including everything but the 775 acres of village on the northwest side of the island. Prior to 1956, all telephone calls had to be made or received at the Coast Guard Station.

In 1957 North Carolina bought the four-car ferry that Mr. Frazier Peele ran, between Ocracoke and Hatteras, and in the early 1960s the state purchased the vessel Sea Level, which traveled the Cedar Island route.

In 1977, a water system provided an alternative to cisterns and hand pumps. Tourism now dominates the economy, and each year the number of visitors increases.

The island is not very big, so the drive to town took us about 15 minutes, plus we stopped to look at the wild horses.

 

 

Like neighboring barrier islands that also feature wild horses, specifically the communities of Carova to the north and the Shakleford Banks to the south, the Ocracoke Wild Ponies are direct descendants of shipwrecks.

European explorers had been skimming by the Outer Banks as early as the 1500s, and more than one ship was lost to the rough and shifting waters, that lay just offshore.

The Diamond Shoals are the most notable hindrance to mariners, as this collection of always-changing sand bars have historically caused hundreds, if not thousands of ships to run aground, while still in the middle of the ocean. As a result, they would be subsequently battered and destroyed, by the onslaught of approaching waves.

Hurricanes and winter storms did their fair share of damage, as well. Early explorers and mariners had limited methods of determining when a fast-approaching nor’easter, or summer squall was on the horizon.

The end result is a history of Outer Banks shipwrecks that begins with the very first explorers, and many historians postulate that the arrival of these mysterious horses on the beach, coincided with just such an ancient shipwreck.

The very first Spanish explorers of the 1500s, often skirted the coastline with cargo holds filled with gifts, both for and from the New Worlds of the West Indies. These goods included coffee, sugar, tools and supplies, and of course, Spanish Mustangs, which were instrumental work horses for the new settlements, as well as modes of transportation for the explorers, once onshore.

Some historians believe that the arrival of the Ocracoke horses can be traced back to a Spanish shipwreck that occurred in 1565.

The ship; Tiger, which was commandeered by Sir Richard Greenville, ran aground just off the coast of Ocracoke, and many believe that Greenville unloaded all of his livestock, and specifically the Spanish Mustangs, ashore.

As a more general theory of the Wild Ponies arrival, historians point out that when a ship did get stuck in the shallow regions of the Shoals, they unloaded their heaviest goods, so the ship wouldn’t be quite so weighted down, and this practice included throwing livestock overboard, to lighten the load.

In any case, reports of the Wild Ponies can be traced back to the 1730s, when Ocracoke’s earliest settlers discovered them, and realized that they were a beneficial addition to the newfound communities.

Over the following centuries, the horses were used as beasts of burden for manual labor,

 

Though once they roamed, wild all over the island, the Ocracoke Banker Ponies have been penned for their protection, and cared for, by the National Park Service, since 1959.

They have 188 acres of sound-side beach and marsh to explore, but prefer to hang around their paddocks and stables, especially at feeding time. They are timid and feral around people, so proper distances must be maintained.


 

 

Erosion has been a huge issue for this area, as far back as when the road was put in. Gigantic sand bags are filled and stack along the route, then covered with lays of loose, but packed on sand to create a barrier from rough seas.

It is not unusual to see heavy equipment cleaning the road and continually building up the dune. 







 

We were hungry for a yummy breakfast, and some good coffee, so we stopped in town at the only obvious place to do so, for said breakfast. It was delicious and the customer service was the best.

 

 

After breakfast, we took a fun drive all through the coastal town and played one of our favorite games of  “oh, look at that place. I could live there.”









 

 

There were a few cemetery’s, too.




 

 

Time to find the lighthouse…

 

 


The Ocracoke Lighthouse was built in 1823. It is the oldest working lighthouse in North Carolina, and the second oldest working lighthouse in the nation!

Unique among the Outer Banks lighthouses, Ocracoke is an inlet, light rather than a coastal light. Its job is to guide ships, safely through Ocracoke Inlet.

Ocracoke Lighthouse stands about 75 feet tall. Its diameter narrows from 25 feet at the base, to 12 feet at its peak. The walls are solid brick – 5 feet thick at the bottom, tapering to 2 feet at the top. An octagonal lantern crowns the tower and houses the light beacon.

 

 

Our great adventure was coming to an end, after several hours on Okracoke Island. She was like the grand finale of this awesome road trip, which could not have been better!

We drove back to the ferry terminal and got lucky again with only waiting in line, once, and caught the ferry back to Hattaras.

We got a better placement on board, too, and could get out and walk around. The weather was still nice.




 

 

Small world story:

Last year was our summer/2023 in Alaska, in our Motorhome, with Jonah in tow.

Today, as we were in line to board the ferry from  Okracoke, we saw this familiar sticker on the vehicle in front of us.

There is a FB group called RVing Alaska which we were part of. The moderators sold these stickers, so if people got them and applied them, as we all traveled along, we would notice they were part of the community from FB, on the road. 

During the ferry ride, Daryl, who does not know a stranger, visited with the traveler in the van, and they reminisced about Alaska, though we all, clearly continue to adventure in new places ….

#notsuchasmallworld

 

 

Before leaving Hattaras, we were sure to stop at a seafood market (one of many) to get fresh clams.

One thing we were thinking we would get on this trip was a bowl of creamy Clam Chowder, but the type of Clam Chowder in the OBX is a broth-ey version, and not the thick and creamy New England kind we love. So, with our fresh clams, I made New England style, after we got back to The Whale.

Daryl says I make the best Clam Chowder he has ever eaten. He’s not lying. 🤥 My family lived in Massachusetts for a few years, when I was young. My mom made good clam chowder, and learned from the best. I perfected the recipe even more, by making it thicker and creamier.


We then pointed Baloo, due North, and made our way back to The Whale. It would be a 3.5 hour drive, back to Coinjock, in West Outer Banks. Our weather held, while we were on Ocracoke, for which we were so grateful, but our drive home was wet and stormy. The temperatures were warm, though.

 

 

All was well, upon our return to The Whale, and truly it was nice to get back to our home on wheels. We got to enjoy some lazy days, and plenty of time for me to work on these blog posts, which literally take days, before packing things up and heading back to our long-term camp ground.


Sunrise on Our Last Glamping Morning in the OB 


 

⬆️ View of The Whale from the water 

 

 

Chelsie had us over for dinner for our first evening home, and we so looked forward to that, and getting to seeing everybody again!

We missed them!!! ❤️


As promised, if interested, here is a link to show our first trip to the Outer Banks, back in 2021, to Shakleford’s Lookout Cape; where we all walked a lot, to find the wild horses. It was a fun day!

https://2gypsiesinthewind.com/northamerica/united-states/north-carolina/usa-outer-banks-in-north-carolina-shakleford-lookout-cape-wild-horses-and-more/

 

Also, if you missed Part 1 of this 2-Part; current, Outer Banks adventure, here is the link for Part 1:

 https://2gypsiesinthewind.com/northamerica/united-states/north-carolina/usa-x1f1fax1f1f8-north-carolina-part-1-of-2-of-our-outer-banks-adventure-coinkock-currituck-corolla-duck-kitty-hawk-devil-kill-hills-roanoke-islandmanteo-and-more/

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Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More