How We Spent Our Summer Vacation – The Seventh Week

Over the next days (still at Tranter’s Creek) we went for a drive around the area a couple of different times. We found a couple restaurants, but they seemed to be closed on the days we wanted to eat at them. We also found time to just hang around. Julian even gave fishing another try. Here’s proof.

Have you guessed it? No fish were caught here. But the river was gorgeous. The weather was hot, but not unbearable. We really enjoyed our time at Tranter’s Creek.

Tuesday was not only a travel day, but Julian’s birthday. Thankfully, it wasn’t a really long drive, only about 140 miles to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. What a beautiful drive! We had three or four bridges to cross to get out there. They seemed massive and really, really high in the RV. That made me nervous, but I also knew it was silly – cars and trucks and RVs crossed those bridges every day with no consequences.

We arrived at Camp Hatteras in the town of Waves by around 1:00 pm. We got set up and then took a quick dip in the Atlantic, just over the dunes from our camp site. Here’s a shot of the campground. Just over the dunes in the distance was the ocean.

We hadn’t stopped to eat any lunch. So we got cleaned up and went in search of a drink and a snack. We enjoyed the snack so much that we returned to the same restaurant for dinner. That was just a delicious.

The weather was still good the next day there. We started off with a two-mile walk on the beach. Then we got cleaned up and drove south the Cape Hatteras. Here’s the lighthouse out there.

When we got close to home, we stopped at the fishing pier. We walked out and talked to several people. But we didn’t try fishing; we hadn’t brought the gear for it. But I think this had to be the crookedest pier I have ever seen. It did seem solid, though.

On Thursday, Hurricane Ernesto was approaching the Carolinas. It was rainy off and on all day. But we didn’t stay home and wait. We drove south again and took the ferry across to Ocracoke Island. I think we were a little late in the season – several places were closed. Or maybe it was just the weather. In any case, we didn’t find much to do, nor even a good restaurant (though I’m sure they exist there).

Once we got back to the campsite, we knew wind was inevitable. So, we took in the awning and made sure everything was stowed that could have blown or floated away. We went out to dinner at a place called Down Under. We had kangaroo for an appetizer. It was good and, no, it didn’t taste like chicken.

We had cable TV here, so we were able to keep close tabs on the hurricane. We watched the Weather Channel whenever we were in the coach. We pulled in the slide-outs to make ourselves less wind resistant. We went to bed and listened to the rain off and on all night.

I’ve already written the detailed story of the tornado that hit our campground that next morning. We were extremely lucky that we were not affected by it – other than the huge scare we had.

The weather cleared slightly as the day progressed. It didn’t rain, but stayed very cloudy. Our site, however, was under water – about ankle-deep.

So we moved to a new site, just across from where we were. Not a big deal, but now we had a dry area when stepping out of the coach.

We hung around all day. Julian had heard that the roads were closed due to high water. So in the afternoon we went to the rec center and played a few games of pool. But then the kids started piling in and the noise level increased beyond our desire to stay. We had fun though and it was a good diversion for a while.

The next day was clear and warm. We walked the beach again. This is a view from the top of the dune looking south. It was nice to see the waves calmer again.

It was Saturday, so time for laundry and other mundane chores. That stuff doesn’t stop just because you are traveling.