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Touring Adventure - Outerbanks of NC
March 2002 |
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Got up early. Nancy went for a run down the beach, once again finding out that you can never reach the pier you see in the distance. Ron was waiting at the motel lobby when they opened for morning coffee. It was a chilly morning with temps in the 40s, brisk wind, but sunny skies. When Nancy returned we dressed and rode over to Bob's Grill. This unique place had various T-shirts adorning the ceiling (wished we had one of ours with us to give them), an autographed surfboard to Bob, and the restaurant motto was "pay the cashier and get the hell out." While we were eating breakfast, one of the locals came over and said he was just returning from Daytona Bike Week. It was 8 in the morning and he looked like he was still ripped. Breakfast was okay, but we've had better - we passed on the crab omelet - ughhhhh. Returning to the room we packed and took a short ride over to the Wright Brothers Memorial. Here you can pay about $40 per person for a 30-minute flight in a open cockpit bi-plane. Good thing they were closed for the off-season because we might have taken them up on the offer. The monument sits atop a 200-foot Kill Devils Hill. The hill is actually a sand dune that has moved 430 feet from its original location in 1903. The hill was finally stabilized by the government with sea oats and walking pathways. At the top of the monument you can see the original flight path, not to mention the beautiful view of the ocean. December 17, 2003 will mark the 100th anniversary. They will be recreating the original flight with a replica plane. From here we headed north on 158, a four lane business district road, and then took 12 north along the beach. This two-lane road took us through many swanky residential sections. These summer homes, many unoccupied, were large and expensive. We passed through the town of Duck - an upscale seaside community with one of the first coffee houses we had seen on our trip. Here you could rent a kayak, pontoon boat, jet ski, parasail, or bicycle if you want. With the temps at 49 degrees it was even too cold for any water sports. Heading further north we came to Corrolla with a large water tower labeled Corrolla Light - sounded like a new beer. We then found the Currituck Lighthouse, one of the newer lighthouses built in 1873. The lighthouse exhibit and tour are open from Easter to Thanksgiving. This is one of the few lighthouses that you can still climb to the top for a view of the coast. Next door we toured Whalehead, originally a hunt club built by E.C. Knight, Jr. for his wife, who was not allowed to join the traditional all-male hunt clubs. Currituck County purchased this property for public use in 1992. It's a beautiful place to bring a picnic lunch and walk the grounds. Returning south on 12 we noted many rental houses and commented on how crowded it must be in the summer on this two lane resort roadway. Backtracking to Nags Head we took 158 causeway back towards the mainland looking for a place to have lunch and thaw out. We passed several restaurants, with two or three cars in the parking lot and then spied a nice looking place where the parking lot was full. Figuring the food must be good, we pulled in. On entering we noticed pictures of George W. Bush with another man who must have been the restaurant owner. While eating our soup and fried oysters the same man who was in the pictures came over asked how our lunch was and welcomed us to the area. He actually knew where Robbinsville was, which surprised us. Nancy went back for a closer look at the pictures and noticed that the man was Marc Basnight - President of the North Carolina General Assembly. We found out from the waitress that his wife and daughter owned the restaurant and he enjoys playing host when he's in town. Our entire lunch, which was the best food on the entire trip, cost only $15. We highly recommend the Lone Cedar Cafe for great food, excellent service, and a unique waterfront atmosphere. We then rode west onto Roanoke Island and stopped at the Lost Colony visitor center. The museum and visitor center was open, but the popular live re-enactment only runs seasonally. Seems the English sent some explorers over in 1584 who had problems with the Indians and food. They returned to England two years later only to be replaced by 110 colonists in 1587. These colonists had completely disappeared by 1590 when ships returned with provisions. It is believed that these early settlers were either killed or assimilated into the native Indian tribes. We then continued west on 64 and took a left on 264 south. This is some of the most desolate, piney woods country we have ever seen. We covered some 50 miles in about 30 minutes on three and four mile straight-aways with no traffic and no side roads. The only traffic we saw were several F-16s that buzzed us after they completed a bombing run on the adjacent Naval bombing range. As we moved further inland, we saw huge farms. Here tractors tilling the black soil were followed by flocks of seagulls feasting on the worms and grubs being turned over by the plowing. We finally reached Bellhaven and took 99 south to catch the ferry at Bayview (be careful if you are using DeLorme computer mapping, they show 99 as 92). Arriving at the ferry at 4:30 with empty fuel tanks, we learned the next ferry was still an hour away. We decided to find a motel for the night and make the crossing in the morning. We headed east to Bath, the oldest town in North Carolina and stopped at the Bath Harbor Motel by the marina. The motel wanted $69 per night which we thought was a little steep for an off-season Monday night, and it wasn't exactly "swanky". We asked if they would drop the rate - but the owner was a stubborn bone head. We headed on to Washington, another 16 miles down the road and stayed at the Econo Lodge for $43. Econo for sure, we had to pay for ice, there was no clock, and not even free shampoo - but the room was clean and $26 cheaper than the Bath Motel! And there was a Burger King right across the street !!.
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