Cape Hatteras

Ah, now this is what I expected to see here.  We drove south on NC12 towards Buxton, and stopped at Cape Hatteras lighthouse.   At a height of 200 feet, this is deemed the tallest lighthouse in the US and the 23rd tallest in the world.  Visitors can get permits to climb to the top, but it is described as "strenuous", equivalent to 12 stories, with a handrail on only one side of the two way stairwell.  Considering Bob and I have bad colds, we can barely breathe as it is, and decided walking up and down 268 steps wouldn't be a good idea.  The beach here is beautiful, although this part of the seacoast is known as "the graveyard of the Atlantic" due to the treacherous currents, which have sunk over 600 vessels since the 1600's.  I walked  to the site of where the lighthouse used to stand.  Engraved in the original foundation stones are the names of the lighthouse keepers who tended to "The Guardian of the Graveyard". 

Journey to NC's Outer Banks May 7 2012

After leaving Sunset Beach, we traveled about 200 miles north on US 17, picked up US 64 East,, and then south on SR 12 at the Outer Banks of Cape Hatteras National Seashore to The Sands of Time RV park in Avon for a total of about 330 miles.  Along the way, we passed  tobacco fields, Belgian draft horses, swamp land, signs warning of red fox and bears, and crossed several rivers and waterways over amazingly  long bridges.  So far, though, the Outer Banks are a disappointment inasmuch as you can only get an occasional glimpse of the ocean behind the dunes and beach homes.  The road is a two lane highway, reminiscent of "the stretch" in the Keys.  The weather, however, is wonderful...68 degrees mid-day and breezy.  Definitely not beach weather, but nor is it the sweltering Florida heat. Tomorrow, we will explore a little further south.

Last night in Calabash

Sunday evening we met Jay & Paul at the Boundary House Restaurant in Calabash for dinner.  Wonderful evening of good food, drinks, and lively chatter...renewing friendships, reliving old memories and forging new ones....

 

Weekend in Calabash

Saturday morning, we headed back to Ocean Isles beach for a few hours.  It' a good thing I already posted some photos from there because I forgot my camera this time.  Later, we met Paul, his son and daughter-in-law, Sean & Elyssa, at a park in Shallotte, a little town north of Calbash, to watch Ryan (Paul & Jay's grandson) play  T-ball.  It was amazing to see such little kids whacking the ball (which were pitched to them, and not put on a T-stick unless they missed 5 pitches), running the bases, sliding into home, and showing good sportsmanship at game end.

In the evening, we met at Jay & Paul's beautiful home to watch the Kentucky Derby.  We had "placed our bets" with each other, and I won, picking first and second winners.  We were treated to mint juleps, tasty appetizers, and a delicious dinner.

The skies on Sunday looked as though it would rain, so we thought it would be a good day to run some errands and take care of laundry.  We headed south into North Myrtle Beach, SC, stopping at a flea market along the way.

Along US 17

Wishing Well  RV Park

 

  

Friday Night & 19th Hole May 4, 2012

Around 6 pm, we met with Jay & Paul and their group of  friends at the clubhouse, The 19th Hole, at Brunswick Plantation. In addition to Earl & Barbara and Howie & Donna, whom we met before, we met Cathy & Frank, recently transplanted from Long Island. 

 Outside the Clubhouse

The Clubhouse

 Jay & Paul

More of the 19th Hole-ers

 

Sunrise in FL to Sunset Beach, NC

Thursday morning, we met Gwen & Ellen at their favorite diner for breakfast, then finished packing up for our drive to Sunset Beach in NC.  Bob vowed that he would trade in the unit if we had another blowout, and I guess the threat worked.  We traveled over 500 miles in 9 hours with no problems.  We are at Wishing Well in Sunset Beach, a very nice campground we found about 3years ago.  It is about 5 miles from our friends, Jay and Paul, who have a home in Brunswick Plantation, and about 5 miles to the ocean.  Friday morning we went to the beach.  The parking area at Sunset was closed for "state of the art" improvements.  Bob is convinced it means changing free parking to parking meters.  So, we drove another 5 miles up the coast to Ocean Isles where we were able to park at a beach access.  It was still windy and overcast,  but we enjoyed the surf on an  outgoing tide.

Sunrise at Manatee Hammock

Ranch land along SR378 in SC

Marshes before the Sunset Beach

 Ocean Isles

Men Plan, God Laughs...

Or so the saying goes.  From Ellenton, we took SR 62 to 17 to 60, and just before Yeehaw Junction, on a stretch of road with nothing but Florida wilderness, we had another blow out, this time on the front driver's side of the unit.  Thankfully, Bob was able to find a place to pull off the road.  In the first photo, taken from inside the truck into the side mirror, that unrecognizable shape is Bob under the trailer.  (By the way, you should be able to enlarge any photo in the blog by right double clicking on it)  He also had a problem with the jack, but after much effort, he managed to get the spare on, and we continued on our way to Cocoa along 441, 192 and US 1.  What should have been about a 3 hour trip took us over 5 which pretty much killed any other plans for Monday.

Obviously something is not right for us to have so many blow outs.  So, on Tuesday, after talking with other RVers in Bob's chat room who have had similar misfortune with the tires made in China, Bob attempted to find heavier grade ones, preferably USA made, and also increased the air pressure in the shock air bags on the truck so that they would take some more weight off the trailer load.  That took us most of the morning and part of the afternoon.  At 3, Bob's sister, Gwen, and her friend, Ellen, joined us at the campground.

Wednesday was already ear marked to have Charlie Dog get his annual shots and some other needed care at the vet that Gwen works for in Palm Bay, about 45 minutes from our camp.   Our vet had recently retired, and we hadn't found a new one we felt comfortable with.  Gwen has always spoken highly of Susan, who has her community animal hospital on part of her farmland where she and her husband, Dave, are raising emus and ostriches.  After dropping off Charlie, we rode around the area sightseeing and doing some shopping.  Bob had gotten badly sunburn to the point of blistering when we were at Ft DeSoto, so he didn't want to go near the beach, and I have a bad cold and thought it would be best to avoid swimming for a few days.  We were able to pick Charlie Dog up at 2.  Poor guy had to have 5 teeth pulled, 3 non cancerous growths cut off, drops in his ears, and his shots.  Needless to say, he wasn't feeling like a  happy camper.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing "housekeeping" stuff...laundry and packing.  With that, our 3 day stay here is just about over.  Tomorrow we will be heading to Calabash, NC, with our fingers crossed.

Pictures from our campsite at  Manatee Hammock Campground with Indian River at one end of the park and the grounds behind us

A shot of the Vertical Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral across the Indian River from the end of the per at the campground

More scenes from the pier.  It was very windy, so we didn't think it would be good to try fishing.

Gwen and Ellen, both of whom worked on the launches for over 20 years at the Cape.

 The emus and the ostriches, aka The Big Birds

Indian River along US1