Month: May 2024

May 2, 2024

Our wonderful pattern starts with a lazy morning. We have just enough cellular to use a slow internet and find out what is going on in the world, check emails and the weather. There is a big cell tower just this side of the village, but we are 3 miles away.

At 10:00 we went for an hour walk on the beautiful beach. Walking north, we saw a whole lineup of trucks and fishermen a half mile up the beach. Pelicans were working a small area, diving into the ocean to get fish. It’s fun to watch. Surely this was the place to fish, although they were a bit out of range of a good cast. 

Martha walked right up to the first fisherman, asking why there were so many fishermen today. A pleasant, nice-looking man, he said there is a fishing tournament going on with teams of six. He said no one had caught anything significant, although he caught a three-foot shark, which doesn’t count. 

Headed back down the beach, the pelicans seemed to be doing well with their fishing, some just sitting, apparently with full bellies. Looking south, we could see only a few people on the beach on a perfect day with just a mild breeze.

We changed into biking gear and biked three miles into town. As we approached town, all the tournament fishermen were coming to town for lunch and traffic had come to a standstill. A tournament organizer was motioning them to keep moving. Thankfully, they had a designated place to go for lunch.

We were out of tea, so we found the most unusual tea shop, Moonraker Tea Shop. Glass containers of loose leaf teas lined the walls, five shelves high on three walls of the shop. Herbal teas, black teas, green teas and mixtures of teas with seasonings or herbs for any possible mood or ailment. Shelves in the front were lined with various tea cookies. 

In the middle were shelves of honeys, syrups and jams. There were teapots, expresso pots, books and instruction pamphlets. 

Martha talked with the lady as she measured out our four choices bagged and labeled them. Martha asked about Edwardo’s Food Truck, where she had already decided we would eat lunch. The tea lady said her son has labeled Edwardo’s the best restaurant in the world.

We walked across a parking lot to Edwardo’s. A yard had tables with umbrellas for shade. Martha put her bike helmet on a small table before going up to order. Work trucks lined the street, parked in the grass while they got their lunch. 

We should have split our order, but Martha ordered shrimp tacos while I ordered a chicken bowl for $16. As we walked to the table, a nice young man asked where we had ridden from. “The campground,” I answered before I realized we had on Bike Vermont shirts on. Martha said we had taken a bike tour with them in Maine years ago. He said he understood as his wife does bike tours with Bike Virginia, and was doing a tour in West Virginia.

It was probably Edwardo’s nice wife who called “Rick” for his order. As he came back, he asked where we were from. Turns out he was from Standardsville, but grew up in Lexington, Va. Rick’s job was cutting, trimming and pruning trees. I couldn’t even eat half of my excellent chicken bowl with lots of chicken, black beans, lettuce, chopped tomatoes, rice and avocado, but it would feed both of us for dinner.

As we walked back to the bikes, a young lady asked where we were from. She was from the town in the middle of Martha’s shirt in Vermont. We asked what brought her to Ocracoke. “Oh, we just came over for the day.” We live on Cedar Island.” 

As we got on our bikes a young lady put her little girl with beautiful blue eyes on a front seat of her bike. She asked where we were from. Maybe people thought we had ridden our bikes from Vermont. We have definitely seen some serious bikers, but we were certainly not. She was from Colorado. They just wanted a change of pace, and they no doubt got it. Her husband is from North Carolina, and they wanted the challenge of learning how to survive in a remote small town. 

On the way out of town we stopped at Fig Tree Bakery to get some fig cake, which Ocracoke is known for. They have lots of fig trees. We came out with a fig cake, a scone and a brownie. The dangerous part is getting back across the busy road through town. Fortunately, people were very nice about stopping to let us cross. They use a lot of golf carts in town, which is a great idea. I can’t imagine how busy it is in the summer. 

After the three mile ride back to the campground, we chilled in the shade reading books the rest of the day. Shower time is interesting though, as there is no hot water. There are no hookups either, so many people were using their generators, some with their air conditioners on, although it was only 70 degrees. Out in the sun it was no doubt hot.

I went for a cold shower as I had for the previous days. The first few days the wind was blowing hard off the ocean, which made it a bit chilly. Today it was warm with only a little breeze, so it was fine.

May1, 2024

The mission today was to explore all the pullouts north of the campground. First stop was the Pony Pen, where “Banker Ponies” (ponies of the Outer Banks) are kept. They ran free from the 1700’s until 1959 when traffic became heavier. Across the road, we walked up a boardwalk to the top of the dunes to get a nice view of the beach.

We walked down a long jeep road that was chained. It wound its way through a bushy terrain until it opened onto Pamlico Sound. It looked like you could walk out a long way. Duck blinds were positioned from 40 to 200 yards off shore. There was a good story in the Ocracoke Guide telling of hunting one of those blinds. They stored the boat under the blind, keeping the decoys in the blind. They would throw them out, then walk out to reposition them. I’m sure the sandy bottom is a lot easier to walk on than our marsh on the Rappahannock River.

A number of creeks crossed the road. It looks like they all come from the sound, and it seems like they would be good places to fish. Exploring one creek, a truck was parked with a kayak in the back. I went up and asked the gentleman if he was fishing. He had an Old Town pedal-powered kayak, which he was proud to show us. He said the drum like to come into these creeks in the early morning, but his kayak pedals are too deep. You can take the pedals out and paddle, but he said it is awkward. He had been getting his exercise in the sound, and was headed home. These fishing kayaks are very cool, and by all reports travel pretty fast. The drawback is now you need a trailer to put it on. It might be a lot easier to wade in this creek with a fly rod in the early morning, maybe with a crab fly.

Across from the campground, we walked a trail through a hammock and out to the sound. We almost stepped on several toads in the middle of the path. Wherever there was marsh or wet areas, there were mosquitoes.

We had a relaxing afternoon reading. I was reading Horse, by Geraldine Brooks, a novel based upon the history of “Lexington,” one of the best racehorses and sires of all time in the mid-1800’s. As with most racehorse stories, the characters are interesting. I liked the way she titled the chapters with the central character in a particular year.

April 28, 2024

We are scheduled to stay on Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a week. We have never been and are looking forward to it. It is a tiny spit of land separated from the mainland by Pamlico Sound. It is 16 miles long and maybe a quarter mile wide on most parts, but it widens at the south end where the small town of Ocracoke sits.

From Charlottesville it is about a 5½ hour drive to Hatteras Village where we stayed the night at Hatteras Sands Campground before taking the ferry across on Monday. Filling up with gas, a gentleman asked how we like our Airstream. He said he had all kinds of trouble with his 2022 model, and he gave me all the details. Then he talked about the ferry and how there was a wash over a couple of weeks ago. Apparently insurance doesn’t cover that kind of thing, so some people were upset. Checking into Hatteras Sands Campground, a nice young lady told us all about the community and where to eat. She also said she wouldn’t take that ferry across for anything! Now I was getting a bit nervous, but looking it up online, there was a storm with 45mph winds that washed out roads all along the outer banks. It was breezy, but only about 17mph.

After settling into our site, went for a nice dinner at Dinky’s Restaurant overlooking the harbor and ocean, a beautiful spot and a nice dinner. A stiff breeze blew off the ocean making it too chilly to walk along the docks.

The free ferry runs every hour, switching to every half hour from 10:00 to 4:00, but check the schedule on their website. We were lucky to get on the 12:30 as the line was already long, but we made it. We have taken the Airstream on a number of ferries, so I knew to watch the guy directing me and do exactly what he said. The ride was an hour and 15 minutes on a very circuitous route. These islands protect the coast from a lot of storm damage, but the storms and tides move sand around all the time.

Unloading on the other side without issue, we headed south on the narrow strip of land. Workers were busy placing huge sand bags to try to hold the ocean back. An article in the paper would later tell us they were worried about the road getting undermined. They might have to build another long bridge or move the ferry terminal. You feel like you are in the wilderness driving through the protected Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and you certainly notice the power of the sea and delicacy of these islands. Fortunately our campsite was vacant, although a couple of feet short. It was nicely shaded without any overhanging limbs, so we could put out the awnings, although it was too windy to do that now. Once we got everything settled, we drove into town to check it out. It’s a little village with a lot of history. Rt. 12 runs to the end of the island with lots of side streets to explore. To try to contain traffic, golf carts are encouraged. With hotels, B&B’s and rental houses, it stays busy, and I’m sure it is crazy in summer. There is a good selection of restaurants, a couple of places to get groceries, a very cute book store and some interesting shops.

We had an early dinner at Dajio’s, which is a popular spot, and I could see why. They have good food at a reasonable price and a full-service bar.