October 30, 2015
Tranters Creek RV Resort
Washington, NC

Today we said goodbye to the Outer Banks. We decided to change our plans and make two stops between here and Myrtle Beach. We have found that driving the rig for 5 hours is just too long. We traveled 122 miles in 2.5 hours and settled in a "resort". That is clearly a self-proclaimed status because this is not a great RV park. It has gravel roads and grass sites but apparently they have a driving range, miniature gold course, and batting cages so that must make it a resort ;>)

 

We are in a grass pull through site which is very long so we have plenty of parking space. The grass is nice with no dead spots or mud holes.

 

 

There are a lot of full timers here with many having built-in patios and under pinning. Since we will only be here today and tomorrow it will meet our needs.

 

 

On Sunday we will head further south to Jacksonville, NC. That will be just an over night stay and that will put us within 120 miles of Myrtle Beach which we'll do on Monday.









October 22, 2015
OBX Campground
Kill Devil Hills, NC

We've been doing some sightseeing the past few days and have gotten a good look at the area.

We drove the 40 or 50 miles down highway 12 to Cape Hatteras and saw the lighthouse.

We found it strange to be on a narrow strip of land bordered by ocean and not ever get a chance to see the ocean. The ocean shoreline has a tall dune that blocks your view. In town, it's the same but the coast is also covered with wall to wall houses or hotels. You have to find a public parking area and walk to the beach to get a view.

We stopped at Jennette's Pier in Nags Head to get a better view of the coast.

 

Here is a short video from the pier:

 

 

We spent a little time down on the beach.

 

 

And then made a short video of our theme song.

 

 

More fun tomorrow. We're heading north of Kitty Hawk to the town of Corolla for a tour of the wild horses.......

October 15,2015
OBX Campground
Kill Devil Hills, NC

Today we left Falls Lake and drove 215 miles east on highway 64 to the Outer Banks. It took us close to 5 hours to make the drive due to traveling secondary roads and going through several towns. OBX Campground is located on the Outer Banks just north of Nags Head and south of Kitty Hawk. The campground is on Colington Island. Here are a few pictures of the campground.

 It is a very basic campground with gravel roads and gravel sites but it is neatly maintained. It has nice grass areas and is bordered by water on one side. We have a nice view of the water out our side windows. There are no amenities and the daily rate is typical of a tourist area at $43 per night.

On 10/17 we traveled to one of the many public beach areas. You can still see some after effects of Joaquin. Even though it was 500 miles off shore the rain and flooding impacted the area. A section of highway 12 along the coast is still closed and the beach is still a little rough.

The water looked cold and the waves pounded the shore. Fishermen were the only ones near the water. Still the sun was out and the temps were in the upper 60s low 70s so it was a beautiful day.

We also took the opportunity to travel over to the Wright Brothers Memorial. It is just a mile or so from the campground. Being a Federal Park this was the first chance we had to use Marilyn's Senior Pass. The pass allowed us to get in for free and avoid the $4 entrance fee per person....that's $8 of the $10 cost for the pass recouped, not bad...hopefully we'll get to use that a lot more. One benefit of being 62.
Being born and raised in Dayton, Ohio we have a special appreciation for the Wright Brothers and enjoyed the memorial very much. There is a Visitors Center and museum which also includes the field where they lived, worked and flew the aircraft as well as a huge memorial on a hill overlooking the area and even a life sized bronze replica of the aircraft and the Wrights, depicting the flight.

We had a great time at the memorial and highly recommend it.

During the rest of our 2 weeks here we will be sampling several of the local seafood restaurants, visiting the Wanchese Marina (where they filmed Wicked Tuna Outer Banks), traveling up and down the coast to the few lighthouses, and putting our toes in the water........

October 12, 2015
Falls Lake State Recreation Area
Wake Forest, NC

Today we traveled 210 miles to Falls Lake State Park. This is a short stop on our way to The Outer Banks. This is our first experience with a State Park and the first thing we noticed was the distance from the interstate and the lack of good park signs. The roads and over hanging trees are not "big rig" friendly but the low cost and generous space between sites makes this a good short term location.

Here is our rig set up on site 30 of Holly Point Loop 2.

As you can see we are very secluded with great shade trees. I was concerned our satellite dish wouldn't be able to lock onto any satellites but it sync'd right up. Other than a 35 foot A Class we are probably the biggest rig in the park. It looks like most people use this as a weekend or short stay park and of course the time of year there are many available sites. There is a lake here and they even have a beach.

We'll get out tomorrow to do some exploring and go into the closest town, Wake Forest. We are just 30 miles or so north of Raleigh-Durham. We'll be here until Thursday and then head over to the coast.

October 5, 2015
Tom Johnson Camping Center
Marion, NC

We made it across the Great Smoky Mountains......hooray!!!!  After much indecision thanks to hurricane Joaquin, the need to change sites at River Plantation, and a faulty air bag on our truck load leveling system, we made the last second decision to run back to RVs For Less for the repair and then head over the mountains to Marion. Here's an action photo from Marilyn's dash cam (no, she doesn't have one, she's holding up her iPhone, honest it's safer than texting ;>) )  

The trip across the mountains went better than expected. We had no problems other than a suicidal bird. Ever see a bird field stripped by a 12 ton RV....really cool, feathers everywhere....

The RV park here is associated with a Camping World store. They do RV sales and service, RV Rallys, and of course camping. Here are a few pics of our site and the park.

The RV sites are nice with concrete pads and asphalt drives and roads. They have a Rec Center for activities and they even serve breakfast and lunch daily. We'll be spending the next week here and hope to take in a few sites like the Biltmore House just down the road in Asheville. That's it for now....I need a drink after that drive ;>)