We had a relaxing start to the day with a 2.25 hour ferry ride over to the Outer Banks. The water is extremely shallow across the sound - as little as 9 ft in some places - but I wouldn't want to swim it nonetheless. We disembarked at Okracoke where some people in a golf cart asked us what we were up to. We explained that we're cycling from Key West, Florida to Los Angeles, California. A woman's eyebrows went up - "What are y'all doing in Okracoke?" It's a fair question. No sane person creates a route from Key West to Los Angeles that goes through coastal North Carolina. We further explained our circuitous route. "Well, best of luck to y'all!" came the response.
Fifteen miles later we took another ferry across to Hatteras, this one shorter at 40 minutes. This was vacation territory: lots of signs for ice creams, fudge, gifts, t-shirts, etc. We succumbed to advertising and bought some excellent fudge from a roadside gift shop. We had several samples before settling on "Southern Comfort", which was a mix of pecans, caramel, and chocolate fudge.
The route today was extremely straightforward as it was all on the 12 highway. We took a brief detour to look at the Hatteras Lighthouse, which Mike says is famous for being big. It was indeed big. And stripey. Strong tail winds took us to our campground for the evening where you can also rent water sports equipment if you aren't completely tired from bicycle riding. Plenty of kite surfers were bouncing around offshore, it looked exhausting. Surprise, we did not go kite surfing. Maybe tomorrow.
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Still no manatees |
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We just missed the second ferry, here it is leaving |
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What happens when there's too much ice cream and not enough bicycle riding |
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Hatteras Light House |
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Mike is a reserved man |
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View from the tent |
Photos are great, keep them coming. Fudge. Ice Cream. Chips. No guilt and no fat. It's the American dream, sans couch.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture with the both of you. You seem very happy to be having the ferry provide the transportation.
ReplyDeleteCheri
Sounds like it’s been a better day, even if the grey clouds look little threatening. Loved the ‘What y’ all doing here’ quote. The Other Old Guy.
ReplyDeleteHi from the Kendalls. The trip has sounded wonderful (ok - most of it). We've heard about all the goodies at Hatteras from lots of friends on the east coast that have vacation homes there. Stay safe and dry - unless you decide to try some of the water sports.
ReplyDeleteKellie