12 June: OBX!!! Avon, North Carolina

So settled down in the normal OBX routine...  wake up early, maybe see the sunrise, go for a long walk, come back for a swim.  Breakfast, mimosas, (maybe hot tub), snooze, repeat until dark and then really start drinking.

Gene had rented a 5 bedroom house with a view of the pier back in July 2021 (BRV- before the RV).  Perfect location - and great spot.  On Saturday Gina and Irm (my sister who lives in England/Ireland/...) arrived first and then Gene, Chris, Anna and Richard and Liz (R&L) - it was their first visit to OBX.

R&L the first morning having coffee in the hot tub.

The view from the deck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Mimosas in the tub

Sunday and Monday we rotated between the beach and the hot tub, and on Tuesday we did the expedition out to Ocracoke.  We arrived at the ferry terminal with queues of cars waiting for the ferry, so someone put us onto the new passengers only fast ferry over to Ocracoke - an hour each way, drops you in town and costs $10pp return - a bargain.

Naturally everyone except Irm and I decided they needed to go do the para sailing and lots of fun was had by all.

Wednesday morning R&L headed back to Boston and we had 2 days before Kosta and Julia (Anna's parents) arrived.  Between beach, bars and Wings we managed to get ourselves 2 flamingos for the RV - as every RV needs at least 2 pink flamingos....

On Friday night Jack arrived and on Saturday night Charles  flew in from where ever he was before - so we were a full house, and that included a very enthusiastic barman.

By Sunday the waves had at least died down to manageable levels - for the previous week there had been rip current warnings every day with large waves and huge surges.  Made for some fun body surfing, but definitely could not take the waveski in.  Sunday however was perfect with very little wind.

Irm and Gene went out to catch some fish - and got about 10lb of fresh tuna for $40.  They went out to Oregon Inlet where all the charter fishing boats come in and 'worked the docks' to see what they can catch.

It fed 10 people for 4 days

from a tuna poke bowl, to tuna tacos and just straight seared tuna steaks - all made on the griddle....

Friday we head back to Boston - Gene, Gina, Chris, Charles and Irm with the RV and Gina's (now Chris') old corolla.  At $5/gallon its going to be fun.

All the photos from OBX

4 June: Cedar Creek to Ocracoke and Hatteras

5/29 Spent one night at Cedar Island RV park.  Really well run large RV park right by the Ocracoke Ferry terminal – expensive, but on the beach.  Miles of white sand beach – very few shells, but horses and cows on the beach, so…

Lots of jellyfish on the beach - ghost ones and brown ones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next day I went and queued  up for the 10am ferry to Ocracoke – a 2 ½ hour trip.  The ferry was not full, but the Whale took a fair share of the space.  The ferry actually leaned over to the side that the Whale was on even though there were more cars on the other side.  I need to weigh it at some stage…

No dolphins on the way over, but beautiful views and lots of my people (pelicans).

From the Ocracoke ferry terminal to the Teeters campsite was about a mile – so very little driving on the day, but the $30 ferry fee was definitely a lot less than driving around to Kill Devil Hills.

The campsite was the first (and only) campsite that had a TFG 2024 flag flying.  They also only accepted cash as payment, so there is that....

Took the bicycle to the beach each day after work for a swim and then on the way back would stop somewhere for dinner and a beer or 2.  Saw a lot of big muskrats.

 Howards Pub was an excellent stop.  The taco truck was way overpriced, and at the Oyster bar I walked out after waiting more than 10 minutes for service.  Went to Smac Nallys – which as always was very good.  In general all the food prices had gone up at least 30% over last year.

Also figured out that it was the Oracfolk festival – after chatting to a couple at Smac Nallys who had driven 14 hours from Tennessee to see some story teller (apparently THE United States storyteller).  The wife was staying for a week to do some story telling workshops.  Somehow I cannot get my head around that – either you are a natural teller of stories or you are not, maar nou ja…

View from my dinning table 

Was also parked next to a 38ft Winnebago diesel pusher and a family with 3 kids.  Lee was really great and a big RV enthusiast.  They lived somewhere close to Jacksonville NC.  Thursday afternoon when I dumped my tanks (the most fun part of RV’ing), I found out that the hose that connects the RV to the sewage system had a leak.  Luckily I was emptying the grey water tank (shower, sink, etc) and not the black water tank…  In any case, Lee was around so he came out with a bag of hose replacements and gave them all to me.  Apparently they came with the RV when he bought it and had never used them as he had some from his previous 5^th wheel.  It was really extremely generous of him.  I had a spare bottle of Chandon with me (leftovers from graduation) and I thought I would give it to them before I left.  However, the 1 Corinthians tattoo on his arm and his wife who never made eye contact and was never introduced was maybe the warning flag, so I asked first if they drink alcohol – and he said no, so I still have a bottle of Chandon.

 On Friday night I had to move out to the State park that was just down the road.  No water, electricity or sewage, so definitely off the grid, but a well maintained campground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the weather station:

 "

At 612 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Yeatesville, or 16 miles east of River Road, moving northeast at 25 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

"

Well, it did hit us.  Big wind, big rain, ruined about 3 tents around us and a number of shelters.  I thought it would be a good idea to between breaks in the rain wash down the RV - which was is much need of a wash.... however, once I did that, no big rain squalls came through so now the RV is full of muddy smears.  Poor couple across from me lost everything and slept in their car that night.

 

 

 

 

 

Next morning I checked out, dumped the tanks as we were not going to use the RV for the next 2 weeks and went for a nice walk on the local nature trail.  Onto the free NC12 ferry over to Hatteras and Avon.

 All the photos from this week