Settling In

We are settled in here at Camp Hatteras in Rodanthe, NC. Everyone we talked to said that the Outer Banks (the OBX as they say here) was one of the nicest places and so far as we have seen it really is. Long stretches of beaches are in pristine condition, much like they must have been before the OBX were inhabited. It still is rather an odd but beautiful place. In some sections you can see both Pamlico Sound on one side and the Atlantic on the other. Rodanthe is a mecca for kite surfers and the colorful arcs of the kites that drag the kite surfers through the water at amazing speeds look amazingly like multi-colored birds swooping and soaring through the air.

There is a price to be paid for the wild beauty and relative solitude of the place. The nearest "real" grocery store is in a place called Avon, 17 miles away. Wal Mart is a mere 45 miles away in Kitty Hawk. That doesn't sound too too far until you consider that the roads here are single lane and not as good as Galilee Church road.
However the food, particularly the seafood, is excellent. The assistant manager here bought a bushel of blue crabs and steamed them Monday night. Never having had fresh crab, we were a bit apprehensive about going. I can now say, without any reservation or hesitation, we are crab fools. If you ever go to a crab boil though, be sure to go by Home Depot and get a hazmat suit. Eating fresh crab is without a doubt the messiest event having anything to do with food on the damn planet. And, to eat enough to assuage a normal person's hunger will take anywhere between 6 hours and 4 days. Once you pick the suckers clean though, the crab meat is most excellent. A crab boil, at least here, is a social event, so the time passes pretty quickly. The local standard is to drink 3 beers for each crab eaten. Wait, that might be 1 beer for every three crabs. I forget, but I like the first one best.

Heading Out Again,,,,

We are officially back on the road. We left out on Tuesday and stayed the first night in Statesboro. Leaving Stateboro we only had a short ride to Charleston, SC. We stayed at James Island County Campground, which was absolutely beautiful. We have stayed in some magnificent resorts, and few of them matched the beauty of this one. Now, having said that, the getting there and leaving is hazardous to the well being of your RV if you are traveling in a Class A motor home. The streets leading to the campground are lined with beautiful oak trees. Unfortunately, many of them have limbs that are growing downward and on the way in a limb that was impossible to miss hit one of our antennas and the satellite dome. From the sound of it we thought it destroyed both, but incredibly, nothing was damaged.

If you are in Charleston and want excellent seafood at reasonable prices, we have to recommend Hyman's Restaurant on Meeting street. Food was outstanding as was the service. A big thanks to Ken and Sheryl Cochran for the recommendation!

When we left James Island County Park, tree limbs from trees lining the road are growing out into the street, and they are impossible to avoid if there is on-coming traffic. The good news is I was able to wax out several long scratches on the passenger side.

It is now Friday and we are in Myrtle Beach at a great campground called Ocean Lakes. It is very large but well maintained. It offers many amenities and a number of activities each day. We are staying here until Saturday morning and then we will head for Jacksonville, NC for the night.

We had to drive a few miles down the beach to Murrell's Inlet for really great seafood. We stopped at Drunken Jacks where we had excellent bar service, good restaurant service, and the seafood was very good.

We left Ocean Lakes Saturday and headed north. We planned to stay at a campgound near Jacksonville, NC but we made such good time we drove on to Washington, NC and stayed in Trantor's RV resort. Trantor's is a very good overnight stop. It is very clean and the staff are very friendly and helpful.

We crossed the Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge around noon Sunday. It is our first visit to the Outer Banks (OBX) and the beauty that everyone who has visited here describes is evident the minute you drive onto the islands. We entered at Nags Head and drove the 23 miles down to Rodanthe and Camp Hatteras and we arrived around 2:30.

Rodanthe is a small town with a few markets, several restaurants, a few kite shops (Rodanthe is a favorite location for the kite surfers) and many pretty rental houses. The nearest "real" grocery store is 17 miles south toward Okracoke. A Harris Teeter (my favorite) is 23 miles north back in Nags Head, and a Wal Mart is located about 35 miles north in Kitty Hawk.

Camp Hatteras is a very nice RV resort and the staff are very friendly. We were made to feel welcome by all the staff we came in contact with and we are looking forward to working with everyone. We have a very nice site that is in short walking distance to the beach on the Atlantic side and an equally short walking distance to Pamlico sound. We have free access to all the resort's amenities, including kayaks, swimming pools, miniature golf, and tennis courts.

Today (Monday, May 10) we are just going to spend the day exploring. One thing we are looking forward to is getting the Jeep on the beach and spending some serious time 4 wheeling (yes, that is allowed here, as are fires on the beach).