Outer Banks, NC (8/17 - 9/15/23)

We stayed almost a month in three different locations at the Outer Banks (OBX) that all provided a different experience although we still ended up with us being on the beach. OBX is essentially a thin strip of sandbar with many towns connected by one main road (R12) running through them all. Our first stop was at the Cape Hatteras / Outer Banks KOA Resort in Rodanthe. This place was right on the beach and had a pool and tiki bar with live entertainment. The town of Rodanthe that is fairly quiet and small, but that was great for us as we like the more laid back atmosphere. The island here is only about a 1/2 mile from bay to sea.

One of the key features on the Outer Banks is the historic lighthouses they have kept intact. The Bodie Island Light Station is distinct from the others with the horizontal stripes visible for miles. For a small fee, you can climb to the top to see the view of the island with beaches and bayside.

One of our favorite aspects of OBX is the 67 miles of drive-on beaches with many points of entry. If you want to bring the full-gear beach set (fishing equipment, boogie boards, cooler, chairs, umbrella, etc). pulling the stuff out of the back is much easier than lugging stuff over the dunes from the parking lot.

With so many miles of beach, you can often find yourself with plenty of room to enjoy an unobstructed view of the scenery. Driving on the beach does come with some risk of getting stuck in the sand, so we make sure to deflate our tires to 15-20 lbs and reflate after leaving the beach with my 12-volt air pump. We never became stuck but saw many others not as lucky. Not sure if they were not true 4-wheel drive or didn't deflate tires, but they were stuck digging thier way out.

Our second stop on OBX was on the far southern end in the town of Hatteras Island at the Hatteras Sands Campground. This place also had a pool and multiple seafood restraurants in the area. Since this town was on the far southern end, traffic was very light and that made the town very bikeable, so we used our bikes to get around quite frequently. The island is a little wider here, so more roads to ride on and places to see in the town.

We were also very close to the Ocracoke Ferry that takes you to the island of Ocracoke using the only transportation mode available to get you there. The free ride is about an hour each way and the island is mostly national park, but the town has many restaurants and other amentities. You can drive on the beach here too and it was even less populated than other areas.

One of the aspects of OBX is the history of shipwrecks due to the Cape shoals and shifting sands. Although it was closed for renovations this time, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum gives a good history lesson.

While we were here in Hatteras, we also experienced a hurricane (Franklin) off the coast that stirred up the bottom enough for us to get these shells in just a couple of hours one day. Luckily it never came close enough to cause any severe wind or rain conditions on the island.

While we were here we also had hurricane Idalia come right over head with tropical wind status with lots of rain and wind. Our campsite was right on a canal that normally was a few feet lower than in this picture. We brought in our slideouts for 24 hours to be more cautious.

The winds pushed the water levels from the canals right up to the tires on our vehicles which made for a nervous time for a while. They must have known this wasn't going to get any worse because we were never told to evacuate.

After the storm, clearing skies and pretty sunsets from our campsite were a welcome sight.

Our last stay in OBX was at the OBX Campground in Kill Devil Hills. This is the view from inside our motohome facing east one morning. This place didn't have a pool, but the sites were huge and we were near water where you could crab or fish.

This is the view from the fishing dock at the campground. We were west of the main action in Kill Devil Hills and Kittyhawk areas that are much more commercialized with corresponding increased vehicle traffic.

Of course I was still on the lookout for fresh steamed blue crabs and was not dissapointed at I Got Your Crabs. This small place served them up just right.

I mentioned earlier we took some time to visit the Bodie Island lighthouse where we were able to climb to the top. Only one person is allowed to be on the each stair level due to the shaking of the stairs caused by using them. When I heard that it didn't make me feel very safe, but once we were on them it was no big deal.

From up here you could see for miles. Behind us is the ocean in the distance.

Our campground was also only a couple of miles from the Wright Brothers National Memorial. There is a museum and outdoor exhibits worth a view when in town.

We hit up one of the surf shops to get some boogie boards to ride the decent waves we had been experiencing while we were here. Michelle is in there trying to navigate the wave.

Another pic of our drive-on setup that we love.

Our schedules also aligned to coincide with Michelle's brother George and his family's (Patti and Shawn) annual visit to the area. In addition to a couple of evenings out for dinner, we were able to go over to thier huge house on the beach with many family members from Patti's side for the day.