Said 'goodbye' to sweet Kathy and her family today to head south. I had a desire (and still do) to see the sun rise over the ocean, so figured I would cross over the North Carolina border and find a quaint little coastal town to rest my head and rise for the sun. I should have known this was going to be a bit more complicated than a simple poetic line.
I crossed the border about 7pm and hadn't eaten yet, so figured I would swing into the next convenient drive thru. Eight miles later I spotted a 'Hardees' (equivalent to Carl's Jr.). I pulled in, rolled down my window and when prompted by the voice I responded, "could I get a small hamburger and diet coke?"...to which this voice replied, "I'm sorry ma'am, we are out of small meat." What? I made him repeat... "I'm sorry, what?" "ma'am, we are out of small meat"....I was perplexed, but resolved to have a regular hamburger, so said, "ok, can I just get a regular hamburger?" "Ma'am we are out of all meat except the 1/3 lb burger." Seriously? I was so thrown off by this, that I just decided to move on. "Ok, nevermind."
I drove off, keeping a watchful eye for the next potential candidate to satisfy my hunger. Another 5 miles or so I hit the mother-load....burger king, sonic burger, wendy's....I figured on Sonic Burger on behalf of dear Mary. She asked me to eat a Sonic Burger for her because the commercials are always running in Seattle, but there are no Sonic Burgers....so for my dear friend Mary I pulled into Sonic Burger. Only to be met by frustration. A car had pulled in before me and drove straight to the window, as I pulled forward to place my order at the 'voice box' I saw a sign, "out of service, please pull forward to window". Ahhhh, so I pulled forward behind the car and waited. I sat there for about 7 minutes without seeing any action happening between the car in front and the staff inside, so I figured I would just park and walk in. I park, I get out, I walk up....oh, you can't walk in. I've never been to a Sonic, so not sure if they are all like this, but it's not a restaurant, it's a drive-in. I figured if it was taking that long at the drive thru, I ain't about to sit at drive-in slot and wait to eat...I will just go to Wendy's. I left one parking lot for another and when I pulled up to the 'voice box' I decided to get a strawberry milkshake instead of a soda. It was warm, I was on the coast (or at least near it), why not? "I would like a hamburger and a small strawberry shake", the 'voice' replied, "I'm sorry ma'am, we are out of shake mix." Seriously? Oh the frustration....."ok, I'll just get a diet coke". I got my food and beverage and continued down the road.
To make a long story short, I finally got a room at a hotel in Kill Devil Hills on the outer banks of North Carolina. I asked the hotel clerk what time sunrise was and he said, "6:15am". I checked into my costly ocean-front room, got ready for bed, set my alarm for 5am (didn't want to miss a spot of light) and drifted off to sleep about 10:30. Not sure if I was excited about the sunrise or if the bed was uncomfortable or what, but I woke up at 3am and tossed and turned for about an hour. I finally decided, "what the heck I'm on vacation, I don't have to do anything in the morning, I'll just go on the beach now". I grabbed my camera, my chair and marched onto the beach. I was all alone in the darkness listening to the waves crashing against the shore. After sitting there and staring at the moon for what seemed like 1/2 hour or so, I saw headlights further down the beach. A truck had just drove onto the beach and it started heading straight toward me. I watched the truck as it got closer and I wondered if the driver saw me? who the driver was? if I should move? if i should go back to my room? The truck got closer and I was in the spotlight, the truck wasn't slowing down so I got up, grabbed my chair and walked toward the hotel. I stopped about the time the truck passed by me.....right where I was sitting. Huh.....that was the extent of my beach adventure. By 6am I could tell the sun was beginning to rise, however, complete cloud cover hindered the view I had hoped to see. But, none-the-less, I took pics for your enjoyment....welcome to the Atlantic Ocean.
Getting to the inland from the outer banks means crossing a few bridges. By bridges I mean floating structures spanning at least 2-3 miles across a large body of water between two sliver sized land masses. Can you really call it a mass?
I travelled along Hwy 64 down the southern tip of the Outer Banks which means I had the opportunity to cross the Abemarle Sound twice....see pics below so you can cross it with me.
Once I got on the 'mainland' I drove for miles through swamp-like wilderness....
and passed signs that read, "Watch out for Bear" and "Red Fox crossing next 7 miles". I didn't see any....but don't think I wasn't looking. I finally made it to civilization and can only say, you know you are in the south when.....
you can shop at a piggly wiggly. That might not be totally true, but I just remember watching a movie where the girl said, "I'm not going to work at the piggly wiggly for the rest of my life".
A couple hours later I arrive at my friend's place in Durham.
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