A short Fall Trip Part two

 

Going South!

September 29, 2023 Friday

We departed the Hampton/Newport News area this morning at ten am. The weather is still overcast and gloomy. That was nice of Mother Nature, after four days of clouds, I wouldn’t want it sunny on the day we are leaving.

Hampton Virginia to OBX

It’s a short run down to the Outer Banks, less than a hundred miles I think. We arrived a little after noon, the skies are still overcast and there is a fairly stiff breeze blowing off the ocean. The Kitty Hawk RV Park employee who took us to our site said the sun is supposed to shine tomorrow. Speaking of said employee, he was the quintessential beach bum. He spoke the language, had the look and I’m sure smoked at least one joint so far today. It’s all good, we’re at the beach, in fact all we have between us and the ocean is a sand dune.

We're parked 2nd site on the left, taken from the dune across the road.

A short rant on Verizon wireless. Verizon used to be our mostly dependable cell/internet provider when we are on the road; however their service seems to be in decline. Both our cell phone and our jetpack have had at best two bars of signal strength and sometimes not enough bandwidth to deliver useable internet. That’s one reason we’ve been watching so many DVD movies. Here at OBX where I didn’t think we would have much service at all we have excellent service with 4 bars of signal strength and 4G broadband,  go figure?

Tonights movie was The Bone Collector with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. It is adapted from a book of the same name by Jeffery Deaver. Our suggestion is; skip the movie, read the book.

September 30, 2023 Saturday

Yesterday Millie saw signs for a yard sale at the local senior center that was scheduled for today so shortly after breakfast we hopped in the truck and drove a couple blocks over to check it out. We couldn’t help them out much; I bought a set of ankle weights still in the box for 3 bucks. Don’t ask it’s for a health kick my subconscious is trying to talk me into!

You can usually find me in the book/DVD section

Well, you know once you start thrift shopping with Millie one is not enough. We visited several more thrift stores in the area and at some point Millie told me that we were thrifting. I said you mean they have a name for this, yes she said yes they do. So, now I’m a thriftier, who knew?

The angry sea

In the afternoon we ventured out onto the beach, the predicted sun had never appeared but we went for a walk anyhow. The wind was stiff, the sea angry, but the temperature was holding in the high 60’s. Nobody was sitting or strolling on the beach, nor was anyone fishing. We pretty much had the place to ourselves, save for a couple kids one of whom took the picture of Millie and I.

Braving the chilly wind on the beach

Tonight’s movie was (in someone else’s words) a taut, pulse bounding thriller. It is definitely a gritty story of hard scrapple life as a young girl struggles to keep her mother and siblings sheltered as she endeavors to find her father and save their homestead. At times it was painful to watch but it doesn’t take long for the mystery to keep you interested. Millie and I both scored it an eight. It stars Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes, released 2010, winner of Best Picture and best screenplay at Sundance Film Festival,……….Winter’s Bone”

October 1, 2023 Sunday

We started the day with church services broadcast live from Millie’s church in Surfside Beach. We cast it onto the big tv screen for easy viewing. Technology really is pretty amazing.

Pastor Bengi live from Myrtle Beach

The sun finally came out today; we haven’t seen it in quite a few days. It’s also warmer, Mid seventies I would say. After lunch, which we ate in, we decided to tour the upper portion of the Outer Banks, specifically the area north of Kitty Hawk. The communities Duck and Corolla lay on this 20 some mile section of Hwy 19.

Todays exploration.

I searched for a name for this geographic region, but found nothing definitive. It is east of and runs the length of the body of water called Currituck Sound and I’ve heard of the name Currituck Banks, could this be it?

Currituck Sound Lighthouse

Anyhow, I had always heard the paved road ended and you had to drive on the beach to reach the northern most communities. I had a mental picture of the area being isolated and populated only with fishing shacks. I could not have been more wrong, in fact this area is by far more upscale than the rest of OBX. This is where the big money is folks! 

From here up to Corolla you have to ride on the beach

It’s true the paved road does end about 20 miles in and traffic then travels the beach but I think they like it that way. We didn’t take the Silver Bullet on the beach, I have no doubt it would have excelled at the task but I didn’t want to expose the undercarriage to wet salty sand.

We decided to drive south and look for another place here that holds memories for Millie. OBX, along with Carolina Beach were vacation places for Millie’s family. Jennette’s Pier was a popular fishing spot for almost a hundred years and although the original didn’t survive on of the recent hurricanes, it was rebuilt by the state and continues on as a popular spot here. If we hadn’t seen the sign we would still be looking for the old pier, the new one is right fancy!

The new Jennette's Pier.

Movie tonight was Intolerable Cruelty with George Clooney and Catherine Zera-Jones. From the cover,”A hilarious romantic comedy about men, women and everything that can go wrong between them”. IMHO it was almost a parody of good comedy, it was just too stupid and never really clicked with us. Millie= 5 because of the fashions and George Clooney? Me= 4 and its that high because Zeta-Jones ain’t bad on the eyes! 

October 2 2023 Monday

We continued our journey southward today. We traveled 220 miles to Holly Ridge North Carolina. Holly Ridge lies between Jacksonville and Wilmington. It is about Parallel with Surf City and Topsail beaches. Our overnight accommodations are at Holly Ridge RV Resort, a brand new rv park that just opened in January of this year.

OBX to Holly Ridge RV Park.

IMHO, it just missed the mark at being a high end resort. The streets are paved but the sites are gravel, a swanky resort would have paved or block pavers on the sites. But then if it was swanky, they probably would not let our little travel trailer park there. 

Our site at Holly Ridge.

Not that I’m trying to criticize them, it is a very nice park and checks all the boxes for services and amenities. I wish them well. 

The pool and amenity center at Holly Ridge RV Park

We drove out to Surf City and Topsail, we must be jaded about these beach towns, they all seem the same. Nothing negative to say about it, just nothing excited us either. All the quaint little beach cottages have been replaced with multi story rental houses, same as any other beach on the coast.

No movie tonight, we had campground wifi and watched some youtube video’s

October 3 2023 Tuesday

Today we continued south bypassing our house and overnighting in Huntington Beach State Park. What? Let me explain, our community is having all the asphalt roads resealed this week. Our street had one side done yesterday and they are doing the other side today. 

Holly Ridge to Huntington Beach State Park

We figured we would just stay out one more day and let the sealer dry real good before we drive the Silver Bullet on it, besides Huntington Beach State Park is about as fine a place to stay as you can find on this coast. We cleaned the inside of the RV and packed everything that was going home, to make the transition to our sticks and bricks easier tomorrow. 

There's no place like our South Carolina Beaches!

Movie tonight was Hollywood Homicide with Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett. Described as a hot action comedy, a redefined buddy-cop genre, I don’t what to call it. It was a little corny at times, the fight scenes where obviously fake, but it had us laughing out loud several times. It was a hoot! Millie and I both gave it an eight.

October 4, 2023 Wednesday

The rv is back in the storage lot, our street has been made black again, they used 93,373 gallons of asphalt sealer on the community roads. we are home.

To the storage lot and then home, less than a ten mile trip.