Oregon Inlet Campground in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Our decision before leaving Flanner's Beach was, by land or by sea? There are two ferries and two bridges to cross over to the barrier islands of Cape Hatteras. Two years ago we left Ocracoke Island on the Cedar Point ferry, and twice traveled across the northernmost bridge. Greg was concerned about our low hanging tow assembly and scraping as we got on the ferry, so we elected to take a new land route.


We drove north from Flanner's Beach to New Bern, crossed the Neuse River, and drove north and then east along the peninsula that stretches into Pamlico Sound and to Roanoke Island. That route took us through marshy wildlife refuges, and we stopped for lunch within the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. We found a pull-off just before a small bridge and had the area to ourselves.

Lunch stop in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge

 

No Gators visible even though their range extends this far north

 

We drove the long bridge across the sound over to Roanoke Island then the next bridge brought us to Nags Head. The national seashore is just south of there, where the development ends and the park begins. We drove the length of Bodie Island until we reached Oregon Inlet campground, just before the bridge to Hatteras Island, the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, and Rodanthe. The private park we stayed in the last two years is south of there in Waves. A nice park, but pricey to stay in. Our timing was good. We arrived on Friday afternoon, the first day for Oregon Inlet to open after the winter. We found a nice site with the dunes between us and the beach.
 

Campsite in the dunes of the Hatteras National Seashore

View of Bodie Lighthouse from the dune behind our campsite

Looking back at the campground from the dunes

No hook-ups here, a dump and potable water are across the main highway at the marina. There are cold showers here. When we get desperate we'll shower in the rig and take advantage of our hot water heater! We decided to stay nine nights since it costs us $10 a night with my senior pass. There is virtually no boondocking in the East, so we are taking advantage of the cheapest site we can find. But, $10 a night? Can't beat that to be on the backside of the dunes. We've got everything we need in the rig.


After parking and leveling we walked over the dunes to the beach. Not many people around and a lovely beach to walk. The brown pelicans have been flying overhead, there are ducks migrating, (although they appeared to be flying south), and other shorebirds scurrying in the waves. Arriving back at the rig we discovered the ground is littered with goatheads, those round thorns that we have encountered all over the country. They are invasives from the Middle East. We first encountered them in a campground in Marfa, Texas. They stick to your shoe soles, get transported inside and latch into the rugs. Since I am usually barefoot inside, I've got to find them all and rid our home of them! Picking them out of the rugs results in pricked fingers as well. So all shoes are staying outside after being carefully de-goatheaded.

Looking south along the beach

 

4-Wheel drive vehicles are permitted on National Seashore beaches

 

Big surf from the steady east wind

Various sandpiperish shorebirds

We have the same neighbors we had at Flanner's Beach. Today we noticed that they were walking their dog with duct tape on its feet to protect it from goatheads. Later they returned from shopping and the dog is sporting some sort of red booties. The campground is filling up with campers eager to enjoy the good weather on the first open weekend. Things should quiet down Sunday afternoon. We have a couple days of rain coming up and the temps should drop from the 70's into the 60's, but the sun will come out again, unless the forecast changes. You never know in the South in April. In the meantime, we have a nice long visit to enjoy the sounds of the surf and relax.

Goathead photo from USDA

A Baby, a River, and Springtime in Carolina!

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

We had a great weekend seeing our daughter and son-in-law and babysitting our 6 week-old grand-daughter. Leaving Little Pee Dee State Park on Thursday, April 9^th, we spent part of the day driving to the Greensboro/Jamestown, North Carolina area and checked into the Oak Hollow Campground. It's located on a nice lake in the city park of High Point, N C. We picked out a nice spot overlooking the lake and unhooked the toad, and hooked up the rig to the water, electric and cable TV!

Luxury accommodations with a view!

Thursday evening we drove over to our family's hotel and had dinner while we ogled the little one. They had a long drive there, while the baby slept the whole way, (babies and cars...), so we didn't stay long. We were glad to have our own car to get around. Friday we did chores, (laundry, groceries) then drove back to their hotel and babysat while they attended the rehearsal dinner.

Saturday we recovered from babysitting the night before and rested up for the night's babysitting. The wedding was outdoors in a great setting and the reception indoors in a castle on the same property. We arranged to drive the RV, our portable babysitting vehicle, to the wedding venue and parked in the lot. Mom handed off the baby. Dad was already there since he was the best man. The weather was beautiful, so we stayed outside until sundown. Our grand-daughter was entranced by the bagpipes playing while the guests arrived. But once they stopped, the crying began! First time we've had a fussy baby to soothe in our small RV. I was wishing for a rocking chair! Greg and I both drew on our dormant swaying skills and did the best we could. Mom and Dad appeared after the wedding and whisked the crying baby into the car seat and took off to go through the nightly ritual of getting her to sleep. Greg and I very tiredly drove back to the campground and re-hooked up the rig at midnight. So happy to have time with all of them, but really made us respect grandparents who wind up raising their grandchildren. It is exhausting at our age!

Fussy Granddaughter and fussy Grandpa

Sunday morning we left Oak Hollow. It was a warm, beautiful day and we enjoying seeing the blooming trees and unfurling leaves. We drove east across North Carolina across the Piedmont region down to the Tidewater region. After New Bern and before hitting the coast we drove into Flanner's Beach campground along the Neuse River in the Croatan National Forest. We stayed here two Aprils ago when we were waiting for warmer weather in order to head north to visit Atlantic Canada for the summer. This was the second campground we've stayed in here. The first one that is closer to the beach is closed for renovations.

Campsite at Flanners Beach in Croatan National Forest

The campground is mostly full. When we were here it was mostly empty as most people prefer the other one for longterm camping. We are surrounded by snowbirds and full-timers working their way north a few weeks at a time. There is electric, but no water hook-up. Greg has been driving the water jugs to the faucet at the entrance. Yet another use for the new car! Nice showers here, too. The only drawback is that we are next to the Marine Corps Air Station New River and have frequent LOUD, low-flying jets passing over day and night, although they stop precisely at midnight.

We've had a couple nice walks through the woods and to the beach. Greg is happy to have found hiking trails through the Carolina woods that he can bike on, and has been exploring. The weather was great until yesterday, but now we are having showers on and off and will have until we leave here on Friday. Showers are also forecast for the Outer Banks for the next week, so I guess we'll have some more wet weather camped over there.

Stairs down to Flanners Beach on the Neuse River

Flanners Beach

A cypress grove remaining along the receding river shore

Fun biking on the 7 miles of trail of pleasant, fairly easy trail with enough narrow, tricky sections to be interesting.

Enjoying the breeze on the bluff along the Neuse River

Mayapples greening the forest floor!

A month from today we start our work camping job at Geneva Point Center on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. We have been talking to the Executive Director about what he would like us to be doing. Greg is looking forward to lots of outside and hands-on time with the maintenance and operations guys. I am going to be handling the gift shop and the ice cream shop which will be adding a coffee shop, and have a couple of staff to work with and input into the gift shop stock. I'm looking forward to the challenge. We are getting a really good vibe about this place and are ready to get started.

We'll be living in our rig. The Center provides full hook-ups plus cable TV. We'll eat all our meals in the staff dining hall and we get paid! We'll have use of the beaches, hiking trails, and canoes and kayaks. Also, free concerts in the chapel. The 200 acre setting looks beautiful, and the staff is international. There are lots of interesting groups staying there, and happy people having fun in a beautiful spot. I think our 5 and a half months will go quickly.

Now we are deciding which route to take to the Outer Banks. Our tow assembly hangs a little low, so we are concerned about driving on the ferry. We may forgo the watery route and drive further and take the bridge. We'll see...Tune in for some Outer Banks scenes next week!

Colleton and Little Pee Dee State Parks, South Carolina

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Greg booked a two night reservation for us at Colleton State Park. We needed someplace to stay for the Easter weekend. Everything was booked up elsewhere, so we drove north to the small 35 acre park not too far off of I-95 in South Carolina. The campground was full as we pulled in. The toad had to be unhitched before we could back into the site. It didn't take long, but I expect Greg will get faster at it as we will need to do this in most places from now on. Unless we find a rare pull-though site, we can't back up with the toad hitched-up, so this is our new routine.

Colleton Campsite on the bluff above the Edisto River

The park sits along the Edisto River that flows to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the longest unimpeded blackwater river in North America. It truly is black as it carries the richness of the swamps of the Low Country out to sea. We hiked along the river and back through the woods. It didn't take long to explore the park because it's small. It's main attraction is as a put-in and pull-out for canoers and kayakers.

The boardwalk to the canoe launch

23 miles of blackwater to canoe down to the next state park

We spent the one full day and two nights there catching our collective breaths after the stress of our Jacksonville “hitch” visit. The first night it cooled down and we slept under the down comforter for the first time since we returned south. Spring is just beginning in South Carolina, and after spending the week in summery Florida, with full foliage, it was refreshing to see the bright green leaves starting on the trees, and the flowering bushes and trees. The only downside was that there was a busy, noisy US 15 crossing the bridge over the river just below us. Also the gunshots just off the property on Sunday morning were a bit disturbing. “Let's go fire our guns for Jesus. It's Easter!”

By Monday morning Greg had secured us two nights at the Little Pee Dee State Park a few hours north up I-95. We debated grabbing a cancellation at Myrtle Beach State Park, but decided that a full campground with hundreds of families on Spring Break, wasn't worth the extra expense, so we drove to the quieter, cheaper Little Pee Dee. Good Choice! The weekend crowds are gone and we are camped on one of South Carolina's famous inland “Bays”. This part of the state has numerous small bodies of water formed in depressions running northwest to southeast. It remains a geological mystery how they formed. The only consistent origin hypothesis by geologists since the 1930's has been Pleistocene-age meteorite impacts but the recent mineral evidence does not support this. No other geologic hypothesis has better supporting evidence, so the origin of the Carolina Bays remains a mystery. Anyway, for us it makes a nice lake to enjoy camping along.

Little Pee Dee camp

We were frequently inspected by very critical supervisors!

Our view of Norton Lake in the Bay

The Beaver Pond - a more overgrown part of the Bay

We decided to stay a third night and tried to find someplace to pay. Apparently the State Park Superintendent quit on Good Friday, and left his assistant to work the busy weekend, and the rest of the week alone. The assistant took off after the weekend for a few days leaving the office locked up tight. Greg talked to the campground hosts, who are living in a pop-up camper, rare for full-timers, and found out they volunteered to be hosts just last Friday when the ranger quit. They decided to help out. They took our payment, so we aren't freeloading.

One of the nature trails

Dogwoods blooming everywhere!

Wisteria running wild

Yesterday we walked through the campground and along the lake. Then we walked the Beaver Dam Nature Trail. Nice 1.5 mile walk through the piney woods that took us along a swampy, marshy area with some “frisky” ducks, after all it is Spring! Didn't see any evidence of beavers. There are ducks and geese on the lake being equally noisy and frisky. There's a pair of mallards that wander through our site looking for handouts. Yesterday we started hearing a loud growly sound and realized that it is mating season for alligators and we are hearing one or several all day and night bellowing across the lake.

The spillway for the small earthdam

Looking up the length of Norton Lake

We had rain yesterday afternoon and last night. The sun is out now, but the rain has spiked the humidity. Greg unracked his bike and took off for a ride. I am sitting here wondering how we could drive this far north from Florida and still have 80's and high humidity. Tomorrow we drive a few hours to the Greensboro, North Carolina area and get to be grandparents while our daughter and son-in-law attend a wedding. The only campground in the area is on a golf course. Guess we'll be living in a gated, golf course community for a few days. So “chi-chi”!