We hadn’t stayed on Ocracoke since a rather exciting Pirate weekend between tropical storm Henri and hurricane Isabel in 2003 so here we are heading back to the island with a major blow brewing. We must just love excitement! We have put 798 miles on the truck since leaving home 2 weeks ago with all but about 100 miles of that just getting here.
Wednesday October 15, 2014 we left Sands of Time campground in Avon, NC a little after 9am and headed for the Hatteras/Ocracoke ferry. The weather guessers had missed the predicted arrival time of 6am and radar showed a window in the storm until around 4pm so we decided to try to get to our campground and get settled in before the storm arrived. The ferry ride was spectacular with surf cascading on all the sandbars and whitecaps as far as we could see. I’ve got to hand it to the North Carolina Ferry Service, they were running on time in spite of the blow and the vigilance of the crew as they chocked and secured vehicles was appreciated. As one who has sailed for most of my life, I can appreciate all that is involved in making their preparations invisible to the majority of the passengers.
The National Park Service campground on Ocracoke Island is about 3 miles East of the village and has no services at the campsites. There are cold showers and restrooms scattered throughout but no water, sewer or power is available at the campsites.We arrived a little after 11am and after checking in I backed our rig into D-21 for the next week. With winds already over 20mph, we decided to just uncouple and secure the trailer as best we could and save the real camp setup until after the coming storm. After a quick lunch, Mary insisted that we needed to cross the dunes and see the beach and the surf before hunkering down for the storm. As we topped the dunes, the full force of the now 35+ mph winds and blown sand hit us head on – it felt like being hit by a sandblaster but the view of the raging sea pounding on the beach was worth the discomfort. It was much easier to return to the trailer as the wind was now at our backs but we used a big chunk of our fresh water in showering off the sand which had stuck to us and everything we wore. We settled down with a movie (ain’t solar power grand) to pass the rest of the afternoon and then spent the night in a trembling trailer as gust after gust and heavy rain hit us in the early evening.
Thursday – Calm seas and a beautiful sunrise greeted us this morning. We suffered no significant damage from the storm (just a small leak at the front window which we caulked to repair) so we spent the morning setting up camp then headed into town for provisions, bait and shopping. We passed the afternoon walking along the nearly empty beach and watching the sunset. Due to Ocracoke’s position, we found that we could watch the sunrise over the beach then turn about 160 degrees to the right and watch the sunset over the same beach.
Friday 10/17 – Up at dawn for another beautiful sunrise and then off to the beach for some fishing and shell hunting. I caught the requisite dinner and Mary had some good conversation with one of our new neighbors. Back to camp for another fresh fish dinner.
Saturday we went to see the Banker ponies but the ranger presentations stopped last weekend so we were forced to make up our own tales about them. We walked the nature trail North of the campground entrance, a 3/4 mile trail through the forest and salt marsh. It was a beautiful walk but our mosquito repellent only made the little buggers lick their chops and follow us searching for an opening. Back to camp for another beach walk and sunset (we could make a habit of this.)
Sunday morning after breakfast we jumped on our bikes and headed to town. The ride was 10 miles going and 1 mile coming back – actually 3 miles each way but the wind was close to 20mph. We visited the village and did a bit of shopping then rode to the lighthouse and back to the campground. Another trip to the beach watching sandpipers, seashells and another beautiful sunset – see, we did make a habit of it!
While getting ready to go fishing Monday, a cormorant came strolling up the road and into our campsite. He(She) was just ambling along without a care in the world. Kind of like we were feeling too. More surf fishing, more fish, another fish dinner, another sunset – you get the drill it sounds boring as I write this but it never was while we were there.
Tuesday 10/21 – We had a pretty laid back morning and drove to town to pick up a few items then spent the afternoon breaking camp and stowing gear for our departure tomorrow. We took a long walk on the beach and watched our last Ocracoke sunset before calling it a day.
Wednesday dawned as another very windy day. We finished packing and broke camp to catch the Ocracoke/Cedar Island ferry at 10am. As the ferry pulled out, we got an excellent view of the house we had rented on the beach at Teaches Hole about 15 years ago. After a rocking and rolling 2 1/2 hour ride to Cedar Island, we drove 12 miles to the Cedar Creek campground in Sea Level, North Carolina (I’m not making this up!) The facilities were old as we expected here but everything worked and it was a nice spot on a canal. We walked along and had an old fisherman show us how to catch blue crabs. Then we had a nice walk around the campground and turned in early.
We got on the road early Thursday morning headed for Swansboro and Oak Island. Andrea had advised us that parking was hard to come by in Swansboro and she was absolutely right. We tried everywhere but couldn’t find a spot big enough to park our 45 foot rig so we headed on South past Wilmington and Southport to the Oak Island Campground. Passport America listed this campground so we figured it must be ok. Not so! It was run down and full of real old equipment surrounded by trash, the office was padlocked and the phone gave “Voice Mail Full” messages.
We headed on South to Holden beach where we got a spot for one night at the pier campground right on the beach. Leveling the trailer on sand proved to be interesting but we managed to get the job done without too much difficulty. We took an afternoon walk on the beach – lots of seashells here. (Andrea would have been happy.) Then we took off exploring the Island and looking for some dinner. We stumbled on to Captain Pete’s seafood restaurant on the Intercoastal Waterway. Great sampler platter that included a crab cake that even I liked! Then back to camp for our last sunset walk on the beach for this trip, tomorrow we plan to start heading inland toward home.
Friday morning, we decided to drive into South Carolina and then follow SC9 as it parallels the border with North Carolina. Around 11am we arrived at the South Carolina Welcome Center in the town of Little River. In addition to picking up a map and some brochures, we had a small ceremony placing state number 9 on our trailer’s “States Visited” map. Traveling Northwest on Route 9, we watched the scenery change gradually from sand hills to foothills. The road was good – a mix of wide 2 lane and some divided 4 lane without a lot of traffic. We passed through Dillon, SC where we got married almost 26 years ago and thought of our crazy experience at South of the Border there.
While taking a lunch break, we checked the map and decided to try to stay at the Chester, SC State Park with nearby Andrew Jackson State Park as a fall back. Unfortunately, the park was full for their “Spooks in the woods” and , according to the park ranger, every other SC State Park Campground was full and most private ones as well. Some phone calls to local private campgrounds confirmed this so I decided to call fallback #2 – Cherokee Campground near Blacksburg, SC even though it was another hour or two up the road. I called and they were booked solid for the next 3 months – pipeline construction crew! It appeared that there was no place at the Inn for us. We remembered that some Wall-Mart stores allow overnight camping if you ask so we headed to the local store and asked. The young lady at the customer service desk said sure. Just park in the furthest areas from the store doors and we would be welcome. We nestled up beside an 18 wheeler at the far end of the lot and after a quick visit to the store for some supplies, we bedded down for a completely uneventful and restful night. A gold star for Sam Walton’s troops!
Saturday 10/25 – We left Chester early and drove to Gaffney, SC where we began to follow SC11 along the Cherokee Foothills Trail. First stop was at the Cowpens Battlefield Monument the site of a Revolutionary War battle that many believe marked the beginning of the end for British troops in the South. They had a very well done drama told from the perspective of a man who had been in the battle to his grandson 44 years afterwards. It is worth taking the time to see if you are ever in the area.
Continuing on SC11, I got the bright idea that we ought to take SC276 over the mountain to Brevard, North Carolina and spend the night at the Little River campground there. (I had stayed there on a fishing trip with Jim Hatchell and thought Mary would enjoy camping along the Davidson River. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a bad move on several counts. First, SC276 over the mountain would have been uncomfortable in a passenger car ( which no deposit car insurance schemes at all) but pulling a travel trailer, it was the highway from hell! Narrow, full of switchbacks, steep grades and limited visibility curves. It was also FULL of traffic – fall leaves of course. We finally made it to Brevard and I was really looking forward to the campground and possibly casting a fly in the Davidson but it was not to be. The town of Brevard was wall-to-wall people, cars and vendors with some bands thrown in for good measure. No parking for a travel trailer, no camping, and a tedious 30 minutes inching our way through back streets to highway 64 West.
We began the winding trek along US64 through the beautiful Western North Carolina mountains; Brevard to Cashiers to Highlands, Franklin and Murphy. It was a beautiful drive but my poor choices were coming home to roost as it became more apparent that we were going to need to continue all the way home to find a place to stay. Every town and campground was full of people celebrating the Fall leaves and filling up the highways and campgrounds along the way. We continued in to Tennessee there we caught Hwy. 68 down the mountain to Madisonville and then on to our home.
We arrived home about 4:30pm about 10 hours after leaving Chester. This was another 300+ mile day but done primarily on twisty mountainous 2 lane roads instead of a straight wide interstate highway. Very tiring for both of us – I was tired from the stress of driving and Mary from the stress of MY driving.
In summary, we traveled 1680 miles in 26 days, spent 21 days on the Outer Banks. We spent wonderful days with friends, deepened our relationships, had fun, great food and drink and saw some spectacular things. No breakdowns or major equipment issues. The boondocking experience on Ocracoke was a complete success and we now know that we can go virtually anywhere for a week and live comfortably without outside services.
Once again, our Fun Finder did, indeed find us a lot of fun!