Davenport, Florida

Quick post here to let family and friends know we made it safely to Florida.  We are here at Deer Creek RV Park in Davenport, Florida .

Temperatures reached a record high for this date today: 84 degrees.

Patio View

Patio View.

More later..

Florida Bound..at last.

We have completed our yearly scheduled doctor and dental appointments and enjoyed many, many special visits with family and friends.  We enjoyed a very nice Christmas Eve with family and then spent a quiet Christmas Day with Mom.  It was a successful yet busy December.

Finally, we are now Florida bound.  Tonight finds us at Palmetto Shores RV Resort in Summerton, SC.

Traffic headed south was extremely heavy and moved slow at times.  This was as far as we made it today.

Sunset over Lake Marion

Coats, North Carolina

Our last week on the Outer Banks was relaxing and quiet.  We also celebrated Thanksgiving in the motorhome with a turkey breast, trimmings and grateful hearts.

We got in another visit to the Currituck Lighthouse and we climbed it this time.

It was a strong wind up there but the view was awesome!

We went back to the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge. 

We saw a huge flock of ducks fly over us this time.

And we enjoyed another excellent lunch at the Blue Moon Beach Grill in Nags Head.

A tasty fried flounder platter.

Grilled wahoo, delicious!

The month of December will find us in Coats, NC.  We will be "moochdocking" in my Mom's driveway while we complete medical and dental appointments and also celebrate the Christmas holiday with family.  Shortly after Christmas, we are off to Florida.
Warmer temperatures await..

In And About The Outer Banks, Part 2

The weather the last several days has been chilly yet sunny.  The wind here makes the air feel a little colder but with the sun shining, its warmth makes it a bit more tolerable.  We just dress warmer with layers and keep on going. 

We made a stop at 
Jeanette's Pier in Nags Head.

This photo was taken from inside their gift shop..just too windy to walk out on the pier this afternoon!

We enjoyed a couple of beers from the Outer Banks Brewing Station in Kill Devil Hills.
We were celebrating our second year anniversary as full-time RVers.

I selected the Hefeweizen and Ronnie their IPA.  Both were good but full-time RVing is better.

Geri, my friend from the college days, took us to the Weeping Radish in Grandy, NC.  We enjoyed lunch and some good microbrewed beers there too.

We spent more time at the Wright Brothers Memorial.  It is just awe-inspiring to see this monument everyday and even more so when we see the occasional jet, a Marine Osprey, a helicopter or even a single engine Cessna fly by it.

The Wright Brothers Monument was designed by Rodgers and Poor, an architectural firm from New York.

 This is a replica of the Wright Brothers plane, built in honor of the 100th anniversary of flight.  Their original plane is in the Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

We didn't know the Grave Digger, a popular and somewhat famous monster truck racing team competitor was located in Grandy, NC. 

We took the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry over to Ocracoke Island for a nice afternoon of exploring this quiet part of North Carolina's coastline.

The Ocracoke Lighthouse was built in 1823.

A view of Teach's Hole (Silver Lake) on Ocracoke Island.

A serene, windy and deserted Ocracoke Island beach.

We took a drive to the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
The dark spot in the center of this photo is the boiler of the shipwreck Oriental. It sank in 1862.  You can see this part of the shipwreck if you walk across the highway from the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center.

What a treat, we got to see the migrating tundra swans and white pelicans at the Wildlife Refuge too.

We have one more week here in Kill Devil Hills before we ease on down the road.
More later.

Our Fishing Report

 Well, not to much to report except we are having a good time and just happy to be able to fish on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Ronnie has been surfing several times.  He has caught flounder, bluefish, sea mullet and speckled trout.  Unfortunately all the fish (except the bluefish and we didn't want those) were too small to keep per the 2014 NC Saltwater Fishing Regulations.

No red drum yet but we have had nice weather for November.

One of the nice opportunities full-time RV traveling offers is the ability to reconnect with family and friends you have not seen in a while.  I knew my college roommate and sorority sister, Geri and her husband Larry, lived in Kill Devil Hills.  I contacted her and we picked up right where we left off!  We have had a great time catching up and reminiscing about our college days.

We were invited by Geri and Larry to go fishing out on their boat.  Larry knew several good fishing places and he took us to some of his favorites.  We had a great time but we only caught crabs on this trip.  That's how it is sometimes with fishing..

Now my brother John had much better luck surf fishing.  His fishing team competed in the 57th Annual Invitational Surf Fishing Tournament sponsored by the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club.  They placed 19th out of 119 teams.  They caught a variety of fish within size regulations including a "keeper" red drum.

We still have plenty of time to get back out on the surf and try for that illusive red drum.

  Until then, we will continue to explore and enjoy all that the Outer Banks has to offer.

More later.

In and About The Outer Banks of NC

It seems we have been on the go since we arrived in Kill Devil Hills a week ago.  Just like in the North Carolina and Virginia mountains, there is just so much to see and explore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Here is a quick overview of some of our day trips.

Our first stop was the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island.  As usual there are lots of large tanks with great displays of fish and other marine life native to coastal Carolina waters.  It's all interesting but a couple of the animal exhibits caught our attention.

We saw this rare rare albino-like alligator in one of the natural habitat display tanks.  It was on loan from an aquarium in Louisiana where that area is one of the only places where these unique alligators can be found.

 And these turtles were just waiting for me, posed for the camera.

The weather has been good.  Well, except for the nor'easter that blew threw last weekend.  It produced some high wind gusts and minor flooding.  Our campground seems to be in a sheltered area so we felt little effects.  This photo was taken from the sound side of the Roanoke Aquarium.

One day we drove north to Currituck Beach and Corolla.  Highway 12 ends with the road going right onto the beach.  There are warning signs one must use 4-wheel drive to continue on but we found the beach sand hard packed, kind of like Daytona Beach.  Ron never needed to put the Jeep into 4-wheel drive (it was low tide) however we saw several places of deep sand where 4-wheel must be used or you would be stuck. We did not see the Wild Spanish Mustangs of Corolla this time but we plan to go back and try our luck again.

Currituck Lighthouse
  We are planning to go back to spend more time here exploring the village of Corolla.

We drive by this side of Wright Brothers National Memorial each time we leave our campground.  It is always a great view to see. 

Bodie Island Light Station
We did not take the time to walk into the small museum this visit, I just wanted to take photos.  The morning sunlight was great.

Cape Hatteras Light Station
This is the best view with the afternoon sunlight.  The last time we visited this lighthouse, it was very close to the ocean.  Learn about it's historic move in 1999 here.

This was our first visit to Graveyard Of The Atlantic Museum in Hatteras.  We found this interesting museum full of shipwreck artifacts, Civil War naval history and a pretty good gift shop too.

Read more about the fascinating discovery and restoration of the original Cape Hatteras Fresnel Lens.
 here.

And I've got more later..

Kill Devil Hills, NC

Once we left Asheville, Ron and I decided to try Bandits Roost Campground in Wilkesboro, N.C.  The campground, a Corp of Engineer park on the W. Scott Kerr Reservoir, is located in the Yadkin River Valley. It sure lived up to its good reviews with spacious sites surrounded by forested areas.  Our long time friends from Willow Spring, Brooks and Christy, were also planning to be in the North Wilkesboro area that same week. We made plans to meet up and we had a great time exploring the mountain communities of Todd, Valle Crucis and the Blue Ridge Parkway. There were lots of laughs around the campfire!

Being out in the natural surroundings of Bandits Roost was refreshing especially after the tight sites at Taps RV Park in Asheville. Little Boy was more excited than us to be out in the woods.

He enjoyed several walks around the campsites, pretended to hunted a squirrel and caught some crickets.

After a quick visit with my Mom in Coats, we eased on down the road to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Ron selected OBX Campground in Kill Devil Hills.  This rather new campground is located on Colington Island close to the Wright Brothers Memorial. It has spacious sites, a fishing pier, wifi plus it is so quiet. Ron has fishing plans for the campground's pier and of course surf fishing.  It has been many years since we have been to this part of North Carolina.  We hope to revisit the Wright Brothers Memorial, Jockey's Ridge, the lighthouses and also find lots of fresh seafood.  We plan to be here a month to explore all these places and maybe even find some new ones.

More later..

Making Mountain Memories

We invited my Mom to stay with us a few days to enjoy the Blue Ridge Parkway too.  An awful wind and rain storm blew through the day she arrived so some of those bright leaf colors were absent during our drives.  We still had a great time sightseeing, laughing and enjoying our time together.

Boy, it was chilly on top of Mount Mitchell that day.  It was 42 degrees with a stuff breeze.

We drove up to Looking Glass Falls the day after all that rain.  We really couldn't tell any increase in water volume but I'm sure it was there.

This was Mom's first visit to the Biltmore Estate.  Ron and I have been before yet we still saw new things as we toured this amazing place. 

Facade of the stair-tower.

 On this clear day, we had a great view from Waterrock Knob Overlook.  In the valley below, you can see the town of Cherokee.

And of course we visited the apple orchards.  There are several to choose but Mom wanted the experience of picking her own fresh apples.  Stepp Orchards, located in Herndersonville, had great reviews and had an all-you-can pick orchard section.  Perfect.

We found plentiful varieties of the Pink Lady and Golden Delicious apples.  We picked over a bushel.

..and they were very good!

This has been a memorable week for us.  We also enjoyed some some fabulous restaurants too. (12 Bones BBQ, Salsa's in downtown Asheville and The Moose Cafe at the Farmer's Market)  Our month-long stay in Asheville is about up and it's time to ease on down the road.
More later..