April 13th, Friday – Outer Banks, Part One

Say it can’t be, really, we can only spend an hour there?  The reason for coming way out

here where the road ends at Cedar Island RV Park was quite simple.  We wanted to take the ferry on over to the Outer Banks and do some sight seeing each of several days.  But that went horribly wrong because I failed to read between the lines, so to speak.

Looking at Cedar Island and then over to Ocracoke I figured how long could it take to get there.  Maybe 30 minutes at best.  Oh, silly me, if I had only taken the time to really check things out.  Barbara began researching options when we got here and that is when I learned how horribly wrong I had gone.

The ferry from Cedar Island to Ocracoke was 2 hours and 15 minutes.  That ferry left us off at Ocracoke but wait, if we really wanted to see even a bit of the Outer Banks there would be another ferry involved.  That ferry ran between Ocracoke and Hatteras and would take 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Furthermore, with the ferries running on limited schedules at this time of the year, and the second ferry being first come first served it was beginning to become plain as could be we would have at best an hour maybe two to visit the Outer Banks.

So what to do?

• We could move the RV to the Outer Banks. I wasn’t really comfortable with this since it would mean taking both vehicles separately and removing the hitch from Graybeard since it sits so low to the ground.  The campground options over there were not the greatest either.
• We could do a walk on and just visit Ocracoke. Tempting but we wanted to see a bit more.
• We could settle for just an hour or two but that also seemed silly to both of us. What could you really see in two hours?
• We could also go over on Wednesday and stay overnight returning on Thursday. This was Barbara’s favorite option.  At first, the thought of leaving Graybeard sitting here unguarded and with no one to watch over him gave me a queasy feeling.

In the end, however, it was the overnight option that we went with and so Barbara went to work on planning the trip and making reservations for a motel that would accept dogs.  Yup, Marti was definitely going to be a part of this odyssey.

So it was, Wednesday morning at 6 am long before these two retired people would normally ever think of getting out of bed, we were rudely awakened by an alarm clock

telling us to get up and get going.  The temperatures were in the low 50’s and Small Craft Warnings were still posted.  Clothes had been packed the night before.  We now packed the cooler with lunch and supper.  We gathered together Marti’s stuff.  We went through our check list and deemed ourselves ready.

Out the door to the ferry terminal.  Our first cruise ship would be the Cedar Island.

This ferry belongs to the what is called the Sound class.  The Sound Class ferries weigh around 300 tons and can accommodate 50 vehicles and 300 passengers, and all of the ferries that service the Cedar Island / Ocracoke route are of the Sound Class variety.  Since we had made reservations the night before we checked in and then got on line

with the others who were making the early morning trip.  In no time at all ,we were on

board with everyone else.  We discovered a little later just what these ferry’s could hold.  We saw motorcycles, cement mixers, large class A rigs, all kinds of trailers, numerous class B & C rigs, tour buses, and just about any other kind of vehicle under the sun.

Remember I said there were still Small Craft Warnings posted?  Here we are just

just clearing the breakwater and whitecaps are rolling in.  A little later straight into the

winds and waves we took one over the bow!  Yes, it was rough but you don’t feel a thing.

A little over 2 hours later we were pulling into the ferry terminal at Ocracoke.  But no time to dilly dally since we had another ferry to catch 30 minutes to the north that would take us to Hatteras.  So we worked our way through Ocracoke and soon we were on Route 12 heading north for the other ferry.

Going to have to call it a night now since the internet is again going up and down.  Amazed that I got this far.  Much more to come tomorrow and the night after.  Yes, by tomorrow we will be in an area where the internet will not be an issue.  So till then have a good night.

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.  Thanks again for sharing our day with us.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before