Surprisingly, we managed to get up early and got on the road according to schedule for a change. We said a big THANKS to Jamie and Christina and headed out. The first stop was in Greensboro, dropping the westrailer at Hagan-Stone park for a few days so that we wouldn’t have to haul it to the outer banks where it wasn’t needed. Once that was out of the way we got back on the road and started looking for a nice place for breakfast, which eventually turned into brunch at the General Store Cafe in historic downtown Pittsboro, NC. The cafe’s decor is very eclectic and once again the weather is too good for words.

 

After brunch we get back into the bus and head east, descending from the rolling hills into the coastal plains. As we get closer to the ocean the weather clouds up and the temperature drops about 15 degrees (F), and the bus seems to be getting hesitant somehow, bucking a bit at times. A phone call to my parents indicates that they are now enroute between Washington DC and the Outer Banks, and the weather is very wet. I check into the fuel pressure and wiring at the next gas stop but can’t find anything wrong so we press on. It gets decidedly worse over the next half-hour so at the next town I pull into an Advance Auto and pick up a coil. After that the bus runs as smooth as ever, and the engine runs flawlessly through the rest of our vacation.

 

After cruising past the peanut plantations of the coastal plain for a couple hours we descend to the coastal swamps. This is definitely not one of the more affluent regions of NC. OTOH the roads are good and crossing the swamp only takes an hour or so. We emerge from the swamplands near the mouth of the Alligator river, and cross one of the longest bridges I have ever seen. We cross the bridge and are soon in Manteo. We place another call to check on my parents location and as we cross onto the Outer Banks (from here on I’ll just type “OBX”) we discover that we’re about 20 miles ahead of them! I consider waiting for them to catch up but since we’re almost within an hour’s drive of the beach house it’s not really worth it. We press on, and gawk madly at the dunes and ocean as the unique landscape of the OBX rolls past us.

 

The beach house we rented is located in Avon, right about the mid-section of the northern arm of the banks. The further south we go the more distinctive the island architecture becomes, and the more eager we get to see what our own beach house is going to look like. Since I am in the lead, I head to Hatteras Realty and pick up the key. We get the key and directions to the House, which is about 5 minutes back up the road. We pull in and park the bus under the house.. it fits with about 6” to spare. I climb out and walk the short trail across the dune behind the house and there it is... the Atlantic Ocean. As I turn to look back at the beach house I see Mom and Dad arrive in their westy... the timing couldn’t have been better!

 

It doesn’t take too long to unload the buses and set up shop, after which we relax, crack a cold one and check out the house.

 

It’s AWESOME. 4 bedrooms, four bathrooms, four decks, a couple TV’s, a huge jacuzzi tub and we’re right on the beach. Although the weather isn’t great when we get there the forecast calls for substantial improvements over the next two days. Since my Mom isn’t comfortable with the spiral staircase up to the master bedroom my parents take the main floor master bedroom and leave the master to Colleen and I. There’s a sliding door out to the deck and you can see the ocean from the king-sized bed. It doesn’t get much better than this.

 

We set the alarm for 5:30 AM to watch the sunrise and fall asleep to the sound of the surf a couple hundred yards away.