It's around 11:30 AM, and we are back on Croatan Highway, heading towards Cape Hatteras. The highway unfolds before us, a solid straight line between the dunes on one side and the shimmering water on the other.
We are driving further south along this 200-mile bank of barrier islands that forms the narrow spit off the Carolina coast.
We see pine trees, and nestled between the dunes are narrow homes on stilts, packed in several deep along the shoreline.
Some homes are quite grand.
I notice a sign for Hang-gliding School and spot a couple of gliders along the crest of the highest dunes waiting to take off. What would the Wright Brothers say if they knew that folks are still gliding off the dunes here today.
In the distance we see the Bodie Lighthouse. One of these days it would be a great theme for a future trip to stop off at all the lighthouses along the eastern seaboard. But for today, we continue on and I snap a photo as a memory. The black and white reminds me of pop-art. The lighthouses I know are typically red and white.
The Atlantic Ocean side is protected by yellow sandy dunes and sometimes I glimpse the sea and waves. It seems remote and desolate.
We cross over a bridge to Pea Island, a national wildlife refuge, then approach a ghost town, shut down and boarded up for the winter season.
Soon after that, we arrive at our RV park. The facility is huge, with 400 sites, most of them empty at this time of year. It assures us, and the few others who are camped there, a prime spot closest to the beach.
We back in to our site, number 10, hook up and head to the beach on yet another glorious, mid-70F North Carolina day.
A spectacular site greets us as we cross the dune. We kick off our clogs and tramp barefoot across the golden sand, dipping our feet in the Atlantic Ocean.
We head to the pier up ahead. The movie, Nights in Rodanthe, was filmed here and this very pier features in it.
Here are a few more shots to share from our walk along the beach -
When we checked in, the friendly staff recommended going across the street to watch the sunset. The show was breathtakingly spectacular.
Folks in North Carolina have Halloween on their minds. There have been signs everywhere along our drive. Homes and businesses are decorated with pumpkins, witches, ghosts and other macabre creatures. Motor homes are decorated too, as we discovered walking across the campground to watch the sunset.
While eating dinner (easy left-overs tonight), we watched the movie Nights in Rodanthe. The kind and friendly lady at the desk offered to lend us her copy.
Watching the hurricane scene in the movie was sobering. As peaceful and beautiful and this place looks now, it was just this past July 4th that a hurricane came rumbling through these parts. Everyone evacuates and the bridges are closed after you leave. There is still evidence of the hurricane's path through here - I wondered why the cabins that are for rent at this RV park looked so twisted and damaged. They were torn off their foundations and toppled over.
If life on Cape Hatteras can't be perfect all the time, I am glad that our experience today was as perfect as I could imagine.