Outer Banks

It's been a long drive. I left Lewes early in the morning of 9/2 and it was 5 PM by the time I crossed the Virginia to NC. I was pretty tired by then. Then Arby's in Moyock said "best burger in North Carolina" and I felt an immediate lift of my mood. I haven't lived in NC for ages -- Harris Teeter was still named Big M and Food Lion was Food Town when I was here -- but it still felt like home. It is just a psychology, to be sure. There is no difference between Virginia and North Carolina that one could discern without looking at the signage and yet you feel different when you know you are in one and not the other. It's like Christmas. There is no difference between 23rd and 24th. The sun is at about the same place in the sky and nights are as cold. But eyes are aglow on the night of the 24th in anticipation.

After the usual morning routine at a McDonald's just down the road from China Buffet in Lewes/Rehoboth, I stopped at Rehoboth Ave, walked around for a while and then visited Rehoboth Beach. Then I followed the Coastal Highway to Ocean City, MD on my way to Norfolk, VA. Along the way were more beaches -- Dewey, Bethany, Fenwick -- and Assateague Island that straddled Maryland and Virginia. I stopped there and spent an hour in Assateague Island National Seashore after renewing my America Beautiful Pass there. It expired in July and I'd needed a new one since I'm stopping at more national parks on the way back to West. Assateague Island looked a lot like Tawas State Park with the strip of sand bar stretching out into the water. They are fused together in my memory; I can't tell if I'm remembering Tawas Point or Assateague Island. 

It was getting late in the day by the time when I crossed the Chesapeake Bay and arrived at Norfolk. I thought maybe I'd stay in Norfolk and explored the city. But there wasn't much to do in Norfolk; I was done after the Naval Museum and USS Wisconsin. So, I pressed on to Outer Banks and arrived at Kitty Hawk at 7 PM. I walked around in Kitty Hawk beach for a while and then bedded down at the Tesla station in Kill Devil Hill. I don't remember where I ate for dinner. I might have bought groceries at Harris Teeter where the Tesla station was located in. 

The following day was another long one sweeping through the Outer Banks starting from Jockey's Ridge. Jockey's Ridge, like just everything in Outer Banks, is a gigantic sand dune from coast to coast. It is probably the tallest and largest one in The Outer Banks. From the top, you can see both Roanoke Island in distance and Atlantic Ocean. I hiked from the entrance to all the way to the inland shore. 

Roanoke Island, a stone's throw from Jockey's Ridge, was a disappointment. My search for the Lost Colony took me all the way to Elizabethan Garden, but it appeared that they turned the Lost Colony into a theater that was closed. I had spent enough time on the Island by then; I turned around and came back out to the Outer Banks. Then the long march to Ocracoke Island commenced.

I had to pull over when I saw a large white sand bar on the Atlantic coast as I crossed Bonner Bridge to Pea Island. I parked on the Oregon Inlet and then walked over the dunes to the wide open beach on the coast side. It was one of the beach beaches in Outer Banks.

I no longer remember where I got stuck. It could be somewhere on Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Or maybe it was on Ocracoke Island. I poked around as I drove down the narrow strips of Outer Banks and walked around the beach a few times. Then I pull off to the side of the road not knowing that it was a quick sand. There was no getting out of it without towing. The Honda in front of me was stuck too and a tow truck arrive to get it out. The driver wanted $150 to get mine out while he was there. I hesitated and he was gone. They must be making a killing rescuing the vehicles there. A cop and good Samaritan stopped, struggled for about 30 minutes and finally got my car out. The wheel well cover came off in the process and I had to drive taped up for the rest of the journey. 

It got to Cape Hatteras Ferry Terminal at 4 PM. I remember it was 3 PM when I stuck -- I was watching the time so see if I can make it to the ferry -- so it I must had stuck on Cape Hatteras, not Ocracoke. There, an agent told me that the last Ocracoke ferry might have been cancelled. It was too late and I couldn't have made it anyway even if it wasn't cancelled. But it was an excuse I could use to spend the night on Ocracoke Island. I think I checked out a motel when I got to Ocracoke, only to find the rate exorbitant. I spent the night in the parking lot of Ocracoke Campground. 

I spent the evening at the beach. Then I took a bath in a secluded spot, ate my dinner of instant ramen cooked in my frunk, and then climbed on the back of my car. A sheriff came by at night and knocked on my window. I told him that I couldn't make it out of the island because the ferry was cancelled and there was no campsite available. He apologized for waking me up and moved on.

I took the 7:30AM ferry out of Ocracoke. It was a long ride to Cedar Island that took 2 hours. Then it was a nonstop march to Raleigh, and it was past 2PM when I got to my sister's house. They were out of town, but I got in through the backdoor and spent the next day resting.

New Jersey Coastline to Lewes, DE

Lewes was a good-sized town. The official population is only about 5,000 for both Lewes and Rehoboth, but the Coastal Highway that runs several miles from Lewes to Rehoboth Beach is bustling thoroughfare lined with businesses. And I somehow thought it was a village with only a ferry terminal and not much else. Again, the imagination didn't match the reality.

I picked up the car from my sister's house in New Jersey around 7 PM and then drove about 20 miles south to Tesla station in Clarksburg in a Wawa station where Tesla chargers were located. Wawa is a familiar looking place by now. They are all over Pennsylvania and New Jersey and they all look the same just like Sheetz in Pennsylvania or Sinclair in Nebraska. It was getting dark by the time I got to the Wawa station, and I don't like driving in the dark. In the dark without any visual queue, you get no idea what the locale looks like and therefore no understanding of geography. In more scenic roads, you miss out on the scenery as well. So I plugged in and climbed into the back of the car at Wawa instead of continuing on. The shed behind the charger must've been some kind of electric station; it was making loud buzzing noise. I had to get out later and move further away to get some peace.

The plan for the return trip to CA was to sweep through the coast down to Jacksonville and then cut across Florida to the Gulf side. I would then again sweep through the panhandle of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi before heading straight to the four corner states. I might stop and Big Bend National Park in Texas if time allows. So, todays plan was to drive down New Jersey's barrier islands on my way to Norfolk VA. Long Beach Island would be the starting point of the long coastal sweep.

You'd think NJ as suburb of New York and Philadelphia. You'd be right if you look at just the Northeast and Southwest portion of NJ. But large chunk of the rest is forested. To the north is the remnants of Appalachian Mountains. A part of Appalachian trail actually goes through New Jersey. To the south on the way to the barrier islands on Route 72 is the coastal forest on sandy soil. I took that rather scenic and idyllic route from Clarksburg to Long Beach Island.

Long Beach was a beach resort town. I parked across Drifting Sands Oceanfront hotel, which looked more like condos than a hotel, and then walked to the rather idyllic and empty beach. It was still early in the morning when I got there. I took a few photos and then moved on to Atlantic City.

It must've been decades ago, and I no longer remember when and why, or with whom. But I do remember being on the boardwalk in Atlantic City once. It was on my way, so I might as well stop and see if I can recall something from the previous visit. I took US-30 into Atlantic City and then stopped at Golden Nugget, used their restroom and took a few pictures at the marina across the hotel. Then I drove to the boardwalk, parked by Hard Rock and then walked the boardwalk. the Boardwalk had Caribbean theme with tiki bars and pirate motif. I don't remember any of that. But the shops lining the boardwalk felt familiar, probably not because of I remember any of them, but that is what all boardwalk looks like. 

From Chambersburg to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was a burg-city. From Atlantic City on down along US-9 was Ventnor City, Margate City, Ocean City and so on. The Jersey shore was city-city. I followed  this series of beach towns, all the way to Ocean City. It was a September afternoon, but it still felt like summer. I had to stop just about every beach and take it all in. 

Ocean City

The drive from Long Port to Ocean City across the bay felt like a warmer version of SF bay. Ocean Drive Bridge looked just like San Mateo Bridge too. Lots of beaches lining both shores. I had to make another stop when I saw the wide sand bars at the end of the bridge. I pulled into the parking lot on the other side of the road and walked all over the sandy bar there. Then I went to the boardwalk of Ocean City and took some more photos the beach scene, with the Ocean City skyline as the backdrop. I have to say that Ocean City is a better location than Atlantic City to visit unless you prefer to Casinos at Atlantic City.

After Ocean City, I turned on to Garden State Parkway to Cape May where I planned to take ferry to Lewes DE. I got to the ferry terminal at around 3 PM, but the next ferry wasn't till after 4 PM. The ferry would've added $60 to the cost as well, so I wasn't going to save time or money by taking ferry. It still would've been nice to cross Delaware Bay on a ferry, but the cost and time wasn't worth it. So I decided to go around the Delaware Bay through Wilmington. The detour would add 3 hours to the trip, but I'd arrive at Lewes at about the same time as I'd if I took the ferry.

I didn't stop at Wilmington. I thought for a moment that I'd sleep in Wilmington and explore the town in the morning while I was there. But I still had too much light left and there wasn't much to do in Wilmington. I pressed on to Lewes leaving the nagging feeling that I'll never be here again.

The town of Lewes itself was a nice resort town along Old Mill Creek that harbored a marina. Something was going on when I got there at 6:30PM, and the street was jampacked. I meandered through downtown Lewes and then got to Lewes Beach. I spent some time there taking pictures and then took an outdoor bath at the Beach Patrol building. It was time for dinner then. I drove out to China Buffet off Coastal Hwy and then slept in the parking lot there after the dinner.