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.

August in NYC

Been here, done that.  It's now 4th time in NYC since 2017. That probably explains why I'm not as excited as I did before. 

I slept over in a motel in Monroe Township before leaving my car at my COVID-phobic sister's house in NJ. I just dropped off my car, stuffed everything I need in my 65L backpack and then I was on the bus to NYC. I had to carry the tent -- the floor leaked in the rain at Cirque of Towers, and I had to return it to Big Agnes -- and it added weight and took up a lot of space in my backpack. I bought my 1-month pass at Port Authorities terminal and then took subway to 83rd Street apartment that I rented for a month for $2900. I knew NYC like a local by now; nobody would've suspected that I was a visitor if it weren't for my backpack. My ex flew in and joined me a few days later.

Greenpoint, Brooklyn

A few trips -- the long walk to Washington Heights, grocery run to Flushing, and Green Point -- between attending open houses stand out in my memory.  The main purpose of the visit was to check out the real estate market, after all, so I scheduled viewing properties at least once a week. I don't remember much other than that. And the time just flew by unlike 2017 and 2019 when NYC was still new. The brain speeds up things when things are not new.

The three-weeks probationary period was still in effect though. I was walking about without keeling over the next day, till I went down on the 21st, exactly3 weeks after I arrived. We went on the trip to Green Point on the 20th and walked a lot. We walked all over Long Island City and then took the bus to Green Point. Then we walked down Franklin Street and then walked back up Manhattan Street to meet my nephew Eric who was in town to visit his friends. We walked down Manhattan Street again then back up to Green Point station where we split up with Eric going to NJ to see his friend. I struggled to stay up the afternoon next day. Then I keeled over again a few days later after I walked Chinatown and Tribeca starting from 28th Street. After that, I was back on my feet. I walked long walk every other day: Kew Garden; from Brooklyn Downtown to Grand Army Plaza; from Sunnyside to Elmhurst and then Forest Hills. The pattern followed familiar J curve: up and running for 3 weeks, struggle for a week or so, and then bounce back up. Then it was time to leave NYC.

NYC still is a fun place, to be sure. There are tons of things to do, places to visit and eateries to, well, eat. But it's no longer the magical place that it once was. I don't know if the novelty will continue to fade out. Maybe it won't; the novelty may simmer on rather than scintillate as it did the first two times.  Like I'm a local rather than the first-time visitor. Still, I may need to rethink about buying a property in NYC. Once the magic wears off, it's people, not place, that keeps you alive and awake. And it's not as easy to make people connections in the city than in the countryside, especially if you are not working.

Harrisburg

Last year, I came in from East, from Pittsburg, via a half dozen burgs. This time I approached Harrisburg from north, perpendicular to the Appalachian creases and following the Juniata River.  It created a new layer of Harrisburg in my memory. The two layers of Harrisburg had to be connected to make it a whole. Otherwise they'll remain separate and unrelated, like Madison. And the nexus between the two was the Susquehanna River. I walked to the river from the Capitol last year, and I crossed the river to the north of downtown this year.

I didn't leave Elyria until after 1 PM, and I got to State College at almost 6 PM. I plugged in the car first and then walked around Penn State. It was 7 PM, past dinner time, when I was done. I drove to Kimchi but it was closed. I drove back to College Ave and settled for a hole-in-the-wall place named The Koop and had bibimbap there. Then I finally crossed Susquehanna River to get to the Harrisburg supercharger after 9 PM. I plugged and slept there.

I drove back to the Susquehanna River in the morning. McDonald's was conveniently located on Front Street, at the north end of the city, for the morning coffee. I took the coffee to Fort Hunter Mansion Park north of it for breakfast. Then it was matter of following the river to the state capitol in the south where I was the last time, to connect today's Harrisburg with the last year's. Afterwards, I drove through Harrisburg downtown on the way to NJ. That done, I now can say that I understand Harrisburg.

Toledo to Elyria

I had no concrete plan and I was playing by the ears by now. I've been all over the Midwest last year and I was not going back to where I've been. Which meant I'm not going south to Columbus, or east to Cleveland. But I haven't been to Ohio's coastline between Toledo and Cleveland. So, I decided to sweep through the lakeshore towards Cleveland and then head to New Jersey from there.

There wasn't much on my plate this morning other than checking out the Toledo downtown and another place or two of interest.  I first drove to the Museum of Art, walked around a bit, took a picture and then went to the downtown along Maumee River. I parked the car on Summit Street and walked Monroe Street toward the river. I ended up at Cornings headquarters and walked its trails by the river and circle out back to Summit Street. I then walked along Summit for a while and then was back to the car.  And that was that for Toledo, a middling city in Ohio. 2 years ago, I didn't know anything about Ohio. Now I can say I've been to all the cities -- Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, Cincinnati, Akron and now Toledo -- in Ohio.

Shortly after leaving Toledo, the tire pressure warning went off. I stopped to check, and it was visibly flat. I wasn't having a good luck with tires; it was the 3rd tire leak in 2 years. I stopped to pump the air at a Speedway station in Northwood. It took my $2.50 but didn't pump. They only gave me back $2. I drove across the road to another station, and the casher told me I could get a free air at a tire store on Navarre Ave. I ended up spending a good hour chasing air in Northwood, and then was finally off to Sandusky.

On the way was a series of beach towns. Port Clinton in particular appeared to be a working class resort town. I grabbed a sandwich from Wendy's and drove across the street to the waterfront for lunch. I walked to the lighthouse afterwards and then I was back on the road after 2PM. I stopped briefly at the beach to take a few photos. I then made an attempt to get to Catawba Island State Park, but I turned around. I no longer remember why; perhaps I was running out of fuel or I had to pay to get into the park. 

By the time I got to Elyria in the suburb of Cleveland, the tire was getting flat again. I had to pull over for more air. But it was going to keep losing air, and I had to get it fixed. I first stopped at Firestone, but they were closing in an hour and they couldn't look at it.  I then stopped at a few more tire stores, but none could deal with Tesla. Good thing they couldn't: it wasn't fixable anyway. When I got to Walmart, they told me that the tire cracked and needs to be replaced. They didn't the right tire, naturally, and I was stuck. It was getting late, and tire stores were closing. I called around and Mr. Tire in Northridge finally said they could get a pair the next day, so I placed order. I then drove to Mr. Tire store, pulled into the back of the building and slept there.

The next day, it was going to be several hours before the tires arrive. I wasn't comfortable with Cooper Tires, a brand that I'm not familiar with, either. So I placed more calls in the morning and found that Firestone, the first store that I stopped at, had tires available. I cancelled my order -- Mr. Tire folks not only let me out of the deal, but they also put more air on my gimpy tire so that I can limp along to the next store -- and drove to Firestone. They happened to have sale on QuietTrack, the top-rated tire for Tesla: if I buy 3 tires, they would get me the fourth for free. I only needed 2, but I figured I still break even with set of 4, given the 80k mile warranty on them. Eagle Touring that I had on my car had only 40k mile warranty and I used up half of it already. One was leaking and another was bold, on top of it. 

When it was all said and done, it was 1PM and I was out of $1,000.  But I was finally on my way to New Jersey. And it felt good not to be limping anymore.

Mackinaw to Saginaw: Tracing 2017 Route in Reverse

The bathroom is in the building by the water. The entrance to it faces the water. I was here at Presque Isle only once 5 years ago, and yet I remembered. The memory buried deep in the brain came gushing back as I approached the harbor on Grand Lake Road, and I started looking for the tackle shop and deli on the left of the road and the marina to the right. It was as if I was here just yesterday.

I was going take the freeway and go down the middle of the Lower Peninsula toward Lansing. Back in 2017, we drove up US-23 from Saginaw to Mackinaw, and I'd rather take the road not taken before. A few minutes into it, I changed my mind. Sweeping down the coastal for the second time, or anything for that matter, would be better than the boring inland freeway. I exited I-75 soon after I left Mackinaw and headed to Cheboygan. From there, I followed US-23 all the way to Bay City where the Tesla station was located.

As soon as I got to Cheboygan, I looked for the campground that we stayed overnight in 2017, but I couldn't find it. It turned out Robert's Landing Campground was halfway between Cheboygan and Mackinaw City. I missed it because I took detour through I-75. 

Huron Beach, Preque Isle, Tawas City. From Cheboygan, it was a walk down the memory lane. The road never looks the same in the opposite direction, but I managed to find most of the locations that we stopped in 2017. Some places changed. Boneyard BBQ, and its dancing pig sign, at Tawas City was gone and was replaced by another eatery. I stopped at Tawas State Park that we skipped in 2017 because the car didn't have enough range. And I'm glad I did. It was a vast sand bar stretching out into the lake encircling Tawas Bay. It was larger version of Sand Point Beach in Pictured Rock National Lakeshore.

I must have stopped at Bay City supercharger 2017: it was the last supercharger in the Lower Peninsula and the next one was in Luddington on the other side of the peninsula several hundred miles away. But I didn't remember the Telsa station there. The similar look of the charging stations must've turned my brain off; it's the wonderous new places that you remember, and Tesla stations isn't one of them. From there, I continued on US-23 to Toledo skirting Flint and Ann Arbor and bedded down at Red Roof Inn after recharging the car in Maumee.

 

Michigan Upper Peninsula

In 2017, we wanted to cross Mackinac Bridge and go north to follow RD drive #61, Upper Peninsula Drive. But there was no Tesla supercharger in the Michigan's Upper Peninsula. There wasn't too many in Lower Peninsula either, but we still managed to make it from Saginaw to Mackinaw by refueling at Tawas City where we had lunch and lounged at the beach, and then staying overnight in Cheboygan's RV park. For the Upper Peninsula, Sault St. Marie was the only place that had slower Tesla destination charger. We could've stayed there overnight to refuel, but the next charger was at Sheboygan WI, over 300 miles away. It wasn't logistically possible.

Since then, Tesla added numerous supercharger stations in Wisconsin and Michigan, almost a dozen just along the drive #61. They even added a station in Mackinaw, right by the ferry terminal where we took the boat to Mackinac Island. Now it was more than possible to make it through the Upper Peninsula.

I didn't bring my RD's Most Scenic Drive book. I only planned to do the northern shoreline from Marquette to Grand Marais, MI, and I had no idea that the route overlapped the drive #61. I was flying mostly blind, as far as the destinations went, and I had to do my research for destinations on the fly.   By the time I got to Munising, billboards and signs featuring Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore started to appear. I stopped at the tourist center there to find out what Pictured Rocks was all about. I then decided to check out a few destinations including Sand Point Beach, Upper Overlook, and Love's Leap. 

There is no road along Pictured Rocks lakeshore. The road runs a few miles inland and you must take spurs, a dirt road, to the lakeshore to get to the destinations. The spur road to Sand Point Beach was an exception that ran along the shore. But you still had to come back out to Munising and then take the main road to get to the other destinations. (These destinations, btw, would've been missed I relied on RD Scenic Drives).

Sand Point Beach was a stunner. The crystal-clear lake water lapped shallow sand bars and beaches stretching out a mile on either direction on the peninsula jutting into the lake. Beaches in Carribean or Great Barrier Reef, save the warmth, had nothing on it. 

On the way back from the Upper Overlook, I poked into Miner's Beach. There was a sign to it, and I couldn't pass on it. I could've walked from the Upper Overlook, and I started out walking, but rain started falling, so I returned to the car. It was a nice, wide beach with a stream emptying into it. After Sand Point Beach, it was just another beach. 

Lover's Leap required some walking. From Chapell Falls Trailhead, you hike towards Mosquito Beach. Just before you get to the beach, your veer off to the right and follow the shoreline with spectacular views of Lake and the cliffs over it. Hike another mile and then Lover's Leap comes into view. You can't hike to Lover's Leap itself as there is no path. You only can view it from 100 yards from it.

With Pictured Rocks done, I drove straight to Grand Marais. I made a half-hearted attempt at Log Slide on the way, but I couldn't find the path to the shore. I think I was imagining a log jam when it was sand dunes plunging into the water in reality, similar to Grand Sable Sand Dunes. I might have tried harder to get to the water if I knew it. I didn't stop at Grans Sable either, so I didn't get to see either one. Leave something for the next time, I suppose.

Grand Marais was another lakefront town with beaches and a marina. It wasn't a tourist town like Menominee, however; it seemed more like a working-class town.  I had a cold cereal for lunch in Bayshore Park behind Bayshore Market and then traversed the Upper Peninsula through the route 77 to Naubinway where they had a Tesla destination charger. The plan was to grab dinner there while refueling before continuing to Mackinaw. I plugged in the car at Adoba Inn and then walked to Moon Fries to grab a burger and ice cream. Then I finally got to Mackinaw well past 7 PM.