Three: Outer Banks Exploration Sept. 27-Oct 1, 2021

October 26, 2021

The trip to OBX was interesting. Harrowing at times. But upon our arrival, we unpacked and scouted around a bit. Then it was time to get all touristy!!!

Firsr up, travel to the Hatteras and Oracoke lighthouses (Hatteras High is the name of the condo building in which we stayed):

Sept. 27, the iconic Hatteras Lighthouse. All of the other folks took phone photos of one another, but on the dark side of the structure, below:

I had the entire light side, that is, the one getting the sunshine, to myself. I could not get a "far"shot for context, but I did get a closeup:

The next stop was Oracoke, an island requiring a ferry ride, for people and vehicles. We asked what the fare was... nuthin'. Whaaaaat? Works for us!!!!

Oracoke is home to one of the two herds of wild horses - we chose to skip it because we were going to visit the herd on the northern end of the Outer Banks. So we took the ferry and chanced upon the Oracoke lighthouse, which it turns out in addition to protecting seafarers from the shoals also guides them to the cove. It's the nation's second-oldest lighthouse and can be seen for fourteen miles:

The actual lighthouse, closed to the public:

After a day of rest (sightseeing is exhausting!) we were off to the north of our rental. Our target was the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, and the wild horses of Corolla. Not to mention the famous Biscuits and Porn, which, yeah, was very seedy. To counter that experience, we hit Duck Donuts, in, yes, Duck... sublime. Their parking lot was the size of my dorm room back in the '60's, but hey, I just drive a teeny Denali... nothing like the Suburban beast I used to wrangle.

The Currituck Beach Lighthouse is on the sound side (as opposed to oceanside) of OBX. It is undergoing repairs but tourists can do the stairs to the top (not this tourist). And no, that's not a fun ride off the side. Although I know James and more than one Chicago United Rider would not see it that way:

The huge draw for us was possibly to have a chance to see the wild horses. This required driving to where the road ends at the beach, expelling air from one's tires (down to 20 psi), and motoring off in 4-wheel. Yee hah, right? Well, Linda was skeptical, but we did it without a hitch. Not so all of our fellow tourists... at least five got stuck. I did not gloat that several of them were macho pickups. Well, not a lot... So off we went, 4.8 miles up the beach as it turned out.

In addition to the beach driving, a ton of luck was also required. These are wild horses, right? A hundred and ten or twenty in the herd. And not at all predictable.

So what to our wondering eyes did appear, but a line of 6 or 8 steeds crossing the beach from the dunes on the left to the ocean on the right just ahead of us!! Wow!!

I stopped, got out my camera, and shot probably 25 frames. Of course, I did not have a memory card in my camera. So, I got absolutely nuthin'. Linda, on the other hand, got this video on her phone. Amazing:

And not only that, she got a second clip, which captures more of the context: the beach, the ocean, the other vehicles...:

So, as you can see below, I got my act together by the time the trailing mare with her foal came by:

I then befriended a guy who was building a wooden staircase access to the beach over the dune from his home, and he invited me up the hill, and I was able to grab this frame:

Way too much excitement! More rest required for the weary travelers!!! (not old. weary.)

So after some recuperation, libation, and adding air to the tires, we made it to tour another day. This time, it was the Wright Brothers National Monumnent:

So, Kill Devil Hill, right? Where they launched the eventual first flight, right?

Well, not exactly.

It turns out that they launched their gliders off the hill.

But de plane? No sir. That started, and landed, totally on the flat.

Best museum we've ever seen, btw.

Anyway, let's go up Kill Devil Hill and look back on the museum and "runway":

The cement path straight out is a walkway from the Wright Brothers outbuildings to the hill. That's the two darker buildings they used, and the museum a bit over to the right.

But let us zoom in to the end of that cement walkway for a better understanding:

The large boulder at the left, where the crowd of folks is standing, is the point of takeoff for the motor-driven airplane, a gliider no more. The other white stones mark the end of the first, second, third, and fourth flights, going left to right. It's pretty clear that fourth one proved they actually had invented the airplane.

On the backside of Kill Devil Hill (on top of which there now is a monument) there's a very cool life-size sculpture of the plane, the Bros, and iconic events surrounding the flight. For example, the one photo of the actual flight (you've seen it) was taken by not-a-photographer. The actual photographer had stepped up to help with the plane, so this random guy snapped the shutter. I can relate to that!!!