Prologue - Part V: Outer Banks Expedition

Driving Time : 17 hours - Distance: 1000 mi.

I had never been to the Outer Banks (aka OBX) before this weekend, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I drove up there to meet up with some family who were camping out with a group of 20 or so off-roaders from the Olde North State Cruisers. This is a club of Land Cruiser and other Toyota 4WD owners who were getting together for their annual Spring Tide Ride there in the OBX. They meet there because the beaches are one of the few beaches that I’m aware off on the East Coast that allow vehicles to drive around on the beach itself. The annual outing is a very relaxed, family atmosphere that consists of camping, multiple beach rides (including a few night runs), lots of great food, and a fair bit of sight-seeing.

The chain of islands that make up the North Carolina portion of the Outer Banks (which stretches up to the southern tip of Virginia Beach, VA) are centered around seasonal tourism and fishing. It’s what I would imagine an amusement park with a New England fishing village theme would be like. Outside of the high-dollar summer homes for the rich, the architecture is very simple and most of the houses have a very austere look with lots of weather faded cedar shake sided houses. The few with color are typically muted grays, greens, and blues. It’s not really until you get to Okracoke Island, the southern-most tip of the OBX island chain, that you start to see any of the bright colors and architecture that you typically associate with the beach. It’s also Okracoke that’s the most touristy and gimmicky. The rest of the islands are more about camping, fishing, and seafood, whereas Okracoke is more of the same, only with a much more commercial feel.

I arrived Saturday afternoon, not making it Friday after work as originally planned, and immediately I was treated to lunch at Island Perks Cafe on Hatteras Island. Lunch consisted of a simple seared tuna wrap, a cup of Hatteras style clam chowder, and bread pudding for dessert. It seems that what makes the chowder Hatteras style is that the broth is what they call clear, but what in reality is a hazy broth instead of the thick, creamy white of New England style chowder. It was delicious none the less, as was the crab cake I sampled, which I normally don’t care for, and the cinnamon buns for breakfast. I’ve only liked bread pudding one other time, from a pub in St. Louis called McGurk’s, and was pleasantly surprised when Island Perks' offering turned out to be quite tasty. As part of my introduction to Hatteras Island we took a quick visit to see the lighthouse on Cape Hatteras, and took my first off-road beach ride along the shore where we subsequently got stuck as the tide was coming in. Luckily we were rescued in time to avoid a submerged Land Cruiser that wasn’t ours. For dinner that night there was a large cookout featuring 20lbs of peel-and-eat shrimp, chorizo, brats, Italian sausage, grilled chicken, and a large assortment of beer. All of this was followed by a night ride on the beach under a cloudy sky that let only scant amounts of moonlight shine through. It was just enough light to give an eerie glow to the patchy waves of cold mist that rolled in off the ocean. It was beautiful, and the ride was a lot of fun.

Everything was going well until bedtime and a few oversights on my part and shortcomings on my equipments part became apparent. The tent performed admirably, keeping me dry as a late night rain set in. Unfortunately I did not anticipate the night time temperatures dropping into the low 50’s/high 40's and my sleeping bag, a Marmot Trestles Trails only rated for 55F, lived up to its rating and left me cold, uncomfortable, and sleepless. This made for a very long, but not unenjoyable Sunday. After packing up camp that morning we took the short ferry ride to Okracoke Island for lunch and a little sight seeing. Lunch was at a place called Howard’s Pub, which wasn’t bad, but except for a tasty appetizer of seared tuna bites with a spicy teriyaki sauce it was nothing terribly special. The search for an ice cream shop that stayed open on Sunday was much more entertaining and led us on a walk around the island. During our quest we came across the British Cemetery, which is the final resting place for four British sailors who were the only bodies found from the May 14, 1942 torpedoing of the HMS Bedfordshire by German submarines. The Outer Banks area is often referred to as the Graveyard of the Atlantic for it’s history of sunken ships, though most are due to it’s lack of a barrier reef and not so much Nazi’s. Ocracoke in particular also has a great deal if pirate lore as it was the home base of Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard. After finally finding a small ice cream shop we decided to call an end to the vacation and took the ferry ride back to the mainland and parted ways.

The ride home should have been nothing worth writing about, and for the most part it was. The exception was getting caught in a nasty storm outside of Spring Hope, NC. A storm that I watched race across the low flatlands at an amazing pace. A storm that brought whiteout rains, quarter and golf ball sized hail, and ridiculous winds. A storm that I later found out was actually a tornado. However, after 10 minutes of non stop cussing, a fair amount of shaking nervously wondering if it was ever going to end, and a few minutes afterwards to regain my composure it turned back into a long, boring trip where I fought against exhaustion in my determination to make it home without having to make an unplanned layover.

Despite the trip being a day shorter than planned, fighting sleep deprivation, and the harrowing tornado incident my trip to the Outer Banks was a great one. I can’t even feign to call it a comprehensive visit of even the few small areas that I visited, especially considering it doesn't even make up half of the entire Outer Banks area. There is much more to see of the OBX including bands of feral ponies, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills (site of the famous Wright Bros. flight), and quite a bit more. There is definitely another trip to the OBX in my future.