Ten days in the Outer Banks ; A week in Monongahela National Forest (WV)

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 - 30 September, 2013)

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Monday, 30 September -

This morning we had our Doubleshots for breakfast then walked over to the bird-banding station across from the campground. As we were leaving our campsite, I noticed the Raleigh guy had just returned from his early-morning photo run and walked over to ask how it had gone. In the course of our conversation I said were headed over to the banding station and he immediately perked up. He had no idea it was there. He walked along and thus started a VERY good day for him. He had seemed ill at ease with us but at the banding station he took photos and got into long, involved conversations with the bird-banders. I love it!
We learned this year has been a slow one for the banders and we marveled at the lists they have of ‘foreign’ birds, i.e., those which have bands when they’re caught here at Dolly Sods as well as the lists of birds they’ve banded and have subsequently been netted again elsewhere. I saw one warbler had made it to Alaska and that blew my mind--- I thought their migrations were all generally north-south or south-north.
After a couple of hours with the bird-banders we drove on out to Bear Rocks and down over the side to Route 28 and then south to Seneca Rocks. The visitor center was closed but we drove up the road used by the climbers to approach the back side of the rocks. As we came back out, we stopped and got out to look around and saw three climbers in action above us and close enough that we had to be careful of rockfall.
We then drove on to the Seneca Shadows campground for a drive-through but the only campers were two motorcyclists camping in the tenting area.
We drove on to Spruce Knob, the highest point in the state and a magnificent viewpoint. We walked to the tower and then around the perimeter trail and seemed to have the place to ourselves.
After, we had lunch in the parking lot, tailgate-style, and several people stopped to talk to us. One guy was dressed all in camo but it was leisure-suit camo, not hunting camo. We also met a guy who told us of Ebener Knob, another viewpoint, this one looking out over the Green Bank area. We need to go there!
It was well past mid-day and we needed to get Maypo back to his truck. We drove back down and then across 33 and up to Thomas and the truck.
It was about 1600 by then so Orat and I drove back to the end of Camp 70 Road and hiked the loop trail overlooking the refuge. I was surprised we didn’t see any animals and saw only a few birds.
We then drove back to Davis to have a beer at the brewpub-- Blackwater Brewing Company. There we talked with a woman who had a smaller version of Orat’s Sun Lite camper. She’s also a photographer (like the Raleigh guy).
We decided to stay for supper at the brewpub and had burgers before returning to campsite 3 on the Camp 70 Road.

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Sunday, 29 September -

This morning we drove back to Thomas to have breakfast at Rose’s cafe. But the sign had changed-- it was no longer Rose’s... it was now ‘The Country Kitchen’. Fortunately, the waitress we had talked to there last year had bought the place and re-named it. The sausage-gravy biscuits were just as good as ever.
We had come in two vehicles since Maypo could only stay the weekend and needed a way home on Monday. We dropped his truck off at the parking lot beside the restaurant after asking the waitress if she knew of anywhere we could drop it for a couple of days. She had said the lot next door was used for that all the time and it would be no problem at all.
We then drove into Thomas and I was guiding us to the old coke ovens when I noticed the building formerly used by the West Virginia crafts people looked like it was in use again. A new crafts business, this time a private one, has taken over the building and has some nice stuff.
We then toured the coke ovens before going back to Blackwater Falls, this time for a daylight tour. We walked back to the overlook behind the lodge, walked to the Falls overlook, then drove back to the Lindy Point parking lot and walked out to the overlook.
We then drove on to Canaan Valley State Park, where we chatted with the Nature Center staff and drove up and looked at the golf course and new lodge construction before having lunch in the parking lot beside the Nature Center.
Afterwards, we drove south, then east and up into the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area and Red Creek campground, our goal for the night. But after a break for a quick supper we decided we’d better go check out the sunset at Bear Rocks in case we were socked in tomorrow morning. We had a wonderful little walk up onto Bear Rocks. I’ve been to the general area many times but had never been up onto the rocks.
At one of the overlooks we met a photographer from Raleigh. He was a bit of an odd duck, a good-ole-boy living out of his Dodge minivan but using some expensive photo gear. He was a bit of a sad character-- or perhaps just shy--- but we slowly learned from him that his father had fairly recently passed and it had jolted him into the realization that he didn’t want to just work all his life just to keel over at retirement age as his father had.
That evening we camped at Red Creek, site 10, a favorite. We had a nice campfire and then walked over to the more open Site 1 for a better view of the sky. We saw satellites (including two whose paths crossed very near to each other) and four or five shooting stars. And of course we could see the Milky Way the whole time. Nice!

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Saturday, 28 September -

I finished off packing for West Virginia this morning and then drove to Maypo’s house in Chambersburg. He recently bought a travel trailer, an ‘R-Pod’ by Forest River so we toured it while waiting for Orat’s arrival.
Around noon time Orat arrived and we transferred gear and the three of us left for West Virginia. By 1700 or so we were at the Wal-mart at Romney where we provisioned. And as we brought our shopping carts to the truck, we realized we had locked ourselves out of the camper. Orat had never gotten a key with the camper and had idly turned the inner lock knob before we left Chambersburg. He thought he had turned it back and perhaps he did. In any case, the door was locked now.
We tried the old credit-card trick and tried using a screwdriver to no effect. Then we noticed the back window was installed with screws. Maypo even had a power-screwdriver handy so Orat had the window removed in about thirty seconds and we were in. Whew!
Once we reached Davis we drove down the Camp 70 road and selected a site, then drove back through Davis and on to Thomas. There we had supper at the Purple Fiddle and then hung around for the show. Tonight it was ‘The Stewed Mulligans’, a local bluegrass band. They were good but the show went on and on and on. We finally left at 2300 and headed over to Blackwater Falls State Park. I had found a notice of an astronomy weekend at Blackwater on the web so we went looking for the star party. We finally found the right place but there was nobody there. But the stars were incredible nonetheless.

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Friday, 27 September -

Today I packed my clothes for the trip and then rode down to Starbucks for a coffee. That afternoon I mowed the grass for (hopefully) the last time this season.

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Thursday, 26 September -

I spent the day preparing for West Virginia by printing off maps of the wilderness areas and wildlife management areas and gathering all my regular travel stuff in the van.
I spent the afternoon at my regular walk at Rudy Park.
That evening we watched three episodes of ‘Louie’, season three and episode 2 of ‘Call the Midwife’

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Wednesday, 25 September -
Today I worked on my list for the upcoming West Virginia trip. I skyped with Orat and then drove over to our storage unit to pick up my fishing gear. On the way home I stopped in at the gas station to see when I could schedule time to have them look at a slow leak in one of Labashi’s tires. He took me right away and found a headless nail in the tread. That was in there on the Outer Banks trip so we were very lucky it didn’t cause us a problem.
That afternoon I took my daily walk at Rudy Park and that evening we watched ‘Call The Midwife’- Season two, episode one.

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Tuesday, 24 September -

Today I repaired the barn door trim by replacing it with new wood from the middle on down. The lower edges rot from rain dropping on them. Labashi then took over and painted them. I took the Thruxton to Rudy to get my steps in.
That evening we watched the last two episodes of ‘Political Animals’.

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Monday, 23 September -

Today I repaired the hinges on the barn’s doors and modified them for the new locks. I then set up the new grease gun with a Mobil 1 synthetic grease cartridge and serviced the EZ-Lube axles on the ATV trailer. The maintenance cycle is one year or 12,000 miles and I’ve had that trailer about a year and a half. With the Florida trip and several local runs, I probably put about 7000 miles on it.
I then took the Thruxton to Rudy Park and walked the inside-the-park loop of about three miles.
Back home I oiled the Thruxton’s chain. Mileage is just over 1000 at this point.
That evening we watched four episodes of ‘Political Animals’. Meh.

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Sunday, 22 September -

I did my regular Sunday morning ride to the Tollgate Starbucks and worked on a few blog entries. But I couldn’t seem to keep my focus and didn’t accomplish much so I rode on to Rudy Park for my walk.
That evening we watched Episode 3 of ‘Last Tango in Halifax’.

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Saturday, 21 September-

This morning I rode the Thruxton in to Starbucks and then on to Lowe’s to pick up some combination locks for the barn. Back home, I spent the afternoon repairing the barn door.
That evening we watched ‘Last Tango in Halifax’ and a documentary about ducks called ‘Duckumentary’. Not bad!

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Friday, 20 September -

Today I rode the GS to Starbucks with my laptop to catch up the blog backlog. While there I learned tonight is Bike Night in York.
That evening I rode the Thruxton into York for Bike Night. I was fully aware it’s largely a Harley event but I had no idea it’s so overwhelmingly a Harley event. There were thousands of Harley’s and I’d say I saw less than 30 non-Harley bikes.
I parked at the ball field and walked the few blocks to the center of town. I thought I’d get supper there but every food vendor had lines a dozen deep. I viewed the antique bikes but they were boring 60’s and 70’s Harleys.

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Thursday, 19 September -

This morning I took an hour or so to write up detailed instructions to Orat for the new porta-potty. I’m recommending he not use the upper (freshwater) tank since it makes the potty heavy and in this case the potty needs to be slid out of its compartment to be used. Instead, I’m suggesting he put it in an under-bed storage box (without the lid) so he can store two or more sports bottles of water with it for flushing. This is a better method for flushing and also avoids the possibility of leaving water in the tank to freeze and damage it (as I did one year). I also provided details on how to charge it, which chemical treatment liquid to buy and how much to use, and how to dump and clean it.
That afternoon I rode the Thruxton to Lowe’s for an errand and then on to Rudy Park for my daily walk.
That evening we watched ‘Silk’, part 3.

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Wednesday, 18 September -

This morning I ordered the porta-potty for Orat’s camper. We had discussed it at some length on our call and he had decided to buy the one I was recommending. But it occurred to me today that he was doing me a great favor by volunteering to take his camper rather than use Mocha Joe. I’ve been thinking of getting a pickup and a pop-up camper so I’d like to have the experience with his truck and camper to help me decide. I decided to go ahead and order the potty as a thank-you.... an odd one to be sure.
I rode the F650GS to Starbucks, then on to Crist Park for my walk today. That evening we watched ‘Survivor:Blood and Water’-- the first episode.

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Tuesday, 17 September -

This morning I had a long Skype video call with Orat, then took the Concours down to Starbucks around noon for a quick coffee fix. Back home I researched prices on a porta-potty for Orat’s truck camper for our upcoming West Virginia trip.
After supper I rode the Thruxton to Rudy Park and walked until dusk.
We watched ‘Silk’ (part 2 of series 1) for our TV entertainment. It’s a very well-done BBC series about a woman litigator in the British court system trying to earn her ‘silk’, i.e., the silk robes of the accomplished litigator.

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Monday, 16 September -

This morning we got up early and packed for the trip home. We left the Outer Banks about 0830 and reached Dulles Airport around 1400 to drop off Labashi’s younger brother and his wife for their flight to Texas. We got right back on the road and drove on through toward home. We stopped at a local diner for a quick burger and there overheard someone talking about shootings in Washington, DC. When we heard flights out of the DC-area airports had been closed, our ears perked up. Our friends were just now due to board their flights at Dulles.
We rushed home to check the news and learned of the Navy Yard shootings and flights were delayed only out of Reagan airport.
That evening we watched ‘The World’s Fastest Indian‘ with Anthony Hopkins as Burt Munro. We had been wanting to see it again since our New Zealand trip and seeing Burt’s record-setting motorcycles in Invercargill.

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Sunday, 15 September -

Today Labashi and I took off on our own while the others hit the beach. We drove up to Duck and walked the boardwalk end-to-end. After lunch at a 50‘s-themed diner (what a mistake that was), we drove on to Corolla and walked around the old village and spent quite a long time in the upscale little book store there.
That evening we ate a very fancy meal at Miller’s Restaurant.

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Saturday, 14 September -

Four of the six of us got up very early this morning and drove back to Alligator River Wildlife Refuge, hoping to see a bear. I thought there was an outside chance we’d see one but in any case we’d be introducing Labashi’s brothers to the exciting hobby of bear-scat examination. We examined three or four specimens and marveled at the obvious bear-created pathways into the marshes along Bear Road. And then, just where we thought chances would be best to see a bear, we came upon one. It was a youngish one walking along the treeline, sometimes in view sometimes in the brush. After snapping pictures for a while we decided it was getting too close and prepared to leave. That’s when we noticed an even bigger bear, this one out in the open field, just lazing about.
The second bear was on the other side of a canal so we were able to get quite close without fear. If it made a move toward is it would have to climb down the steep canal bank, swim the canal and climb the other side. We took lots and lots of pictures.
After turning back, we were again approaching the treeline where we had seen the first bear. There were now two. I’m not sure if one was the original bear or we were seeing two new ones. In any case, one of the bears cured us of the delusion that a bear would prefer not to cross a canal. It went right down into the water and up the other side quite easily.
After the bears, we drove on through the refuge to a boat launch and took a look around there and watched a local couple head downstream in their jon-boat into the snakiest-looking green you’ve ever seen. But we didn’t see any snakes or gators here or anywhere else in the refuge.
We then headed south to see the turtle-nest researchers in Cape Hatteras National Seashore. We had learned the researchers were digging out a turtle nest at 1100 this morning down at the Frisco bath-house area. The digs are done three days after the hatch.
The directions to the location were very good and we arrived about 15 minutes before the rangers showed up. As we watched, the two biologists started digging into the nest area. They found seven tiny little turtles still alive and one dead one among the 124 eggs--- or, rather, egg remains. Most of the eggs had hatched but a few hadn’t so the biologists open those up and determined how far along the developmental cycle the egg had gone.
The whole process took about an hour and then we got back on the road toward home at Kitty Hawk, about an hour away.
That evening we had pizzas delivered for our evening meal.

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Friday, 13 September -

Today Labashi and I drove back to Roanoke Island and on to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. We had kayaked here years before and I wanted to see it again. This time we didn’t have kayaks so walked the trail paralleling the first part of the water-trail.
We also explored most of the dirt roads through the Refuge and saw many bear-scat piles. Labashi loves to examine bear scat to determine what the bear was eating so we had lots of experience at it today.
On the way home we toured Wanchese and that evening we all went out to dinner at Owen’s Restaurant.

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Thursday, 12 September -

Today Labashi and I broke away and drove down to Manteo. We walked the waterfront shops and had a long conversation with a very interesting shop owner who paints very good watercolors of sail boats and western mountains.
We also toured Fort Raleigh and learned about the very early settlements on Roanoke Island.
Back ‘home’, we all went out to Port O’ Call Restaurant that evening.

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Wednesday, 11 September -

Today the others also wanted to explore. All six of us piled into Labashi’s car and we drove down to Bodie Lighthouse. We toured the lighthouse and took pictures from the top.
We drove on to Cape Hatteras and walked around the base of Hatteras Light but didn’t go up.
On the way home we stopped at Dirty Dick’s Crab House for drink and appetizers and then as we neared Kitty Hawk we stopped at Awful Arthur’s for crab legs, crab-and-lobster bisque, boiled shrimp, and oysters.

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Tuesday, 10 September-

Another day in paradise.... but I didn’t make a note of what I did today!
If memory serves, I went back to the boardwalk at Sandy Run and explored the area neighborhoods further, then took a short walk in Kitty Hawk Woods.


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Monday, 9 September -

This morning I took off by myself again. After a quick hit at Starbucks, I drove up to Duck and walked around for a half-hour or so, mostly checking out the hammocks and patio furniture at Nags Head Hammocks and then walking the boardwalk.
I drove further north to a strip-mall called TimBuckII and tried fish tacos at a Mexican restaurant there. Quite disappointing when compared to a San Diego fish taco. It was fish and it was in a taco but there was no sauce.... and it wasn’t fresh at all.
I drove on to Corolla and turned around where the road turns to sand. I then visited ‘NC Wild’, a museum about the Outer Banks’s duck and goose hunting and fishing heritage.
I reconnoitered the Whalebone House, the lighthouse gift shop, and strolled through the village before heading home.
That evening we dined at JK’s Restaurant. The steak was good but our service person loved to say no to anything we asked. We ended up complaining to the manager about her and he gave Labashi’s brother a $50 gift certificate for a future visit.


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Sunday, 8 September -

While everyone else headed out to the beach, I drove over to the local Walmart for the week’s supply of Doubleshots and then checked out the Harley shop on the mainland. I had hoped to rent a bike for a day sometime this week but was disappointed to see the shop had rip-off rates. They advertise an $89 rate for a 9-6 rental but you are forced to take insurance and with everything figured in it came to $140 for a partial day. The 24-hour-day rate was $180.
My rental of the Bonneville last month was $125 total for a 24-hour rental and that, too, was in a tourist area and IN season while we’re OUT of season now in the Outer Banks. The shop wasn’t offering any kind of off-season or mid-week discount and I really didn’t like the take-it-or-leave-it attitude. Good luck in your future endeavors, fellas!
I then went to the visitor center at Kitty Hawk and started driving around looking for parks and places to walk. I found a nice little town park with a boardwalk through a pleasant reserve at Sandy Run.
That afternoon I hung out at the beach with the rest of the gang and then we all went out to eat at Kelly’s Restaurant where I had an excellent bouillabaisse.

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Saturday, 7 September-

The two carloads of us (three couples) drove to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina today, arriving around 1600 to our beachfront house.
That evening we ate at the Black Pelican restaurant. I had my first shrimp-and-grits meal and it was fantastic!

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Friday, 6 September-

This morning we finished packing and left for Labashi’s brother’s home in Northern Virginia. We arrived at 1230 and after lunch the women folk went to the airport to pick up Labashi’s other brother and his wife. With Labashi’s brother busy packing his stuff, I had time for a walk and did the 2.5 mile loop I’ve done there previously.
Shortly after I returned the airport crew came home and we had a very nice visit, then all sat down to a big spaghetti supper.

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Thursday, 5 September -

Still getting ready for our trip. I washed the car and spent a long, long time cleaning off the sap on Labashi’s car (from our Virginia pines).
That afternoon I rode down for a coffee hit before getting back to cleaning up and checking out the car.
That evening we watched “I’m A Turkey” on PBS. It

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Wednesday, 4 September -

This morning I cleaned out the ATV trailer and hauled the contents (other than the ATV itself) over to our storage locker. I moved the ATV to the front of the trailer and then loaded in the Thruxton. I’m storing it there during our upcoming vacation trip and to test whether this will work out for longer-term storage for the winter.
I also cleaned up and serviced our folding bikes and put them in our car for the trip Saturday.
That afternoon I rode the GS down to Starbucks and on to Rudy Park for my walk to Crist Park and back.
That evening we watched Great Plains nature shows on the PBS web site.

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Tuesday, 3 September -

Today we drove up to Mom and Dad’s apartment to install the new camera’s software on Dad’s PC and test it out. All went well.
Labashi and I then drove on to Carlisle to visit the Trout Gallery at Dickinson College. We saw a very interesting show about Civil War engravings done for Frank Leslie’s illustrated newspaper.
Afterwards we walked to Andalucia Restaurant, our first visit.
Back home that evening we watched YouTube video clips of the Civil War history at Carlisle.

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Monday, 2 September -

Today was the Labor Day holiday. I rode the Thruxton up to Mom and Dad’s apartment and took Dad over to Best Buy to buy a new camera. We’ve given up on trying to get his old camera working.
Afterwards I rode down to Rudy Park for my walk to Crist Park and back.
That evening we watched ‘Silk’ Part 1. Excellent!

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Sunday, 1 September -

This morning I rode the Thruxton down to the Tollgate Starbucks for my Sunday coffee and papers. I struck up a conversation with a very interesting woman. She has recently moved to the southern York county area but worked for many years in Washington and Harrisburg as a staffer for high-profile politicians. She’s a breast-cancer survivor and is a speaker at breast-cancer events. We were best-buds in no time.
After leaving the Starbucks I headed through Red Lion and then cut down through Windsor on my way to Craley. There I visited the cafe racer shop I had seen last week while out riding with Orat.
I talked with the cafe-racer guys for a half-hour or so and took a close look at their bikes. Their main business is doing custom work but they also buy older bikes cheap and turn them info cafe racers, doing all the fabrication in-house. They have plans to grow substantially in the next year. I’ll be very interested to see how it works out.
I rode on to Rudy Park for my walk today.
That evening we watched ‘The Rape of Europa’ on Netflix.

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