Jersey City of the South and Mosquito killers

July 12-14

In an effort to get as close to the ferry point for Cape Hatteras, we drove most of the day Saturday north on Interstate 95, and pulled into our first Walmart for the night in Goldsboro, North Carolina. We parked all the way in the back, and shut the blinds, turned the generator on, and cooked a great Chinese stir fry for dinner. It wasn’t bad at all, and the 24-hour security guy driving around never said a word. I guess Walmart really does allow RV-ers to park overnight.

The next day, we drove about 100 miles along highway 79 to Morehead City on the coast. After securing our spot at another Walmart (definitely not as nice as the last one), we drove to Atlantic Beach with the dogs. A long stretch of sandy beach, cluttered with tacky holiday surf and gift shops along the way, this place reminds me more of Jersey than a small town seafront in North Carolina. It was interesting to see that many people were living in the neighborhoods on the coast, unlike most of Florida where it seems all but a few of the places are huge rentals. Later, we wandered down to Beaufort, which I believe, is North Carolina’s third oldest town. Very quaint and well preserved, we walked along the waterfront, poking our heads into small galleries and a really cool wooden boat making shop. On Monday, Shaune caught up with some work, and I took the dogs back down to the beach for a run and a shower. Although our RV has exceeded our expectations in most ways, the shower pressure, understandably, doesn’t quite cut it. It’s actually easier to shower at the park showers, or the outdoor beach shower in this case. On my way home, I bought some fresh scallops from a stand along the side of road for dinner. Around 11am, we drove to catch our 2pm ferry from Cedar Island to Ocracoke. Driving the RV onto the ferry was completely seamless, and the 2.5 hour long trip was really relaxing. After we arrived, we drove a short distance to Ocracoke National Park campsite for the night. There was only one big sand dune that separated us from the ocean. The park was quiet; we had wild bunnies and deer running around the site. But, to this day (and this includes 2 years in Thailand), neither of us has ever experienced such terrible mosquitoes. When we arrived at the dump station, we got out, and were attacked in force, both of us nearly panicking. We soon learned that long trousers and sleeves were a necessity, as well as DEET insect repellant; something both of us had always insisted was not for us.