Two Beaches - Hatteras Island, Myrtle

Our go to beach vacation when we lived in a stix and brix was Hatteras Island. We first stayed in Hatteras Village and then for several years we stayed at the Outer Banks Motel in Buxton. That was our favorite place because we could sit on the beach and see the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. After we went on the road we stayed at the Sands of Time Campground in Avon, a small village just north of Buxton.

Back in our Buxton days the lighthouse was very close to the beach. It was not this close when it was built in the 1860's but over 130 years nearly 1900 feet of beach had eroded away. There was much discussion about what should be done and finally it was decided to lift it up and move it 2900 feet placing it the same distance from the shoreline as it was in 1870.

An old picture from the top of the lighthouse of the beach at the north end of Buxton. The last buildings on the beach are the Outer Banks Motel. The beach north of there is national seashore and will never be developed. That is why we love Hatteras Island.

We were there in 1999 when they picked up the 200 foot tall, 500 ton lighthouse and moved it 2900 feet. It is now about as far from the shoreline as it was in 1870. 

They jacked the lighthouse up and set it down on rollers that moved along the i-beams. Hydraulic jacks were attached to the i-beams and pushed it four or five feet at a time. The beams were then leap-frogged ahead for the next move and the jacks were moved and reattached for the next push. The actual move took 23 days.  

Here it is at its new home in July 1999. The water-filled hole is where it was before the move. You can see the shoreline on the left. What an amazing feat moving such a large structure.

In addition to the lighthouse. they also moved all the out buildings including both the light keeper's houses and this oil storage building.

This is the lighthouse during our latest visit. It is now undergoing major renovation, being painted both inside and out. Unfortunately, that means it is closed to visitors at this time so you can't climb to the top.

Proof that the move was the right thing to do. The jetty was part of a failed attempt to build up the beach around the lighthouse. The bricks are part of a fence that was around it in 1870.

The brick fence in the foreground. The brown and white post was where it was previously and in the distance its new location.

The buildings nearest the ocean are the Outer Banks Motel today. 

An areal view from an old postcard. Some of the buildings have been moved back and they have all been raised. You have to wonder how long it will be before Mother Nature wins this battle.

These are newer homes that had a dune between them and the ocean when they were built. We have always heard Hatteras Island is moving west but never really believed we would see it in our lifetime.

Hatteras is a great place for all kinds of water activities from surfing....

....to fishing.....

....to sun bathing.....

....or just watching the sunrise.

Of course another reason we love it here is the beaches are rarely crowded. Even on holiday weekends you can find a stretch of beach with no people.

Because the island is so narrow if you don't like getting up early for a sunrise you can walk to the sound side for a sunset.

While we did not get to stay as long as we did when we came here in Opus, we still had a great time and always look forward to returning.

Always on our to do list is buxton village books. They took advantage of the covid slowdown and remodeled the whole place. When doing the work they found wood from an old shipwreck that the original builder had used. 

Another great thing about Hatteras is the food. We hit our favorites Ketch 55, Oceana Bistro, Po House and Pangea in Avon. On our way down we stopped at Sam and Omie's and checked out a new place in Hatteras village, Hatteras Sol. None disappointed.

After nine days we drove to Myrtle Beach where my cousin Dee, in the foreground, moved last year. It turned out we were there the same time as Missy and Marty and the girls' mom and my aunt, Elsie. We had a nice time getting caught up with all of them.

Dee has a great house and she sure is happy to escape the Pennsylvania winters.

Our friend John hooked us up with a room in an ocean front high rise. 

It was a great place, but we decided we prefer the uncrowded beaches of Hatteras Island.

We are now back in Stuart and have been busy doing things in our new hometown, plus taking a couple road trips and vacationing in Punta Cana. So I'm still way behind with the blog.

Sprint from HI to FLA

When we left Hatteras Island on Thursday we knew we had to be in Ocala by Monday for our annual service. That meant four days of driving and one night stops along the way. It did not start real well as the place we picked to stay the first night was very shaky, so we ended up at another (more expensive) place. The next day we called another place early only to learn it was booked. Since the weather had cooled a bit we did a night at a Wally World. The third night we stayed at the Elks in Jacksonville, a place we have been before and located only 100 miles from Ocala where Cummins has "free" sites with water and electric. We don't like making these kinds of quick trips, but it all went well and we were lucky enough to visit  friends along the way.  

We had to re-cross all those bridges we crossed getting to Hatteras and we knew we had to cross a few more to get to I-95. This was a different one on the Alligator River, a swing bridge that rotated to allow this boat that was on the Intercoastal Waterway to pass.

Day two we were in South Carolina.

A unique spot at Wally World right on a retention pond that filled with migrating geese at sunset.  The problem was, between the squawking geese on one side and the trucks going in and out on the other, it made for a very noisy night. 

Day three was a quick pass through Georgia on I-95. At that point we only had Florida on our minds.

Wow our welcome to Florida was not one the tourist bureau would be showing in the ads. The rain  was very heavy but ended up being only a passing shower that we were out of before we arrived at the Elks. 

We knew in advance that George and Nan, who we met at Betty's and have crossed paths with several time, where staying at the Elks. George found a very neat place for dinner, Julington Creek Fish Camp, right on the water. We had a great evening getting caught up with each others travels.......  

......and our view of the harbor was beautiful. It is always great when we cross paths with friends on the road. 

We moved on to Cummins in Ocala for annual service. We had the oil changed (it still amazes me that Opus needs 27 quarts), chassis lubed and filters changed, on both the rig and generator. It was also time to change the transmission fluid, every 50,000 miles, and even with all that we were on the road by 1:00. 

It was less than 50 miles from Ocala to the Escapees park, Sumter Oaks, in Bushnell. We were happy to see the park came through Irma without too much damage, mainly tree branches coming down. One reason we love this park is the resident Sandhill Cranes. 

The same pair has been here for quite awhile. You not only see them all over the park but can hear their squeaks as the call each other.

Right out our front window is this birdhouse that the squirrel used as a perch. We stayed for two nights just to relax a bit after five straight days of travel.

The next day it was 200 miles down I-75 to Lake San Marino RV Resort in Naples where we will be parked for a month. This park also came through Irma without too much damage (mostly downed trees and pieces of skirting around units being blown away), but this 5th wheel looked like it had blown over.

This is a common sight in South Florida, giant piles of downed trees which has created a new problem. We saw on the news where a power line came down and set a pile on fire. Another result of Irma is that many business signs have blown away and have yet to be replaced, sometimes making it difficult to find places. 

The park had three park models that were totaled. Those were generally the older models that were built before newer construction standards were put in place after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Driving around we have seen houses with big trees still on them, but everyone seems to be doing all they can to get repairs done and to get businesses open.

The weather here has been really hot so when the front AC began blowing hot rather than cool air we needed to find a repair service quickly. We called Land and Sea Cooling and Daniel was here within a couple hours. He found the problem was a bad coil and had the air working in no time at all. We have also been having a problem with a slide not working all the time and a battery charger issue. Daniel checked both and explained what I needed to do. All this in an hour and half. We were very impressed with the service and would recommend Land and Sea Cooling to anyone in Southwest Florida who may need mobile service.  

On Thursday we will be flying out of Miami to Punta Cana for a two week vacation at Secrets Royal Beach. We will be celebrating our anniversary on November 1st and my brother Rick and his wife Denise will be flying in for a few days while we are there. While many people think we are always on vacation because our house has wheels and we stay in many different places, we love going to Secrets to be pampered and just kick back in the tropics.

South to FLA

Our plan was to take three days to get to Ocala where we had an appointment for annual service on Opus.  We did end up staying in Raleigh one extra day because of heavy rain predicted along our route.  We always try to schedule some flexibility in our travel plans so we don't have to travel in bad weather. While we did have all day rain showers the first two days, we missed the worst of the heavy rain, up to 10 inches in Jacksonville. 

The campground at the fairgrounds is across the street from the North Carolina State Wolfpack football stadium and PNC arena, the home of their basketball team and the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team.  This is the sculpture of the wolf pack outside the stadium. 

We even got one last look at the Hatteras Lighthouse at the fairgrounds.

South of the Border has been one of those been there done that tourist traps you see along America's byways.  This was as close as we got as we zipped by on I-95.  The place looks like it has seen better days but the billboards leading up to it went on for miles and miles.  We stopped one night in South Carolina at Jolly Acres RV Park in St. George.  A much better choice than the RV park that is part of the Comfort Inn right by the highway.  The next night we were at the Elks Lodge in Jacksonville and were happy to find it was on high solid ground after all the rain.

After two 250 mile days we were only ninety five miles from Ocala where we got a "free" night's camping behind Cummins so we would be ready for our 8AM appointment.  All went well with the service and we were on our way by noon for the 45 mile trip to Sumter Oaks RV Park in Bushnell. This is an Escapees park so we were allowed to give Opus a much needed bath after a month by the ocean and two days of driving in the rain.

We were happy to see that Wanda and Wallace were still managing the park.  They were the first SKP's to give us a welcoming hug when we met them at the Escapade in Goshen in 2007.  We have crossed paths several times over the years in New Mexico, Louisiana and even in Alaska last year.  We had a great time getting caught up.

We were lucky to get this great spot overlooking the swamp behind the park.  After we finished washing Opus and completing a few other chores we spent a lot of time looking for birds right from our patio.

This place is a bird watcher's paradise.  This is a great white heron.

These four sandhill cranes are residents who walk through the park every day like they own the place.  Get to close and they will let you know with a loud screech.

We were happy to see Rich and Mary who we have crossed paths with on the road at Escapades and last fall at Betty's RV Park.  Like us, they were just here for a short stay before heading further south. So we hope to see them again this winter.

We usually go to the Webster Flea Market when we are in Bushnell so we can look at more stuff than you can imagine.  We just cruised through most of the booths and actually ended up buying a couple things.  Check out that blue sky.  We had great weather without a drop of rain the whole week we were there.  Hard to believe after we washed Opus that it did not rain.

Another resident flock of ibis.  They move through the water and grass in an almost constant search for food.

A little blue heron.  It is so neat seeing all the birds from our front door.

Almost every day we could hear but not see the barred owl.  The first time we found it in the trees it flew away before I could get a picture.  Finally on the last evening I was able to get a picture. Very neat.

Of course, even at a great place like Sumter Oaks you have to sometimes deal with a few asses:)  These are a couple from the neighboring herd.  Any time you walk by the fence they come to you looking for a hand out.

As I write we have moved another 50 miles south and are staying near Tampa.  Next week we will be flying to Cancun to celebrate both our birthdays and Thanksgiving by being pampered at Secrets Akumal.  Life is Good!!!!

We want to extend Happy Thanksgiving wishes to everyone and hope you have an enjoyable holiday.