Diary

Diary/Photo Journal

Week of August 31, 2003

We plodded on down South with the intention of stopping into Kitty Hawk and visiting the Wright Brothers' memorial (no relation). We got a bit turned around and as a result, we arrived in Kitty Hawk after dark and with no camping prospects. We had already called and found sites to be booked full as this was Labor Day weekend.

We looked into staying at the rest areas but they have very obvious signs saying "no camping" and "offenders will be prosecuted". Seeing as we were not that desperate to try for a free night in jail, we thought about a Wal-Mart parking lot only to find the local Wal-Mart was extremely crowded and discourages parking overnight. So, we figured we would take a look around and see what we could find.

As we were driving, we noticed several large trailers and campers in a very small park (Kitty Hawk RV Park) near the ocean. With barely any hesitation, we spun Cindy around and pulled in, looking for the office. There must have been one or two people to come into the park and think the first small building was the office because there was a sign that clearly said "This is not the office". So, we parked and wandered around until we found the person with the "book" that could check to see if there was a spot available.

Well, as luck would have it, there was one spot that had just cancelled but, as the manager stated, it was next to the road along the beach. At that point, we were not ones to be choosy and when we accepted, the manager presented a cheshire-cat grin. I must have had a questioning look on my face because the manager stated, "Oh, I forgot to tell you - your site is the closest to the beach". What we found was five feet to the little frontage road, 12 feet across, and the beach at our beck-and-call.

We awoke the next morning and in peering out the window at sunrise, Gerson and I took two seconds to heatedly discuss, debate and agree to stay another day. It was glorious. We have been so used to sunsets on the ocean that the gorgeous sunrise was a wonderful change.

Kitty Hawk
sunrise from
Cindy

Cindy at
Kitty
Hawk

A little bit
of paradise
on the Atlantic

View down beach
and view from
Cindy

We enjoyed
the uncrowded
Atlantic

We took a pleasant bike ride (there is an irony here) to visit the Wright Brothers' memorial and we were grateful for our luck in walking in the center just at the same time the Ranger was giving a "History of the Wright Brothers" speech. Why I say there is an irony that we rode bikes to the memorial is that the Wright Brothers, by trade, were bicycle mechanics.

After learning about their years of experiments and trials, one realizes the true genius of their accomplishment (almost 100 years ago, December 17, 1903). Did you know that the manner in which the Wright Brothers designed their airplane control system is essentially still utilized in planes made today? Of course, theirs was a simpler system, but the basic mechanics are still used today. Truly geniuses.

Wright
Brothers
Memorial
where they
experimented

Gerson is standing
at where the flights
started and each
boulder is where
each ended. Also,
a famous Brazilian
aviator Santos Dumont

Wright
plane
replica
and a
fun
Ranger

Being at the beach, we had to indulge in the finer things like the 3 B's - beer, bar-b-que and Brazilians. Gerson was right at home and we had one of those perfect nights just eating, drinking and listening to music, both from the CD and from the ocean, and dancing a little Samba in the sand.