From North Carolina to Virginia - to the Outer Banks

Monday 31.05. - Atlantic Beach - Kill Devil Hills (North Carolina)

From beach to beach - that's the plan for today. At 9:30 AM, we set off towards Kill Devil Hills, which will be our base on the Outer Banks. First, we drive on I-70 to New Bern, cross the bridge, and continue towards Washington D.C. We decide to take the probably more beautiful but also longer route along the southern coast of this peninsula, passing through small towns and villages like Bath (of course, 'historic' because it is the first town in North Carolina!), where we are simply looking for a breakfast coffee but can't find one. We see numerous churches along the way, very few houses, and wonder: who visits these churches? Small cemeteries, some with only 10 graves, are located right next to residential houses and their gardens (without a fence separating them from the cemetery) or next to junkyards and car repair shops. The landscape is flat and reminiscent of Florida.

It starts to get swampy. We pass through the towns of New Holland and Edelgart, and large dragonflies and occasionally butterflies hit the windshield. Other than that, we don't see any animals, apart from the dead ones lying on the side of the road. Finally, we cross the Pimlico Sound via an incredibly long bridge to reach Roanoke Island.

And right after that, we cross the next bridge and reach the Outer Banks at Nags Head.

Kill Devil Hills, the place where we have reserved a hotel with direct beach access for 4 nights, is located 8 miles north of this mainland access point, and we roll along the main road to the north.

At 2:30 PM, I am sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs belonging to our room, with my swollen feet elevated, and looking out at the beach.

It's probably not going to be sunny for me in the next few days - unless I wear boots and long pants. But since I can barely fit my hiking sandals over my feet, anything that's called "shoes" is basically impossible.

Damn it. The main thing is that I can walk again in Washington. Currently, that's not really possible. I apply creams in alternating intervals with burn ointment, after sun lotion, and burn ointment again. But it takes time. I fill the trash can in our room with water and ice cubes and soak my feet in it...

In the evening, we get a pizza and sit in front of our room, listening to the sound of the ocean in the darkness in front of us. The big bottle of Beringer White Zinfandel is empty when we go to bed. The feet practically glow in the dark...