Travels and Thoughts
After traveling from Sycamore Lodge to Cape Hatteras, we were ready to park the RV and relax. The Cape Hatteras campground is part of the TRA and Coast to Coast group I belong to. All campsites are for members only.
The campsite is located at the southern tip of Outerbank island. Because we were there in November 2017, there were few people camping. Riley and I had the entire beach to ourselves, and there were only a handful of RVers at the park, which is part of the National Seashore Park in North Carolina.
The great call of Camp Hatteras is the solitude and the abundance of natural beauty. There is something about watching the ocean, catching the sunrise and sunset, and walking the beach with Riley that is reinvigorating. I'm made to realize afresh that there is much more to life than the harsh noise of politics and the hateful rhetoric heard on the radio and seen in the news. It resets everything makes you hopeful. Climate change, immigration issues, global economy, and global strife suddenly seem small by comparison. I guess that's why so many people rush to live by the oceans.
Each morning, Riley and I would plan it so that we were walking the beach as the sun came up, and in the evening, we would do the same for the sunset. Both events were always breathtaking!
Driving to Kitty Hawk, I passed this really innovative set-up. Instead of trying to find an ABC store, a grocery that sells beer, or a liquor store; instead of trying to find a place to park, leave and lock up the car, walk to the store, purchase the beer, walk back to the hot car, and then drive off, in North Carolina, you just visit a drive-thru! You order your beer from the car, he hands it to you, and you drive off happy and unfrustrated!
The monument to the Wright Brothers is very impressive. It sits atop a hill overlooking the field where the flight took place.
In 1900, the Wrights began researching locations from which to begin their flying experiments. Kitty Hawk, a tiny coastal fishing village of approximately 300 people, was ideal for their purposes.
The Wrights desired a number of conditions in order to successfully experiment with controlled flight. First, they needed steady winds. Second, they needed an area with high sand dunes from which to glide. Third, they needed limited obstructions (trees, buildings, etc.) and, lastly, they needed isolation to experiment unencumbered. Kitty Hawk offered all of those requirements.
On December 17, 1903, at 10:35am, the historic flight took place. The flight lasted only 12 seconds, and the distance covered was less than the total length of a modern passenger airliner. But for the first time, a manned, heavier-than-air machine left the ground by its own power, moved forward under control without losing speed, and landed on a point as high as that from which it started.
Today, an impressive museum (above) chronicles the marvelous achievement these two daring brothers accopmlished.
Below: One of many markers devoted to telling the Wright Brothers' story. Visiting this park is a worth-while way to spend an afternoon.
This is the shed/workshop where the brothers worked on their invention.
