Friday, 14 July 2023
I woke up at 2:00 again this morning and again felt sleepy before we even set out, again boding trouble for the drive, although yesterday turned out okay. Also my back is still pretty sore from that fall, and I still can't cough without a lot of pain, and I'm still getting muscle spasms in my lower back - but none of that's as bad as it was a few days ago. I can tell I have slightly more mobility now, which augers well for recovery.
And I was looking forward to this trip because I'd planned to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills (what a name) on the Outer Banks.
But then before we left the campground, we got rain and thunder and lightning, making it hard for us to get on the road - I really didn't want to be outside unplugging the electric cord in a lightning storm, and especially didn't want to walk Dexter in one.
We finally got on the road at 9:30.
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| today's route |
I started to see warning signs for bears.
We crossed the Scuppernong River. One of the things I've enjoyed about this trip is the unique names for places - and especially rivers - I've found around the country, this name being a good example.
At the town of Columbia, we took a break at the town's visitor center, which doubles as the visitor center for the Poconis Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. There's a nice Riverwalk Trail that Dext and I took for a short way. We saw about 6 folks on the Riverwalk boardwalk under a bridge (it was sprinkling intermittently) fishing in the Scuppernong River.
A sign at the visitor center had information about Red Wolves including a website that I thought I could remember but didn't. However, I have found a web page about the Fish & Wildlife wolf recovery program https://fws.gov/red-wolf-recovery-program and an article written for non-scientists, meaning it's very interesting and easy to read https://www.washingtonpost.com/red-wolves-pups-born. We stayed there for about an hour, including lunch, and took off at 11:45.
At someone's house I saw a Trump 2024 flag.
And I saw a highway sign saying Red Wolf Crossing Next 10 Miles. So it really is Red Wolf country around here.
About 8 miles out of town, the traffic stopped. Try as I might I couldn't see a reason. Several folks behind me were clearly antsy to pass, but gradually we could see flashing lights ahead. The road was only 2 narrow lanes with no shoulder, so the occasional oncoming traffic moved over to the grass to let an ambulance and fire trucks pass. Many people in front of and behind me turned around, but I didn't know of any alternate route so stayed where I was.
I saw a helicopter making a couple of passes.
Forty-five minutes later we were still sitting there and emergency vehicles were still coming, though the line had gotten shorter because of the people in front of me turning around. Folks were standing around making friends with others.
I saw an ambulance heading back toward Columbia without flashing lights and saw that people ahead of me had flagged him down for information, so I did the same. He said the highway would be closed for at least 2 hours because of a really bad accident ahead. By this time it was 1:20 and even if we got moving then, I'd still have a 2 or 3 hour drive ahead, not counting a stop at the Wright Memorial. So I looked at my trusty AAA map and saw that there was another route using back roads, so I turned around. People were really nice about helping me - giving me extra space and so forth.
As I drove back, I stopped now and then to tell people in the mile-long line behind me what the ambulance driver had told me. One guy asked where I had been headed and, when I mentioned Kitty Hawk, he claimed I shouldn't go back because even waiting 2 hours would still be the right choice. My first reaction was - this total stranger is mansplaining my decisions to me?
The roads I'd found on the AAA map existed, though not quite where I thought they'd be and not labeled like I expected, so I had some anxious moments when I didn't come to the intersections when I expected. They were little more than country roads, with highway name signs that must have dated back 100 years, from the looks of them. I remembered seeing signs like these in rural Texas when I was a kid.
When I stopped finding any that matched what I expected, I stopped at the Scuppernong Church of Christ (est. 1871) to walk Dext and try to reorient myself with the map (we were so out in the country I didn't bother trying my hot spot).
A short distance farther along the road I pulled over at a very dusty, very old store that was clearly literally a mom-and-pop store (I saw them). I wore my face mask inside to ask directions, even though I was afraid it might prejudice them against helping me, but the pop gave me very vernacular but accurate directions to get where I was going.
We crossed the Albemarle River on a very long bridge, and it's just as well I didn't know before I got there that it was 3.5 miles long. If I keep doing crossings like this, I may be able to go back and try that incredible bay bridge in Maryland that gave me fits a few years ago. Or the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan. Guess I just had to work up to it.
The town of Hertford says its original charter was dated 1758, and it's the Home of Jim "Catfish" Hunter. If you're like me and have no idea who this guy is, I can now tell you that in the '60s and '70s he was a top pitcher in major league baseball, setting all sorts of records.
We crossed the Perquimans River to Winfall and a historic marker titled "Quaker Activity." I was curious and learned the marker was short and sweet: it said in 1672 two Quaker missionaries held religious meetings in this area.
We crossed the Little River and came to Elizabeth City, the major town in this area. There was also a sign saying it's a bird sanctuary. I haven't mentioned these signs before, but I've seen them quite a few times as I enter a North Carolina town, so I thought maybe it was a state program. If it is, I can't find it and can't find why Elizabeth City has this designation. My guess, though, is that it's close enough to a variety of water bodies (rivers, bays, ocean) that it's likely to see a variety of migrating species pass through the area.
We stopped again at the local First Church of the Nazarene to check Google for fresh directions, now that I was back on chartable territory and coming at tonight's campground from a different direction than I'd planned.
Past the Pasquotank River, we saw a historic marker titled "Isaac Gregory." I couldn't see the inscription but looked it up - another short and sweet one. This said he was a member of the provincial congress, a brigadier general in the militia for the Revolutionary War and held other civic posts. But I found another web page with a great deal more detail to explain why they thought Gregory was a hero and "the most notable person ever to have lived in Camden County." https://www.camdencountync.gov/brigadier-general-isaac-gregory
I knew the unincorporated town of Gregory was near tonight's campground, though I never saw it.
And at 4:30, we finally made it to tonight's campground. This one is quite large and seems to see itself as something of a resort. And some of the campers I saw apparently also saw it that way, based on their activities. More than half the campsites are ranged around a 5-acre lake and there's lots of well-kept grass. But I wasn't very impressed because I'd specified a campsite but the owner decided I'd rather have a different site and moved me without explaining what she was doing. And because the dog park, which was hard to find, was tiny and practically on top of a campsite occupied by a couple of large dogs that weren't allowed to come meet Dexter. So the place was pleasant, but not impressive. Though after today's drive, we were glad to be off the road.
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