Alternator Trouble Shooting and the Beach

We got up this morning, and went to the fishing pier right next door for breakfast.  They have a restaurant that looks right out on to the water.  It was wonderful!  The wind has now died down, and you could tell it was going to be a great beach day.

I had been taking Saleen for walks on the beach, and so far, she is not a fan.  She doesn't like water, and it's been pretty windy.  She loves walks though, so she tolerates going, but would just as soon walk up by the street. 

While Keith did some running around, changing alternators, and getting his battery charge, I just hung out at the beach, chilled out, and started reading a really good book that Elise gave me, which is "My Life in France," by Julia Child.  It's off to a great start!  (Mom, you'd like this one!)

Keith showed up around lunch time, and after we ate, we headed to the beach and walked way down, looking for shark's teeth, picking up pretty rocks, and then swam.  The water is a great temperature, very refreshing, and even though the wind has died down, the surf is still way up.  There are guys surfing the waves like crazy, and it's so much fun to watch.

Ferrying to Ocracoke and an Alternator Problem (uh-oh)

Today we wanted to go to Ocracoke, which is an island off the southern tip of the island we are on.  There is a free (yay!) ferry that takes you over, which is great. 

The wind was still blowing strongly, and so as we drive south, there was a steady sandblasting from our left, and then on our way back, from the right. 

Unfortunately, a few of our fellow tourists also wanted to take the ferry, so we waited for a while before we got on one.  I think it was the third ferry.  The last time we were here, the ferry only took 30 minutes, but the last storms have filled in the channel, and so now the new channel takes almost an hour.  We didn't mind though, because it's really beautiful traveling over.  The entire time I saw with Saleen and visited with two little girls who were dog-crazy, and were in love with Saleen. 

The entire time, Keith stood by the car and fielded questions from the men on board.  Of course, he didn't mind.

When we went to leave the ferry, unfortunately, the car almost did not start, and Keith noticed that the alternator was not acting right.  We pulled in at the first restaurant we came to, and he turned it off.  When he tried to start it, it would not start.  Luckily, a good Samaritan showed up on a golf cart.  He had spotted Keith's car, and pulled up to see it.  He was on a golf cart, because a lot of the locals use them to get around the island.  The speed limit is only 25 mph.  We told him our dilemma, and he just happened to carry a charger with him, AND was good buddies with the local garage owner.  He ended up getting us started again, and we followed him to the garage.  They ended up charging his battery up, and we decided it would be best to go ahead and head back. 

We headed back to the ferry, hoping to beat the crowed that would soon be leaving Ocracoke.  We made it onto the first ferry, and I ended up just sitting in the car with Saleen the whole time, because this was a smaller ferry, and there were not seats to go sit in.  A group of people from London walked up, and they were VERY EXCITED about the Mustang.  They all took turns getting in it and taking each other's photos as if they were driving it.  It was pretty cute.  One of their children, a little girl, got in, saw Saleen, and said, in that great British accent, "I love your dog-gay."  It was the cutest thing.  Hard to type phonetically, but if you ever saw the movie, 'The Holiday,' it was just like when the little girl saw Cameron Diaz in her pretty dress, and said, 'You look like my Bar-bay (Barbie)."  So cute.

  The little boy got in, and I asked him his name, and it was Charlie!  And he said it just like that video, "Charlie bit my finger," that everyone was watching a while back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

I was just eating up these kids and their accents.  Their dad was actually with the British Navy, and worked with our top Naval officials at the Pentagon.

After lots of picture-taking with the Mustang, people finally went back to their vehicles, and the car started for us to exit the ferry (yay!).  We head back down the sandblasted island, and luckily made it to the hotel just fine.  Keith will see what he can figure out in the  morning.

On to Brevard, NC

We had learned from a fellow hiker friend back in Arkansas about Transylvania, NC, and how it boasted over 200 waterfalls.  While investigating this county on line, I found the town of Brevard, which sits right at the edge of Pisgah Nat'l Forest, and many falls.  We reserved a campsite there along the Davidson River, and decided to camp for three nights, as we explored Brevard and the surrounding area.

We were camped near a rock church built in the forties, and the name of it, English Church, was spelled out with rock over the door. English was the founding pastor's name.  (Can you find it?)

There was a nice trail that ran for several miles along the Davidson River and people were running or walking it all day. This river was fished all day by fishermen in waders walking up and down the river.

While we were there, we explored downtown Brevard and looked for the white squirrels that they are famous for, but did not have much luck.  If we had found one, it may have looked like this:

We went on a drive the first day and explored a brand new State Park, Gorges State Park. Which sounds like gorgeous states park.  Which incidentally, was a GORGEOUS state park!  I guess I'd never been in a brand new state park before.  They sure are nice before all of the tourists flock to them.  Cleanest restrooms and picnic tables I've ever seen.  We took two nice short hikes - one to an overlook, and one to these falls:

We then had a picnic, got in the car, and headed north from Brevard, to see a couple of famous falls.  First was called Looking Glass Falls, and then a swimming hole called Sliding Rock, and took the plunge.  It felt like ice water!

After watching a while, I  took the plunge at Sliding Rock as well:

http://youtu.be/pcQucNpEqX0

Next was Keith!

Keith at Sliding Rock

We also visited Looking Glass Falls, along with Hooker, triple, and High Falls.  Those last three are all along the same trail, in Du Pont Forest, east of Brevard, and were featured in the famous movie, The Hunger Games. I'm happy to report, that water was a tad warmer than Sliding Rock.

The most stunning was Highland Falls.  We sat a long time with a group of college girls, who were totally charmed by Saleen.  It was a HUGE wall of water!

http://youtu.be/DynrcOJLHq4

The last morning we hung out at Brevard Campus a while, because we were told we would see white squirrels there for sure, but we didn't have any luck. We did discover that Brevard College wins the national Mountainbiking Championship on a regular basis!  I didn't even know there WAS a collegiate mountainbiking competition.

Brevard is famous for being surrounded by over a thousand miles of trails, is not far from the Smokies (with more beauty and trails - including that really famous one, duh), and sits in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Blue Ridge Parkway passes just west of it, and is near Du Pont State Forest and Pisgah National Forest.  We really loved how cool it stayed due to it sitting about 2500 feet above sea level.  They had their hottest day of the year on the day we left - 88 degrees!

On to the Outer Banks, North Carolina

This morning, we packed up and headed east, to spend three nights at the Outer Banks.  We booked a hotel room on the beach in Nags Head.  Since we have visited here before, and did all of the sight-seeing type things, such as Kitty Hawk, and the HUGE dunes, I think this time we will have more relaxing "down time" on the beach.

The weather is still cool, and I have kept my window up this morning because I'm actually still a bit cool traveling in a sleeveless top.  Yay for not traveling in a hot car today!

Since I spent the first part of this drive today getting the blog caught up, I am now blogging as things are happening.  And guess what?  We've seen four bald eagles so far on the drive from Durham to the Outer Banks!   The drive takes you through very forested areas - just a highway through pines for miles and miles.

As you approach the coast, it gets even more forested before you get into your typical coastal topography.

As we reached about 40 miles from the coast, we reached this great little town of Columbia, NC, and they had a really nice visitor center and rest area right on an inlet from the Sound, and had a nice boardwalk that went around part of it.  

We chatted with a really nice man who maintained the place, and I had to brag on what a great job he did.  This was another super clean rest area.  I just can't emphasize enough how much I appreciate coming across that when road tripping across the country!  Seriously, if you ever find yourself in Columbia, stop and use the restroom!

We left there and headed on to Nags Head, where we will stay three nights.

We hit the beach and walked up and down it quite a bit before we headed to town for some supper.  Nothing special, just pizza by the slice for Keith, and some salad for me.  Keith has been enjoying being able to get some authentic "New York" style pizza while being out east, and hates to pass up the opportunity.

The wind here is blowing about 20 miles per hour on the beach, and the waves are really crashing!  There are red flags everywhere to warn about swimming.  It will have to really calm down before we venture into the water.

Visiting Elise and Daniel in Durham, NC

After giving up on the Great White Squirrel hunt, we headed east towards Durham, NC,  to spend four nights with Elise and Daniel at their apartment.

You will recall, we visited them in Washington DC at the beginning of this this road trip.  Daniel's summer Associate stint at Gibson & Dunn lasted 10 weeks, and I know they were VERY happy to get back to their place in NC.  

Saleen was VERY happy to see whose house we ended up at this time.  

Once we reached Elise and Daniel's,  I finally crashed.  I guess my body knew that I could be lazy for a couple of days, and I got very tired.   We got lots of sleep, and spent nice "down time" just hanging out and visiting with the kids. The down time also worked out nicely with the weather.  On the way here, as we got out of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Brevard, we got pretty warm temps, and they continued for the first two days in Durham.  But on Sunday, a cool front moved in, lowering the high to 80, and the lows to the low 60's, so we were good again for traveling with no AC. Sweet!

We also got to do a nice hike at Eno State Park, a place Elise had told us about before when she had hiked there. It was beautiful.  And once again, the temps were pleasant. We hiked all along the Eno River, and ended up at a swimming hole called Bobbit Hole, where the guys had a rock throwing contest.  

Elise and Daniel's apartment actually backs up to a nature preserve, which really comes in handy when you want to take the dog on a walk, or head out the door for a run.  

Our final night there, we watched "Good Morning Vietnam," with Robin Williams.  We are still very sad about his passing.  It just doesn't seem fair that someone who offered so much laughter and joy to everyone else would choose death over continuing his own life.   Sigh. 

Iron Mountain Inn, Butler, Tennessee, and Miss Vikki

Shadow, Spider and Danielle had booked a horse riding your of Gettysburg, and so we said our goodbyes, then his the showers, and packed up and headed to our next destination - Iron Mountain Inn in Butler, Tennessee.  We had been picked up by Ms. Vikki from the trail two years ago, after we had been caught in a steady rain.  When she picked us up we were drenched!   As we stayed with her over the next three days, we were the only guests at the Inn, and she became a friend. 

On the way, we discovered we would be passing within five miles of Harper's Ferry, so we stopped by and visited at the Appalachian Trail Conservatory, the organization that oversees the care and protection of the AT.  It is also the halfway point on the trail, when you are hiking.  We were excited to pull out the 2012 Hikers book and see our photos!

After Vikki's husband passed away twenty years ago, she bought this beautiful mountaintop acreage in Tennessee and built a large log home, and opened it up to travelers.  She has the most comfortable inn that we have ever stayed in, and the views from the deck are amazing!

The road getting to her place is also beautiful!  She is about 45 minutes south of Bristol Motor Speedway. 

She is also a wonderful cook!

Our first night there, we enjoyed visiting with a couple from North Carolina, but they were originally from Brooklyn.  The man was an engineer on a tugboat up and down the east coast, and we enjoyed his stories.  He was also an avid motorcycle rider, and had traveled through Arkansas last year and just missed the Vilonia tornado.  He had ridden it out up under an overpass.  

While we were there, we hiked several trails near the Inn.  One of them actually connected with the AT!  Ms. Vikki had warned us it was very steep - up to 80% grade at the top, and well, she didn't exaggerate.  

(Bear poop - shoe for scale - lol)

(Found the AT!)

(Front porch)