Our two RV, one car caravan left out of the Ephrata Elks on a gorgeous fall day. Our destination, Assateague Island State Park, was a quick 165 miles away. Bill took the lead towing our 5er, I followed him with our car and Linda and Beryl were behind me.

We arrived mid-afternoon and, after some initial confusion (they count my indoor never-goes-outside cat as a pet and moved us to a pet loop – I have always assumed pet loops were for dog owners – apparently not) were all set up just in time for happy hour. Ponies were on the beach when we walked down to see the ocean.

The four of us took a bike ride around the campground and across the bridge to the National Park Visitor Center. We learned how the “wild” ponies that currently live on Assateague are actually considered “feral” since they are descendants of domesticated animals. The most popular story of how they came to be on Assateague, and neighboring Chincoteague, is they survived shipwrecks off the coast, but it is actually more likely their ancestors were horses kept offshore by mainland owners, who were avoiding fence and livestock taxes.

It was a short walk from the NPS Visitor Center to the nearby Rackliffe House. The house was built in the 1740s by Captain Charles Rackliffe, who was a merchant. I love seeing how people lived in the past. It’s a gorgeous home.

Bill and I spent a few hours at NASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center. We actually watched a rocket launch from the beach right behind our campsites the night before!

After our tour, we drove around Chincoteague Island and had lunch at a local eatery, Bill’s Seafood Restaurant. The smell of the salt and sound of gulls filled the air. Our lunch was delicious!

When it was time to head out from Assateague, we parted ways for a couple of days with our travel partners. We, after a quick client repair stop, headed straight to our next campground, Oregon Inlet Campground on Hatteras Island, NC. Linda and Beryl stopped to see a friend before joining us a couple of days later.

It had been over 4 years since we had been to OBX, one of our favorite places. The beach was as wild and beautiful as I remembered. We had hoped to take the ferry to Ocracoke for a day trip but, due to hurricane damage, they aren’t allowing visitors on the island at this time. That was a huge disappointment. We did see Hatteras Lighthouse, but it was closed to climbing for the season.

We did tour the US Coast Guard Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station. Bill and I have toured it before, but it seems we always learn something new. This visit, the focus was on the Mirlo rescue, which is what this station is best known for. The Mirlo was struck by a German torpedo in 1918 and after three failed attempts, the surfboat #1046 finally cleared the breakers headed toward the doomed tanker. You can read all the details about it here: Chicamacomico Mirlo Rescue.

We spent a couple of hours at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, which tells about shipwrecks along the NC coast. The shape of the coastline causes shoals to form, and those same dynamics also cause the opposing winds that blow ships into those shoals. We’ve also visited this museum before, but we learn something new each time.

One of our favorite things to do on Hatteras Island is to walk along the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge trail. There are always lots of birds and this time we were treated to several turtles. The visitor center talks about the sea otters that live in the area, but in all our visits, we’ve never seen one. Guess we will have to check back next time!

Our next destination was Charleston. We had a quick one night stop planned so we could see our friends, Tracy & Lee (of Camper Chronicles,) who are in that area to spend time with their daughter and new grandson. The distance between Oregon Inlet and Charleston, about 440 miles, was too much for one day, so we stayed overnight at a Walmart in Dillon, SC. In doing this, we covered about 2/3 of the drive on day one, allowing us to arrive early (around 12:30) at our destination. We find it works well for us.

Not wanting to spend a lot of time parking, I had booked us a pull-through site, which I rarely do. Bill had barely gotten the truck unhitched when Tracy came over with lots of hugs to greet us. She just recently returned to corporate America, in a fully remote position, so we made plans to see her later. Shortly after, Lee returned from shopping and came over to hang out with us.

Later that evening, their daughter, Kyrston, came over with the baby, Oliver. It was so awesome to get some baby snuggles! Oliver is about 4 months younger than Freya. Lee grilled us a yummy dinner of rib eye steaks. We chatted well into the evening before heading home.

Tracy found a great spot for us to fill our tummies before our day of continuing south began. Eggs Up Grill had many options to choose from, and everything we ordered came out perfectly cooked and delicious! Thanks again!

Tracy & Lee headed out to go to a flea market and fair after we said “see you later!” and exchanged hugs. Unfortunately, our departure was delayed due to an issue with the sewer on our site. Seems there was a clog in it and our black tank stopped draining. Thankfully we have a clear elbow and could see that, otherwise, we may have assumed it was done since we wouldn’t have heard it anymore. When Bill initially went into the office to let them know, they told him to just let it out onto the ground and someone would go by and clean it up. After we talked about it, we decided that was a very bad idea and went back to say so. If they wanted to let it out on the ground, they could do it, we didn’t want that responsibility. The young lady behind the counter went and got a large bucket and she and Bill drained what was in our pipe and hose into it. She carried it away – I have no idea how she did it! I would have been gagging! We decided to leave without attempting to use their dump station, figuring if something was wrong we didn’t want to add to that.

Our next quick stop was at the Jacksonville Elks Lodge #2605. We went in and checked in with the bartender. Everyone was very friendly, as always.

We made great time to Clearwater, where we will be until the day after Christmas.

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