I am SO behind on this blog! Life has been busy and unfortunately, this is something that can go on hold. I hate playing catch up, but I miss my blog, so it’s totally worth the effort.

My last post was June 25, but the time frame that post covered was late April. We had left TN and our client’s home in SC and visited with Tracy & Lee in Charleston.

Flanners Beach Campground in New Bern NC was our first stop. For those who have been following for a while, you probably recognize this location as we’ve stayed here twice before. The first time was spring 2015 (Moving North; “Sort Of” Boondocking in New Bern NC and the second time was in early spring 2017 Friend Time in New Bern) We love the area!

After a long drive day from Charleston, we were happy to just park and relax! The weather was less than ideal most of the time we were there so we just hung out and relaxed. We went for walks (when the weather allowed) and, since this is an area we may consider purchasing property in the future, we took a few drives to look at different neighborhoods, etc.

Our four-night stay was over before we knew it and we headed out early on our departure day – we had a ferry to catch! We’ve taken the ferries from Cedar Island to Ocracoke, and then from Ocracoke to Hatteras before, and since the weather was finally going to be nice, we decided to do it again! It isn’t as expensive as you might think, especially when you take into account the cost of fuel and gas. We paid $45 for the truck/rig and $15 for the car. I was surprised to learn it is about the same amount of miles to drive but makes for a much nicer day when you can spend it out on the water. The ferry from Ocracoke to Hatteras was free, but instead of being able to make reservations, it is first come/first serve. They also have a special line for locals and commercial traffic that gets on before toursits like us. Thankfully, we were able to get on the first ferry, although we were the last two on!

When booking Oregon Inlet Campground, I needed to divide our days into two separate reservations. There simply wasn’t one spot available for our entire stay, not for a rig as long as ours anyway. So we spent 5 nights in one site, then moved to a different one for an additional 5 days. . I booked us into boondock sites, since we have solar and we weren’t expecting to need air conditioning, I decided to save the $7 per night extra for the electric. We filled up with water across the street at the dump station area before getting parked. When we switched sites, it worked out perfectly since we went to dump and refill before settling into the second site.

As with New Bern, we have visited this area before, even before our full-time RV days. Bill used to bring our son’s Boy Scout troop there back in the day. Bill brought me to OBX for the first time to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary when we had our Class C motorhome, and we’ve returned many times. If you’d like to check out our previous visits since we began our full-time life you can find those posts HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

This trip was similar to our previous visits in some ways, but not in others. Looking at properties (just off Zillow – not with a realtor) was something we hadn’t done before. OBX is an area we would love to consider living in someday, but there are many factors against that idea. One HUGE negative, especially right now, is cost. It is a sellers market and prices are UP. To be honest, we aren’t near ready to make a decision but we wanted to see what type of places are available for how much. We saw a large variety but no standouts.

Driving the truck on the beach was another new thing we did. Bill was very excited about it, and while I was willing to try, I wasn’t nearly as excited. Initially we didn’t drop the air pressure as recommended and that turned out to be a mistake causing us to get stuck. Thankfully, there were people fishing nearby and they had rubber pads and shovels and they helped us.

Fresh seafood is abundant in OBX, prompting us to head to Basnights Lone Cedar for dinner. We had eaten there many years ago, in the fall of 2010 for our 25th anniversary, and it was just as good as I remembered. Our view of the sound and an osprey nest – that had baby birds in it – was awesome! It was great fun watching the parents take turns feeding their young!

The day before we were supposed to leave was when the pipeline shutdown was happening. Bill went to fill up our vehicles and he was thankfully able to fill up. We were supposed to go visit Bill’s Uncle Ken in Delmarva but Ken reported that gas stations were closing near him, so we decided to stay an extra day and drive through Richmond to see Bill’s sister.

The Elks Lodge there wasn’t accepting any RV’s at that time, so we spent the night at Cabela’s/Bass Pro instead. Mary and Rob suggested a nice Mexican Restaurant nearby and we enjoyed a yummy meal! We headed out early the following morning with our home lodge in Ephrata PA programmed into the GPS. Catch up with you next time!

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Next Time: Summertime in Somerset – Part 1

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