1275 October 4, 2025 Ocracoke Ferry

We started the day with 2-mile walks and then we returned to the campground to prepare to move.  The Ocracoke Ferry resumed operations on Thursday evening.  Today the winds were only 17mph and we were glad to be able to go.  There wasn’t room for us on the 10am ferry and so we waited and we took the 10:30 trip.  I was first on with the Jeep and then Tim pulled on with the RV a couple of cars behind me.  It was smooth sailing across the Pamlico Sound.

We arrived at Jerniman’s Campground shortly after noon.  We will be here for a week.

This afternoon, we took the Jeep out onto the beach.  The entire length of the Island is accessible with the exception of the Day Use Area.  It was a lovely day.

When we got back, we hopped on our bikes and cycled through town.  We stopped at Angie’s Gym where Tim was able to purchase a one-week membership.  He opted to stay and get a work out in.

This evening, we grilled delicious venison burgers.  Thanks for dinner Kyle!

We went back out onto the beach to watch the last vestiges of the day.

1274 October 3, 2025 Last Day In Hatteras

After starting the laundry and cleaning the bathrooms, I walked the two-mile loop around the campground.  I had planned to walk all the way to the ferry but my legs were tired after yesterday!

We packed our lunch and drove to the beach.  We parked the Jeep along the access road and got out and walked all the way to the point.

Then, we drove until we found a parking spot on the edge of the dunes.  We sat by the water and had our lunch. It was cloudy and breezy and perfectly pleasant.

We rested this afternoon and Tim biked around the neighborhood.

We ate corn on the cob and grilled bruschetta chicken and had a fruit salad of nectarines and blackberries.

We drove across the island to the bay side to watch the sunset.

We are finally starting to feel more relaxed.  The rhythm of traveling is very different than being at home and there is always a period of adjustment.  We are happy to be spending more time outside and I am especially happy to be more active.  We have a good life and we are as always very grateful.   

1273 October 2, 2025 Happy Place

We each took walks from the campground to the ferry terminal and back. It was still windy but today the wind forecast is for less than 30mph…woohoo!!!

We had our breakfast and took the Jeep out to the beach. What a wonderful privilege to be able to drive out to the water’s edge and claim our own little piece of beach. We sat by the Jeep, protected from the brunt of the wind, and we enjoyed the warm and beautiful sunshine and we watched the water. The gulls and pelicans were fishing today. The waves were less chaotic and the breeze was balmy. This is our happy place!

We returned to the campground for lunch and naps.

We each rode our bikes, the headwind made riding challenging but not impossible.

This evening, we drove the short distance to Hatteras Sol where we enjoyed excellent food. The view of the small harbor was pretty.

After our meal we went back to the beach to watch the sunset. The tide was too high to have a good vantage point.

1272 October 1, 2025 More Wind

Last night was long.  The wind speeds were 34-39mph and the RV was pummeled relentlessly for hours. 

This morning, it was still windy.  There were deer walking through the campsite.

We both took walks.  The beach access road remained flooded. 

We packed the RV and drove to the dump station.  Then, we parked in the lighthouse parking lot.  We took our bikes and cycled several miles on the new bike path.  Tim spotted two more snakes.  We believe these were both black snakes.  The first was too far to get a good picture but the second was just a few feet from the path.

We drove to the end of Hatteras Island to the Hatteras Sands Campground.  We encountered some water on Route 12 as we approached the village. 

We will be here for 3 nights and it will be nice to have full hookups.

We started laundry as soon as we got settled and I put a big bunch of fresh lima beans from Morris Farm in our crockpot.

We saw a few peeks of sunshine and blue sky and later this afternoon, we tried to drive out onto the beach.  It was high tide and there was not much beach to drive on! The ocean is much less angry today and the winds have calmed considerably.

We had a quiet day and made omelets for dinner.  We had planned to eat out but the restaurants were both closed until tomorrow.

We knew that the tide should have receded and so after eating, we drove back out to the beach.  We were able to travel in the sand for a short distance. 

1271 September 30, 2025 Hatteras Hurricanes

Today was eventful!

It began quietly enough with morning walks around the Morris Farm property.

Soon, we were headed south to the Outer Banks.  Humberto did indeed head out to sea pulling Imelda behind it.  We stopped in Kitty Hawk at the Walmart for one last mega supply run.

We turned onto Route 12 and into the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

We stopped at Bodie Lighthouse hoping to talk to a ranger about impact of the storms, beach driving, and the changes that might occur with a government shutdown…but the office at Bodie was closed.

As we drove, we noticed that the wind had picked up.  There was sand blowing across the road.

In Buxton, there was standing water on Route 12.

We arrived at Cape Point Campground in early afternoon.  We are in a no hookup site for $10.00.  We plan to stay just tonight.

After lunch and some quiet time, we took the Jeep and drove out onto the beach.  We were amazed by what we saw.  The tide was high and the surf was incredibly rough.  The waves were cresting far away and they came crashing in.  The wind was blowing the sand and it was stinging our skin.  We watched the ocean from the safety of the Jeep.

We drove to another ramp and the path to the beach became impassable; completely flooded with water.

We stopped at Cape Point Lighthouse and the ranger there told us that the ferry to Ocracoke was halted and that Route 12 on the northern part of the island was flooded.  They expect the ferry closure until at least Thursday.

The lighthouse is undergoing an extensive renovation.

Tim rode his bike from the lighthouse along the new bike path and then back to the campground while I drove the Jeep back.  He met this water moccasin or cottonmouth on the way.  It was crossing the park road and headed to the pond on the other side.

We made quesadillas with yesterday’s leftover BBQ.

After dinner, we drove to Buxton.  We had read online that 4 houses fell into the water today shortly after high tide. 

This hotel is being whipped by wind and water and there is concern that the buildings may cave in.

The side streets were flooded.

There were news vans.

There were the remains of houses…so sad…  There was a lot of debris in the streets.

We had been so relieved when we learned that the hurricanes had turned out to sea.  We knew there would be effects.  We had not anticipated that the residual wind and storm surge would continue to wreak havoc here.

1270 September 29, 2025 Morris Farm

We slept well with windows open. Upon awakening, we checked all the sites for updated hurricane information. It looks like the storms will head away from the US coast and head east and out to sea. This is good news for us and lots of other people! The local weather forecasts that at 1am the wind will begin to whip up. Tim is thinking that we should leave later today because when there is crazy wind, the Bay Bridge Tunnel will not allow high profile vehicles (RV’s included) to cross.

We did our morning workouts and walks and then headed into Cape Charles. We walked along Main Street.  We stopped at Mason Avenue Bakery and it smelled heavenly inside.  We chose two scones dense with fat and juicy blueberries for our mid-morning snack.  We left with a still warm loaf of sourdough. 

We crossed the street to North Market and bought some fig balsamic vinegar.

We fueled the Jeep and got fresh drinking water while we were out.

Because of the wind forecast, we returned to the campground and prepared to leave.   We took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to Virginia Beach. Tim likes driving on the bridge but the tunnel is a little nerve wracking. Tractor trailers were coming the other way!

We arrived at Morris Farm Market at about 1:30.   This is a Harvest Host site.  We did some shopping and then parked our rig in the back of their lot.  We will stay here overnight.

We set up our chairs and drank some blueberry wine, ate our fresh sourdough with our olive oil and our special vinegar, and listened to music.  Later we had some North Carolina BBQ.

We are watching the weather forecast now and we are hopeful that we can travel safely to Hatteras tomorrow.

1269 September 28, 2025 Weather On Our Minds

It rained most of the night but this morning there were glimpses of blue sky. I walked the park, again thrilled to be in a beautiful place.

We had a short drive to Kiptopeke and so we were able to take our time.

We were very early and check in at the campground was not until 3pm.  We decided to go into the town of Cape Charles.  We parked along the beach and had our lunch.  Then, we hopped on our bikes and cycled around; up and over the bridge and to the wildlife preserve.  We took the boardwalk trail as far as we could go before turning back.

We arrived at the state park in late afternoon.  We elected to add another night to our stay so that we could be certain of the path that Humberto and Imelda were going to take before committing to driving down 12 toward the Outer banks.

Tim was able to follow the NASCAR race while simultaneously watching the Ravens lose…badly…

We grilled tuna with fresh corn on the cob and had a really delicious honeydew melon.

After dinner, we drove to the fishing pier and watched the sunset.

1268 September 27, 2025 Crisfield.

We took our time this morning. It was balmy and breezy and a perfect day for a walk. I had missed walking in new places each morning! Tim found a trailhead that lead me down to the beach. From there, I could see the Indian River Bridge.

We packed up and headed south to Janes Island State Park in Crisfield. It began to rain as we arrived. We were disappointed that we were not able to ride our bikes into town. The rain did abate this afternoon and we took the Jeep and went to check out the Heritage Festival. Unfortunately, because of the weather, most of the vendors were gone or packing up. We did wander around the marina.

Janes Island State Park has a new Wi-Fi room and so I was able to post the blog. Janes Island also has a few new projects.

This evening, we packed a picnic. As we were preparing to leave, it began to rain again. We drove to the pier in Crisfield and found a dry table on the lower deck. As we ate, we enjoyed watching a granddad, father, and son catching fish and netting crabs.

We know that Humberto and Imelda are out there brewing. We are watching the weather and may have to modify our plans.

1267 September 26, 2025 Ocean View, Delaware.

Tearfully, we left Reisterstown. We are sad to leave and at the same time, we are excited to begin traveling again. Tim has always said that as soon as we travel over the Bay Bridge, he can feel his blood pressure go down. It was a beautiful day for a drive to the Eastern Shore.

We arrived in Ocean View, Delaware in early afternoon. We stayed at Bayshore Marina and Campground. Most of the sites were occupied by permanent residents. The park was well kept and clean. Our site was directly on the marina. We walked and rested and then at 5pm, we met Walt and Lisa at Fins Ale House. We enjoyed a pleasant dinner with good friends.

The big boys spent their last day in Disney; and epic and magical trip!!

1266 April 19, 2025 – September 25, 2025 Life

We spent some wonderful time with David and his family from the 18th of April until early May. The boys were so happy to see us and we loved every minute of our time with them. Oliver and Austin were both in school but we picked them up each day. Both boys were on spring soccer teams and we had so much fun watching them play. In the few short weeks that we were there, we were able to see them learn the game and really improve their skills. We spent time walking in the woods, making baked ziti, and baking gingerbread cookies from scratch. The boys are really into video games and we sat with them, as they schooled us in Mario Kart and Minecraft. We went out for ice cream and took them to the park to play basketball. Austin’s 7th birthday party was a sport theme and so we made sugar cookies and decorated them as soccer balls and baseballs and tennis balls and basketballs. We had a big neighborhood birthday bash on May 3rd and then on May 4th, he had a party with his classmates. On May 5th, we started our trip toward home.

Allison was scheduled for gall bladder surgery later that week. We were home to help. She was not able to lift or carry Wade for a couple of weeks. We did lots of caretaking, and meal making and we had loads of fun with Wade; singing and reading and playing and being outside.

We had all of our appointments scheduled while we were home. I had been having some lingering left foot pain and I decided to get checked. I had three stress fractures from overuse and need to be in a boot for 7 weeks followed by many weeks of PT, Tim decided to get his shoulder looked at and he had a tear in his rotator cuff. He elected to have it repaired. He is well on his way to recovery; getting progressively stronger.

Allison turned 30 and we had a surprise party for her.

Allison was scheduled to have her tumor removed on July 22nd. Her surgery was vey successful with fewer complications than the surgical team had anticipated. This was awesome news! Again, she was not able to drive or care for the baby and we were two pairs of extra hands.

In mid August, we took my mom and we flew to Atlanta to see Oliver for his 9th birthday. It was a shorter visit but we squeezed in so many fun things.

For the next weeks, we took care of ourselves and we took care of our family. Tim and I both had PT. We cooked and cleaned and ran errands and mowed and gardened and did some small repairs.

While we were home, we spent more time sifting through our remaining belongings and got rid of a bunch of stuff. It is amazing what traveling in an RV fulltime teaches us about how much we absolutely need.

We got to spend time with my mom and my sister and we got to catch up with a bunch of friends.

We loved being with Kyle and his family and we consider it a privilege that were allowed to stay and help. We have felt very welcome and comfortable here. Our greatest joy in these weeks has been taking care of Wade. We have watched as he has learned so many new words and skills. We watched as he went from scooting to pulling up to cruising to finally walking! We will miss all the baby giggles and hugs and cuddles. More than anything, I will miss the daily busyness. I have always loved being a mom and being a grandma. Everyone here is doing well and it is time for us to go!