Day 5 - The Wright Brothers and NC Coast

Thursday we got another early start, we packed up, dumped our tanks and were on the road a bit before 7AM. We knew we had planned a long driving day and did not know how much traffic to expect. I needed a second coffee so pulled into a gas station just after crossing into VA (Oak Hill, VA), June said you are going to get crappy coffee in there, I came out with a Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Coffee, the world really is small but I was happy. Much to our amazement there wasn't any traffic, basically none.  We were alone for most of the beautiful drive. 

Crossing the Chesapeake. 

We enjoyed the Chesapeake Bay bridge/tunnel ($21) and the other bridges along the coast. It was a relaxing and scenic drive.  

We arrived at site of the historic 1903 Wright brothers flight at about 11:15AM, it was sunny and 73F. We found the memorial to be very well done, the landscape has changed some from 1903, most notably there is grass and shrubbery that is not in the pictures from 1903 but it is pretty clear why the wright brothers chose this location for flight. The exhibits are very well done and well worth the visit. 

The museum has many displays and documents the history from making bicycles to flying gliders for 4 years before the powered flight was achieved. 

We walked most of the site (you can also drive it), it was great to stretch our legs a bit. 

One display is a metal replica of the plane that allows you to get close enough to get perspective, it was big for a 12 hp airplane. 

We departed Kitty Hawk around 1:30PM and found our selves on deserted roads again, it was another easy drive. We arrived at our friends in Oriental, NC around 4:45PM. Chris and Nancy have a beautiful place on the inner banks right on the water with access to the Neuse River, a spectacular spot. After getting parked we all got in the golf cart and were given a tour of Oriental, NC, it is a historic town of about 900, very nice. 

June and Nancy enjoyed the cart ride. 

After our tour, we had a genuine NC dinner prepared by Chris and chatted the evening away. It was great to catch up with Chris and Nancy.  Tomorrow we are going to get out and see a bit of the area with Chris and Nancy, they have been here since the 90's and are happy to show it off.