Nags Head to National Park Campground at Ocracoke, North Carolina 73.3 miles (118 km)

Sunrise at Nags Head.

When bicycle touring, I find a special attachment to my bike... not just because my butt is on it for hours at a time, but because it starts to feel like an appendage and can become the object of a special photo.

In the distance is the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge over the Oregon Inlet along Route 12 of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

I was along Route 12 between the Oregon Inlet Bridge and the Pea Island Wildlife Center when I spotted this little turtle close to crossing the white line marking the road shoulder. I carried him off to the grassy dunes to prevent (or at least delay) a certain squished fate.

This drought tolerant flower is called Indian Blanket (or "Firewheel") and is in abundance all long the Outer Banks.

There was a field of Wild Hibiscus at the Pea Island National Wildlife Center.

Proof that bright coloured shops are not just found in the Canadian Maritimes... I cooled off with 2 iced coffees at Island Time Cups and Cones in Avon along Route 12. I was served by twentyfive-year-old Elena who moved to the area 2 years ago from Bulgaria. Her smile and hospitality were a good respite from the heat.

After my coffee break, I went through towns with churches that all had signs with great messages.

Located in Buxton, "Count your Blessings" was the message n the Lighthouse Assembly Church sign.

The Buxton United Methodist Church sign reminded me that "Prayer Changes Things."

Another favourite for me, "Worry not my child, I've got this. -God" The Cape Hatteras Baptist Church is located in Frisco, North Carolina.

A little further down the road in Frisco the Heritage of Faith Family Church had this displayed on their sign: "Overwhelming victory is ours through him who loves us!"

The heat, sand dunes and sparse vegetation can make parts of the Outer Banks seem desert like. What the photo does not convey is the rhythmic crash of waves that I could hear as I pedalled. The beach was on the other side of the dunes (to the left in the photo).

The Hatteras United Methodist Church sign quoted a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance, "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." I remember reciting the Pledge in the Minnesota public school and the Ohio Catholic schools that I attended before moving to Canada. I wonder if kids growing up have the same sense of nationalism in the US when not reciting the pledge. This is a contentious issue for many Americans. Some schools recite the pledge and some do not. My impression is that a very loud minority took issue with their kids being required to recite a pledge that refers to God. If I was an atheist parent, (which I'm most definitely not) and I wanted to impart the values and belief of atheism onto my child, I would look at the Pledge as a teachable opportunity for those values and beliefs without trying to compromise the right of the majority to recite the Pledge.

On the Ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke. Here's a photo from 1986 on one of the Outer Banks Ferry...

I remember struggling after what had happened to me in Virginia and the big deal it was for me to get up enough nerve to ask someone to take a photo with my camera. I was stubborn and believed that I could overcome anything having survived being assaulted. What I didn't know, is how the repression of the event would effect me the rest of my life.

As I neared Ocracoke and the end of cycling for the day, dunes, grasses and low shrubbery gave way to pine and cedar trees that cast shadows cutting the heat.

I set up camp at the National Park at Ocracoke. Most of the state and national parks have an individual designated as the Camp Host. I was in need of the assistance of the Camp Host this night. Campfires were prohibited because of the fire risk they posed. I needed to boil water. Charcoal for the grill at each campsite was permissible, but there was no camp store for me to obtain some. After having just cycled 73+ miles, I was not about to cycle another 4 miles into town and 4 miles back. I was exhausted. Three sites down from mine was Ed Johnson, the Ocracoke National Park Camp host and his trailer. He welcomed me and my pot into his trailer like I was a long lost relative.

Water boiled, I made my pot of curry spiced couscous with tamarind spice pumpkin seeds that I added. I left Ed's trailer to the seclusion of the picnic table at my site and started to eat.

A small RV pulled into the empty site next to mine. A man got out and spread and secured a table cloth across the picnic table at that site. He glanced over at me.
"Did you have a headwind or a tailwind?"
"Headwind, all of the way today from Nags Head. In fact I've had a headwind for 2 weeks now."
"Would you like a hillbilly champagne? I think you deserve one."
"Sure."
He walked over to the cab of the RV and told his son, "Grab two PBRs."
His son jumped out of the cab with two cans of beer in hand and brought them toward his father.
"No son, not for me, go give them to the guy with the bicycle."
The beers were delivered to me and they got in the RV to have a pizza dinner in town.

I'm not a huge beer drinker, but the Pabst Blue Ribbon, a.k.a. "Hillbilly Champagne" was pretty refreshing.

There's an inherent efficiency and simplicity of bicycle camping.

Dusk, looking east at the Atlantic Ocean through the dune at Ocracoke National Park.