Day 28: Walnut Island, NC

"We came down here for wind and sand, and we got them..."

-Orville Wright

That about sums up the bulk of our experience on the Outer Banks: wind and sand, and no shortage of either.

In Europe these would be rape fields, where they get rapeseed oil.  I think in the states it may be canola.

Alea once again drew the short straw for the weather.  She had a very brisk wind out of the northeast, so pretty much the entire 42 mile ride was a long, slow grind.  The wind was bad enough in the morning that we had to put up our galley wind wall, plus also open both deep storage lids, in order to block the wind so that we could keep the propane stove lit long enough to cook breakfast.

On our way north we stopped at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kitty Hawk and had a look around.  It gave Alea a chance to take a break about mid-way along her route.   We thought we'd finally get some use of the National Parks Access Pass we bought a month ago, but it turned out that today was a free admission day.

We are once again on the mainland, in a community called Walnut Island that we expect is actually part of the town of Grandy, NC.  We are camping at Barry's Walnut Island Lodge Restaurant Sports Bar and Campground/RV Park ($45, water and power).  There is only an outdoor shower, and we'll need to use some porta potties for after hours use, but the folks here have been very friendly and helpful.  We arrived just a few hours before the wrap up of Bike Week, so there was a loud band playing in the bar, but we were just far enough away to enjoy the music and still hold a conversation.

Our campsite at Barry's Walnut Island.

Of course after today's slog, Alea was VERY interested in getting a shower.  We were allowed to use their Mardi Gras-themed lodge room (#2), since the outdoor shower wouldn't have been much fun in this wind (the rooms all have different themed decors).

Some of the decor in the themed Mardi-Gras room.

The campground looks like an extension of the parking lot, but it is waterside near a small boat ramp, and there is a boardwalk around most of the inlet.  The only downside was that there was lots of goose poop on the ground, though we managed to clean up most of what we might step in or that Lana might roll in.  Despite being right across from the bar we have a reasonable amount of privacy.  But we were glad when the last Harley finally hit the road...