island life.

the pace has slowed since i last wrote. we spent four or five days lazily making our way through the outer banks & back to the mainland, drove north west to chimney rock village to stay with a friend, & are now in asheville.

the outer banks was beautiful. the coastline was wild, with its dunes & winds & waves. we stayed in kill devil hills where the wright brothers successfully conducted the first free, controlled flight of a power driven airplane & where the beach goes on forever. we wandered over massive sand dunes at jockey's ridge state park, ran from the water to the top of the wright brothers national memorial & saw storms roll in. we watched hockey with locals at the bonzer shack, washed our dishes in the outdoor showers & saw both ends of a rainbow. there were beach access points with parking lots every two hundred & fifty meters which meant finding a quiet spot to pull into at night was simple. it also meant we could cook & eat all of our meals al fresco.

after a few days there we drove an hour south to hattaras island where we stayed the night in another beach parking lot, though this one was busy with locals coming & going until all hours. we went to the local bar/restaurant that evening & met two men on a father-son road trip. the father, john, was kind enough to invite us to stay with he & his wife in arizona should we choose to see the south rim of the grand canyon. so we just might.

from hattaras island we took a forty five minute ferry ride to ocracoke, a laid back island full of lively bars & restaurants, & a stunning beach. we spent our first day there on the beach cooking, drinking cans of beer & frolicking in the waves. mid afternoon we opened all the doors, including the back, climbed into our bed & took a nap in the fresh air, not caring that the other beach goers knew we were living here. it was a glorious day. one of my favourite.

post nap we wandered into town & happened upon a wine tasting. we intended to purchase wine by the glass but the woman, penny, insisted we try the wines that appeal to us [ for free ] instead. couldn't argue with that so we stayed a while. i chatted with penny, who was a new arrival to the island & a very interesting character while luke found himself at a picnic table of kooky middle aged americans.

from the wine tasting we moved to a harbourside spot where we sipped craft beer from plastic cups & watched the watermen clean their catch while pelicans & gulls swooped & dove, hoping to snag a morsel.

& then we headed back to the beach to make dinner & get ready for bed. there were no 'no overnight parking' postings in the lot so we decided this was where we'd sleep. & that's when we noticed vehicle after vehicle pull in, & group after group head toward the water with flashlights. we were intrigued so we put our clothes back on & followed them.

when we got to the beach all we could see were the shadows of small groups of people, headlamps dancing in the pitch black. so we stood there. & stood there. until one of the groups made their way toward us to exit the beach & explained that everyone was out there, on the beach, in the dark, looking at crabs. 'crabs?', we thought to ourselves & aimed our flashlight toward the sand. &, my gosh, we were surrounded. there were crabs everywhere. everywhere. they were scurrying every which way. it was exhilarating & terrifying. after a minute or two we completely freaked ourselves out & beat it toward the boardwalk & back to the van.

once we started settling in we observed a park ranger making the rounds, requesting all over-nighters find somewhere else to stay the night. it was obvious. sigh. luke wanted to just ignore the ranger [ not sure how he thought we'd get away with that ] but i hopped into the front seat & opened the door when he shone his flashlight through our van window. the park ranger was so apologetic i almost felt badly for him. he said the issue was that it was memorial day weekend. he suggested we park in a motel or restaurant parking lot where we could blend in for the night [ at least he had a suggestion! ]

so, we got dressed [ again ] & made our way back into town. we pulled into the first lot we came across & hopped out. we were wide awake by then & figured if we were going to stay in the lot, the least we could do was make a purchase at the establishment. so we did. & i'm so glad we did because i struck up a conversation with the gentleman next to me at the bar & it turned out he was the owner of the local campground. & after hearing our story he offered a camping spot to us for free [ for free! ]. so, after our beers he grabbed his golf cart & lead us to our [ free, free, free! ] camping spot.

now, i notice i haven't mentioned that although it was dark out, it was only 10 o'clock by the time we were following this golf cart [ yep, we go to bed early these days ]. so, after arriving in our spot we decided that we may as well take advantage of the fact that we could stay in town by wandering over to the fireman's ball that had started at 4 o'clock that afternoon & was still going strong.

the fireman's ball was entry by donation [ i had $4 ] & all alcohol was free [ talk about a van lifer's dream! ]. we drank cans of cold beer, listened to the band & giggled at our good luck.

once the band finished & the ball started to wind down we walked back to the campsite & upon entering said campsite we were greeted by a group of [ self described ] rednecks. they were hard to understand, one of them was a fourteen year old boy chewing [ ? ] chewing tobacco. another was his girlfriend, a very drunk eighteen year old girl that insisted on taking selfie after selfie of she & i. and then there was a family. they were all there, including the mother, who took us on a wild golf cart ride around town. after more laughing & drinking & carrying on we [ eventually ] made our way to bed. much too late, after far too many cans of beer, but happy & in awe of the way things work out.

we woke feeling groggy [ as you can imagine ] & decided we'd move on. we'd seen the town, we didn't want to have to pay for a campsite that night [ we've not had to pay a single night thus far & didn't want to start ] & i wanted to get to lake lure to connect with a friend i'd made on the camino de santiago. so, we spent the first part of the day at the beach playing in the waves &, by 4 o'clock we were on a ferry back to the mainland.