After wiping down the bikes, cleaning off the rain-spatter and making them shine, we headed out around 9. Our goal: the northernmost tip of NC Hwy 12, above Corolla. It's about 84 miles north of our hotel.
In the bright sunshine, we got to see what we'd missed coming in on Sunday. You can see it on the map, but you can't really get it until you're on it. The road from Hatteras Island to Kill Devil Hills is a sandbar, with small areas of wide spots that people have built villages on. Throughout most of that section, the Pamlico Sound is visible to the west, but the view of the Atlantic Ocean to the east is blocked by sand dunes 20 feet high in places, most of them naturally formed from the constant wind pushing the sand towards the land. At this time of year there is a constant flow of traffic, north and south bound, and cars parked on the shoulder for much of the 45 miles between Buxton and Kill Devil Hills. These brave souls have to park, then climb the dunes with their beach paraphernalia, or hike through the scrub to get to the Sound.
In August of 2011, Hurricane Irene roared across the Outer Banks, cutting a new inlet across Pea Island (named for the peas that used to be grown here). North Carolina officials rushed to build a "temporary" bridge to reconnect the two sides.
I tried to find an image from Google Map's street view to show you this, as it is about as rag-tag a bridge as you'll ever see. Corrugated steel plates that appear to have (at one time) been covered with concrete create a patchwork road surface; steel railings are reinforced with wooden beams. The locals call it the "Lego Bridge," laughing at the term "temporary." Road crews are constantly reinforcing the ocean side where nature continues to cut away at the land. And critics are recommending a ferry system instead (source: New York Times). I didn't get the pleasure of seeing this emergency repair on the way down due to the driving rain. When you're on the bridge, you can see how it got its nickname.
At the northern tip of Pea Island is the Oregon Inlet, created from a hurricane in 1846 that swept across Nags Head. The Bonner Bridge is 2.7 miles long, connecting Pea Island to Bodie Island.
It's a beautiful bridge with long sweep causeways with a raised bridge in the center. The Department of Transportation has given it a 4 out of 100 safety rating, and everyone agrees it must be replaced. The problem is, no one can agree on the options, one of which is a 17-mile bridge that would parallel Hwy 12 from Bodie Island to Rodanthe, on Hatteras Island, bypassing Pea Island altogether (Source: Surfline.com).
We continued north along Hwy 12 through Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, and Kitty Hawk. It's a picturesque ride for the most part, with most residences resembling Cape Code style houses on stilts. The speed limit is 35 mph, and about every 100 yards are crosswalks. NC law required vehicles to stop for pedestrians in these crosswalks so it was slow going all the way through. The temperature had risen to about 83° by this time, and the humidity was high, so it was getting warm.
We passed through the town of Duck, a large area with a 25 mph speed limit, and the only police car I've seen all week, sitting on the side of the road with an officer watching the radar.
Finally, we reach Corolla, and except for the hotels and rentals, the only thing that stood out is a bright yellow strip mall. When we approached the end of the highway, we began seeing new signs (newer than the Street View in Google Maps): "Only vehicles with 4-wheel drive allowed ahead," "Lower the air in your tires to drive on the beach," and such. Almost there!
As we rolled around the curves, the sand encroachment on the road brought it down to a single lane, and we finally arrived at the end of the pavement.
Apparently, they consider the beach to be part of the road for another several miles, but there was no way I was going to take the bikes out there. Here's a close-up of the signs on the right:
I would have like to parked and walked out for more pictures, but as you can see, that would have been a no-no.We did reach our goal, so we turned around in the sand-covered road and made our way back. It was about 12:30, 3½ hours after we started, and we were getting hungry.
Stopping at a convenience store down the road for water, we asked the clerks for a decent place to eat lunch. They suggested Uncle Ike's, just down the road on the left. "You can't miss it," he said.
Here's a picture from highway 12. Behind the trees on the left, you can see the red awning. I think that's Uncle Ike's. And yes, we missed it.
We continued south, back to Duck, where we found the Sunset Grill & Raw Bar, and stopped for lunch and air conditioning (the temp, supposed to be 81°, was 88°). It was a good choice. There's a beautiful view of the Currituck Sound, and the land you see across the water is a peninsula, jutting out from the mainland.
Linda enjoyed a Seafood Roll, "Homemade seafood salad consiting of shrimp, lobster, langostino and white fish on a New England soft roll." Actually there were two, and she reports they were really good. I had a Yellowfin Tuna sandwich, with a fresh tuna steak. I may not be able to go back to canned tuna!
Cooled down and hydrated, we sprayed ourselves with SPF 50 and headed south. We cheated a bit, taking Hwy 158, a 4-lane, 50 mph highway through Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills (past the Wright Brothers Memorial -- impressive), and cut back to Hwy 12 in Nags Head. There we encountered a thunderstorm to the west, and rode through what we thought might be a drencher that only lasted a few minutes, cooling us off.
Back on Hwy 12 and southbound, we encountered several brushes with the storm (we later found out there was an official thunderstorm warning), and headed back south to the hotel, arriving around 4. Total trip was about 190 miles, and 7 hours. A good day's ride.
We felt better after showering, but had to wait to go to dinner. Apparently the storm caught up with us, and it was raining hard. We finally headed out at 8, over to the Diamond Shoals Restaurant, where Linda had shrimp and scallops, and I had what was supposed to be an 8 oz sirloin that I think was more like 12, and a skewer of barbeque'd shrimp. So much food, we couldn't finish, but it was good.
We've changed our plans. Today we'll take the ferry over to Ocracoke Island, but we're going to spend the line at the Anchorage Inn, right on Silver Lake, minutes from the Cedar Island Ferry. We've got our reservation for the 10 am ride on Friday, so we'll have the day in the little village at the southern tip of the island.
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