I’ve titled this blog with the name of Kitty Hawk, NC. We are actually not in Kitty Hawk but we are in Kill Devil Hills. But, when I told people that we were going to Kill Devil Hills, their eyes glazed over and I could see that they had never heard of this place. So, I said ‘Kitty Hawk’ and they all knew where we were: ‘Oh, yeah, that’s where the Wright Brothers flew for the first time.’ Just like the Wrights. Everyone thinks they flew in Kitty Hawk. Nope, their flight took place in Kill Devil Hills, which is 4 miles south of Kitty Hawk.
We had a beautiful day for driving, a bit cool but sunny all the way. We took some back roads, some two-laners but most of the roads were 4 lanes, since this is the main road out to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Interestingly, for all the traffic that must come this way during spring break and over the summer to the beaches, the road narrows to a 2-laner for about 15 miles just as you enter the area. 2 lanes for the main road to the beaches? Gets you used to the slow traffic that you will meet along the main road through the Outer Banks. Thousands of tourist shops, restaurants, convenience stores, donut shops, ice cream shops, you name a tourist desire and you can find it here. We’re here in April at the tail end of spring break, I can’t imagine traffic in the summer.
I have two questions about driving in an RV:
Why do people speed up when you try to pass them? They loll along at about 5 mph below the speed limit but when we try to pass them, they speed up and make it terribly hard to get around them. Is it because no one wants to be passed by a little old grey-haired driver in a big lumbrous RV? Is it an ego thing?
Why do people slow down at the top of an entrance ramp? Come on, people, that’s when you speed up to merge with the rest of the traffic on the highway? We expect them to speed up but then they put their phones down, look up and with the deer-in-the-headlights look, see an RV and immediately slow down. Yikes.
But here’s my favorite one-liner (well, maybe more than one-liner, about driving.
‘This morning on the Interstate, I looked over to my left and there was a woman in a brand new Cadillac doing 65 mph with her face up next to her rear view mirror putting on her eyeliner. I looked away for a couple seconds...to continue shaving and, when I looked back she was halfway over in my lane, still working on that makeup.
As a man, I don't scare easily. But she scared me so much, I had to put on my seat belt and I dropped my electric shaver, which knocked the donut out of my other hand.
In all the confusion of trying to straighten out the car using my knees against the steering wheel, I knocked my cell phone away from my ear which fell into the coffee between my legs, splashed and burned big Denny and the Twins, ruined the darn phone, soaked my trousers, and disconnected an important call.’
Darn women drivers.’
Unknown.
We traveled through North Carolina today and noticed more trash on the side of the road than in any other state that we have traveled through. Most states adopted the practice of letting people or groups or companies be responsible for the upkeep of the roads near them. Great show of civic support for individuals, clubs and companies but also great advertising for companies who now don’t have to buy a billboard. States also look so much cleaner and inviting for tourists. It’s a win-win-win-win-win for everyone. And the result has been nothing short of spectacular. Roadsides are so clean now and the trash doesn’t distract from seeing the beauty of the countryside. Who wants to drive through a trash barrel? Because most roadsides are so clean, it’s jarring to see one that isn’t.
When one drives Interstate 10 down from the pass into Palm Springs, there is a section that is almost white with litter. Every time we drive by, it is a glaring trash heap.
Today, we drove through central North Carolina and there was trash all along the highway. Not a lot but enough to make it obvious that these roads have not been adopted by anyone and no one picks up the trash. Otherwise the countryside could be quite inviting and beautiful to look at but the bits of white distract.
Being from Iowa, we recognized these structures: hog confinement areas. We also recognized the ‘distinctive delicate aroma’ emanating from them.
The bridges we crossed to get to the Outer Banks and Kill Devil Hills were as amazing as those in Louisiana and out to Key West: long and low. (One of my first jobs in our new campground is to clean the windshield.) Look at the curve to the left at the end.
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