DAY 20: OUTER BANKS

Day 2 of the Outer Banks and the skies are not as cooperative as they were before. Raph, Kalle and I each slept outside and I, being the bug magnet that I am, woke up with the left half of my face swollen from bites. I did manage to make it to the beach for sunrise and was alone except for a dog that had wandered over from across the dunes.

We spent much of the morning getting to Hatteras, where we ascended the old Hatteras Lighthouse. It had been moved on railway tracks 800 ft inland several years ago to protect it from the eroding shoreline. 12 flights of steps up, you could see miles of banks and the closing hurricane. This was the hideout for many of the pirates back in the day and nicknamed "Graveyard of the Atlantic" due to the shallow shoals and sandbars.

After a nice ferry ride to Ocracoke, we visited yet another lighthouse, this time the oldest operating lighthouse in North Carolina; stopped for a giant $3 double scoop of ice cream which realistically amounted to more than a pint of cream; and lunched on the docks. Sprinkles led us to move quickly off the island and find shelter. The Morehead Motor Inn was the lucky place - filled with smells of Indian food, faux wood wallpaper, $0.25 buckets of ice, and nearby Papa John's Pizza. Needless to say, we had a slumber party.

Quote of the day: So Kalle and I went into a K-Mart to get some Claritin and when I asked the cashier if she was registered to vote, she replied, "Only God can make peace in this world, not man."