Jockey's Ridge State Park
https://www.ncparks.gov/state-parks/jockeys-ridge-state-park
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jockeys-Ridge-State-Park/109512545734403
The Scarborough Inn in Manteo was cheap for tourist season and perfectly adequate with kitchen and dining area TV and room to spread out. It was furnished with 1940's old family furniture probably found in a flea market. Check-in was weird. You entered a small room and there was a large kiosk with a big screen. A person welcomed you and talked you through the check-in process and then a room key popped out of the machine. This was very strange.
I was back at Darrell's for breakfast then off in rain gear to Jockey's Ridge.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scarborough%20Inn/176389289058301/
https://www.facebook.com/darrellsmanteo
This park is known for the tallest living sand dunes on the east coast. I remember it well, my mother let us run wild on the dunes as children and we stayed at the beach for a week. Today it is known for the hang gliding off the the top of the dunes assisted by the prevailing winds. It had stopped raining so under the shade of the tree in the parking lot I shed my rain gear and left for the Dismal Swamp.
Today was going to be challenging on the road with thunderstorm clouds hanging all around me. I was hoping to avoid the rain suit since with the heat and humidity you would be dry from rain but wet from sweat. It was a relaxed ride to the Dismal Swamp.
Dismal Swamp State Park
https://www.ncparks.gov/state-parks/dismal-swamp-state-park
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dismal-Swamp-State-Park/109496419076211
I don't think there were any camping areas but there were miles of trails and the rangers guided canoe trips through the swamps. People that hike the trails are checked in and out so they could be sure no one was left inside. There is a lot of Civil War history around this park and its canals. There are also plenty of snakes and alligators so watch out!
I will put this park on my list of parks to revisit and spend more time. The waters were the blackest I had ever seen.
Merchants Millpond State Park
It was only some 30 miles to the Merchants Millpond State Park so I decided to squeeze this in before I stopped for lunch. The clouds were still building around me but luck was still with me. I arrived there around 12:30.
Merchants Millpond has the distinction of having the northern and western most population of alligators. They are sure of at least 3 living there because they tend to stay around certain areas like the boat dock below. I went to the dock but given the ugly scum on the pond I didn't pursue an active encounter with a alligator. It was time for my lunch and not the alligators!
It was 1:00 and I was starved with not many options. Then I came upon Claudine's in the village of Rich Square. Shortly after I sat down a gentleman by the name of Bobby Lassiter came over to me and said there was no need to eat by myself and he asked if he could join me. Turns out his wife has her hair done every Thursday and today was her birthday. Bobby had traveled some 10 miles from home just for lunch and to pick up his wife's favorite pie....Silk Pie a speciality of Claudine's.
Here's Bobby!
I had a hamburger steak with butter beans and coleslaw. A great country meal. We spent over an hour just talking and eating. He farms 10,000 acres mostly with edible crops like beans, peanuts potatoes and some cotton and recently he was hired to raise 350 acres of "ice" potatoes or white potatoes for the potato chip company that we all know. So if you are eating potato chips or Hancock peanuts you are probably eating Bobby's.
It is one of my great joys about traveling alone. People will approach you and they always have a story that is fun and interesting to tell. It was wonderful hearing about his life in this area, his wife and children. On top of that he bought me lunch! I will have to go back to meet him at Claudine's for some Silk Pie.
The next hour was spent dodging thunderstorms and I was extremely successful, managing to only get rained on for 30 seconds and I dried off quickly. So no rain suit for this trip. I arrived at my cousin Eliza's in Rocky Mount around 3:00. We had a great visit remembering our youth in Asheville and rehashing all the old family stories but before I could go she had to have a picture.
It was just an hour's ride home from Rocky Mount and the trip was uneventful on the road. The eastern NC State Parks from Pilot Mountain & Morrow Mountain east have been completed and I will be heading west for the remainder of the summer to cooler weather and 13 more parks. Now I have to work on my route to these parks.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment