Curt, Missy, and Eric Frantz
Diary for NC Outer Banks
 
Surviving a Storm

Friday, May 1, 1998

This was a really early day after a short night. We were awakened just after midnight by strong winds and light rain. Our tent, which is not built for severe weather conditions¾like the 30+ m.p.h. wind gusts that were bending it over¾became an uncomfortable place to be. Curt moved sleeping bags and pillows into the car and we all tried to make ourselves comfortable there. With the primary tent still being battered and potentially broken, Curt left the car to take the tent down. All of this would have been much worse had the rain been falling heavily. Back in the car, we managed to fall asleep until, about 5:00 AM, Curt and Missy awoke with puddles on their laps. We had opened the windows a little on the side away from the wind and water wasn't dripping in through it; however, the straps holding the clam luggage in place had become saturated and through capillary action, the water made its way into the car and dripped onto us. As dawn broke, we drove around briefly looking for a shelter in which we could better pack the car. Finding none, we returned to the campsite and hurriedly filled the car, trunk, and clam with the tents, tarps, luggage, cooler, and other belongings that were in the rain or the spare tent.

The rain was still light and the wind heavy as we headed north from Hatteras. A few miles out of town our clam luggage blew open and a chair and tarps blew out of it onto the highway. This caused us to laugh at the series of problems we were having. We made a brief stop to hit the beach and see how the wind was driving the ocean waves. The water, for hundreds of feet out from the beach, was churning white. It was fascinating to see but also painful. The sand blasted into our faces during our look-see.

We stopped at the Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station on the off chance that it might be open (it wasn't) then made our way to the Bodie Island Lighthouse. It had recently been painted (black and white horizontal stripes). At the visitor's center, we learned that the weather forecast was for rain through the morning and likely through the afternoon with a good chance of rain the next day. We finished seeing and doing what we had hoped to see and do over our vacation a day early. We were planning to travel north beyond Kitty Hawk with the "extra" vacation day. Given the weather forecast and our relative discomfort (wearing damp clothes, being unwashed, and sitting in a car crowded with sleeping bags and pillows), we decided to head home a day early. We brunched at Taco Bell's in Nags Head, made a quick drive through Wanchese (a fishing town on the southern end of Roanoke Island), and arrived home in the middle of the afternoon. The sun was shining in Cary and we took advantage of that to hang up and wash down our camping equipment. We learned that during the week, while we had fair to great weather on the coast, Cary had had a week of wet weather.

Arriving home a day early gave us a chance to unwind one day on the weekend. On Sunday, Missy played soccer while Curt and Eric spent all day at the Raleigh-Durham airport airshow.

Reflecting on our trip; the residents and shopkeepers with whom we interacted were all extremely kind, helpful, and pleasant. We don't know if that is common in this part of the country or if it was because of the time of year; approaching but not yet in busy season. We are tentatively planning to return for a four day weekend trip in the fall.
 

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