Day 4: Short day in Ockracoke

May 24, 2016

The first thing I thought to write about this day 5+ years later is the 100' elevation gain on today's 20 miles. That's flatter than flat. And, because this trip had so little elevation gain is the reason I chose to take my road bike with me. The gearing is not set up for climbing but I thought traveling along the coast, it's flat, so it would be ideal for a lightweight road bike on roads. It mostly worked, although given the size of the frame I had to carry items in a backpack.

At a high-level, this is what I carried on this tour. Nowadays I have more capacity on my gravel bike and I carry less. With experience, I'm able to cut down on what I bring, and I'm thinking about possibly using this bike again (without the backpack)

Back to the trip, though. The first item of the morning was a fellow camper (well, RVer) walking past my tent site as I cooked breakfast that morning. He mentioned he also had a Merlin road bike. Now you have to understand in 2016 Merlin was a company no longer. They manufactured beautiful titanium bicycle frames in the late-90's and early 2000's. Then, gone. They have reformed and are now selling frames again, but running across a fellow Merlin rider in 2016 in a campsite that was pretty-much empty was pretty coincidental.

Last evening's campsite. The winds gusted so strong they pulled out one of my stakes

First stop of the day was the Graveyard of The Atlantic museum. It's a small museum that has historical artifacts recovered from wrecks. I wanted to stop here because they had a German enigma machine recovered from a sunken sub. As someone who appreciates historical significance, this was something I wanted to see. So I rode off to the museum, sat on their front porch for an hour charging my iPad (and reading my book on the iPad) then cruised through the museum, and made my way over to the ferry departure point for Ocracoke island. The only way to get there is by ferry boat.

Best picture I could get of the recovered Enigma machine

Waiting for the ferry to cross over to Ocracoke

50-minute ferry ride circumnavigating the shoals between Hatteras and Ocracoke

From the drop-off point, it's about 15 miles of straight pathway into the village of Ocracoke. And today had a bonus strong headwind leftover from last night's blustery evening. Still, I survived otherwise I wouldn't be writing this journal.

This is basically what you see riding from the ferry "terminal" in the NE tip of the island to the village in the SW tip.

After checking in with the campsite host (much less expensive than last night) early, I showered, changed into off-bike clothes (can't walk around naked you know), and headed out in search of a place to eat and sights to see.

Right next door to the campsite was the British Cemetery. This is British territory in North Carolina given to that country in honor of the men protecting merchant vessels off the US coastline in the early days of WW2. Interesting historical story and significance.

This micro-plot of land within the bricks and covered by white stones is British territory. Interesting history and significance.

Next stop was a walk along the harbor-line to view the boats and head to the lighthouse. Along the way I popped into some of the arts-and-crafty shops to purchase gifts for the women in my life (wife and daughters). I tend to get something small which I can carry with me, like earrings or pins or something to that effect.

Along the harbor. The sailboat in the foreground plays a significant part of my day later on - stay tuned in the text for that piece of the adventure

The Village Craftsman is where I found gifts for the important women in my life

Upon reaching the lighthouse, it's not available to climb. So that's the reason why there are no pictures of the islands from the air. And drones were not really a thing to take on bike tours in 2016.

After walking to and touring the pirate museum (schlocky, but fun), I headed back towards the harbor to have dinner on the water. I'm social with shopkeepers and when I mentioned my choice of dinner places and my desire for a burger, they all recommended S. McNally's. So that became my place choice - S. McNally's Bar and Grill. Walking in, there wasn't a spot available. Rats! They offered me a spot at a large table (could seat about 12) until one became available, so I sat down with Steve and Judy, a couple there splitting a whole pitcher of beer. Within a minute or two, a larger group also was offered a spot at the communal table with the three of us. The Alpha male of that group chatted up Steve for a good 30 minutes until their table was ready. I got maybe three sentences in during that time.

After that, though, it was the three of us. I found out they were living aboard their sailboat (remember the Norne Gaest in my photographs from the earlier part of today's journal? that's their boat), and they would cruise 8-10 months out of the year. I in turn mentioned I originally had a dream in my 20's of living aboard a sailboat rather than an apartment. But then love, romance, job, children, and other financial obligations fall into one's life. They mention an option that I'm pursuing right now - The Great Loop. It's a complete waterborne adventure of around 6000+ miles which one can circumnavigate around the east coast of the US. And it's doable. At the end of two hours of chatting, they invite me back aboard their boat! Now if that isn't a serendipitous treat, what is?

Steve and Judy, of the Norne Gaest, on their 36' sailboat. I had an invitation onto their boat after spending a completely serendipitous evening with them for dinner

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Today's ride: 20 miles (32 km)
Total: 188 miles (303 km)

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