North Carolina...Sure Is Fine-ahh

We left Virginia on Sept 25th, continuing south 60 miles, and landed in Grandy NC. It's about 40 miles north of the Outer Banks which was our next destination. The Weeping Radish was a Harvest Host one night stop. It's a restaurant and brewery that was featured on Guy Fieri's Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. We didn't actually stay in the restaurant but boon-docked the RV on the property overnight after going to the restaurant for lunch.

Kathy who's not a real beer drinker got a flight and since they make their own sausage we got a sausage sampler app and a liverwurst crostini to start. Kathy had a pastrami sandwich since they smoke their own meats and I had a burger topped with pastrami. Yum, yum, yum!

The next day we left for the Outer Banks (FYI-also known as OBX). We sat out on Kitty Hawk Beach since we couldn't check into our next campground until noontime. It was beautiful as were the other three beaches we sat out on the next three days. We loved the Outer Banks. The Outer Banks boasts 50 miles of beaches all neatly knustled on the Atlantic Ocean. The beaches are sprawling. The sand is course but smooth and it is very-very clean. There was 20-30ft between anybody we sat near. Beautiful large, long piers jutting out into the ocean. The houses down on the beach were huge. Easily rented out to 2 or 3 families comfortably housed in most. We went to Nags Head, Coquina and 18.5 Beaches. I did get the car stuck in the sand when we first got there. A dude helped me push it out after I dug out the front wheels with my hands.

The RV park that we stayed in was the best one yet. We backed into a bayside spot. It was beautiful, relaxing, soothing and a nice addition to our Outer Banks stay. We took a couple exploratory e-bike and car rides around the surrounding streets, communities and towns.

Our next stop was Raleigh, North Carolina, the Capitol of the state. We dug this city. We took the first day there off, as a rest day, since we traveled 220 miles to get there. We were lucky enough to get into town the same weekend they were having a Bluegrass and OktoberFest Festivals. The Bluegrass festival was in the downtown area of the city. They had three stages for talent, food-trucks out the ying-yang, and plenty of entrepreneurs selling their bounty. The music was awesome! You couldn't avoid tapping your feet when listening. After a few hours there we drove to Poole St to jump on the Neuse River Trailway. It was a great 10 mile ride. The first part of the trail ran parallel

to the river in a woodsy area and had 12-15 bridge crossings. Then it changed to acres of cornfields. Then, white picket fences adorned acres of huge fields. It was beautiful.

In the next couple days we did the Oktoberfest in Cary (A neighbouring town to Raleigh) and went to the Juniper Level Botanical Garden. As great as our first three days were in Raleigh, the highlight of our stay was spending an afternoon with Brad's niece Deleana and meeting her husband and 3 kids. We had an awesome lunch but the best was getting to meet and know her husband John and their beautiful three kids Asher, Orson and Reede were personable, fun, well-manored and all-out adorable. Great lunch and to put it in perspective I gave up watching the Eagles game for their visit.

Starting on our next blog we"re going to try and change the style, timeframe, and content moving forward. Instead of one blog covering a week or more once a week, we're going to try and blog more frequently providing more insight to the trials and tribulations of life on the road. We're going to keep them shorter and cover more daily insights that hopefully you'll find a little more entertaining. Thanks much, we're only six weeks in but going strong. Kathy & Brad