We left the hotel in Petersburg VA about 8:00 and had a pleasant three hour drive to Kitty Hawk NC, where we visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial.  Flight markers show the distance of each of the four flights the brothers made on December 17, 1903: the first was only 12 seconds long and 120 feet, but by the fourth flight Wilbur had stayed in the air for 59 seconds and traveled 852 feet.

We left Kitty Hawk and stopped for lunch at the Nags Head Pier House Restaurant, where we shared a crabcake sandwich and caesar salad.  The beach at Nags Head is very pretty and there were many swimmers and sunbathers enjoying the warm sunny weather.  We drove south on Hwy.  12 along Bodie and Hatteras Islands.  The third island of the Outer Banks, Ocracoke, is not accessible by car.  There is a free ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke, and we got on the one that left at 3:30.  The ride was about 40 minutes, and we arrived at the place we’re staying, Edwards of Ocracoke, around 4:30.  Ocracoke Inlet has a history of being a hiding place for pirates, including Blackbeard.  It’s a pretty quiet, laid-back place today.  Our room is a queen bungalow and is rustic, although we do have hundreds of channels on satellite TV and wireless internet.  We had dinner tonight at the Cafe Atlantic, where we both had a seafood platter of shrimp and crabcakes (again).  Today’s drive of 241 miles was much more relaxing than yesterday’s drive.