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We woke up to a fairly grey day today! Perfect day to stay inside and relax! However we had one errand to accomplish and that was to get to the Renaissance Portsmouth Waterfront where a parcel had been delivered for me. The company had gotten mixed up with the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside where we are staying and the one across the Elizabeth River. As to drive would be about 24 miles return by avoiding tolls, considering we could see the hotel from our hotel room at the Sheraton and there was a regular ferry within walking distance, it was the ferry we opted for! Now, to wait out the sleeting rain and we were off on our parcel quest!

However, I also wanted to mention that we are VERY SAFE in this hotel. There is a Navy “JAG” conference going on for the week and the place is FULL of ladies and gentlemen in uniform (some with LOTS of stripes)! If I hear another “ma’am” I am going to scream! They are just SO POLITE – more polite than Canadians which is scary! Such as if one takes the ramp that is not an issue for me, however they make it seem like they have done something extremely wrong and apologize to me! I am going to have to deal with this – just like in Dubai… Okay, now back to regularly scheduled programming…off we go to the ferry!

It was a quick and fun ride over to Portsmouth (took 10 minutes) and we docked at the Southern terminus and then walked to the hotel along the boardwalk. Along the way we ran into a bulbus looking ship that actually was a lighthouse ship that the American navy would use to point out areas of danger before a ship entered a harbour/river etc. This was prior to the permanent buoys that were used that had lights on them to guide ships into where they were going. This ship is now in a cement grave and unfortunately, despite the side door being open, it was closed to visitors.

We then went to the Renaissance Hotel to pick up my package. Now I know why we did not stay here! It is under heavy renovation! It looks very beautiful what they have done however there are definitely shrouds everywhere and noise can be heard. The desk clerk said that the two hotels get confused all the time when it comes to parcels so it was not a problem at all to receive my package! That was very nice! Now we walked to the Northern terminus of the ferry (the two docks are about a 10 minute walk apart which was strange) and took the ferry back to the dock in Norfolk. Along the way we had great views of the Navy shipyard and what was going on there – from a aircraft landing ship to supply ships – both in dry dock and in the water being repaired. Some were under shrouds which makes sense if they are painting or protecting expensive equipment. Such a fun journey for $4 each round trip!

Once we got back to the hotel, the Executive Chef phoned me as I asked about GF options for the buffet in the lounge for both breakfast and in the evening. Darrius, the Executive Chef was a bundle of energy who takes “care of his Celiac friends” and was extremely apologetic as to what happened in the morning (where the GF toast was put in a regular toaster). We had a great chat and he then told me that my food was “his responsibility” for the rest of my stay. Wow what service compared to previous stays on this trip! I think this also has to do with being higher in the Marriott program which allows lounge access and thus access to these small buffets of food. So as Darrius brought the first set of appies to our room, Andrew and I had dinner pretty well arranged for us – snacks and some things from our bag of goodies that we have brought with us from previous hotels on our journey. Tomorrow – Virginia Beach!

Good morning! Well, we were up early to pack and then get going on the road back to Virginia and to visit the city of Norfolk, which is pretty central for doing lots of side trips to places like Virginia Beach, Great Dismal Swamp, Williamsburg and some historic displays around the Chesapeake Bay. This area is also home to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which is a phenomenon itself, however as it is a toll bridge and we really do not need to cross it, we will just take a look at it from somewhere! I will explain about this later.

I had 2 goals for today before getting to Norfolk – one I mentioned, which was to visit the Great Dismal swamp as I also found it eerily fascinating when we visited it when I was a child and also I needed to find some shells from the beach. I always pick up shells from the beach wherever I go and there will be no exceptions this time with this vast expanse of beaches!

First though, our hotel – I thought I would take a couple of pictures to show you how nice it is on the outside/common areas (except the laundry where there was a leak). I do not have pics of the hotel room though as I forgot to take them!

Next it was Mission Seashell for Lynda. As we drove north, which was awesome as we were next to the dunes, I could watch for entrances that had mats or might be easy to get through instead of the standard stairs up and over the dune. Alas, I saw two of these types of entrances and Andrew very kindly pulled over for me and we got out and went to the beach – again the mat was short so I was on a leash with the very soft sand that is impossible to use a walker once the mat ended. Also, you will note that there are now TWO red flags flying instead of the 1 from previous days. The one red flag is a warning of a rip tide being present. The 2nd red flag is a further warning that no swimming is to take place. These beaches are now not guarded as it is after Labour Day. Oh and it is spitting a bit – such fun!

Now we departed the Outer Banks on our way to the Great Dismal Swamp which is half way between where we are and Norfolk. We arrived at the Great Dismal Swamp Visitors centre in great time and I enquired about how to take boat rides on the swamp like I remember – they are not offered anymore! Oh no! Apparently COVID did them in. So we walked next door where the Park Office is located with a museum and a boardwalk loop of the swamplands and did that instead! Then we came back to the car and ate lunch prior to finding our way to where we are staying tonight – the Sheraton in Norfolk.

On the road again! Now it is supposed to be a short drive (45 minutes) into Norfolk. As I have previously mentioned we are trying to avoid tolls as Avis charges $7.00 on top of EACH toll it has to pay. Google Maps has the ability to “Avoid toll roads”. It has worked really well until today. We were going along a busy street, being kept off the highway I thought due to it being a toll road and then all of a sudden I saw the sign saying “Last Exit before Bridge Toll” so I had Andrew exit quickly! I looked at Google Maps and across the water was our hotel – we could see it from the road. There was a different bridge we could cross however that was a 20 minute re-route – so off we went – re-routed away! It was actually fairly easy to do however I was really surprised that Google Maps did not give us a better warning than that!

We got checked into the hotel and put in an accessible room that was SMALLER than the original one on the Outer Banks. Holy smokes! I knew this hotel was older however this was ridiculous! I left tired Andrew in the room and went back down to the front desk and then they acknowledged that the desk clerk checking me in had made a mistake and that they have a “better” room for me, however it is on the ground floor – is that okay? Fine by me – I just wanted to lie down! Sure enough, at the VERY END of a long hall on the ground floor is our room – a very nice suite with a roll in shower and a separate bedroom space! Very cool – I am happy now! We went upstairs for some appitizers in the lounge and came back downstairs to our room and Andrew asked me when the Harvest Moon was going to be – which I thought it was going to be tomorrow night. Nevertheless, I took pictures of the moon tonight just in case clouds covered it tomorrow night! This Samsung 23 phone does a pretty good job of taking pictures I think!

Inspire Others Videos – Part 1 of 2

Inspire Others Videos – Part 2 of 2

The First Flight Video – Part 1 of 5

The First Flight Video – Part 2 of 5

The First Flight Video – Part 3 of 5

The First Flight Video – Part 4 of 5

The First Flight Video – Part 5 of 5

I am now home and this museum is speaking my language! I love aviation (along with my father) and when we were here in the 70’s I remember being enthralled with the First Flight that the Wright Brothers took! The other really cool thing is it happened the day before my grandfather (my mother’s dad) was born and I remember returning to Vancouver and telling him all about it! My grandfather was a railway man, however I think he understood my excitement as it had to do with engines too! I have always remembered standing on the sand and seeing the markers of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and finally the longer 4th flight and really wanted to return some day. Unfortunately in my working career, I was able to get back to Edenton once, however not all the way to the Outer Banks. Guess where we are going today!

It is now a National Memorial and there is an entrance fee of $10 per person which is reasonable compared to some other places we have visited. When we arrived at 1pm a ranger talk was just starting, so we decided to visit the museum first and attend the next talk at 3pm. The museum is down right amazing. The quality of museums that we have seen have been top notch and heading to the Smithsonian ones in Washington DC where they are fabulous, we really have had an amazing history lesson during our time in North Carolina, Virginia and to come Washington, DC. Anywho, oneward we go – here are some pictures of the display – it started with the brothers Orville and Wilbur and their idea that they had in Dayton, Ohio; their trips to Kitty Hawk on the Outerbanks to test their flight ideas (the wind was good at this location), their restarts and then their successes. Then in another room is a replica of the original plane that flew at Kitty Hawk. Where is the original you ask? I know! It is “flying high” in the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC as I have already seen it there!

Please enjoy these pictures that I took of the museum and the path to the First Flight on Dec 17, 1903. The videos for the “Inspire Others” can be found HERE

Now we visit the big round room that holds the replica of the plane used for the 1st flight and some interesting facts that are around it!

Videos

Click HERE to check out the above movie in 5 segments on the Wright Brothers and others and aviation. All videos are silent.

Still with time until the ranger talk we decided to visit the flight line – we had seen the previous group with the ranger visit the flight line so we knew that the information might be repeated. I, yet again, did not think and thought we could ALSO climb Kill Devil Hill, where the Memorial to the Wright Brothers is located. Once we walked in the wind to the flight line, and along for a little ways to the hill, I turned back as I would rather hear the ranger and deal with the hill later! It was a good decision! That is one TALL hill!

Next we listened to an AWESOME ranger tell the story of the Wright Brothers – it was NOT boring and this ranger obviously has a theatrical background! He did the whole story even down to the coin toss that Orville and Wilbur did to determine who was going to take the 1st flight.

Last, we decided to DRIVE around the Wright Brothers memorial like the guard said we could do when we entered the park. There is parking all around the bottom of the memorial actually and some winding concrete paths winding around the hill up to the top. I was fine not climbing the hill until I saw this other display by an artist of the Wright Brothers plane – in metal, with all the people supporting them in their endeavor behind it – Wilbur (Orville took the first flight), the photographer and others. It was a REALLY cool exhibit and it was totally accessible – although I stayed on the path – I do not like walking that much on crushed gravel. After that, as we were already out of the car and sweating, what was climbing up a hill? It actually was not that bad as we took the longer but less sloped path. Well, what a fabulous view from the top! The actual memorial was not accessible – it had stairs – however I could walk all the way around the top and see up and down the Outer Banks a fair distance! Andrew wanted me to sit on my walker and roll down using my brakes, however I think that would have caused smoking brakes and I still have another 6 weeks to go with my walker, so we walked slowly down instead…

What an amazing day we had at Kitty Hawk! Well, I had an AMAZING day – I hope Andrew learned some things too! We then went back to the hotel and someone I know fell asleep early! Again, all that fresh, sea air is playing tricks on me! Tomorrow we are leaving and traveling to Norfolk Virginia, via the Great Dismal Swamp!

Today is SUPPOSED to be a nice, but not sunny day. There have been pockets of blue sky, however when we started south to Cape Hatteras on Hatteras Island, it seemed to always be overcast and there was a bit of a wind! At the intersection where the highway splits to either go to the mainland (Manteo) or go farther south, where we were going there was a fairly high dune with lots of people flying kites! Such an awesome sight to see! As we drove down the Outer Banks islands we went from which we were already on, to the next of the 3 remaining lighthouses called Bodie Island Lighthouse , then via a nice bridge onto Pea Island and then onto Hatteras Island where the town of Rodanthe is located. Rodanthe has been in the news lately due to several beach houses that have been engulfed by the sea and are falling down and the town/county does not know what to do about them. See pictures. From there we continued to drive down Highway 12 to the Cape Hatteras State Park where the light house is located. Crossing the bridge to Hatteras Island, I thought I saw the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse way off in the distance, however something was wrong! I said to Andrew that I think it is shrouded in scaffolding – it just does not look right! Those black and white stripes are very telling on this lighthouse and they were just not visible.

Sure enough, when we drove closer, I could see that it was under restoration, however there was an even bigger surprise for me in store once we got to the museum and watched the video. I have placed the video HERE. It seems that the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was NOT in the same place as when we visited it in 1976! Due to the beach eroding over time, where the beach got within 100 feet of the lighthouse, they decided to move it inland in the 1980’s by 1500 feet, which funny enough is the distance the lighthouse originally was from the sea when first built! I will let the video explain the details to you…. We/I also visited/left some money at the store and then walked to the museum which is one of the original houses that was moved also, to check out the display. The other house is used for staff accommodation.

Right now the lighthouse is planned to be back in service in late 2025. They have taken the “light” cupola off the top of it along with all the railings that surround the top where you can stand after climbing the stairs. They have also taken all the paint off, replaced some bricks and are next to repoint them (refill the crevices with mortar around the brick) and then paint the famous striped circular black and white colours of the lighthouse and red base, prior to putting the railings etc back and putting the new light and cupola lifted up via a crane. Then people will be able to climb the 200+ circular steps again to get to the top, which Andrew was able to avoid doing!

Before leaving the park visitors area, we heard that there was going to be a ranger talk, and I LOVE these, they bring me back to our days at Kokanee Park near Nelson where we would camp and go hear the park rangers talk and do fun crafts with us! There were quite a few people at the talk that looked like they were visiting from India, and then some other visitors like us too. Wow we were sure treated to a North Carolina weather show of rain during the talk! It was SO HUMID at that point and felt like rain and sure enough it came down at an angle into the shelter and was bouncing from the ground for about 10 minutes. The ranger thought nothing of it and kept talking while the rest of us moved away from the sides of the covered area that were becoming wet from the liquid sunshine!

Next we drove to the southern end of the park, where there was some wave action however more people seemed to be fishing. As there were no mats for me to walk on we just observed from the car which was at the edge of the dune. On the way back to Highway 12, we saw an interesting sight – not quite sure what to make of it and decided not to try… a wheelchair parking sign and wheelchair logo painted in front of a fence with no other parking available and a long road to walk / roll I presume to the beach!

We/I decided that as we were this far south, we mind as check out Hatteras town, which was 10 minutes away, prior to heading north. It was supposed to have a great Marine Museum there run by a local charity, however on the way there, I found it is only open on weekdays. Hatteras was a cute town – saw a “Red & White” grocery store with a lovely painting on its side. Reminded me of the Red & White grocery store we had near our house in Vancouver before Choices moved into it. Then, we turned around and started driving north and low and behold, as we were driving slowly behind another vehicle, I spotted a ramp to the beach! I just HAD to get out and explore! Luckily Andrew obliged and turned into the parking lot and I was able to check it out!

Here is the drive that we took –

Here are the videos about what happened to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse over time – very interesting!

Part 1 – Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Move story – 1:44

Part 2 – Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Move story – 0:49

Part 3 – Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Move story – 2:02

Part 4 – Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Move story – 0:58

Part 5 (end) – Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Move story – 1:44

Up in good time (way too early for me at 5am) and due to the weather forecast of a pending rain storm down where the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is located, we flipped what we had planned to do today (visit Cape Hatteras) with Saturday (visit Corolla, NC on the north Outer Banks) and instead headed out to Corolla today and hopefully visit Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and area tomorrow when the weather is predicted to be better.

Off we drove on the only highway on the Outer Banks, Highway 12 for about an hour north. After driving for about 30 minutes we drove through the the city of Duck on our way to Corolla – what a sight to see some of the plays on words that were used on highway signs for this area! Continuing onward, we went to the Corolla Visitors centre and then proceeded as far north as we could go – to where the highway ends and a sheriff sits in his cruiser to ensure only 4wd vehicles continue onto the beach and they have a permit to do so! We pulled a U turn and soon found we had passed what we were looking for – which was recommended to us by the Visitors Centre – a lovely accessible .6 mile boardwalk trail through the dune forest to the west side of the island to look over the delta area on the sound. There was a small parking lot and sure enough, the one accessible parking spot was empty! What an enjoyable walk in the humidity! Yes, due to the impending weather that humidity is climbing! It was about 75% at that point in time and 25 degrees C in the shade.

Next we drove back down the island a short distance and stopped at the Historic town of Old Corolla, where there also was a Wooden Boat museum, a lighthouse and several stores. First we visited the Wooden Boat museum and what a beautiful display that was! It was in a tall but narrow building with boats in two rows and a ramp up the middle. At the end, at the top of the ramp, was a display area. On each side of the museum were more displays. I was totally enthralled as I like water and boats and remember building with my dad our own wooden dinghy in the workshop. And this display was free! Quite surprising!

Next to the Marine Museum of Corolla is the Corolla lighthouse, pictured in yellow above. It can be climbed like the Cape Hatteras one, yet Andrew decided to pass on it, as we are going to Cape Hatteras area tomorrow. We saw both the lighthouse and next to it, the gift shop (although not accessible) and then went into the Old Town to check out some of the displays there such as the original Lifeguard station and the Corolla Wild Horse Museum/Wild Horse Fund store and display. We also stopped for some coffee/sustinance and I did some shopping as the coffee shop had some really cool photo cards! We then visited the Corolla bookstore which was a bit of a unique experience as it was not accessible at all (it had a ramp but bookcases inside were VERY close together), I managed though and I was able to get some nice postcards!

Now when we started to drive back to the hotel, we took the Virginia Dare Road instead of Highway 12, once they split near the upper exit of the Outer Banks back to the mainland. The VDR basically parallels the highway all the way down through Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and into Kill Devil Hills, past our hotel to where the road comes in from Manteo. Along the way we saw tons of beautiful houses and LOTS of sand dunes – which we will hopefully play on these another day!

Near our hotel, Kill Devil Hills had in the last few years built some “accessible beach access” for people who use mobility devices. I thought this was awesome as I would not have to climb the stairs over the dunes that were everywhere or drag my walker through the sand. This was a really nice set-up – there was a paved parking lot, a great ramp up next to the Lifeguard station, a private accessible shower stall, and a ramp to the beach. The only issue was that the mat which is used on the sand did not go very far compared to other beach locations I have been to like Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver and various beaches in Spain. Spain, hands down was overly accessible at their beaches – the mats go right down to the waterline!

It was though, despite the short leash of the mat, great to visit the beach! Just the smell of the fresh salt air is so comforting! While I do not remember exactly where we stayed at the Outer Banks so many decades ago, the sand dunes are definitely smaller and the beaches do not go as far out into the ocean now – according to my memory! I am aware that the Outer Banks has been hit by some pretty bad storms and hurricanes and that has affected the beach and as a result the sand dunes – the good thing to see is that they are being restored/taken care of from an ecology standpoint. Hopefully we will see those sky high dunes and long beaches out to the ocean again!

After this experience, I was quite tired! I guess it was all that fresh air that did me in, so we went back to the hotel after about 30 minutes. We had requested a move to one of the accessible rooms that had become available, so we moved rooms and that did me in! We had dinner and I *think* Andrew was watching some sports and I was trying to knit, which it was at this point, I realized that it was Friday the 13th! So much for things going wrong! It was an awesome day! I soon was sound asleep!

Off to a fairly good start this morning – not much to pack as we were only overnight in the hotel! The interesting thing about our room was we were “upgraded” from a studio to a 1 bedroom suite which was nice. The studio was wheelchair accessible but the desk clerk last night, I do not think knew that the “upgraded” room was only a “hearing” accessible room, NOT wheelchair accessible. Oh well, worked just fine for one night as long as the fire alarms did not go off again and light up the room! And they did not – yeah!

So today we are driving from Rocky Mount to Edenton, for lunch and to visit the town, then onwards to Kill Devil Hills on the Outer Banks of North Carolina to stay for the next 5 nights. Aside from Rocky Mount, I have spent some time in North Carolina previously – first at the end of Grade 4, in 1976, when we came as a family to Edenton to stay with the Diroms, friends of my parents and Mr. Dirom, a workmate of my dad. I have also worked in various cities both installing recreation software and holding meetings in the 1990’s.

In 1976, when we visited Edenton for the summer, we learned just how much Americans like to party on July 4th compared to Canadians on July 1st, and that year, July 4th was a BIG party, with various kids races on the city lawn – the type you only find in North Carolina like peanut sack racing or pushing the peanut with your nose along the grass to see who can get to the finish line the fastest. The Edenton area was a hotbed for peanut and cotton growing when we were done at that time! The experiences I had in Edenton that summer, really impacted the rest of my life. It was the first year of school integration with black/white kids, which I just did not understand what the big issue was; we made a friend named Honeybun, a lovely girl who we played with until her mother, who cleaned houses nearby found out she was playing with “white” kids and forbade her to play with us again; not being able to walk through certain parts of the town after dark as they were the “black” areas; to the bed bug incident which caused the rental house where we lived, to be covered in plastic and fumigated, while our two families went to visit the Outer Banks for a week!

Prior to leaving Vancouver for Andrew and my trip, Norma Dirom had provided the address of where we stayed with them in Edenton when we were visiting (amazingly I was only one house off when looking on Google Maps), so we first paid it a visit when we got into town! I was quite shocked to find the house still standing (that does not happen to older houses in Vancouver) and the fact that I remembered where it was and was only one house off! I remember it being painted white and not the buttermilk yellow colour it is now, along with I do not recall the dormer on the top floor being there. Joanne, my sister and Derreck Dirom (both the youngest kids) slept in the upstairs front “bedbug” room and it was a long room without dormers I thought. Other than that, the screened in “sit and sweat” porch was still there, looks to have new screens though! We spent many a summer evening sitting on that porch when the temperature and humidity was VERY high as there was no air conditioning in the house at that time!

I had found a restaurant in Edenton, on Albemarle Sound, that served gluten free food so we decided to try it out after this! I was SO HAPPY to see gluten free shrimp and cheese grits on the menu! I still cannot believe that I have not had the opportunity to eat grits so far on this trip. Bring them on Herringbone Restaurant!

We then went for a walk around the waterfront and by some historic houses, including where the Edenton Tea Party was held and then down and back up main street prior to going for a drive through Edenton prior to departing to the east, past the cotton mill on our way to Manteo and onto the Outer Banks.

Here is our driving route for the day!

Lastly, I want to recognize that it is September 11th, a day forever burned into history and that changed the aviation industry for the better, especially in the USA, making it safer to fly, on already the safest transportation method available to man.

Today was a planned driving day for us and we had decided to get up fairly early so that we could get on the road as we had about a 4 hour drive from Charlotte to just north of Raleigh, North Carolina. Unfortunately, best laid plans are ALWAYS interrupted it seems!

Many hotels combine their accessible rooms to be more than one type – so in our case we were in a tiny wheelchair accessible room that was also for people who had hearing impairments. This is fairly normal, the only difference is that on the wall is an additional appliance that usually strobes white lights when a fire alarm goes off or in a different pattern, if the doorbell is activated and used. I always turn off the doorbell activation however for obvious reasons I cannot turn off the strobing for the fire alarm. I do not do well with strobe lights or fire alarms due to my accident. As Murphy’s law would come to play, I was actually ASLEEP at 4:30am (I am normally awake about this time) and as per normal, Andrew was sound asleep and all of a sudden both a fire alarm AND the strobing lights were in effect in our room. I have not experienced a fire alarm when staying in a hotel previously – also, the alarm was not like the sound that we have in Vancouver, which was probably good for me, instead it was a really annoying LOUD beeping noise. The same noise was in the hallway along with the same strobe lights. What a nightmare! Andrew helped get my earplugs which I always have stored in my wallet and we left our hotel room and I did what I am SUPPOSED to do which is sit in the refuge area (this case it was in the elevator lobby) on our floor (5th), next to the window so the firemen can see me. Everyone else was going down the stairs. Then along came a man on crutches with a significant knee brace and he got into the elevator which was still operating and suggested we go together. So against my better judgement, Andrew and I went down to the lobby with him and out of the front of the hotel into the warm morning air. Andrew took the first two pictures for me while I sat on the ground behind a wall so I did not have to see the flashing red lights on the multiple fire trucks. All clear was then given and back we all went into the hotel! Only one issue – those flights of stairs that people came down? You cannot go up them! So everyone up the elevators! At least people in the south are courteous and let my crutch using friend and I go to the front of the line.

This was a very interesting experience for me, as I participated in WAY too many fire alarms at the Hotel Vancouver when working graveyard shifts there and I know their elevators stopped working and people HAD to come down the stairs. The Hotel Van also maintained a list of people who had mobility or other issues, so that someone, during a fire alarm, would ensure that they were safe, as they normally would not be able to evacuate as the elevators stopped on the floor they were on (with their doors open) when the general fire alarm went off. I was also surprised with the lack of hotel staff at the Marriott ensuring the hotel guests were safe – in fact from my vantage point did not see one hotel employee which I realized afterwards.

When we got back to the room, Andrew was right back to sleep but that was WAY too much excitement and triggers for me so I settled down to a good audio book and eventually fell asleep at about 7:30 am – right before Andrew got up! So I got up too, we got some breakfast and then it was power nap time for me!

Eventually, we got packed and on the road. I had lost some quality writing time in the morning, so I worked in the car on my laptop as I was completing a document for the Ireland Celiac tour that we are going on next. I had given myself a deadline to get it completed and the 4 hours of focused time while Andrew drove did the trick! Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the drive though other than one as it was all highway driving… We got to Rocky Mount at about 6pm and as we drove off the highway to the hotel, we passed an Outback restaurant. It is one of my “past” go to restaurants in the USA due to how well they do gluten free. I have been boycotting them as they got rid of the gluten free dessert called “Thunder from Down Under” which was a gluten free brownie with ice cream and chocolate sauce. Not diabetic friendly, I know, but if someone shares it with you then it is okay… After a couple of years, the Thunder is on the menu again, so we did a take-out order of of chicken and shrimp and shared my favourite dessert as a reward (for what I do not know – it just felt good)!

Tomorrow we are driving to Kill Devil Hills, Outer Banks via Edenton, North Carolina!