First Days at the Outer Banks

At last our summer vacation is here and not a moment too soon! Although the trip got off to a rocky start, it has been blue skies and good times now that we finally made it. We hit the Turnpike at 2pm on a rainy Saturday headed for the town of Corolla in North Carolina. With bags of luggage, a stroller, and Bruin and Ben in the back seats, the three beach chairs and Ben's monster red wagon had to be tied to the roof. Once we first hit 70mph, some vibrations were coming from the roof so I pulled over on RT24 to tighten the bungees. The rattling persisted but so did we for about an hour and then hit rest stop for lunch where I also bought some tie-downs. After it was said and done, there was a maze of elastic and bungee cords criss-crossed over the roof holding the cargo down. Now we were ready to roll! Not later than 30 seconds after hitting 70mph again, Jenn notices a plastic wheel hanging off the side of the truck and I can tell stuff is rattling up there real hard. "Pull over, pull over", Jenn yells and I do onto the only spot I can which is the center median of turnpike.

I exit the truck and see the wagon half hanging off the roof and can't help but notice the once securely tightened cords are now tangled and useless. As cars and trucks literally scream by blowing my hat off, I am left to climb on the roof, undo what had been done and reststop the gear. No less than 5 minutes later, back in the truck, and full bore to NC, Jenn checks the red wagon and sees it is popping a giant wheelie on the roof, air under it and the chairs are banging around too. That's it! I get out of the car, to the roof again, undo the wagon while standing over Ben's car seat with door open, and shove this 4 foot long plastic beast in the back seat with all I have got. Bruin and Ben look back like what the heck is going on as the blanket and luggage push them forward. I slam the hatch shut, reattach the chairs (and by this time who cares of we lose them) and truly exhausted with rope burn on both hands and back in the car, we continue.

Four hours later, we are half way there, we are hungry again. We reluctantly skip the all you can eat crab joint and grab a table at the Japanese steakhouse. Great chef throwing shrimp to everyone. Ben loved it, everyone at the table loved Ben, Bruin got leftovers (the last time he has eaten...coincidence?) and another 4 hours we are at our summer rental. All this before midnight!!

The next day is 88 degrees, hardly a cloud in the sky and beautiful. We hit the beach (with red wagon serving a Ben's chariot on out 4 minute walk to ocean) and had a great day.