The time with the family went by quickly as we stayed relatively busy taking in the sights. After the kids stopped laughing at my hilarious tan lines during our swimming preparations, we immediately hit the beach for some boogie board wave riding.

Yesterday, we enjoyed visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial and Museum, Jockey’s Ridge State Park, more wave riding and some pool time. I may have enjoyed Jockey’s Ridge more than my other family members, but I know they will not soon forget the uniqueness of it all.

I did not leave too early this morning, but still early enough to only get two of the three potential goodbyes. A kiss on the cheek will suffice for my little sleeping beauty.

The plan for today is to come off route once at the Currituck Sound Ferry and then make my way towards Virginia Beach to link up with the house sitter. I will take tomorrow off before we continue on our adventure again on Friday.

The route would be mostly north today with a couple of zig and zags on the way. One said zig was over the Wright Memorial Bridge, dedicated to those famous brothers, and it offered the most spectacular crosswinds I have ever experienced. The nearly three miles was treacherous and the end seemed like it took way longer to find than it should have this morning.

Soon after the continuous left lean, I straightened up and enjoyed the remaining miles to the ferry. The threatening dark clouds seemed to have already released the extra baggage earlier in the day as some of the road ahead was quite wet.

I made it to the ferry with plenty of time to spare and I am impressed with the facilities at this small ferry complex. A nice relaxing break in the air conditioning inside a modern building is a nice way for anyone to have to impatiently wait. While waiting, I was told this ferry gets little traffic outside of getting some kids across the sound for school everyday.

A young man walking onto the ferry thought it was very interesting that I would be riding my bike on Knotts Island as the roads are curvy and the shoulder is nonexistent and surrounded by a swamp up north. He mentioned there have been cars that ended up in the swamp on the Marsh Causeway. It did give me a little concern. I was hoping the traffic would be light since it is a Wednesday and there was an apparent lack of interest in getting onto the island as seen by only a few cars on this ferry.

I made it through Knotts Island and the Marsh Causeway with very limited traffic and beautiful scenery. I throughly enjoyed this section of the route despite the warning given by the young man.

Before I knew it, I found myself in Virginia. North Carolina was magnificent and better than what I expected. I enjoyed every aspect of the my short time while passing through. The Outer Banks will always have a special place in my heart.

Virginia welcomed me with a nice summer rain shower that lasted only for about ten minutes. It was not long before I had my phone on and navigating to Folker’s colleague’s house for our linkup. I arrived with Folker outside waving. It was nice to see him again and he made me a very nice lunch while we discussed the upcoming days of our adventure. We are now waiting to watch the Netherlands v England semifinal match in the Euro 2024 tournament. Lots of orange in the stadium!