Dec 2

After an uneventful evening at Camp Walmart we drove down to the Wright Brothers National Park. We walked out to the field to see the exact spot they first took flight. There is one marker indicating the point that the plane first left the ground on flight one and 4 markers for where the 4 flights landed. Dec 17, 1903 at 10:35am. The brothers took turns on the flights. The 4th flight went the furthest. 108 years ago there was only sand at Kitty Hawk. It was open to the Atlantic ocean on one side and sound (bay) on the other. It was the perfect spot to practice because it constantly had a wind and a soft landing. The Wright brothers spent many years going to this spot to test gliders and kites until they perfected their flying machine.
We walked up to the monument on top of Kill Devil Hill that used to be a huge sand hill that they initially tested kites and gliders from. Tucker was having a rough morning and refused to walk so I gave him a piggy back ride to the top and that was my exercise for the day. Oh and I had to carry him down too. :)
The boys pretended to be planes making the first flight and we snapped pictures before going inside to hear a talk on the brothers and see the replica plane inside.
I went for a walk from the take off stone to the the landing spot of the fourth flight and I thought about how flight had changed the world and changed my world. Without flight I would never have gone to Canada, never met Rob and never had 2 beautiful sons. Though there are many others who sought to fly and contributed to the race for the air, the brothers came from no where and by persistence and passion achieved a world changing feat. 2 years after the first flight the brothers were doing flight shows in Ohio and within 11 years there were planes flying in WWI.

)Oh, the reason that it is not all sand anymore is that after the brothers made this area famous so many people started to move here that in the 1930's they built up the shore line to stop the sea from covering this far onto land and the vegetation followed. There are houses and shops everywhere now. Not a sleepy town but a huge tourist area particularly in the summer.)

We had talked the night before about the route to take down the coast and though we really wanted to take the long route with 3 hours of ferry rides and gorgeous views, driving right on the ocean on the Outer Banks we couldn't work out the ferry schedule to match out time frame so we headed across Roanoke Island and down State Hwy 17. On Roanoke Island we ducted in to see the Lost Colony. A group of English had come over in 15?? and started a colony on Roanoke Island. After the governor left to go get supplies a war with France broke out and he couldn't get back for many years. When he did get back the place was deserted and no trace of the colonists was ever found. Now that is a series mystery. I stayed in the RV as Tucker had fallen asleep and by the kind of morning he had had he needed it.

We drove down to Williamston and found Camp Walmart again. Just in case you are wondering, we do have water, generator and a heater on board so we are well equipped to dry camp when we need to. At Camp Walmart we were joined by 2 over RV's so we all shared a corner of the parking lot. Walmart allows RV/ Campers to overnight in there parking lot as their founder was a camping enthusiast.

 Kill Devil Hill. Monument to the Wright Brothers.

 Standing at the lift off stone looking toward the 4 landing markers in the distance.

Video is taking forever to upload.. .stay tuned.

 Looking back from the fourth and furthest landing marker toward the brothers shelters and Kill Devil Hill monument.

 Fourth and furthest marker.

 Replica plane built to be climbed on. The boys had fun playing on it. It's set up in the exact position when the plan left the ground. 

 Cooper almost missed the flight.

 Rob hanging out with Orville.

Our rigs looking toward the Kill Devil Hill monument.