# 64 Hatteras Island

# 64  Hatteras Island

Monday,  October 7, 2019

We headed out through Newport News, VA.  We stopped and go checked before entering the tunnel which took us under the James River and out to a causeway.

There a many causeways and bridges here.  The Wright Bridge took us to the northern part of Hatteras Island.

The Southern part of the island makes up the Hatteras National Seashore.  It also happens to be where most of the RV Parks are located.

It rained on and off all day, and as we entered Rodanthe, NC

We camped at Ocean Waves Campground.   It was damp and overcast, which Derrille and I considered better than cold and snowing like our last visit to Hatteras.

Later the sun came out and we took a trip to the beach

Tuesday  October 8, 2019

We took off to see the Wright Brothers National Memorial hoping the rain will hold off for our visit. Derrille and I had been there before and were pleased by the upgrades made since our last visit.

The relief map showed the area.  Each end of the map offered things to do here.

An interesting tidbit about our National Park visitor centers. With the advent of cars in 1950 and more cars were increasing traveling, the park system created visitor centers and introduced them on the 50th anniversary of National Parks in 1966.

The exhibit begins with a discussion of family.  Dad was a minister.  Mom is very mechanically minded and encourages the boys to find out how things work.

The next part shows how the brothers used the tenets of creativity to create their flying machine. The first tenet, #1 asks you to be curious.   As they observed birds and wondered if men could fly.

#2 expects you to make connections between your studies and observation.  The made a connection between bicycling and flying that had to do with balance.

#3 requires thinking outside the box: looking at things in a very different way.

#4  says take these ideas and test them out.   Here the Wright brothers experienced success with gliders.

#5 encourages creative thinkers to not give up.  Many mistakes come before success and those mistakes provide lessons to improve upon.

#6 tells you to sharpen your skills and knowledge.

#7 uses the simple word Believe!  Believe you can make it happen. Each success builds upon another.

#8 says to achieve your dream.

#9 encourages to now share and inspire others to reach for their dreams.  An example is Katherine Johnson, whose mathematical skills helped America send men to space and the moon.

The brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright.

When we were here before, portraits of airplane elite hung on this wall.  Now it is a timeline of the brothers trials.  

This reproduction of the Wright Brothers plane commanded the focus of this room before. The real plane resides in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

This model plane and the reader boards around the replica were not here before.   The center has also added a continuous film projected on the wall of images pertaining to the tenets of creativity.  

The other two walls are floor to ceiling glass that look out to there the test took place and Kill Devil Hill.   Kill Devil Hills provided the take off site for the experiments with gliders.  A path leads you from the center to the hill.  Now you can drive to its base.  Parking spots show in several places.  The first flight bronze sculpture sits directly behind the hill.

The windows show the markers for the four flights. A short walk out of the center will take you to the big rock that represents their starting place on attempts to fly.  Markers indicate how far they got on the first, second, third and fourth tries.  Number 4 is a good distance from number 3 try.

The Wright Brothers Monument stretches 60 feet into the air.  It was made of Carolina Granite in 1932. The guys hiked up the hill and the wind blew off Derrille's favorite Seahawk hat that just got returned from the Newfoundland ferries. The hat blew into the briers never to be found.

The 12 second flight that changed the world stands cast in bronze by sculptor Stephen H. Smith. The sculpture dedication took place December 17, 1965

The brothers had flipped a coin to see who was to pilot on this day. Orville won the toss.  Wilbur helped push from behind.

Members of the US Life-Saving Service often helped the Wright brothers. Here some observe the take-off.

Another member of the Life-Saving Service, John T. Daniels, happen to photograph the event which immortalized this moment in time.

This helpful reader board identifies all of the people.

The rain held off and we had an enjoyable visit.  We then up the island in search of the wild ponies, that we thought we saw here.  Today if you want to see the ponies you need to own a 4 wheel drive vehicle or take a tour.  Too bad….

The houses on this part of the island can only be described as grand.  We assume many of them must be rented out.  Others look like they fit multiple families.

Here are a few more.  These homes are closer to the city of Nags Head a populated area of the island.

Down the beach by Rodanthe the houses look a bit different as they sit on more visible stilts.

We left the island by a different causeway and found this lovely community at the end of the first part of the road.

As we passed by the Intercoastal waterway (ICW) the water began to change.  Further inland swampy streams followed along side of the road.

We passed cotton fields, that didn’t photograph well.

The Carolinas use an interesting highway access.  As an example, we were traveling south and turned off to get diesel.   When we wanted to continue south we could not.  No access is provided across both lanes of traffic.  To continue south, you turn north and travel up the road a bit.  Then you reach a U-turn area where you make the turn back on the southbound highway.   

An extended concrete semi-circle provides more turning space, but with our large motor home the turn can be iffy.

On to Emerald Isle, outer banks NC