Day 8- The Outer Banks

June 29, 2020

I think Blackbeard WILLINGLY SURRENDERED and agreed (possibly suggested) to be shot five times, and stabbed many more, just to be finally rid of THE MOSQUITOES ON OCRACOKE ISLAND!

3 words: Deep. Woods. Off.

Although a very lovely place, last night’s sleep did not go as well as one would expect in a campground. This was probably my fault because I chose to wander the island until dark and not put up a tent that may have been cooler than my car. May have been.

I put the mosquito nets over all 4 car windows, rolled them down and although no bugs get through, neither does much air. By 10:30 pm I had worked myself up into a frustrated sweaty state and somehow a few of those pesky mosquitoes made their way inside. I finally gave up on laying down in the back, opened the rear driver door, which is my escape hatch, slipped in the mud, and fought through the mosquitoes until I got into the driver seat. I readjusted the seats, started the car, flipped the car’s air-conditioning on blast -and keep in mind it’s a campground where everyone’s asleep. I didn’t wanna run the car too long but I had to have some cool air. I looked at the outside temperature on my dash. 93. Yeah, 93 degrees at nearly 11pm. What was it inside my car? Enough to melt my vitamin C gummies into one massive orange sugary blob.

I do have to thank my friend, Julia, For verbally slapping some sense into me today. I told her the story of me slipping in the mud and eating shit, being so hot and sweaty, cursing mosquitos and basically throwing a silent temper tantrum. She said, “You never right about that stuff. That’s what I wanna know… when you eat shit instead of all this flowery stuff and all the pretty pictures.” To my dear and royally f-ing twisted friend, I thank you.

I have no real proof I slept for very long but decided to shower (a real shower this time, although outside), pack up the little I had on the camp table and head north. I drank nearly a gallon of water, considering how hot it was last night, and headed north along the Outer Banks. North, to the lighthouse that I have wanted to visit for over 35 years.

GORGEOUS! I remember my mom and I watching engineers on tv move her ever so slowly from her original location on the receding sand to her new home further inland. They used the same type of equipment that NASA used to move the Space Shuttle into position on the launch platform. So beautiful.

Now further north to Bodie.

So, thanks to my friend Johanna ⛺️ I am completely obsessed with a podcast called “crime junkies”. It has to do with serial killers, missing people, unsolved cold cases etc. and I have been listening to this for days as I drive. The problem is: now I am at a rest area for the night and although the building is a lovely shade of blue with yellow lilies surrounding it, there are some woods behind me that look pretty murdery.