It was a bit rainy on Saturday, so I went Sunday, April 3, instead.
Though I had reconsidered going at all after the state’s recent anti-trans asshattery. Why reward the state with my visit if they’re going to tell my trans friends to go fuck themselves?
Then it occurred to me. What does a state get out of tourism? Money. From said tourists coming in and buying things. So if I just go but don’t spend any money there, it’s all good.
So I got on the road that morning, south on I-95, then east on I-64 past Williamsburg and around Norfolk and south to 168, stopping along the way for food as I would be unable to get any afterward.
And then…
Uh oh.
What’s going on?
This can’t be good.
I knew I shouldn’t have taken that left turn at Albuquerque.
How do I get myself into these messes?
No sign of civilization anywhere.
Okay, I’m at Jockey’s Ridge State Park.
Admission is free, so North Carolina did not make any money off my visit. I had earlier driven by the Wright Brothers Memorial but did not go in. They wanted like seven dollars.
After playing around on the sand dunes, I drove south some more along Croatan Highway and across the bridge to Roanoke Island and to Manteo.
Also requiring no admission fee, I once more visited Fort Raleigh, site of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. With its visitor’s center with information about the colonists and Indians, as well as a gift shop I did not buy anything from. Then the woods, with its recreation of the earthen fort.
And the set of their play about the Lost Colony.
Okay, they almost wrote it out, but didn’t quite finish.
Fine, Fort Raleigh, if you won’t provide, I’ll just have to do it myself.
In the dirt. With a stick. See, that wasn’t so hard.
Where to now? Let’s go even further south. A lot further south, through lots of marsh and bridges and more remote little coastal towns.
Oh, look, I’ve reached a lighthouse.
Ah, it’s the veritable hurricane magnet known as Cape Hatteras. And its lighthouse. Which I couldn’t go up into because it wouldn’t be open for the season for another couple of weeks. That and, you know, it would cost money that I don’t want this transphobic state to have.
I wanted to go to the southern tip of the land, but to get close, I would have needed a 4-wheel drive vehicle, which my little blue Hyundai Elantra is not. I could have walked it except it was already getting rather late, and I most certainly would not get there before dark, let alone there and back.
So I had a lovely little beach walk in the waning sunlight.
After that, I really needed to be heading back north. I was hungry, though I still had a bit of my lunch from earlier, and wanted to get back into Virginia so I could get something else to eat.
I drove north away from Cape Hatteras, to my left the sun setting over the Pamlico Sound. Wow!
This picture doesn’t even do it justice. It was spectacular and I risked driving off the road looking at it.
It got dark completely as I was passing through Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, and Nags Head once again, and back across the Wright Memorial Bridge. I wasn’t the only one hungry, as my car was running low on gas, because I’m the dumbshit who didn’t refill when I got my lunch earlier. Avoiding spending any money in North Carolina all day, and now was worried I’d be forced to by needing to get gas prior to the Virginia border. All the while keeping my speed under control what with definitely not wanting to pay the state in the form of a speeding ticket fine.
Well, I just barely made it back into Virginia, with the gas light having been on for a while. Refilled the gas and got me a caffeinated drink as it was well past 10pm and I still had a few hours to go before getting back home. Anyway, I’m going to give it a rest now with the grandstanding about the anti-trans bathroom bill as I’m sure I’ve gone way past the point of “cis-het ally showing solidarity” and well into “cis-het loser wants attention and cookies”.
After a day of sand and historical site and lighthouse and more sand, I got home at like 2am and had work the next morning. Messy day trip in a few ways, but all in all a good one. 