Chocowinity, NC

When we woke Mon. morning, Russ commented that we had lucked out since it appeared that the bulk of the storm had skirted around us in Surf City. We hit the road to our next destination, and realized just how lucky when about 43 miles down the road (less than 30 miles by way of the crow), we drove through the town of Belgrade, NC, which had been hit by a twister the night before.



Around noon we arrived at the Twin Lakes Resort in Chocowinity, NC, about 100 miles northwest of Surf City. Chocowinity (meaning "Fish From Many Waters") is a town of about 750 located just south of the Pamlico River. It was pretty windy the entire drive, and the storm had left a slight cool front here. The campground is large with lots of trees, but we were able to get a site allowing us satellite reception (a priority, you know!) There seems to be a lot of people who have a year round site, several working folk, many folks like us just passing through, and apparently several geese families like this one!

Tues. we decided we should do a Wal-Mart run for supplies. A couple miles from here is the town of Washington, which not only is where the Wal-Mart is located, but was the first city in America named for General George Washington in 1776. Washington is a town of nearly 10,000 located on the Pamlico River and full of history. We thought we’d first head to the Visitor’s Center to get a NC map and find out a good local place for breakfast. The ladies at the Center were so nice and friendly and recommended Mecca Grill & Billiards, an old fashioned diner just down the street. After a great breakfast, we continued our drive around the historic district. There are many old homes and buildings from the 1800s, and here and there larger-than-life painted crabs! These crabs mark key landmarks and areas around town and are part of a public art & charity project called “Crabs On the Move”. Each crab sculpture is painted by a local artist and then auctioned at a gala with the proceeds benefiting local charities…a soup kitchen, the Humane Society, a domestic violence shelter, and the Boys & Girls Club. (To my Houston friends, they're similar to the cows.)

As we kept driving down Main Street, we kept getting further and further away from Wal-Mart. We drove down near the river through Washington Park, a beautiful little adjacent town, and eventually found ourselves near Goose Creek State Park. As we drove through, we discovered there was no entry fee and though we saw no geese, we did see this doe grazing at the side of the road, and several turtles sunning themselves in the creek or crossing the road in front of us!

The drive through the park was beautiful but short and back on the main road, we noticed a sign indicating that the town of Bath was only 6 miles ahead. We thought it best to stop for gas and found a spot with “old” pumps. We had just heard that morning on the national news how there were still many old pumps that were not able to be programmed for gas prices higher than $3.99, and this happened to be one of those places. Though regular gas was $3.75, the pump for the diesel had a handwritten sign stating that “the actual price for diesel is $4.26” since the pump read $2.95.

Bath, with a population of 275, is NC’s oldest town, founded in 1705, with a number of historical landmarks. Restored buildings include the 1734 St. Thomas Church (the state's oldest church), the 1751 Palmer-Marsh House, the 1790 Van Der Veer House and the 1830 Bonner House. Bath was also once home to the ruthless pirate, Blackbeard! We had planned to check out these historic sites, but then discovered that there was a ferry leaving from down the road in about 45 minutes. You know how it is…you’re originally heading for Wal-Mart and wind up on a ferry!

The ferry was a 30 minute ride across Gaylord’s Bay and the Pamlico River to the town of Aurora, and it was free!! As we were driving to get there, the line of traffic suddenly came to a halt because there was a modular home in the middle of the road! Turns out they had picked this particular time to attempt backing it into its new home spot and this is not something that is done quickly or easily. Russ along with others got out to see how long it was going to take and found that if we turned around and went back to the main road, we could take another road a couple miles down and still get to the ferry. We made it in time, and though there were only a total of 6 cars on this trip, we were the only ones to get out and walk around. We learned that the ferry service is state funded, run by the NC Dept. of Transportation, and is just one of many around the state.
We had decided to drive the back way to return to our campground instead of taking the ferry again to do more sightseeing (guess Wal-Mart will have to wait for another day!) After debarking from the ferry, we drove past the PCS Phosphate Mine on the way into Aurora, a town of about 580 people. In the process of prospecting for phosphate, the mine digs through several fertile fossil-bearing formations. Although this is a small rural town, there is a rich geologic history lying beneath Aurora, and this makes it the capitol of the world for many fossil enthusiasts. Aurora has a museum devoted to a wide array of fossil displays collected from the PCS Phosphate Mine, which allows a limited number of fossil collectors and students to dig onsite each year. Across the street from the Aurora Fossil Museum (http://www.aurorafossilmuseum.com/) are a couple pits known as spoil piles, which are supplied by PCS. After PCS gleans what it needs for phosphate from its digs, what is left is used as road fill at various sites and some is brought to the museum for their pits. When we arrived, a school group was busy in one of the piles looking for fossilized shells and teeth. As we discovered, the museum and digging are free of charge! The museum was quite interesting and even had on display a Miocene whale skeleton that was 95% complete. The skeleton is 15 feet long, is between 5 and 23 million years old, and is currently of an unknown species. The museum is currently working with experts to determine its origins and lineage.

After digging in the pit across the street, you can bring your finds into the staff, and they will tell you what it is you have found. As we were leaving, one young man was told that he had found part of one of the rarest teeth there is…a cow’s shark tooth. He was very excited, and once outside we got to hear him tell all his classmates several times about his great find. J Growing up one of the things I wanted to be was an archaeologist, so we even got in the act and began scratching the surface of the pit! There were tons of little shells, and we actually found some shark teeth. They have diagram boards up which indicate the different kind of teeth and shells you might find, and it appears that one we found was an extinct tiger shark tooth! (Pictured to the far right in my hand.) What a fun day touring several small American towns, riding a ferry, and digging for fossils.

We finally made it to Wal-Mart on Wed., and then on Thurs. we followed Scott to Greenville, NC, about 20 miles away. A couple weeks ago Russ had noticed a cupping on one of Scott’s front RV tires, so he had called around to find someone who not only had the right size tires but who could balance it as well. He found such a place in Greenville and scheduled the appt. for when we were in the area. He asked Russ to follow in our car just in case there were any problems on the way, and since I’d never been to Greenville, I tagged along. We had to be there early, but it was interesting watching someone change a tire on something that big. One guy did it all by himself! We didn’t see much of Greenville but on the way did pass this old Coca-Cola distribution facility which appears to still be operational.
On Fri. we left for a week in Waves, NC, located on Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the Outer Banks. On the way we stopped for diesel paying $4.49/gallon for a total of $332.32. When we left on this journey back in June of ’07, we filled up in Denham Springs at $2.64/gallon!

We are now parked at Camp Hatteras Campground, less than 100 yards from the Atlantic Ocean, and paying only $10/night. Our membership at Breckenridge Lake Resort in Crossville, TN, allows us to stay at each Coast to Coast campground for 7 days twice a year at a fee of $10/night. Looking at the website for Camp Hatteras (http://www.camphatteras.com/), the regular rate is $58/night. All in all, a nice savings.