Cinco de Mayo run to the Outer Banks

So I woke up today from a great night of sleep.  The Hampton Inn in Rownoke Rapids treated us well.  So our goal today is to ride to the Outer Banks, specifically to Kitty Hawk, NC.  I wanna see if I can get Red Velvet to fly off of the sand dunes like the Wright brothers did.  

So today is cinco de mayo and it is also my oldest son Conor's birthday!  Happy birthday to him, he's a great son and we love him very much!  Conor loves the farm and has been working hard to get things prepared for another one of his big parties out there this weekend.  Have fun and be safe!

So we got things loaded up and gave RiTa a drink of oil.  She was making a strange noise yesterday, I think it was the clutch.  Looks like the oil did the trick because John and RiTa purred all day long.  The first order of the day was to point ourselves towards Nags Head, NC.  We headed down I95 and jumped on I64 for the trip onto the Outer Banks.  Kind of a boring ride...but we did pass 1/2 of a house.

Then it was miles and miles of boring straight roads.  My mind was wondering and Red Velvet had things in control.

That's my wingman, John back there.  Always faithfully riding safely behind me.  

Getting near our destination and we are crossing over alligator water.  

So John decided to see how close he could get to this travel trailer.  I think there is about 3 feet.  

We made to the Outer Banks!

So we got into Nags Head and decided to camp at the Seafoam Hotel. Our view from our tent location. 

Northern view.  

We met up with Mary Sieracki and Deb Lindboe, past coworkers at AHM, now called MCM.  We had drinks and dinner at Fishheads, a cool place right on the pier.  

We chatted and had fun catching up on their lives and ours. Deb still lives and works in Minnesota and Mary relocated to Charlotte, NC a few years ago to live in its her boyfriend Bob. 

A few views from the restaurant.  

A not so great of a photo of us by our waitress.  

Nice sunset. 

The tide is coming in.  

The moon coming up over the ocean and pier. 

The bottle of Crown Royal John and Debbie polished off.  

A better picture of the moon. 

So today was fun, we cruised to the Outer Banks and then met up with Mary and Deb and talked and talked.  Hanging by the ocean is nice and peaceful.  It makes me appreciate all those I get to work with and the friendships we have made, despite living and working so far apart.  A big part of working somewhere like Motorists for as long as I have (28 years) is the friendships like this and all the experiences we've had together and even though we have not seen or talked much over the past few years, the friendship is still there and important enough to catch up and appreciate the friendship. 

Well, I am officially homesick for Cathy and Bo, in that order.  Bo is our dog and has a one year birthday coming up.  I'm looking forward to celebrating it. 

Lastly, I missed Conor's birthday dinner tonight, and I hate that.  I still can't believe he is 22 years old!  Time flys, so make sure you spend it with family and friends!