Judy P's Tickle Trunk

Tame-life at Rodanthe Campground; kitty and Peking ducks.

American Thanksgiving found us at Rodanthe Watersports and Campground on Cape Hatteras and finally, after two days of a N’or Easter there was enough blue sky to make a suit for a sailor, a sign of good weather. So after two days of confinement I was keen to get out and explore by bike. Easy enough to do because there were no hills. It was essentially one big jeazly sandbar. Driving along I could see a flock of snow geese, like myself, migrating south. I biked past a driveway and saw a bunch of live chickens scratching at the dirt and a real live turkey puffing his chest and gobbling; likely bragging about how he managed to evade the Thanksgiving feast. I didn’t remind him that the Christmas feast was just around the corner. Perhaps they were fattening him up for that! I admired the houses – all the newer ones are up on stilts now to lessen hurricane damage.

New Cape Hatteras home.

I rode on to Pea Island Nature Refuge. I didn’t see any wildlife but saw lots of deadlife in the way of roadkill. It was almost like a verse from the Kelligrew’s Soiree: there was a dead rabbit, a raccoon, a squirrel, and a croc (the ugly plastic shoe, not the beast) and something that looked like an overinflated rat which I later learned was a possum.

Cape Hatteras road-kill.

I took a rest at the beach. It was beautiful for perambulating. See the little crackie dog in this picture? I was wishing he was road-kill!! I was squat down taking a photo of something and he started barking at me so I took his picture too, thinking that’s what he wanted. Who am I to think that I can decipher the wishes of a dog? I was heading back that way and the closer I got to his owners the bolder he got. Then suddenly he was all over me, biting at my legs with his sharp little teeth. “People, please control your dog!!” I shrieked (that’s not anywhere close to what I wanted to be saying) They got it by the collar but then lost it again and it tore at me and nipped a hole in my brand new tights. I was livid. “Get your dog off me” I was afraid to move at this point. The father, who was too big to bend over to grasp the dog, literally threw himself on top of it “he’s never done this before” the wife was saying, holding the second crackie tight on its leash. “No and if I have my way, he’ll never do it again” I snarled. I figured later it thought I was some kind of toy. Most days when I am tired I look a little less than human and there I was squat down on the beach with a big red plastic helmet on. I was cheesed about the tights.

The Beach at Pea Island.

The surf at Pea Island.

We had turkey soup for Thanksgiving dinner and gingerbread baked in the camper oven with applesauce for dessert.

Gingerbread; two for the price of one.

The next day we visited the Cape Hatteras lighthouse and museum. Here’s a couple of pics from there:

Old cart wheel.

Old lighthouse. They are trying to collect all the old lenses from the light but there are still quite a few missing.

Travel tip: if you only need a little bit of applesauce and don’t want to drag around a whole jar, buy a bottle of baby food applesauce.

© Judy Parsons 2014