Vicksburg is a city that I would like to investigate a little deeper. Site of a famous Civil War battlefield and steeped in history, there is a lot to see there. Unfortunately we couldn’t get to the battlefield because of the rainy weather but we intend on coming back this way. So we hunkered down, restocked some supplies. We also met some nice folks from Canada and were able to sit and have a beer with them.
We drove on to Heflin on the Georgia-Alabama line and stopped at a small park that was basically a gravel parking lot with rv hookups. The real surprise, however, was the attached restaurant. Great service and excellent food. This leg of our trip was longer than usual at 352 miles. We don’t usually go that far in a day, but we were trying to make up some lost time, so we were in bed early.
Off to Livingston, SC, the next day. Nice park that was adjoining a flea market. We walked over but they had decided to close early. A couple booths were still set up and we hung around, looking at much the same stuff we see at the the other flea markets in Texas, Florida, etc.
One night in Livingston and we set out for Four Oaks, NC, our last stop before OBX. We are really excited to return to the Outer Banks, Hatteras, Rodanthe and the rest of the area, but we wanted to take a couple days to decompress. We lucked out and found the best Mexican restaurant we have been to in quite awhile. The restaurants around Mercedes were good but El Sol of Four Oaks was exceptional! Mary found out they had lengua (look it up) on the menu and they prepared fajitas using lengua and shrimp just for her! A great way to end a day of relaxing.
Day 2 we went to Smithville, home of Ava Gardner, then checked out a local winery. Got to give them an A for effort but the wines they had were not our taste.
Finally we arrived at Camp Hatteras, our home through the summer. We spent a week here a couple years ago but it was late March, too early for most of the businesses. We did go to the Wright Brothers museum and will make it a point to go back. We intend to immerse ourselves in the local atmosphere, a combination of beach, fishing and history. We are here and ready for summer. Yeah, we miss our Minnesota friends a lot; the decision to come to Hatteras was difficult. Our goal, however, is to travel more and get to the corners of this country we haven’t seen yet, while we still can.
Your homework is to watch (or rewatch) the movie “Nights in Rodanthe”. FYI – pronounced RO-DAN-THE.