We were up early to enjoy one final sunrise. There was a cloud bank just above the horizon so the view was similar to yesterday. It made no difference, a sunrise is a sunrise.
Kites are very popular here. This one was up when we came back from the beach at 7:15 a.m. The ocean winds blow most of the day but then in the evening they die down. There are kite shops on every island.
We anticipated being on the road by eight since we had loaded the car last night and there was only the electric, water, and sewer to unhook this morning. Everything was clicking on eight cylinders. We put slides in and the only thing left to do was check to make sure the back tail and flasher lights worked That is my job so I went to stand behind the car and watch the lights as Carol turns each on. I waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, I went to the camper door to see what the hold up was. Carol hit me with the news that the motorhome wouldn't start. Ugh! Now what. We had already had it started to put the slides in so why wouldn't it start. Not a sound was heard when he turned the ignition key. The steps wouldn't even come out so he borrowed an extension cord from a neighbor camper and charged the battery. That seemed to do the trick because the motorhome started. Now to find a new battery.
I googled and found an Advance Auto Parts in a town we would be driving through. Fortunately, the store was in a strip mall so there was plenty of space to park the motorhome and towed car. As we were parking, a kid on a bicycle came by and said, "Your car trunk is open.": Yikes! How long had it be open? No matter, Carol closed it and went into the store for a battery. A store clerk and Carol returned with a machine to test the battery and alternator and said both were fine. We had turned the engine off when we got to the parking lot, so I turned the ignition, and what do you know, it started! We still don't know what it would not start but all day whenever we turned it off, it would start back up. Still, I will be very nervous in the morning to see if it starts.
There is one more mishap to write about. The traffic through Raleigh/Durham was horrible and at one point someone passed us and yelled from their window, "Your gas cap is off." Yikes, again! We had stopped for gas nearly 100 miles before and Carol hadn't put the gas cap back on and we had driven all that way and no one told us until this lady!! There is a good explanation as to why he didn't get the cap back on but it is too lengthy to put in writing. Anyway, the traffic was so terrible that he couldn't pull over to replace the cap or he would never get back into the traffic flow so we waited for another 30 miles until we got gas again. Nothing serious happened but just stuff that was very irritating. I guess the motorhome not starting could be serious depending on what tomorrow brings!
We had three bridges to cross from Cape Hatteras. I don't know how they keep their balance but the sea gulls like to perch on the guardrails of the bridges.
I didn't know that bears also live in the eastern side of North Carolina. There was another sign that I wanted to take a picture of but was never able to do it. The sign is of a red wolf. I had never heard of a red wolf but I googled for information and found out that there are only 30 left in the wild and they all live in five counties of North Carolina in the Cape Hatteras area. The red wolves are the rarest large carnivore in the United States and are extremely endangered. There is a wild life reserve we drove by and they had signs like the large road signs used to warn you about road construction telling people to be alert for the red wolf. We never saw one and I would say that it would be very rare with only 30 living in the area.
We made it to a KOA outside Statesville, North Carolina. We have camped here before. We are glad to be settled in for the night. It is cooling off so it should be good sleeping (if I can sleep and not worry about if the motorhome will start tomorrow!). There will be no sunrise or sunset pictures today.
No comments:
Post a Comment