Leaving Myrtle Beach we continued on Route 17 to Wilmington, North Carolina. Here we stopped to take some pictures at the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial. I had passed through the city before but never visited the site. It was yet another beautiful spring day as we parked beside the old lady. At the time of her commissioning in 1941 she was considered the world's greatest sea weapon, armed with nine 16-inch/45 calibre guns in three turrets and twenty 5-inch/38 calibre guns in ten twin mounts! The North Carolina participated in every major naval offensive in the Pacific war and earned 15 battle stars. In the battle of the Eastern Solomon's in August of 1942 her anti-aircraft barrage helped save the carrier Enterprise, thereby establishing the primary role of the fast battleship as protector of aircraft carriers. North Carolina was decommissioned in 1947 and saved from the scrapper's torches by a campaign of the State's citizens, arriving in Wilmington in 1961. She is now the State's memorial to its WWII veterans, an imposing site on the Cape Fear River. After leaving Wilmington we passed through the thick pine forests of Camp Lejeune Marine Base, having lunch at a small river park in Pollocksville. An hour later we turned onto Route 64, east to the Outer Banks. At Route 12 to Hatteras Island it was another 24 miles south, following the dunes to the town of Waves.
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| Trent River, Pollocksville, NC |
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| lunch in Pollocksville, North Carolina |
Our campground, Camp Hatteras, had a 1000 foot frontage on both the Atlantic and Pamlico Sound and we basically had the place to ourselves. It was certainly cooler here and off the beaten path but still warm enough to walk the beach to the nearest pier in Rodanthe. There were a few fishermen on the sand, none having any luck that we could see, and very few people about. We cooked our supper outside on our little campstove as it was still warm enough, and there were no bugs about. We finished the Swiss chard Lyn had given us before leaving Brooksville, eating it with pork medallions and mashed sweet potatoes, a real seaside feast! It would be our last day of shorts and swimming suits as we were going further north to Virginia tomorrow and the forecast looked abysmal for the Chesapeake Bay.
gws
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| Camp Hatteras, Waves, North Carolina |
