“The Trip from Hell”
We were worried about getting through the construction in Toledo, but that only held us up a few minutes; it was the Pike that got us. We were delayed over an hour for our trip to Carol and Dave’s. The worst part was that just as we would emerge from a construction zone, after waiting and waiting, there would be a torrential downpour to slow us up some more.
After pizza at Carol and Dave’s we caravaned to Breezewood on the PA Pike. This 3 1/2 hour segment went very nice. And the signs in PA are so friendly: “Welcome! To the PA Pike!” and, “Thanks for driving the PA Pike!”. In Michigan they say things like, “You should be happy we let you drive here”.
“Live Wire”
Betsy, Ed, Mom and Austin were at the motel when we arrived. The rest of the May family came in later. Beer and wine were flowing, and it got a bit wild. Austin was the wildest of this wild bunch. He became concerned when Ed told him that he had lost his room key. So much so that he ran all over the motel, telling everyone about the ordeal. It seems that this kid has no “off” switch. When he does go to bed at night, he’s simply recharging his batteries.
“China Theory”
Dave was almost as concerned as Austin, but his worry was about China. He has a friend who flew to Beijing from Detroit, and Dave’s theory is that you can’t get back, due to the rotation of the Earth. The East/West rotation would work against an eastbound traveler. Debbie solved the puzzler by saying that all the plane has to do is fly to the North Pole and then go downhill to anywhere. Jack and I got some good laughs out of these theories.
Saturday, June 8, 1996
“Brain Shutoffs”
There was a major finding this morning: from talking with Mom, Betsy and Deanna, it seems that all of the Horvaths throughout the generations have a sleeping problem. We wake up in the night and then can’t get back to sleep because we think too much. Jack says our Brain Shutoff valves are defective. Mom says that she has managed to survive in spite of this problem. So far...
Caravaning some more, Dave and I lost Ed somewhere in Virginia. We became worried that his old van may have broken down. Upon arriving at the start of the Outer Banks, we noticed that Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head were very commercialized, and became concerned that the whole area would be this way. The segment from Nags head to Rodanthe, however, eased this fear. It was filled with absolutely nothing. It’s feast or famine. We got to Rodanthe in about 8 hours. The last hour seemed longer than the other 7 combined.
The house (Perfect Peace) sure is big! And nice. And new! 5 big bedrooms, a loft (for our kids), kitchen, living room, dining room, pool room, and about 19 or 20 bathrooms. Somehow, the family still could have used more bathrooms. All this was up on stilts.
We immediately staked claim to the bedrooms. Debbie and I got one with a jaccuzzi. There is a hot tub outside, too. Deanna and Jack had a bit of trouble sorting out the arrangements for their kids, but eventually worked it out.
Ed, Betsy, Mom and Austin rolled in only about 90 minutes after us. They had stopped to eat and had taken a recommended “alternate route” near Norfolk, which cost them a little extra time.
Dave and I cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for supper.
Sunday, June 9, 1996
I ran the first of my morning runs. There are limited choices: you can either go north or south. When I got back, I was re-awakened by Dave’s wild n’ crazy shorts.
“Big Event”
Today’s truly big event came when Jack caught a crab. After letting the kids see it, we all tried hard to get it to go back into the ocean before figuring out that Mr. Crab wanted to go the other way - to the dunes. Betsy made sure he made it. It sure was an ordeal for Mr. Crab. He was not a “happy crab”.
Meanwhile, Allissa has been collecting shells. There are now two human made objects which can be seen from space: the Great Wall and Allissa’s Shell Collection.
“Content as a Kitten”
Dave caught Aaron and placed him on his lap. Aaron didn’t move, but appeared as content as can be. It got a bit cool, so Dave wrapped a towel around Aaron. If anything, he was even more content now. Eventually, Dave had to leave, so he picked Aaron up, got up himself out and placed Aaron back down again, towel and all. Aaron continued to sit and look contented. He would probably still be there if his mom didn’t eventually move him on to somewhere else.
We all ate dinner at Sweetwater in Nags Head (who was that town named after, anyway?). There was a beautiful double rainbow afterwards.
Veronica hurt her little toe on the loft stairs. Debbie is afraid that it may be broken. We taped it up. I think it was all an excuse to stay glued to MTV for the week.
Dave and I had a marathon straight pool game in the evening. This got us so sick of pool that we didn’t play the rest of the week.
Monday, June 10, 1996
5:00 AM. In the morning. Jack had just taken off for his deep sea fishing trip, and I was walking downstairs for my run when I almost tripped over Aaron. He had walked out of his room and was quietly and contentedly sitting on the stairs, kind of like the way Dave left him the other day. I did manage to get him (and Allissa, too) back to bed.
“Journey of Gnatty Dan”
It was dubbed this because I went out a bit tooooooo early on my morning run. I ran through clouds of gnats, many of whom impaled themselves upon my body. The worst of it was when they got into my eyes, nose and mouth. Note that this experience was probably just as unpleasant from the perspective of the gnats as it was from mine. As the sun rose, the gnats eventually dissipated, preparing to impale themselves on the next runner who emerges through the darkness.
By running south, I discovered that there is lots of nothing in that direction, too. After Rodanthe came Waves and Salvo, and then the nothingness.
Veronica and Valerie bought blue beach slippers, so Debbie dubbed them “Blue Footed Boobies”, as they headed towards the beach.
Jack caught some fish, which we bar-b-qued for dinner along with some chicken. It sure was good. Then we roasted marshmallows over a bonfire. Dave had been finding firewood all afternoon. He says his ancestors were hunter/gatherers. Maybe they were just gatherers. We finished off the evening in the hot tub. Life is tough.
Tuesday, June 11, 1996
“The Long Day’s Journey into Night”
After relaxing in the morning, we all took off to head south towards Okracoke.
Our first stop along the way was Cape Hatteras with it’s famous lighthouse. After visiting the Visitor Center, most of us climbed the 270 stairs to the top. Nice views. What did you expect? Back at the Visitor Center, as we were getting ready to leave, a Park Ranger came out and gave a talk about pirates, especially Edward Teach, AKA Blackbeard, AKA Dave Horvath. All of the kids enjoyed it and the adults did too.
We drove on down to the ferry to Okracoke Island. There was about a half hour wait to get on. The ferry held about 30 vehicles. The 40 minute ride was fun, but it was beginning to get hot. This was certainly the most I had ever gone through just to go out to dinner. (Which was the stated purpose of the trip.) Of course, in road trips as in the trips of life, it is the journey, not the goal which is important. The bad part was that we would have to come back via the same ferry.
Once on the island, we drove on to the town of Okracoke. Note that there is neither Okra nor Coke there... Okracoke is as far as you can go by road in the Outer Banks. It is a nice little resort town that reminded me of Key West.
Since we were early for dinner, a place called Howard’s Pub was our first stop. Although we tried, we couldn’t sample all 275 different kinds of beer.
When we got to the Back Porch Restaurant, we were actually seated on the back porch. I think they just wanted to keep us away from the rest of the patrons. The food was good but expensive. And it was a long trip back. Several of us saw dolphins from the ferry.
Wednesday, June 12, 1996
This time I was dive-bombed by deer flies on my morning run. I’m going to have to stick with running south instead of north. I’ll take the gnats any day.
Although it hasn’t rained today yet, there has been a little rain every day, mostly during the night and early morning. It hasn’t bothered us, since there’s been sun, too. Temperatures have been in the mid 80’s, and it’s been muggy and breezy. You can’t really swim much in the ocean. The water has been cold, but rapidly becoming warmer. The waves, however, are HUGE. It’s fun to just wade and let them beat up on you.
Today there was some throwing of the football and flying of the kite at the beach. After lunch we all took off for Roanoke Island. This time it was to the north with no required ferry ride. It seemed much closer, too.
Our first stop on Roanoke Island was the N.C. Aquarium. Lots of fish. What did you expect? There were alligators there, too. I didn’t realize that gators lived as far north as N.C., but they do. We then ate dinner at the Weeping Radish Restaurant, which is also a microbrewery. After dinner, we drove to the Elizabethan Gardens, where the flowers and other flora are beautiful. What did you expect?
Deanna then went back to the house with the two boys. The rest of us went on to see “The Lost Colony” an outdoor drama about the first English settlement in the New World. It seems that the people disappeared. It reminded us of Tecumseh, although I still liked Tecumseh a bit better. But we all did thoroughly enjoy this one.
Thursday, June 13, 1996
This was the first day to start off clear (finally - a sunrise) and with low humidity. After a few days on the go, we decided to take it easy for the last few.
“Yippee - I - O - Kayak”
Dave, Valerie and I went for a walk and wound up kayaking in the sound. We started out south, against the wind. With the wind and waves, we couldn’t get too far; especially Val, who was having a bit more of a tough time than us guys. After a half hour of struggling we turned around and got back in five minutes, with the help of the wind and waves.
Deanna, Jack and the kids went to Bodie Island National Seashore Park for a good part of the day.
“The Fire that Wouldn’t Die”
We made a big bonfire in the evening, in part to burn the boxes from all of the pizza that was consumed. The fire refused to go out, despite the sand and water we used. Dave had to go out later on to douse it some more. Then I noticed that it was flaming again when I got up the next morning.
Friday, June 14, 1996
Yet another sun-soaked day. My long run south (to avoid the deer flies) and in the sun (to avoid the gnats) was very dehydrating. Why do I do this?
We did a bit of shopping, by foot and by driving. And we also spent a lot of time at the beach. Dave and the youngsters built a crab colony in a bucket-volcano. Dave could probably explain the concepts involved better than I can here. Meanwhile, Jack and I played frizbee and foxtail.
A good part of the day (and in fact, a good part of the week) was consumed by Dave and I arguing about the route home. I wanted to go straight through, the way we came. Dave wanted to avoid the D.C. traffic, go through the mountains and stop overnight.
We cooked an excellent surf and turf meal - steak with mahi mahi and swordfish.
Saturday, June 15, 1996
“The Jam”
Our family did what we wanted: to go the way we came and drive straight through, and Dave, along with everyone else did what they wanted: avoid D.C., take Skyline Drive through Shenendoah National Park and stop for the evening. Our trip was tough - the jam in D. C. held us up an hour - but we made it in 15 hours and had Sunday to relax. Everyone else did enjoy the breathtaking scenery of Skyline Drive; something you don’t see every day. They got home Sunday afternoon.
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