November 3rd to 5th - Outer Banks, NC

After leaving the smoky mountains the weather turned into something really dark. I didn’t see the sun the whole day so nothing enticed me to stop and I drove past Winston-Salem than Durham-Raleigh without stopping. It’s getting night now pretty early. By 5:30 it was pretty much pitch dark. So I stopped at the first exit which indicated hotels. I stayed in the business area of a city called Rocky Mount. In the night it started to pour and it didn’t stop in the morning. I stopped shortly before I reached the coast at a state park which was an old plantation. I thought it was a good idea to spent election day on which the first black american would be elected in a slave holding place in the south. Even though Obama’s roots had nothing to do with slavery. I found in the last weeks especially that most people are not really willing to talk politics in the south. It is considered impolite to discuss politics or religion in this country. There were no black people in the state park and you don’t see a lot of blacks in the restaurants or touristy places in the countryside of the south. When I was there it started to rain again and it stormed all the way past Roanoke Island and along the outer banks. I stopped finally and was dripping wet only by entering the office of the motel. I tried to walk along the beach but it stormed as much that I had to give up. The wind was whipping me with sand and there was ocean foam flying everywhere. I woke up in the morning to a flooded bathroom. The bathroom window was full of sand which drove water into the inside. I decided to stay and read a book. The weather is supposed to get a bit better tomorrow, but there will be no way to cycle. I still thing I will go further down south. I just regret that I had no opportunity to explore the islands here a bit more.