Day 13 - Wright Brothers

 Thursday morning we drove up through Nags Head to the Wright Brothers National Memorial. 

Before leaving the campground I took a walk on the beach, it was around 50F with a strong wind, not sun bathing weather.

We drove by the light house on Bodie Island which was close to our campground but it is closed for 2023 due to renovations. 

We arrived at the Wright Brothers Memorial around 9:30, we definitely beat the crowd. We toured the museum and displays, they are very well done and really conveys the effort the brothers put forth over a 4 or 5 year period to realize powered flight. 

We got our morning walk in touring the outside displays and reading about the historic 1903 flight and the 4 years of glider development that led up to the powered flight. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. 

The full size statue of The Wright Flyer and the people present that day is made of bronze or copper.  It is impressive. The people were getting pressure washed when we visited. 

After touring The Wright Brothers National Memorial Jean and Ed set off on their own since they were going directly home.  June and I plan to make another stop or two but will not be long behind them as we make our way north. 

June and I booked another Harvest Host in Charlottesville, VA, the Wood Ridge Farm Brewery. We got 'googled' on the way there, I am still unsure what happened but we ended up on a narrow road that no RV should be on and then when it said turn left on a goat path, we knew it was not right. We got back on the right route, but even that has a turn that definitely is a sobriety test for anyone leaving the brewery. 

The Wood Ridge Farm Brewery is set on 300 beautiful acres, surrounded by mountains.  They raise their own grain, veggies, beef, pork etc. The food truck uses their stuff. 

They have a driving range, corn hole, volley ball, etc. I had a nice conversation with the manager, he said they want people to come here and be outside, not sit at the bar. 

The place is huge, they have several bars, outdoor areas and you are surrounded by gardens. They have banana trees planted everywhere that they say provide lots of shade in the summer, they cut them down each fall. 

I found my namesake at the door to the main bar. 

When we arrived around 5:15PM, there were few people around, but it was corn hole tournament night, and it did fill in.  They lit a bon fire and played corn hole well into the night. 

It was a fun place. 

Jean and Ed drove to Hagerstown MD and booked a harvest host at Think-N-Thin Brewery (TNT). We heard from them this morning, their experience was not that positive, mostly due to the parking situation. They ended up moving to a CB for the night and got the full dumpster experience, at least they got on the road early.. :-).

Friday we plan to stop at Monticello, the Thomas Jefferson Plantation. We were informed by one of the patrons that it is pronounced "mon-ti-chel-oh", he said it will save us the embarrassment of being corrected (but he just did). It was all in good fun. 

After visiting TJ, we will make our way to our friends in Fairfax, VA.