After a year of on and off planning for a year, our big trip to the Outer Banks was at hand. I am happy to say that it went mostly according to plan, though we wondered what sort of hiccups we would have to anticipate for. Four out of the six families were now leaving on Saturday afternoon, staying midway (overnight) in Virginia Beach. We and another family still planned to leave early Sunday morning. In the week before departure, we were ordering last-minute supplies, getting a cat sitter, and installing our new Saris bike rack
The big hiccups as the clock inexorably ticked down to Sunday morning:
- The weather wasn’t looking so great for the week (rain on and off), but nothing we could do, and we’re still going on vacation, dammit!
- One last-minute Amazon order was delayed in delivery, and ultimately lost in transit somehow. I was looking forward to new cycling socks and that Led Zeppelin t-shirt.
Since the Ipes usually stay up all night long with last-minute packing before a trip, and then spend an hour trying to load up the car, and trying to squeeze forgotten items, my wife forced us to do better. We finished all of our packing and loading the car late Saturday night around 11 pm, including the bicycles. This way, we could sleep, then get on the road by 5 am as planned. Good idea, because we left on time (believe it or not.) Namita ended up driving the entire way down, because she was “feelin’ it.” We made two pit stops somewhere in Virginia for gas and then snacks, and it was smooth sailing overall. We arrived in Kill Devil Hills early (before check-in time), so we hung out with everyone at Mama Kwan’s for a late snack/lunch/drinks.
Once we got the go-ahead to get into the house, we all drove over, started unloading the cars, and people were running around checking out the house, picking rooms, and whatever. To keep it simple, we ordered pizza and wings from the Pizza Hut around the corner, and let the kids run wild because, hey it’s day one of vacation.
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