Our Trip Blog

            At 4:10 am, I heard Abby’s faint voice, “Daddy, what should I do?” Thinking this was just another incident of her talking in her sleep, I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. But then Dad came forward, rolled up the blinds, and opened the RV’s side door. A commanding female voice nearly shouted: “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to leave the premises.” Dad calmly told her that we had the Costco manager Lisa’s permission to stay overnight in the parking lot. Satisfied, she let us stay, and we stayed put until Dad woke us a little before 8. Those extra four hours were very nice, so I’m glad we didn’t have to leave.

            We had breakfast and broke camp to head on our way. Since research last night showed us that the Great Dismal Swamp was not worth the extra 90 minutes of driving, we decided to get just a glimpse of the great dismal-ness as we drove along the eastern side. When we passed, we saw a perfect reflection of scraggy bushes and trees in the crystal-clear Great Dismal Canal. It would have been a perfect photo opportunity if our cameras were ready and we weren’t cruising along at 62 mph. The swamp was not as I expected; it was mostly dry, snowy, and full of lush vegetation.

            Finally! We are in North Carolina. By my calculations (which should be correct), we have spent about two and a half weeks in Virginia. As we crossed the border, we saw signs for a visitor’s center and rest area. After using the restroom and finding the visitor center closed, we took a nice walk into Great Dismal State Park in the snow. After returning to the RV, we headed to the Outer Banks and Kitty Hawk.

            Upon arriving at the Wright Brothers National Memorial, we had a quick lunch in the RV and then headed into the visitor center. Through our travels, we have seen many different types of exhibits—some better, some worse. This was one of the best we’ve seen, with snippets of large text, lots of related pictures and artifacts, and a great layout. We learned all about the story of the Wright Brothers, their trials and failures, and the designs of their planes. At 1:45, we headed to the auditorium for the ranger talk.

            The talk was given by a great volunteer ranger. He took us through the 5 years from the brothers’ first experiments to the successful flights. The Wright brothers were so thorough with their experimentation and calculations that their propeller design and wind tunnel ideas continue to be the standards for today’s aviation. I was particularly interested in his thorough explanations of the workings of the Flyer. The Wright brothers were geniuses!

            After the ranger talk finished, we headed over to the Centennial Pavilion, where more exhibits outlined the five main problems the Wrights overcame:  lift, propulsion, balance, wing shape, and propeller design. Other exhibits featured the progress in the aviation industry, and a look at what the future could hold for air travel, one of my favorites. We read through these exhibits and then headed in to the movie. This film, at 40 minutes in length, is one of the longest informative movies we have seen at a NPS site. It was interesting how the Wright brothers approached their problems—with experiments and math. They had received some faulty data about air resistance, so they went out, flew parts of their own plane as kites, and came up with the number 0.0033 for their formula. Surprisingly, their number is very close to the number used by today’s aeronautical engineers: 0.003289. Also, when designing their propeller, they had no base off of which to work, as only marine propellers had been made up to that point. So, through formulas, calculations, and trials, they created a propeller that was used as a template for other propellers until the invention of the jet engine. Modern calculations have shown that the Wrights’ propellers were 97% perfectly efficient. That’s really good for amateurs!

            Cool air enveloped us as we exited the exhibit area to explore the park. We saw the marker where the first flight lifted off and the stones marking each endpoint of the first four flights. The longest flight of the day, at 852 feet, had an air time of 59 seconds. Dad and I timed our walk back to the liftoff marker from this one; they only flew three times as fast as we walked! We headed up to the top of the dune where many of their record shattering glider flights occurred and saw the monument. Its inscription read, “In commemoration of the conquest of the air by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright conceived by genius achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith”. Their accomplishments truly jump-started the world of aviation.

            As we headed out of the parking lot, we found a campground. At this time of year, it has become our habit to call ahead to make sure the park is open. We didn’t, as it was only half a mile away and we would get there before the phone was turned on. This campground would have been nice: shady trees, waterfront, a beautiful boardwalk, everything we would need. But the campground is closed until April. So Dad hopped online, found a campground called “The Refuge on Roanoke Island”, and made reservations. As we drove there, over a gorgeous arching bridge onto the island, we passed a sign commemorating Virginia Dale, the first English baby born in America. Minutes later, we had arrived at our campground. This one was a little more barren, but also featured marshland, water views and a boardwalk and we got a site RIGHT on the water. If we had wanted to, and if the water wasn’t so mucky, we could go out our door, run to the back of the RV, and dive in. We could have even used the roof of the RV as a diving board.

            We set up camp, had a fantastic dinner, and then got out supplies for math. We spent over an hour learning, and it was fun! Imagine: you are out of school for a year, and you like doing math in your spare time! We are crazy. Having a half an hour to burn before nine o’clock, we pulled out a few games. While one of us worked to catch up our blog page, the rest played fantastic games until it was bedtime.