Outer Banks/Highway 12, NC: “P.H.X. to O.B.X.”

We’re as far from Phoenix as we’ll be on this four-month trip: specifically, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, affectionately known as OBX. We were originally coming in March 2020, but, y’know, Covid. Reboot to 2025 … it’s P.H.X. to O.B.X., baby!

The OBX Scenic Byway is a string of “barrier islands” (138 driving miles + 25 ferry miles) off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Picture a long, thin sand bar with a road down the middle, connecting a handful of villages. When there’s a big storm, the dunes wash over that singular road, and everyone just throws back a margarita or two and waits for them to plow the sand off the road.

A lot of the towns and places have funny or unusual names. Kill Devil Hills: because water wasn’t really safe to drink in the early colonial days, and it was thought that only rum could “kill the devil” in you if you got dysentery from it. Nags Head, from a legend that pirates used horses with lanterns tied to their necks to simulate ships at anchor and lure unsuspecting victims to their doom. Chicamacomico: because, I dunno, but it’s fun to say. All of this and so much more, down Outer Banks’ Highway 12.

CURRITUCK COUNTY

Furthest to the north of the OBX are the small towns of Duck and Corolla, and the Currituck National Wildlife Refuge, which goes all the way to the border with Virginia. Duck is so-named for the popular duck hunting here back in the day, when the town was one of the largest suppliers of colorful duck feathers for ladies’ hats. Now, it’s a fun area for shopping and dining along their one-mile weathered boardwalk.

The small, quaint areas of Duck, Corolla, and Currituck are perhaps best known for their wild horses, descendants of Spanish Mustangs brought to America by early settlers in the 1500s, that supposedly roam the beaches. We set out to see them, but with only about 100 wild horses idly drifting over 7,500 acres (!!) of wildlife preserve, the odds were not in our favor. In my mind, I’d be showing you a picture of a wild horse sticking his nose into our Jeep and nuzzling Philip. Instead, here’s a winged, painted horse. Oh well.

With a 4×4 vehicle, you can still experience the thrill of an ocean beach drive, but only after airing-down your tires to 20 PSI. There is a reason this place is marked with a tow-truck symbol on the local map.

Duck also has the OG location of Duck Donuts cult-fave treats: made-to-order, custom-topped donuts tossed in the fryer right before your eyes, and layered with toppings to your liking — French Toast, Maple Bacon, Peanut Butter Paradise, Caramel Cream — it’s like the Crumbl cookie of donuts. Or, you can even get a milkshake with a donut on top, straw threaded right through the hole.

BODIE ISLAND/KILL DEVIL HILLS

Bodie (pronounced liked Body) Island is the most populated area with the recognizable towns of Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. They should probably just rename it Putt-Putt, NC or Fro-Yo, NC, or Massive Tshirt Shop, NC … just sayin.

North Carolinians are so proud of their homeboys Orville and Wilbur Wright, that the state license plates proclaim “First in Flight.” The Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kitty Hawk celebrates these two brothers — self-taught dudes who owned a bicycle shop and were just dinkin’ around with flight experiments as an after-hours hobby — who achieved the first successful airplane flight on December 17, 1903.

Though they were from Ohio, they came to the windy Outer Banks to test a succession of homemade gliders off the 90-foot dune called Big Kill Devil Hill. Once they felt confident, they next graduated to powered flight here.

The big rock is the point from which their aero-plane took off on each of 4 successive attempts, after running it down that rail in the front, with the help of the boys from the local lifesaving station (forerunner of the Coast Guard). The rocks in the distance show how far they got, a little longer each time. “If at first you don’t succeed ……” well, you know the rest!

One of the coolest things about the Wright Bros.’ first flight is that it happened to be captured on film with one of those new-fangled thingamybobs called a camera, which only became widely available a few years prior.

Driving down Highway 12, our heads swiveled at the sign for Biscuits and Porn, which is exactly as advertised. Inside a gas station convenience mart, they sell staggering amounts of fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, and …. porn. I kid you not! Only in OBX would you find XXX food.

ROANOKE ISLAND/MANTEO

To the west of Bodie Island, Roanoke Island is between mainland North Carolina and the other islands, and contains the historic town of Manteo. This was the site of England’s first attempted settlement in the New World, compliments of Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1587: thirty years before the pilgrims waded ashore at Plymouth Rock.

Our visit to OBX was first and foremost necessitated by a Trip Down Memory Lane. It was here, on Roanoke Island in the town of Manteo, that a young and talented thespian named Philip Miller followed his career dreams to his first real acting job in the ensemble at The Lost Colony, in 1972.

The Lost Colony is the nation’s longest-running outdoor drama, currently in its 88th year: a living history lesson, with popcorn and outdoor humidity thrown in.

The story hasn’t changed, the lines haven’t changed, the set hasn’t changed, though they have added some nifty special effects. For this boat scene, for example, they added the cool multimedia “waves” crashing around the settlers; Philip wryly noted, “We just bounced up and down instead.”

So beloved is this local production, that there is even a Lost Colony Beer, because we all know having a beer in your honor is the ultimate compliment.

Actors barefoot in the sand … on the exact same sand where the 177 would-be settlers waded ashore 538 years ago. What could be cooler than that? The setting of the waterside theater is also the point at which the colonists in question mysteriously disappeared without a trace three years later … leaving historians scratching their heads even to this day.

A lot of prior actors, producers and directors went on to fame and fortune; during Philip’s stint, for example, Andy Griffith was producer (and he claims Griffith’s daughter Dixie was “into him,” whatever that means). We did a fun backstage tour, where the other participants got to enjoy excitedly Philip yelling, “THIS IS EXACTLY HOW IT WAS WHEN I WAS HERE” and “NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN 52 YEARS” over and over again. Of particular interest was the enormous ship, set on rollers but still weighing a ton, that is rolled through the background of an epic scene.

You might be saying, “But Tessa, we all know Philip did not become a famous Oscar-winning actor. What happened?” Well, the 70’s and a whole lotta drugs and alcohol happened. In short, Philip got an unceremonious kick to the curb from the production after only a few months, for selling mescaline to some of the other actors from the rooftop of Cell Block C in the cast housing buildings.

Did I mention this was the 70s? He road off into the OBX sunset on his motorcycle, to a completely different fate as a land developer, with five decades of other stuff in between. /EndScene/

Every midnight, after that night’s show ended, the cast and crew would invariably end up at the town bar. Philip didn’t remember the name, but we went on a hunt, and after talking to some of the locals, determined that it had been called Fernando’s in the 70s, which turned into the Green Dolphin in the 80s, and is now Ortega’z. We went into Ortega’z and talked with the owner Lisa, finding that it had morphed from the dark, sticky, musty pool hall, into an elegant restaurant. Nothing stays the same forever — especially not 52 years later.

HATTERAS ISLAND

Leaving Kill Devil Hills, gas stations and grocery stores become few and far between as you journey southward. Our next stop was Hatteras Island, the village of Hatteras, and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which is 125 continuous miles of the 200 total miles of OBX.

In Hatteras Village, they have an outstanding, free museum bearing the grim name, Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. Shallow sandbars, hurricanes, fierce Nor’easter storms, and most importantly, the crashing of the Gulf Stream from the south into the Canadian Labrador Current from the North, have resulted in over 2,000 ships wrecking and sinking over just 80 miles of coast. Each dot is a shipwreck:

The upside of all that tragedy is that many of them had rum barrels on board, meaning those would wash ashore — free rum! In one notable shipwreck, a ship carrying Caribbean bananas sunk, and bananas washed ashore for weeks thereafter. Free rum, free bananas, I’m guessing a lot of Bananas Foster was going down for a while. In WWII, German submarines hung out here and sunk so many Allied tankers and cargo ships that these waters became known as Torpedo Junction.

Obviously, where there are shipwrecks, there are also bound to be lighthouses. In OBX, there are five — we saw four of them, each with a distinctive paint plan (though Ocracoke Light got gypped in the creative paint job department, #amiright?). In most cases, you can climb the lighthouses, but bring your stamina — the tallest one has 260 steps to the top! They no longer need keepers or whale oil, because electricity/LED bulbs = progress.

You may have noticed the Hatteras Light looks a little different. It is currently undergoing renovation, and it currently wrapped in scaffolding for a $20,000,000 restoration project, but the real story with this one is how it was recently picked up and moved 3,000 feet inland from the shoreline to reestablish the 1870 distance from the ocean. Locals watched with interest and they basically jacked it up, put it on rollers and moved it slowly along — even crossing roads and requiring this cute “Lighthouse Crossing” sign, which all the workers autographed.

And, where there are lighthouses, there are beaches, in this case, over 70 continuous miles of fabulous, pet-friendly beach from South Nags Head to Ocracoke Inlet. Throughout the OBX, there are plenty of easy-access, low-crowd beaches just ripe for the choosing. No better place to put your “toes in the water and a$$ in the sand,” as my boys Zac Brown Band would say … even if you’re a dog!

OCRACOKE ISLAND

Ocracoke is the most remote island, accessibly only by ferry boat, in the far southern part of OBX. Going south from Hatteras, the free, no-reservations ferry ride is about 30 minutes. Depending on the day and time of day, your wait to get on could be much longer than that … up to 2-3 hours in some cases. See the cars on the boat? Yup, they even take RV’s.

The ferry workers are no-nonsense, and not interested in the many questions or frenzied wide-eyed excitement of a girl from Arizona. Ocracoke is teeny tiny and peaceful, with a permanent year-round population of only 500, where the speed limit never exceeds 25 MPH.

Ocracoke is where the famous pirate Blackbeard was (probably) born, (possibly) grew up, and (definitely) died. His real name was Edward Teach, which is obviously way less cool, but after being beheaded in a fierce pirate duel here in 1718, the headless pirate supposedly swam around his ship seven times before sinking into the depths. It’s also the kind of place where people get buried with their horse, in this case “Ikey D.”

All over the island are little family cemeteries. Like, just in the front yard. Or next to the driveway. Or under a porch swing. It’s kinda crazy, apparently just bury your kin whenever and wherever …? This one gravestone was faded but definitely said “aged 117 years,” which just goes to prove that island rum is good for your health.

Practically the entire (tiny, 7 mile long x 5 mile wide) island is made up of rental properties and happy tourists in golf carts. You can rent one for as little as $200 a week, and most people do. Including us! And by “us,” I mean Philip and Finny. He even let her drive, which is apparently ok because there are no rules here — we saw lots of 12 and 14 year olds driving carts around.

Buzzing around in your cart, there is no shortage of interesting things to catch your eye … the funny, the mysterious, the downright weird!

Ocracoke is a huge haven for fishermen, but you can hire the locals to do your dirty work for you. The chick’s hat said “FERAL” which was funny, and she could clean a fish in seconds flat.

The weekend variety of fisherman can be found at Howard’s Pub, with golf carts and pickup trucks lining the street in front of it at all hours. It’s “the place to be,” along with a few other breweries, coffee bars, and cigar shops — because every fisherman wants to be just like Ernest Hemingway.

Actually, that’s not right. The REAL “place to be” is not Howard’s — it’s Eduardo’s Taco Stand, an eclectic food truck serving breakfast and lunch. They have a cult following with locals, tourists and even celebrity chefs for their tacos, which just might include eggplant, mango, or unusual species of fish. Or throw caution to the wind and order the “Seafood Hot Mess” burrito. OMG! Unfortunately, Eduardo & Co. must be sick of making hot messes every day, because they are retiring after this season — a real bummer to everyone, except them.

“Friends and Family 2025 Tour” slotted another fun meet-up with my #1 best high school friend, Michelle, whose family vacation brings them from Boston to OBX each summer. We were inseparable at Saguaro High, and she was a wealth of information about the Outer Banks, which is also the name of a Netflix drama about high schoolers.

Like the other islands, Ocracoke has a number of access points to fabulous sandy beaches, including Lifeguarded Beach (both the name AND the description) less than a mile from downtown. Of course, everything here is less than a mile from downtown. Ocracoke Island was by far our favorite of the OBX, with its isolation allowing it to retain much of its early charm and character.

Ocracoke was our southernmost destination in the Outer Banks. We loaded the RV onto the ferry to the mainland at Cedar Island, for a 2.5-hour journey over the water (for this one, reservations are required, and the “spaces” for long vehicles like RVs are limited per crossing). It was weird to be in the air-conditioned RV — making lunch, paying bills, taking a snooze — while water rushed by and the waves lapped, just outside our windows.

NEW RV ACCESSORIES!

Our campsite got an important upgrade with the purchase of an awesome portable battery-powered misting fan from Amazon (it lists at $99, but was on sale for $49). The whole country was sweltering under a heat dome that week, and despite the ocean breezes, this lil baby has made sitting outside our rig just that much more enjoyable. (Truth be told, on the hottest days, we even used it INSIDE the RV!)

We also bought a cool sunshade after realizing we were the only idiots at the beach without one. It folds up into a tiny bag and can live permanently in the RV without taking up much space. It’s called a Shibumi Shade and we recommend you get one with “wind assist,” which is just a little more money, but is basically two extra sandbags which really helps on wind-free days, by making it billow up like a sail even with just a whisper of wind.

The Jeep also got a safety upgrade, thanks to Safelite Glass’ mobile fleet, after being showered with jagged rocks (and cracking the windshield) on our commute to OBX. When you’re traveling for four months, the regular tasks of life can’t wait — you just find a way to get them done on the road!

We stayed at OBX Campground in Kill Devil Hills for 4 nights; Hatteras Sands in Hatteras for 2 nights; and Jernigan’s Campground in Okracoke for 4 nights. It was a great ten days in the Outer Banks, with a lot of variety from town to town, and place to place! We give it eight octopus thumbs-ups.