Wilbur & Orville

Day 65, June 5, 2011 Wilber & Orville

0 miles, averaging 0 mph

Route around Kitty Hawk on Rocket

Best Moment – It was all good, but the coconut cream pie for desert at the Black Pelican had to be the highlight of the day.

Worst Moment – For a beach lover like Neita, I know that the rain that started around 9 this morning and lasted for about three hours was a hardship.  It never really cleared up, but it did stop raining so we were able to explore.

Question:  Do you know what the Wright Brothers did to finance their experiments in aviation? 

Answer:  They had a bicycle repair and assembly shop and even used some bicycle parts in the construction of their “flying machines.”

After the rain stopped, we headed south from the RV Park to see the Wright Brothers National Monument about 8 miles from Ruby.  The park had a very interesting historical film about the flight and the experimentation that the Wrights went through for their flight.  It was sort of amazing to see the lengths of the first, second, third and fourth flight.

The first flight was on December 17, 1903 and was 120 feet.  The brothers had three more attempts that day - each a bit longer with the longest (and last) being 852 feet and lasting 59 seconds.  The monument to the brothers is the largest constructed for a living person.  Orville attended the dedication in 1932.

Spending a couple of hours walking around the grounds was enough and we scootered around Kitty Hawk seeing lots of sand dunes and beach homes for rent or sale.  There are a couple of 2 bedroom, one-bath homes just off the beach with asking prices of $600,000.  They looked like they needed some TLC, but it’s the beach. 

Went to the Black Pelican for dinner – it’s across the street from Hurricane Moe’s, within walking distance from Ruby and a nice restaurant.