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| As we arrived in Kitty Hawk, we found a much different town than did the Wright brothers! The beach is lined with vacation homes. |
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| Many of the vacation homes are right on the beach. |
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| The farther south you travel, the nicer the beach dwellings! |
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| About nine miles after we entered Kitty Hawk, we arrived at the Wright Bros Memorial |
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| The memorial itself is very handsome indeed! |
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| But what it commemorates is even more special! |
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| A full scale replica of the first Wright flyer was on display. Due to having a very small crowd, the Park Ranger allowed us inside the ropes but we had to promise not to touch! |
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| The replica is complete to the smallest detail! The plane was steered right and left by a combination of rudder and wing deformations accomplished by the pilot sliding his hips back and forth |
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| The track at the lower left is the track down which the plane slid on its carriage. the stones mark the extent of the flight the farthest being over 800' and barely visible near the shrubs at the end of the field. |
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| On Kill Devil Hill stands the monument built to honor this achievement. The ranger informed us that all of the ground cover was not here in 1903, but the area was completely covered in sand. |
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| The stanchions on either side support bronze busts of Wilbur and Orville Wright |
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| This full scale model at the very South end of the complex is visible from both the top of the hill and the street which passes by. |
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| A replica of the Wright's wind tunnel |
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| They could not buy an engine which was strong enough yet weighed under 200 pounds, so the designed and built one. |
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| A cutaway showed the internal workings of the engine |
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| The camshaft also served to fire the spark plugs using energy from a magneto, which in turn was attached to the flywheel through a friction drive! |
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| After a too short (nearly 3 hour) visit, we headed south again. This is typical of the drive through North Carolina. Many swamps off to one side or the other. |
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| Watch for bears! (we didn't see any! ;-) |
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| We crossed several significant inlets, rivers, and sounds. |
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| We finally arrived at the US Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point - this is the transient officer's quarters. We managed to score DV (dist. visitor) quarters! We enjoyed Cherry Point quite a lot and decided we'd like to return for more than just an overnight. |
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| Very close by is the combined Officer/Staff NCO Club with a wonderful restaurant. We had salmon & crab cakes & it was delicious. The club sits right on the beach! Next stop, Charleston SC! |
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