When Motor Man and I learned that last Sunday was to be a pretty day, we decided to ride to the Outer Banks. (No surprise, there, right?)
This was our second trip in a row with no wild horse sightings. In the pocket of my door in our Tahoe, I keep a calendar where I jot down the number of horses we see on each trip, along with any other interesting facts of the day. I’ve been doing that ever since we started our “horse journeys”. Looking back in those calendars, it seems that we routinely see fewer horses in March and April than other months.
But it was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed our day at the beach.
Until….
We were attempting to cross over one of the dunes by way of the “exit”. But it’s tricky in that you really can’t see over the dune as you’re approaching the top. When we reached the top, Motor Man stopped just to be sure: 1) we weren’t meeting another vehicle head-on, or 2) there wasn’t a horse standing in the middle of the “road”, or 3) there wasn’t a dramatic drop-off. And when we stopped, we were stuck.
Please note that the top of the black “running board” under the door is normally 14 inches above the ground (I measured when we got home).
When we first began our trips to the 4-wheel-drive beach, we made sure we had a battery jump box, a tow strap and a collapsible camping shovel. That little shovel saved the day on Sunday. Motor Man dug out behind all four tires, put the Tahoe in reverse and backed down the dune. Whew. That’s the first time we’ve ever been stuck on the beach… and hopefully the last.
The remainder of our time there was uneventful.
On the way home, we passed by a wood-carving business. Motor Man and I stopped there a few years ago to watch the owner as he was using a chain saw to carve a “statue”. But Sunday, something really special caught my eye as we drove by, and it was worth a turn-around.
We’ve seen several of these “love signs” in Virginia. Since our state motto is “Virginia Is For Lovers”, they are several all around our state. But this was in North Carolina. We don’t know if it’s going to be a permanent fixture there at this business, or if someone commissioned the owner to make it for them.
In the past, we’ve had our picture taken at each of the LOVE signs we’ve seen. But there wasn’t anyone else nearby when we stopped, and we didn’t have our tripod.
Motor Man to the rescue for the second time that day. He spotted this and decided it would be perfect to place our camera on for a picture.
And it worked. (There was some “stuff” in the background, so I tried to camouflage that a bit for our official photo.)
Another day: another adventure.
~These Days Of Mine~
these days of mine 
Amazing you all haven’t ever been stuck in that sand before but thank heavens you have the “equipment” to handle it! Great shot of you two in front of yet another LOVE sign.
Pam
Yikes to getting stuck but yay for the camping shovel! When we were ATV riding in Arizona we went up some rocky, sandy steep hills much the same as your dune. Couldn’t see until you got to the very top. The LOVE sign is interesting, wonder what it’s for?
If you’re going to go driving on the beach to look for horses, JR is the only one I trust to go with! This is why! What happened to your jeep?
Y’all have the equipment & the know-how !
You can turn a tricky situation into an adventure !
‘Love’ your find!
We used to take our Jeep out into the desert in the Middle East. The first thing we did when we got off the highway and onto the sand was to let some air out of the tires. The wider ‘footprint’ helped our vehicle float over the sand. We reinflated once we got back to the highway. Most important in that part of the world, though, was to explore with a convoy of other vehicles!
Now that’s what I call being prepared for anything! Glad you didn’t have a call a tow. I LOVE the LOVE sign. Look at all the animals carved into it. WOW!!
You 2 always make an.adventure happen.