Atlantic Coast Tour
April 28th - Kitty Hawk, NC - First Flight Memorial & Museum

The rain that sent us into the tent early last night came and went throughout the night. When we woke it had finally stopped. Louie cooks us a delightful breakfast before we embark upon our busy day of sightseeing, and banking business. First stop on our list is the Wright Brothers Memorial and Museum.

Taking a shortcut to the memorial through the airfield we arrive at the base of the monument straight away. Since we are early there is nobody around. There are no signs saying we can't ride the path to the top so we think we can. The steep grade of the path pegs our inclinometer at 20%; we turn up the power and reach the summit barely winded. Once at the top two men working on the monument restoration project greet us. It is a work still in progress. They can't believe we cycled up the hill. The view from the top is impressive. Louie takes a 360-degree video of Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk.

Below the monument is a bronze sculpture of the historic event. There, bystanders can stand next to life size statues of Orville and Wilbur and the others that helped them that day. The scene is a photo opportunity for everyone who visits and we are no exception.

When we enter the museum we ask the guards about admission. They tell us we missed the admission booth because we came in from the airfield and not to bother since we were on a bicycle. They direct us to a live interpretive presentation that has just started. We get the whole story about the birth of heavier than air flight. Becky likes the fact that the Wright Brother's were bicycle mechanics. Louie finds it intriguing that both men never married. He thinks that a wife would have never let a man waste so much time on something as crazy as a flying machine.

Our tour of the First Flight memorial continues with a brief visit to replicas of the buildings the Wright brother's lived and worked in while staying in Kitty Hawk. After that we visited the First Flight Pavilion and got an eyeful of other aviation firsts. Becky buys a T-Shirt with a saying on it she really liked. "Conceived by Genius, Achieved by Dauntless Resolution and Unconquerable Faith." We think this should be the motto of our bike tour.

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