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I cycled to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on my road bike.  Painters were on a platform like window washers use on high rises, painting the lighthouse.  It is the tallest brick lighthouse in the country at 208 ft and 257 steps.  Fifteen years ago they moved the lighthouse 2750ft to get it further away from the beach.  At the museum it shows how they slid it on rails to accomplish it.
All  lighthouses give a light that lasts a certain number of  seconds, then off a certain number of seconds.  The light intervals tells a ship which lighthouse it is at night.  The pattern that it is painted tells which lighthouse it is during the day.
After climbing the lighthouse I cycled further south along hwy 12, the only north-south road along the outer banks.  The further south I went the worst he road got.  Sand, rock, or cracked asphalt made riding on the shoulder impossible, making me ride the white line, much too close to cars going 55.  I eventually turned around and headed back.  I cycled over 40 miles, but it felt like more (it must have been that 208 ft hill I climbed).
While riding I watched a deer eating a bush, mallards waddling along, and a turtle being slow.  These things you miss when in a car.  I also saw several possums, but they were dead and I had to cycle around them.