Outer Banks, Getting there is half the fun:10 '16

Visiting the Outer Banks is a classic example of how circumventuous  traveling from one place to another can be in this part of North Carolina.  The Southern end of Highway 12 on the  Outer Banks is only a short distance east  of where we were staying in New Bern. But to get to it ,either one has to (a) take a long ferry boat ride along the Pamlico River and Sound, or  (b) drive 146 miles north, then east, to get to Nags Head. We opted for the latter as it allowed us to see more of the  Inner banks country side.

Inner Banks is a euphemism coined by developers and the tourist industry to describe the inland coastal region of North Carolina.  In reality,  much of this area is farmland used for growing  cotton, sweet potatoes, and soy beans.  Where the land is less fertile, managed pine forests have been planted  for harvesting by the lumber industry, and where pines won't grow due to soil saturation, hunting and fishing is big business.  ( Here's an aerial  view of the area courtesy of the Getty Institute: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/major-road-passing-through-farmlands-washington-stock-video-footage/637196587).

The closer one gets to the Atlantic Ocean the more water influences maneuvering through the landscape. NC Highway 64 is one of the two highways that links the outer Banks' Highway 12 to the mainland.  Below is the  Hwy 64 causeway across the Alligator River leading to the Alligator  Island National Wildlife Refuge.  

Once you get to the Alligator Wildlife Refuge, it is but a short drive in Hwy 64  through a small maritime forest of scrub oak to where you have to take another causeway across the  Croatian Sound to reach Roanoke Island, 

and then   NC Hwy 64 continues on across Roanoke Isle to another causeway before you link to NC Hwy 12. 

Getting to the the Outer Banks, doesn't mean that you will have a lot more room to roam. North Carolina's Outer banks is a 130 mile collection  of windswept sand bars and barrier islands many of which are barely more than one road wide .  Just take a look at what our Garmin showed around us as we drove through the Caper Hatteras National Wildlife Refuge.

Above is the view from the passenger side window of the car taken at the same point. ( Now imagine having to use these roads to evacuate during a  hurricane.)

That being said...it is their very isolation and remoteness that is part of the attraction and beauty if the place.