Editor’s note: Salisbury native David Freeze is cycling the N.C. coast, riding up the Inner Banks and down the Outer Banks. The Post is chronicling each day of his ride. Contact him at david.freeze@ctc.net.

Early on my next-to-last day of riding for this journey, I looked out and saw the wind blowing again. Cold had returned overnight and wasn’t expected to let up much later Friday.

The Cape Pines Motel had been one of the best in a series of fortunate good choices. Dressed in most of my clothes, I headed south again.

On the way out of Buxton, I happened to see the local bookstore advertising “Murder in Ocracoke” by Joseph C. Ellis. Ellis just happens to be my mentor as an author, and it looks like he has another successful book, which features the Ocracoke Lighthouse on the cover. I planned to see that same lighthouse later in the day.

Passing through Frisco, I noticed what looked like an alien spacecraft on the left, complete with waving operators. No one else seemed to be concerned, so I grabbed a photo and kept riding.

Hatteras was next and began with a stop at a bakery, one of the few businesses open. The farther south on the Outer Banks I have gone, the more businesses have been closed for the season. Traffic has been extremely light as well and lessened even more Friday.

My next stop in Hatteras was the beautiful U.S. Weather Bureau Station. One brochure said that this is how America got its weather information during the days of the Wright Brothers. Constructed in 1901, the station collected weather data until the 1940s and was later renovated as the town’s visitors center.

The visitors center operator sent me in search of an exposed shipwreck that he says is sometimes visible. It wasn’t Friday.

Back on the road, my last stop in Hatteras was the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. One of the best museums I have seen, this one had fantastic exhibits on shipwrecks, deep sea diving, the ironclad USS Monitor and other Civil War Naval actions, commercial fishing and plenty about pirates in the area. Great fun and free too!

Just next door was the loading area for the start of the hourlong ferry ride to Ocracoke. This one had a special place for bicycles to wait that one of the car drivers pointed out. The ferry is the only way to make the trip other than by light plane.

Once on Ocracoke, I found the strongest wind of the day. Glad it was a strong tailwind, I began the lonely ride to the other end of the island.

Ocracoke appears to be about 15 miles long, and 13 of it is a straight shot through the dunes on both sides of the road. About 6 miles past the ferry is the pony pen, the area where the Ocracoke ponies are now kept behind fences.

I had missed seeing the Corolla horses at the other end of the Outer Banks and only did slightly better at the pony pen. I could see a few of the horses in distant corrals.

The National Park Service and Americorps were building a deck of sorts on a storage area within the pony pasture. I was told that the ponies would not been able to roam freely until later in the day, so my distant pictures will have to do.

The ponies, descended from Spanish horses, are often called “banker ponies” and have been used by the Coast Guard and the Lifesaving Service that I mentioned in Friday’s column.

I pedaled into Ocracoke thinking I had a good handle on a place to stay. I stopped at Bluff Shoals and was told it was full, so I checked the Blackbeard Lodge and could find no one. I checked several more places and returned to Bluff Shoals to use an apartment for one night and for a good deal.

What happened over the next hour made my day. I found the Ocracoke Lighthouse and made pictures there before riding around some of the older sections of town. I rode over to the ferry loading area where I planned to depart the Outer Banks very early this morning.

Imagine my surprise to find that the sun was about to set over the Pamlico Sound, all the way into the water without land in the way. The sunset was spectacular, as good as the best ones in Key West. Just five minutes later, I saw the light shining from the lighthouse. Simply amazing!

Another interesting fact is that Blackbeard captured his flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, exactly 300 years ago Friday. Blackbeard has at least been mentioned daily in some fashion throughout every single day of this cycling journey. Today, I will pass Beaufort, where the ship ran aground and Blackbeard had to abandon it.

The early ferry ride this morning will take me to Cedar Island and a resumption of N.C. 12 and then U.S. 70 back toward Morehead City and Salter Path, where my truck is parked. I am expecting a nearly full day that brings to a close another fulfilling adventure.

Just one more day. See you here Sunday.