Keith Richards once explained the song Wild Horses was about not wanting to be on the road a million miles away from home and yet I can’t help hum the tune thinking of the wild horses we saw today, 650 miles from home.

We rented a Jeep (no doors or roof) for the day so we could go off-road to Carova Beach to try and spot the wild horses that live just south of the Virginia border. Only 100 of these Spanish Mustangs exist in the area and I’ve read they are the only community of wild horses remaining in the world.

Paul did great driving through the sand dunes and we ultimately spotted 11 horses and two deer in the neighborhood near the beach, munching on grass and just trotting down the road. It was beautiful to see them just out and about in the beachfront community.

For lunch we parked ourselves just a few feet from the Virginia border and enjoyed the quiet before heading back to town. 4x4s aren’t allowed on the Virginia beach so there’s literally a fence on the state line preventing cars from going any further. The beach was full of tiny clams and tons of sanderling birds pecking at the sand and scurrying away from the incoming tide.

Upon leaving the beach we swung by the free air station to re-inflate our tires. The air station is at the park where we watched sunset with our friends the other night and the site of the Currituck light house and former Whalehead hunting club.

Miss M’s friend from university has joined us for the remainder of the trip, so the girls spent the late afternoon in the pool and playing tennis while D went to the gym.

Within the Currituck Club community there’s a variety of stores and restaurants all accessible via golf cart, including the community’s very own Sugar Planet (a chain that we’ve seen all over the Outer Banks.) While Paul and I returned the Jeep rental, the kids picked up ice cream to end the night.