| Would they shuffle giddily through interminable security lines and jetways, gawk in awe at the glowing list of delayed flights, delight in the pack of peanuts, and generally marvel at the miraculous experience the rest of us have come to regard as necessary penance paid to go on a vacation or business trip? Or would they hustle back to Kitty Hawk, hatchet in hand, and hack away at the baby before it grows to a monster?
 Not too far away, just down the Route 168 from Norfolk to the Outer Banks, you can visit the spot where all this started. About seven miles south of the bridge to the Banks you’ll come to Kitty Hawk, and the monument that marks where, for several seasons ending in December 1903, these two determined Ohio bicycle mechanics returned again and again to the top of a sandy hill, to fly gliders over and over, meticulously recording the details of performance gained by minute modifications of framework and wing shape.
Where, on that marvelous day, all their inventions and intuition came together and pulled man and machine off the earth for the first time.
There is a wonderful museum there, maintained by the US Park Service, in which can be found the saga of the path to the first flight, and details of the extraordinary sequence of innovation required to get there.
There are replicas of the workshops and living quarters the Wrights lived in while they struggled through the North Carolina winters. You learn they chose the Outer Banks for their experiments, so far from their Dayton workshop, not just because of the reliable winds but also for the isolation to protect their invention from the spying eyes of rivals.
That’s how sparsely populated the area was at that time, a wasteland to most, but perfect for Orville and Wilbur. There are bits and pieces of actual equipment and the engines that they built and incorporated into their designs. In a special hall is an intricate assembly of wood, wire, and fabric that is an exact replica of the original “Wright Flyer” that lifted off on December 17, 1903 for twelve seconds that changed the world. A mannequin flies this model, and you can stand behind him and imagine you too are an aviation pioneer at the dawn of a new era.
It must have been quite a day. Put yourself there. You’ve worked diligently for years. You are clever, not really a genius, but have the gift of “dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith” that carries all great endeavors to successful ends. You have worked day and night, basically camped out on a sand dune in the middle of nowhere, fabricating wings and engines and propellers and control devices which break, you repair, break again, repair again. And again. And then you fly. For just 12 seconds, but you fly! Only 38 years after the Civil War! Think about it.
 I feel almost reverent as I walk along the track where the first four flights took place on that dramatic morning, like I’m sharing a bit of their accomplishment, their joy and wonder, these amazing Americans in an amazing time.
And I hope the smile on my face will endure the next time someone bonks me in the head trying to stuff a suitcase the size of a refrigerator into the overhead compartment. Ah, air travel! I think it may have been easier in 1903.
If you go:
Wright Brothers National Memorial is located at mile post 7.5 on U.S. Highway 158, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Take I-64 or I-664 to Chesapeake, Va. From I-64, take Exit 291B to Route 168, the Chesapeake Expressway. Once in North Carolina, Route 168 turns into US-158 East. Follow US-158 through Kitty Hawk to Kill Devil Hills, NC. The entrance fee is $4.00 per person. Check it out at: http://www.nps.gov/wrbr/
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