You have to time your trip to Corolla so as to not be going northbound within a two-hour timeframe of around four, or a two-hour timeframe southbound southbound on a Saturday or Sunday. Since the usual check-in and check-out times for all the rental houses are 10PM out and 4PM in, there's always a mass exodus at those times.

That's why we always either stay around Norfolk the night before we're checking in (and then just wander around the island - we can sometimes even get in early if we call early enough, and they put our house on top of the cleaning list). On the way out, we'll stay a few hours past check-out time, and just sit by the community pool for a few hours, have some lunch, and then leave.

Regardless of whether you're staying overnight or anything, that's about the only way. Outside of check-in and check-out timeframes, it's never really that bad going down NC-12, even in the in-season. I guess a lot of people just go to the beach for the day, and don't need to drive. Off season, you can go anywhere.