Interesting story. Funny thing is I've made numerous tours of all of eastern NC from I-95 to the Outer Banks and from the Virginia to South Carolina lines and find it a wonderful place for touring. I've overnighted everywhere from Weldon to Edenton to Plymouth to Washington to New Bern to Swansboro to Wilmington to Southport to Calabash and a whole host of other towns, state parks and private campgrounds. The wind can be tough and relentless if it's in your face, but the tabletop landscape is a bonus even though it may sacrifice scenic value for those that equate scenery with rolling vistas. It's possible to schedule a four to five day tour and combine each day's ride with a ferry across some scenic large body of water...and ferries and bikes are natural complements to each other.
Based on your statements, you apparently need the comfort of company and touring solo is not your bag. If you're going to tour in eastern NC, then you need to expect some times of quiet solitude. I've never had any difficulties with touring alone in the region, but then I appreciate solo tours and don't have any problems with loneliness when sitting outside my tent at dusk watching the reflection of a bright pink solar ball on one of eastern NC's numerous rivers or sounds and listening to the laughter of gulls.
It sounds to me like you began your tour in a foul state of mind and body and added to it as you went along. This was probably further compounded as you correctly pointed out the frequency of trailers and trash in the region. We should not forget that in recent years eastern NC has taken a series of natural and economic whammies that have left much of the region struggling to recover. With the exception of a few pockets like Greenville and Wilmington, eastern NC is an economically depressed region and precious little is being done from a statewide perspective to help get it back on its feet. For most people in the economically thriving piedmont, eastern NC is little more than a barren area one has to drive through on the way to the overpriced hotels and restaurants of the barrier island beaches. Personally, I find that to be one of its attractions....
Then again...there are all those damn mosquitos......nasty little buggers....