Day 159: Plymouth to New Bern, 77 miles
Day 160: New Bern to Sneads Ferry, 58 miles
Day 161: Sneads Ferry to Shallotte, 116 miles
Day 162: Shallotte to Georgetown, SC, 87 miles
Day 158: 8/17/14
Rode out of Suffolk just before 10:00 a.m. into the hot and muggy southern air and about 15 minutes later came to the Virginia and North Carolina Border soaking wet from sweat. Got my picture with the North Carolina State Line sign as per usual. As I was taking the picture I looked across the street and saw a stone pillar directly across from where I was. Upon further inspection it ended up being the state line marker from 1887. It had the year 1887 engraved on the front and on either side of it the initials VA and NC were engraved. Pretty cool stuff!
The rest of the day I rode back country roads through very rural North Carolina which consisted of lots of farmland and the occasional small rundown town. I also was reintroduced to those damn Southern Dogs and their "Not-So-Southern" Hospitality. I never had to spray any of the little buggers but, I almost pulled a few muscles trying to out sprint them down the road....
Thankfully, it was flat and their was little wind so besides the dogs it was nice riding and I just kept going without knowing exactly where I was going to stay for the night. As I got closer and closer to Plymouth I started thinking that it was possible to get there and sure enough I ended up riding through Plymouth to the southern edge and got my first Century Ride on the East Coast!
Got dinner at Wendy's (Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, 6-pc spicy chicken nugget, chilli cheese fries, and a chocolate shake) and then rode down the road to Lone Ridge Missionary Baptist Church where I tucked away behind the shed in the back yard.
Day 159: 8/18/14
It was a hot and muggy night out in the tent and I'm not sure I stopped sweating all night. By 6:00 a.m. I was ready to get out of my swampy tent and packed up and got on the road. I met a few more dogs on my ride up through Bath, NC to Bayview where I hopped on a ferry and crossed the Pamlico River to Aurora.
I stopped in at Lyle and Shirley's Restauramt for a little deep fries southern food which was delicious and then got back out on the road. It was so hot and muggy and as the day progressed so did the dark clouds. By about 2:00 p.m. I started to hear the rumble of thunder in the distance and it started to lightly rain. I picked up the pace to try to beat the storm but it didn't take long for the storm to get right over top of me, rain and thunder and lightning. I decided it'd be best for me to tuck under some cover for a while to let the storm passed so I stopped at a gas station. As I was there I checked the radar and it didn't look good so I quickly shot out a text to a warmshowers host that was in the area and quite thankfully she responded and told me to come on over. I had a dry place to sleep! Now all I had to do was ride the last 8 miles to their house...
When I thought it had cleared enough I pushed out and crossed over from Bridgeton (where I was) to New Bern across the Neuse River on SR-55. It was a white-knuckle ride (wind wiping, fast cars zooming by, and LOTS of lightning just north of me on the bridge). Once across the bridge I rode as fast as I could again but, the storm caught me again and it came down as hard as I've ever seen it. I almost lost all sight and there were still quite a few cars on the road so I jumped off the road again and hid out at another gas station for the next 45 minutes as this part of the storm passed by. Finally, it did break and I biked the last mile to Bambi and Allen's house in just enough time to get myself and the bike under cover before more rain came.
As per usual Bambi and Allen were awesome! I got a shower, some much needed laundry and we got takeout from Outback Steakhouse and oh was it so enjoyable to be inside and out of the stormy weather that raged all through the night.
Day 160: 8/19/14
Bambi and Allen both were out before 7:00 a.m. for work but, they let me stay and get some breakfast and pack up my things and leave at my leisure. I was out of the house by 9:00 a.m. And it was only a few miles down the road after leaving their house that it happened. Not in the hills of Washington, not in Montana, but here in little old North Carolina it happened. Yes, that's right! I saw a bear. And I almost pooped my pants... I was riding down the road and all of sudden I saw some movement from the woods up ahead about 20 yrds. to my right and then all of a sudden a dark moving mass came gingerly plodding out of the trees. I naturally assumed dog and instinctually stood up on my pedals and yelled out, "HEY!!!" (My typical dog response protocol prior to trying to out sprint the beast). However, as the thing came out to the road I realized that it was no dog. It was a Black Bear and when I yelled out I think I scared it as much as myself. When he heard me and then saw me he took off across the road at a full albeit awkward sprint. I still can hear the thumping of his paws and the scrape of his nails as he ripped across the pavement and into the woods on the other side of the road. And then he was gone just as quickly as he'd come. Woah! Just woah is all I can say! Those guys are big and scary looking.. But, I'm still happy I finally got to see one.
The rest of the day, besides being extremely hot and muggy was pretty easy. I finished my "shortish" day into Sneads Ferry with my warmshowers hosts Ray and Melinda. The night included burgers and beers, a trip down to North Topsail Beach to see the ocean and the beginning of another night of lightning and storms (of which I got a pretty cool pic) and then pound cake and ice cream to end the night.
Day 161: 8/20/14
After some waffles and coffee in the morning Ray and I rode out together down to Topsail Beach and along the water to Surf City which ended up being about 15 miles. From there I turned down towards Wilmington and Ray turned back towards his house.
It was another hot and muggy day and just after passing a sign that said 20 miles to Wilmington the road was closed off and I had to go on a detour that took me over 10 miles out of the way and when I finally got back on the route from the detour I was 18 miles from Wilmington... Not cool!
After a lunch break I rode into Wilmington and as I turned down one of the streets going towards downtown I was stopped by a police officer who was blocking off the street ahead. It ended up being filming of a new TV show called Secrets and Lies starring Ryan Phillippe and I actually saw him! I got to watch a scene where he walked out of his house, got in his SUV and drove off! So exciting! Then I was let through and I rode right passed him sitting in the front seat of the SUV. I asked a crew member if they needed any biker extras to which he replied in the negatory and like that my dreams of becoming a Hollywood star were dashed...
Just outside of Wilmington it started to rain and I continued to ride down through beach town after beach town, Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and then to Fort Fisher where I rode right onto the departing ferry that crossed Cape Fear and got off in Southport.
At this point I was about 75 miles in and it was about 5:30 p.m. and so began the process of looking for places to stay for the night. Long story short, 4 hours later and 41 miles later I finally found a "suitable" place to stop and curled up into a side entryway of a Baptist Church in Shallotte, NC...
Day 162: 8/21/14
For the first time all trip I set my alarm to make sure I was up and out of that spot before anyone came and saw me there. So at 5:30 a.m. the alarm went off and I quickly broke down the tent and got everything back on the bike and moved away from the entrance to a sidewalk bench. And sure enough just after I'd moved at about 6:00 a.m. a man pulled into the church lot right where I had been sleeping and walked into the very door that I would have been blocking had I still been in there...
I left Shallotte after that and rode out into the foggy morning. I rode down passed Ocean Isle Beach, then through Seaside and Sunset Beach. In Sunset Beach I saw my first gator! From there I rode through Calabash and then across the state line and into South Carolina.
Then I got a nice ride down through North Myrtle and Myrtle Beach that brought back some fond memories from college (and also made my liver hurt for some reason....) In Myrtle Beach I stopped in at one of the resorts that had a pool and got a swim in which was a necessity in the 90+ temps for the day. After my little break in Myrtle I continued on and ended the night outside of a church just South of Georgetown.
North Carolina-Virginia State Line
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