Carolinas-Florida Bicycle Tour

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Originally uploaded by hewins.

We finally made it to Key West! After nearly 1200 miles and 4 flat tires, we got to the end of the road, literally. You’d think we were in better shape, but we’re not. This is the door of our last hotel room.

Day 7 began after a rainy night at the campsite in Avon, NC on the Outer Banks (OBX). We got up and packed up camp and got on the road early. This day ended up being on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to the headwinds and rain of the previous day. And this day was to be our first day at the beach. We rode on down the Outer Banks towards Cape Hatteras, the elbow of the outer banks. We got to the lighthouse at Hatteras and climbed up it while we were there. It’s the tallest lighthouse in North America. You can see pictures of it here. It was pretty cool to climb up all 12 stories of it but it was a bit tiring considering our legs are used to pedaling. The lighthouse was moved about 2200 feet about 7 years ago to get it away from the eroding seashore. After visiting the lighthouse we went to the neighboring beach for some ocean swimming and rest on the sand. After the fun in the sun we got back on the bikes for the rest of the day’s rid which included 2 ferries. The ferries were pretty cool and it was good to relax on the longer one (where I wrote a bunch of these ‘catch-up’ posts). We learned the value of a good tailwind this day too. It makes riding worlds better than riding in a headwind. I never thought it would matter that much but it does. At the end of the day we were more or less back on the mainland of North Carolina. We camped in a town called Cedar Island with three other guys next to us that had been touring the same route for the last few days. The total milage for the day was about 32 (not including the farries).

Ok, I know there’s quite a backlog of days to write about. I’m writing now on Day 27 of this trip and I’ve only written about days 1-5. I’ll admit that blogging isn’t at the top of my list of priorities and most days leave us too tired to do anything except pitch the tent and sit down for a while. so here it goes:

Day 6 started after our first night’s sleep in a motel. it was nice to have the a/c and beds. But we weren’t looking forward to that bridge again. Fortunately for us, it wasn’t as bad the second time. We also got our first taste of rain that morning. We stopped after the first few drops to put on our rain covers for the bags. We just rode on through the rain because it wasn’t coming down too hard. The next sight along the way was the Bodie Island Lighthouse. We stopped off to see it and get a break from the rain. Even theough it wasn’t too bad we did get soaked all the way. Our shirts were dripping and our shoes were sloshing but, thankfully, it wasn’t cold so it actually felt pretty good. The lighthouse is a classic, postcard lighthouse but we could only look at it and not go up to the top. We continued on in the rain and crossed the Oregon Inlet via another long, large bridge. On Pea Island we started getting into the worst conditions so far. This was the part of the day that made us remember it as “the day of suck.” We had a nasty headwind that knocked our average speed down to between 9 and 10 miles an hour and we rode an endless number of farsees* along what seemed to me like a slope up the whole time. It was hell. We passed through a couple of small-nothing towns named Waves and Salvo that only served as brief respites from the chore of riding. After hours and miles of this we arrived in Avon after the rain stopped. Our total mileage for the day was about 52 miles. In Avon we picked up some groceries, found the campground, set up the tents, showered, and cooked egg and noodle fry-ups** for dinner. As I was doing the dishes I felt a few new drops of rain. I stayed out too long and couldn’t get back to the tent before getting soaked yet again. A fine ending to a fine day.

* farsee: n. Unit of measurement. Down the road as far as you can see.
** egg and noodle fry-up: meal. Ramen noodles boiled, drained and fried with an egg. Add tobasco if desired. I desired.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Originally uploaded by hewins.

This is a shot of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse right before we climbed up it. It’s the tallest lighthouse in North America at about 175 feet. Which, for us, was about 12 storiesv up. And there is no elevator. It was a cool view from the top so it was well worth it.

tonight was Alan Pinstein and Janine Franco’s wedding. It’s day 20 of the trip and I know that I’ve only wrtten about days 1-5 at this point. Give me a break, we’re busy. But I want to write now tolet you all (or y’all) know that we’re still alive and still thinking of all of you, our blog rollers. The wedding was absolutely amazing and unparalleled. We had a great time and we’re looking forward to getting back on the bikes on Tuesday. We’re in Atlanta now and we’re driving to Savannah, Ga tomorrow (perhaps after we go to 6 Flags) and we’ll continue the trip on Tuesday. Mazeltov.