Here are the 9 photos on Flickr that I took that day: photos

Here is the 1 photo on Flickr that Kiki took that day: photo

So, Day 8, July 25, 2006 (as I remember it today, September 19, 2006):

We left camp in the morning and started hearing low-flying jets and helicopters pretty much right away. It was pretty loud but it didn’t prepare us for the one flyby that we got immediately after leaving a convenience store to get some water for the camelbaks. It came from over the trees and took us so much by surprise that we ducked to avoid being hit. It was nowhere near but it felt like it. It was a FA-18 I think that was doing laps, basically, above our heads. We continued on and found ourselves in a vast, open, nature preserve, the Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge. This, apparently was a favorite flight training area for the local Marine Corps base and we saw over the course of the next couple of hours at least 3 or 4 jets taking laps around the area. I thought it was pretty cool but I don’t think Kiki and Hillary shared my enthusiasm. It was a fairly easy ride through the refuge and, all in all, a pretty normal day until we pulled into Davis. As we stopped at the gas station to get some rest and gatorade, it immediately started raining. So immediately that my ass go soaked as I shimmied my bike up under the cover of the overhang. It was perfect timing though, and as chance had it, our three biking buddies were there as well. We all hung out and waited out the downpour, which didn’t last long. I had a BBQ pork sandwich as a pre-lunch and we had a nice photo shoot with a giant beetle. After the rain stopped we got on our way and proceeded through many small towns and rural areas until we reached Newport, NC, which was a fairly sizeable town. We stopped at the grocery stoer to get supplies to make dinner and prepared ourselves for the last 9 miles of the trip. However, we saw this. Needless to say this didn’t look good but we put on the rain covers and determined to ride into it. When what should appear? A man sticking his head out the driver’s side window of an RV. “You guys don’t want to go that way,” he said. We tended to agree, but what choice did we have. We’d reserved a spot at a campground there. He waved us back and told us he’d drive us to where we were going. It didn’t take us long to take him up on the offer. We hauled the bikes into/onto (they’re heavy) the back of his huge pickup and he drove us the remainind 9 miles through what was the hardest rain we’d seen up till this point. It was good thing he offered beacuse it would have sucked, no doubt. He felt bad about leaving us at the campground in the storm but he did anyway. I thought that if he really felt bad, he could have let us stay at his house and made us dinner and given us fresh towels and maybe a massage. Not in the cards, alas. However, this campground has ameneties! There was a nice pool, private bathrooms with showers, and the most important saving grace, a large laundry room. It was large enough to fit all of us, our bikes, a large table, and several laundry machines. We camped out in there. We dried off, dried some clothes in the dryer, cooked and ate dinner at the table and had a nice time while we waited out the storm. When it died down, we pitched our tents and got them ready to sleep in, which we did eventually. I wanted to stay in the laundry room but I was outvoted but the tents were fine. The storm was over.

The total mileage for the day was 53.5 miles (and that’s not including the last 9 in the pickup).

IMG_1503

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 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.

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