Clicking On All Cylinders

This morning we left for the Ferry to Cedar Island at 6:50 a.m. We loaded our bikes on the Ferry and left at 7:30. It was a 2 hour 15 minute crossing. Breakfast on the Ferry was great! Thank you Carol and Robin.

Once we unloaded we began our 86 mile ride to Jacksonville, NC. It was a perfect day for cycling, the sun was shining, the wind was at our backs for most of the day and the roads were great. We rode through Beaufort and Emerald Isles, as well as countryside where Irene hit and saw alot of debris still waiting to be taken away, it was a sad sight! We also cross more steel deck bridges and then finally cycled into Jacksonville. our ride today took about 5 hours and 15 minutes.
We also knew that today we had three opportunities to stop at a Dairy Queen along the way. We finally stopped at the last Dairy Queen about 18 miles from Jacksonville. My first Grilled Cheese sandwich of the trip. It was delicious!!!
Riding into Jacksonville was very important to me because its a Marine Corp town, this is where Camp Lejeune is located. As we came up to the Main Gate, we saw lots of personal signs welcoming the Marines home. At one stop light I spoke with a "Old Corp" Marine and thanked him for his service. I told him about what I was doing and showed him my IMSFF cycling jersey, he thanked me for what I was doing for the injured Marines.
Tonight I had dinner with a good friend of my husband Don who he service with in the Marines, Bill Gerichten and his wife Anne. Thank you so much for the home cooked meal and the chance to get to know you both better. We look forward to seeing you up in our neck of the woods real soon.

The Pearl of the Outer Banks

A rest day in Ocracoke Island. Ocroacoke Island is part of the Cape Hattera National Seashore. We're here during off season which makes it nice because it's like having most of the Island to our selves. Unfortunately, it also made it hard to find a place to have dinner last night. Some places were closed because of Irene which rolled through last month.

No real plans for the day, my wash is done, my bike is clean and I'm looking forward to just relaxing. On our walk to eat breakfast we came across a lovely golden retriever puppy by the name of Chloe. She is quite the traveler and even has her own website that shows pictures of her adventures. We all gave her a pat before heading on to breakfast.

Part of relaxing included sitting on the pier just over looking the bay and watching the Ferry come and go along with watching the birds. Just sitting and relaxing was so nice.

Following a little shopping and sight seeing, I'm back in my room for some rest. So for now I'll close and see you tomorrow when I tell you all about our Ferry ride from Ocracoke Island to Cedar Island where after unloading from the Ferry we'll begin our 86 mile ride to Jacksonville, NC.

Have a great day!

Its A Race to the Swan Quarter Ferry

Today was a very interesting day. It began early, very early, 4:45 a.m. We found out in Route Rap last night that because of the storm damage from Irene in September, we couldn't take the Hatteras Ferry over to Ocracoke Island, NC. So Plan "B" was in effect.

What was Plan "B" you ask, well it had to do with some cyclists leaving the hotel in the pre-dawn light to try to cycle 80 miles by 12:00 noon while other cyclists rode in the van about 35-40 miles up the road and started their ride to the Ferry from that point. I was one of the lucky people to get to start my ride at the hotel, hence no picture before leaving on my ride today...not enough light.

Now I know I can ride 18-19 miles an hour but not for five hours and certainly not in the type of headwinds we experienced this morning as we road over the bridge on 64. Those were very heavy, which didn't help my efforts to make it to the Ferry on time. I must thank Michel for staying with me for the 35 miles that I did ride.

I so appreciated your company! I also look forward to getting the picture you took of me coming up the bridge with the sunrise in the background!

As we wait to board the Ferry you can see by my picture how windy our day was. Once we got to the Ferry at Swan Quarter, it took 2 1/2 hours to get across to Ocracoke Island. Far our long day and windy ride we made it to the Island and the good news is that we have a rest day tomorrow!

I must also commend Tracey and the Crew, in a moments notice they adjusted to Plan "B" with precision timing and patience. It all worked out and as Kevin from XC 10 would say, "It's All Good"!

Especially my room!!! A kitchenette no less, Howard Johnson eat your heart out!!!!

Oh yeah, no snakes sighted today. Just a few small smooched frogs.

Its A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood

What a way to begin my day, Don came to visit for less then 24 hours while I was in Virginia Beach. He saw me off in the cool 50 degree temperatures and overcast sky. I was appropriately dressed for the cool temperatures and not for snow, thank you very much Michel!

Our ride today took us out of town on some busy roads, but nothing we couldn't handle. We hit quite a few stop lights but all in all the roads were great. About 20 miles into our ride today, we crossed another state line, North Carolina.

It actually tried to rain, but only a few drops fell, which means this is only the second day of cycling since beginning our adventure without any rain. In fact this afternoon the sun came out and someone switched off the wind machine. We even had some tail winds when we road across the bridge and into Kitty Hawk.

Speaking of Kitty Hawk, we went to see the momument to the Orville brothers before going to our Hotel. Now I understand why they used this location, it is extrememly windy where they launched their first planes. What makes this even more interesting is that the brothers originally sold bicycles in Ohio.

Our ride today was 77 miles that took about 5 hours and 15 minutes. Also I didnt see any snakes today, just really small smooched frogs.

Our ride this morning began in the rain, no this is not the first day of our ride it's our 12th day. Somethings don't change. Our ride out of Pocomoke, MD took us on wide shoulders and nice surfaces. Six miles into our ride and we hit the Virginia state line. Feels like we were just in Maine a few days ago. So we all stopped to take our picture.

When the rain stopped it was still overcast and windy. This had to be the worst day for head winds of the trip, although I know we're all expecting more as we cycle down the coast. Stayed to long at the SAG and got a bit chilled, but all I had to do was get back on the roads and in a mile or two I was warm again and asking anyone that might be listening to "Please Turn Off The Wind Machine". No one heard me!

Our ride today was 76 miles. At the end of our ride we all boarded the CrossRoads van so that we could be shuttled into Virginia Beach. Since we were going over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, it was not possible to cycle on the bridge or through the tunnels. Not a problem, I was quite happy to ride in the van. I only saw one very flat smooched snake today during our ride.

Dinner tonight was at Ruby Tuesday, again, think this is our third time, but I was fortunate enough to have dinner at Pat and Scot Creech's beautiful house, thank you so much! Dinner was delicious and I so appreciate being able to do my laundry. Thanks for helping me keep my "Laundry Queen" title in check.

Riding Like the Wind....well almost

It was a beautiful day in our neighborhood! Perfect weather for starting our ride to Pocomoke, MD. The sun was shining through the high clouds and the wind was minimal! We had great shoulders to cycle on for the first 16.5 miles where we stopped to take a picture of our next state line crossing. We're now in Maryland. Unfortunately the sign was so high, it was hard to get in the picture.

We also cycled through Ocean City, Maryland early this morning before most shops were open and traffic was light. What was nice is the Bus/Cycling lane that we got to use. To bad it was so early in the morning we saw a lot of great restaurants that we could have stopped to have a bit of lunch. It was just to early. Sorry Dairy Queen, another time.

As we cycled out of the resort towns we continued to have wide shoulders until about mile 113S towards Snow Hill. There was some road construction but because it was Saturday, no one was working which made it easier for us to get through.

At the blinking light on Nassawango Road we got back on to country roads with really light traffic. But when you get one good thing you sometimes have to deal with one "not so good" thing like the wind. The head winds today we're fun.

Our ride was 63 miles today and took just over 4 hours. For those following the Snake Report, didn't see any snakes yesterday which is good since I was walking and not on my bike! Today I only saw one smooched snake which was out on the country roads where we had corn fields along the road.

Another day another mile and tomorrow Virginia! Wahoo!!!

How To Spend A Rest Day

It's a rest day and I'm so excited I actually slept in until 7:00 a.m. this morning. I took my time getting ready this morning and then to breakfast. It's so nice not to have to rush to get everything done in the morning so you're ready to be on your bike and on the road by 7:30. It's like a mini vacation!
Bill, Doug, Larry Jan and I walked into Rehoboth Beach and stopped to smell the flowers along the way, find the local watering holes, which weren't open yet, check out a bike shop then have lunch at the Green Turtle.

While sitting on the balcony at the Green Turtle, waiting for our lunch we noticed pods of Dolphins swimming south in the Atlantic Ocean. We saw adult as well as baby Dolphins, maybe 20 small pods in all.

After lunch we walked back to Dewey Beach and now I'm doing laundry one more time and preparing for our ride tomorrow to Pocomoke, MD. I'll close now so I can take a quick nap before going to dinner. But before that just one more picture that I hope will bring a smile to your face. It's was taken on the Boardwalk in Rehoboth and I think it explains how we spent the remainder of our day at the beach.