May 23, 2008
Day 11: Maysville, NC to Plymouth, NC
99.25 miles, 7:08:48 Ride Time, 13.89 Average Speed, 21.3 Maximum Speed
I was up at 5:00, and got everything together more quickly than ever. It was overcast and cool all morning - I wore the armwarmers for the first 25 miles this morning.
I rode mostly on quiet country roads after leaving Maysville, until I arrived at the big, imposing bridge over the Neuse River, near the town of Bridgeton. The climb up the ramp to the bridge was probably the steepest grade I've seen on the trip so far - still, I didn't need to use my small chainring.
The bridge is 1.5 miles long, and was busy enough that I had to ride on the shoulder the entire way. The shoulder was so full of junk that I was certain I would get a flat tire. Amazingly, I didn't.
I was soon back on country roads, where I had the first real dog encounters of the trip. Two times dogs ran out at me, but the "Halt!" spray was effective. I suppose I still have the touch...
I stopped for a lunch at a little bistro in the town of Aurora (pop. 583), where I had a very good flounder sandwich and fries. The place was very busy, filled with burly guys, many of them wearing anti-union shirts. The large PCS Phosphate Mine is located in Aurora, and I assume that there is an attempt at organizing a union there.
It took a while to pay for my lunch at the busy restaurant, and by the time I got out of the place, I realized I didn't have much time to ride the seven miles to the ferry across the Pamlico River. If I didn't make the next ferry, I would have to wait around an extra hour for the next one, something I didn't want to do on what was going to be a long day of riding.
The ride to the ferry was extremely flat, but I had a headwind, so I got in the most aerodynamic posture I could, and rode as fast as I could. (I was thinking of this classic performance as motivation)
I was sweating heavily as I got to the ferry just as it was getting ready to leave. Unlike the other day, these ferry workers were nice - one of the women even said something like "That's a neat kickstand." I've not seen anyone else with the unusual double-legged kickstand, and I always feel a certain smug satisfaction when someone mentions it. (So far no one has openly laughed at the strange looking thing, though I'm sure that will happen eventually).
During the ferry ride, the sun finally came out, so I put on sunblock. I arrived on the other side of the Pamlico River to more of the super-flat roads, and almost no traffic. I stopped in the neat little town of Bath (oldest town in North Carolina, pop. 275), and visited the little library there.
There were a couple of places to stay in Bath, and, considering what happened later in the day, it would have been wise to have stayed there.
Instead, I rode on, stopping at a little store on White Post Road for a last snack break of the day before tackling the thirty miles to the larger town of Plymouth.
The ride to Plymouth was nice but uneventful, although I did meet another touring cyclist, Taylor Dewey, riding from Maine to Florida. I believe it was his fifteenth day on the road.
The quiet roads ended in Plymouth (pop. 4,107) at a busy intersection. I walked into the gas station there and asked some people about places to stay. I was immediately warned not to stay at the Pine Tree Motel. One woman told me that "crackheads hang around there."
All of the motels were on the same busy stretch of US 64, and each one I stopped at was booked up - there was a fishing tournament starting the next morning, and the fishermen had snatched up all the rooms, except for one $120 "smoking" suite at the Holiday Inn Express. No way was I paying that much.
Plymouth got increasingly seedy-looking as I rode north, and then I happened upon the Pine Tree Motel. How bad could it be? Very bad. The first two rooms the lady showed me were truly terrible. There was no way I could sleep in either one of them. As I pulled out my cellphone to call the Holiday Inn Express, the lady told me that she did have one "special" room that adjoined the office.
It was a marginally nicer double room that appeared to double as a storage room at the motel - there were extra chairs and mattresses stored there. The amount she wanted was less than half the cost of the last room at the Holiday Inn Express, so I agreed to take it.
I regretted it as soon as I paid her and moved into the room. It was really pretty dirty, and the area around the motel was definitely the "bad part of town." As she was processing my credit card behind what looked like bullet-proof glass in the motel office, I noticed a large sign taped to the office wall - the number of the police department, which I assumed she needed to call frequently. Another bad sign, literally.
I did feel a little better later when two guys pulled up towing boats behind their trucks. They were in town for the fishing tournament, and were also, against their better judgment, staying at the Pine Tree. As they wondered aloud whether their boats would be vandalized in the night, I walked to a nearby Subway for dinner, and then retreated to my awful room for the rest of the evening.
Interestingly, despite its many shortcomings, the place had a good wireless internet signal. I amused myself by doing a Google search for "pine tree motel plymouth nc", and happened upon an article about an armed robbery that had taken place at the motel a few years before. Masked gunmen had kicked a door down and robbed some motel guests. That prompted me to wedge a couple of the extra chairs against my door to reinforce the flimsy looking chain.
I spent a restless night in my sleeping bag on top of the bed, waking several times to sounds of what I thought might be someone breaking in. No one did.
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Today's ride: 99 miles (159 km)
Total: 838 miles (1,349 km)
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