Day 5: The silky-smooth road from the title of the journal
Who knew there was a rooster behind the campground that would start crowing non-stop at 4:00am? Anyone? Anyone? In any case, I didn't need an alarm clock this morning to awaken. I broke camp in the dark and headed out to a food truck to get baked goods to take with me on the 2-1/2 hour ferry ride from the island to the mainland. I stopped at a bakery I saw on my walk yesterday, waited for them to open by 7:00, bought my goods, and then headed over to the ferry departure point. The ferry left promptly at 7:30.
The ride over took about 2-1/2 hours, and dropped me off in the middle of nowhere basically. If you zoom in on the map at the end of the journal you can see there's a ferry terminal and next to it an RV park. The ride from here was the road that had just been paved and was so silky-smooth I just rolled along for the next 25 miles or so. Even with the slight quartering headwind I made great time and it was soooooo flat until I had to pass over a causeway 15 miles in or so.
I thought I might get something to eat in Smyrna, but there was only a gift shop and convenience store. So it was a Clif bar until I could make it to Beaufort which had more services.
General store in Smyrna. I decided to keep riding instead of shopping today. Besides, I didn't have room on the bike to carry a lot of extra goods
In Beaufort I headed along the water and again there were shops and restaurants but I decided to keep going at this point. In retrospect I probably should have taken a break because I still had about 35 miles or so remaining in the day. Since I didn't get an early start (the ferry dropped me off around 10:00am I have to make up all these miles. And today is a sub-80 miler. After Beaufort, I crossed over another causeway into Morehead City where I rode along the water and backstreets until I came to the visitor center. The heat was now at its hottest part of the day and I took refuge in the building for 10 minutes to refill water bottles and a "splash and go"
Along the waterfront in Morehead city. Maybe it should have been named LARGEhead City
About this time I made a decision to skip passing over the causeway and onto the barrier island. It was hot and I figured cutting out 3-4 miles from the ride would help me get into camp earlier. In retrospect, I should have stuck with the original plan. While I saved the mileage, I paid for it in a more miserable 4-lane divided highway road. I discovered on this trip that coastal rides can be very flat and quiet, but when going inland, the motor routes are often designed for efficient automobile traffic and don't take into account bicycle infrastructure. I did have a brief encounter with a "Plastic Flamingo petting zoo" which was a clever way of advertising for a beachwear and beach goods shop
From the petting zoo, it was another 5 miles to the grocery store and another 5 miles to the campsite. I was beginning to tire and it was getting later in the day. I mentioned I had a long day and a later start so I didn't end of getting to camp until around 5:45. I sat down my sandwich, chips, and cheese from the grocery with my dining companion, a campground cat. Then it was off to set up camp and read before passing out for the night.
Tonight's dinner includes a premed sub, selection of fine cheese and crackers, and potatoes aux sweet-Maui
