Day 6: I finally get my Papa John's pizza

May 26, 2016

Up and at 'em early in the morning, break down camp and I'm on the road before 8am. I like an early morning start - it's quiet, less vehicles on the road, and the world is just getting started. First stop was a Starbucks about 16 miles away to get some coffee and breakfast sandwich. There I get a egg sandwich with double-smoked bacon. Never heard of such a thing. I instantly imagine a pig with a 2-pack a day habit and a raspy oink to go with it. But in the end the sandwich is delicious. Thank you pork product for making my morning.

Breakfast at the outdoor seating area at Starbucks with my double-smoked bacon ('cause once smoked is never enough) egg breakfast sandwich

From there I headed over to the Jacksonville Memorial park outside Camp Lejeune. This has a 9/11 memorial, a Vietnam veterans wall, a Beirut memorial, and a Montfort Memorial. The Vietnam memorial is interesting in that it has all of the 58,229 names of soldiers who died in the conflict listed along the walls surrounding the fountain. It's really rather humbling. Each of those names inscribed was a soul lost to that conflict.

It's always good to see cycling infrastructure, especially in urban areas where the traffic is heavier

Beirut memorial. Probably one of the forgotten events of the US' military past. 273 Marines lost

To get the size and scope of the Vietnam war, or conflict, each of the inscriptions in the wall is a name of a soldier who perished in the conflict. All 58,229. If anyone is reading this journal and participated in Vietnam, thank you for serving in the capacity you did.

Since this is a memorial park, there are multiple memorials. The next one I came across was the Montfort memorial dedicated to the Montfort Point Marines. This was a segregated Marine unit of African-American descent separated from the Caucasian units. This group had to "fight for their right to fight" and trained harder than their Caucasian counterparts because they had more to prove. They were not allowed on base without a white counterpart, they could not cross the railroad tracks into Jacksonville. When they were pressed into service, they were given far-behind-enemy-lines duties until they finally saw front-line action during the June 1944 battle of Saipan. Following that engagement SMC General Alexander Vandegrift stated, “The Negro Marines are no longer on trial. They are Marines, period". Amen. How far we've come to realize people are equal.

Montfort point memorial. Dedicated to the Montfort Point marines who had to "fight for their right to fight"

Then it was through trafficked streets to cross the New River and a commercial strip leaving Jacksonville. Then it was a left turn and I was into rural roads paralleling military training grounds.

I thought this house sitting on the New River right in the downtown area was attractive. I don't think it's a private residence any longer but I didn't stop to read the interpretive sign at the entrance.

The sun was starting to come out and get to be a rather warm day. The rural roads were mostly quiet with traffic as I wasn't on the roads that he vacationers were on. With about 48 miles under my wheels I stopped in a park to write my journal in their pavilion since it was getting hot today. I had gone through my 2-liters of water on my back already so it was definitely time to refill the water. It was an effective strategy in the middle of the day to take a break in the shade, refill my bottles from the water fountain, and listen to the military training aircraft overhead.

Just your everyday average run-of-the-mill run down house. When I see places like this I always wonder what stories the building could tell. What was its history? How did it end up like this?

I found a vineyard but didn't find the tasting room. Rats!

I take a few side roads and then I'm back on Rt. 17. Ah, *lovely*. This is just a slog of a ride and it's just vehicle after vehicle after vehicle passing by at 60+mph. I don't feel threatened by the traffic, it's the noise that gets to me. The sun and the noise and the road combine to make for a less-than-enjoyable stretch.

Yes, the sun was hot. Yes, vehicles were passing by at 60+mph. Yes, it was not my favorite stretch.

You don't see great white sharks at furniture shops every day....

Ten miles into the stretch I pull into a convenience store. I've knocked off a metric century at this point and I'm feeling the effects of the heat. Normally I'm a water-only type of person during a ride (OK, sometimes chocolate milk) but this day I needed some sort of sugar and electrolytes. So, a Gatorade it is! Purchasing this leads to a funny exchange

(Cashier) "That'll be $2.66"
(Me) "I thought these were 2 for $3"
"That's only if you buy two"
"Can I get one for $1.50?"
"No, but you can buy a Nature Valley Granola bar for $.99"
"I fail to see how that relates to the 2-for-1 promotion"
"Would you like a bag for that?"
"No thanks, this is going to be gone before I leave the parking lot"

Outside the convenience store just about to recharge with a cold Gatorade

And true to my word, about 3 minutes later I finished the cold Gatorade and disposed of the bottle before I left.

At mile 70 I make my left a little too early and end up riding a mile before I realize my right-turn is not where it should be. Interesting turn of events. So I turn around and head back to my favorite Rt. 17 and then make the CORRECT left where it should be.

Since I'm traveling light on this trip, or rather I don't have a lot of space on the bike I have to stop for food every day prior to the campsite. What I normally do is find a grocery near as possible to my overnight spot so I don't have to carry groceries too far. Today's stop was Walmart for some vegetables and wine (OK, so I drink water, chocolate milk, and wine on a bike tour. Not necessarily in that order). With my small backpack I stuff it where I'm able to place it and then head over to the campsite to check in, put up my tent, and clean up for a shower. Then it was a quick walk outside the gate of the campground to Papa Johns for a pizza.

After eating my pizza and carrots in the campground's community room I asked the campground receptionist if she wanted 1/2 the pizza (I'm hungry but I'm not a glutton). She said she'd love it but didn't have the money to pay me. I didn't even think about that - here it's probably common to "sell" a 1/2 pizza? I don't like to see food go to waste so I wanted to see it go to someone who would be happy to have it. I just wanted to give it away. And so I did. She was most appreciative. A journal update and I went to sleep awaiting the next day's events.

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Today's ride: 78 miles (126 km)
Total: 345 miles (555 km)

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