Overall, todays ride was good, but there was a period of bad mixed in. As soon as I left Shallotte, I was out in the country and had decent roads and lots to see, which made for a very relaxing start of the day. Even when I turned onto NC211 at Supply, the riding was good.
NC211 is a busy 2-lane road, but it has a decent shoulder. That is, it did until about mile 20, where I hit a construction zone and the shoulder narrowed considerably. It was just at that point that it started raining. It rained so hard that, the shoulder I did have flooded over, and I could not see the road surface for long stretches. I spent the next 5 miles dodging in and out of traffic as I tried to avoid the flooded areas. As fate would have it, just as I exited the construction zone, it stopped raining - talk about (bad) luck!
At about mile 27, just outside Southport, I stopped and met Jeanna for lunch. I was glad for the break as it gave me a chance to clean up and dry out. The ride after lunch went back to being fantastic.
A nice garden in the country. Deer and other critters not allowed.
One of several "fixer uppers" I saw along the route today. Jeanna took a picture of this same house in 2016 - the weeds have grown considerably since then.
We had a nice chat with Sara and Rusty, who are from Hickory, NC. Jeanna has family from that area and had fun discussing who they might know in common.
This was the largest gun at Fort Fisher - an Armstrong 150-pounder which was made in England. It weighs 16,000 lbs. and could accurately fire a 150-pound shell 5 miles. It was rarely fired because the Confederacy had an inadequate supply of the shells it used.
After I left Pleasure Island I got on River Road, which follows the Cape Fear River into Wilmington. Although it's called River Road, the river was rarely in sight. I took a detour into the Riverlights development to visit a bike shop that I had noticed while mapping out my route. Right next to the bike shop was a pizza shop with a great name - Girls With Dough. I went in to get a drink and hopefully meet a woman with money, but unfortunately it was a dude that served me.
Entering Riverlights. It is a large development south of Wilmington and reminded me somewhat of a scaled down version of The Villages.
We passed by these oil storage tanks just outside Wilmington in 2016, and at that time I thought, "Boy, those really need a coat of paint". They still do.
