Day 27

Day #27: Corolla, NC- Stamford, CT (20.2 miles on a bike, 470 miles in a car)

On Thursday morning, we woke up not knowing where we were going that night, and on Thursday night we went to sleep in our own beds. 

We were planning on renting a car on Thursday either way, but we were going to just drive through Virginia to Washington, D.C., spend the weekend there, and then continue biking on Sunday. In the morning, my dad decided we might as well just drive home, and then we can pick up the maps in CT on Sunday. 

So in the morning we took a 20 mile bike  ride from our hotel to the enterprise location. Luckily, on the way, we passed Duck Donuts. This is basically the best place, and I'm not sure why they don't have one closer to home. You order what you want on your donut, and they make the whole thing fresh. The donuts were so hot that the sprinkles were melting. 

After enjoying our break at Duck Donuts, we continued towards the Enterprise. When we were getting close, it looked like it was going to pour. We pulled under the nearest gas station right before it started pouring. Then we called enterprise to come pick us up. 

We got all our stuff in the car and left by 2pm. Then we hit the road for a nice 9 hour drive. We took a couple stops, one at an Auntie Ann's, one at Chickies. 

It was a good feeling pulling into our driveway around 11. There really is no place like home. 

If we can manage to get up from the couch on Sunday, we'll hopefully ride for a couple more days. 

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Day 26

Day #26: Nags Head,NC- Corolla, NC (26 miles)

We slept a little "late" this morning, and left our hotel just after 9.  There was a lot of bike and pedestrian traffic, which is certainly preferable to truck traffic.  The tailwinds from yesterday turned into headwinds today but we "only" had to bike 26 miles. 

After a few miles, we saw a bike store, so we stopped and I got a mirror for my bike so I could see if there's a car or something behind me.  I've made it like 800 miles without one, but I guess it can't hurt to have it. 

After that we continued to Kill Devil Hills, the place where the Wright  brothers took their first flight. The next town, Kitty Hawk, had a soft pretzel place which we found a coupon for in a magazine, so we obviously had to stop there. 

We ate enough pretzels for breakfast and lunch, and then continued on our way. Eventually we hit a town called Duck which had a good bike trail and nicer, more upscale stores than in other parts of the outer banks. 

We got to our hotel, a hampton inn in corolla pretty early. That was good because this hotel has two pools, a hot tub, and a lazy river. Also, it's on a beautiful beach. We spent the afternoon enjoying the pools and riding the waves. 

We have no idea where we are going tomorrow. Its supposed to rain. We are currently off the Adventure Cycling maps because we wanted to continue to explore the outer banks (whereas the maps had us heading inland after Kills Devil). We would love to head north to Virginia Beach. Unfortunately even though it is physically connected to the outer banks there is no way to get there because there is a nature preserve between the two and you can't walk, bike or drive through.   

However, as it says in the Ode to Ocracoke, found on the wall of the bathroom at a previous hotel, "The greatest distance between two points is anything but a straight line." We will end up wherever the road takes us. 

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Day 25

Day #25: Buxton, NC-Nags Head, NC (56 miles- a record!!)

It was hard to leave our hotel this morning knowing that anywhere else we stay probably won't be as good, but after a big (and free) breakfast, we got back on the road.  For the first time in a few days, there were no headwinds. It was much easier to pedal,and we were actually moving instead of pedaling in place. For a few minutes, it felt like we might've even had a tailwind.

We did a small detour to see the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, but decided against climbing it. Since we still had to bike a lot to get to Nags Head we didn't want to waste our energy.

We did about 25 miles before stopping at a Dairy Queen, which actually had chocolate ice cream, unlike the one in Folkston, Georgia. I finally got the blizzard I've been waiting for.  Since my dad had a conference call, we hung out there for a while, and went into a restaurant next door for some really good cheese fries.

After that we continued the rest of the way only stopping to drink water on the side of the road. At one point while drinking some water, we noticed a very big, steep bridge in the distance. We were hoping that it would disappear, and that we wouldn't have to go over it, but we knew we would probably have to. Once we were at the top there was an amazing view, and it was nice on the way down.

After the bridge we had less than 10 miles to go until  Nags Head, but the clouds did not look good. Luckily, it didn't start raining until we were under the awning of a comfort inn. The bad news was we couldn't stay there, so we had to bike 3 more miles in the rain. There was no thunder or lightning though, so it wasn't a big deal.

Tonight we enjoyed the indoor pool and hot tub at the Nags Head Inn. Still not sure where were going tomorrow, but we will figure it out. 

As we continue to get bitten by mosquitos, we have voted this as best church sign in North Carolina.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Day 24

Day #24: Ocracoke,NC-Buxton,NC (23 miles on a bike, 10 miles on a ferry)


We left the pony island motel around 7:45, knowing we had about 13 miles to go before we reached a ferry from Ocracoke to Hatteras. 

In general, 13 miles in the morning while our legs our fresh is not too bad. However, with the headwinds, going those 13 miles felt like we went 40. 

We ended up getting to the ferry just in time for the 9:45 ferry. This ferry was a little less than an hour, and we used the time to figure out where we were staying. 

We considered biking about 20 miles to Avon, but the only available place there was reviewed as "I would rather spend the night in jail". So instead we went about 10 miles, stopping at a good place for lunch, so we could stay at a better place.  Also biking with the strong headwinds was really tiring. 

The place we ended up staying, The Inn on Pamlico Sound, has given us everything we could ask for. In the hallways there are fully stocked fridges with complimentary drinks, which is a nice touch after you've been biking all day. There are bowls of chocolate in the lobby, a free snack basket in the room, and they put out amazing fresh baked cookies in the afternoon. There's a gorgeous view of the sound where me and my dad got to try stand up paddle boards.

(Maybe you should stick to writing children's books)

 And apparently, there's free breakfast, which is just so hard for us to believe because this hotel cost the same amount as last nights motel, which didn't even have working wifi. 

Beer of the day

It's tough to leave a place like this, but we look forward to continuing along the outer banks tomorrow. Maybe the winds will finally be going in our direction!

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Day 23

Day # 23: Wilmington, NC-Ocracoke, NC (90 miles in a car, 47 on a bike, 23 on a ferry)

After a relaxing weekend in Wilmington, we decided we want to go to the outer banks on Sunday.  We know that we only have a little more than a week left to ride, so we got a ride from Wilmington to around Newport, NC.

Donna, a really helpful person at the Marriott, had a friend Jonathan who drives for uber, and actually had a bike rack. That worked out well, and we got on our bikes at about 10:30.  

We had to bike 47 miles and make a 5:30 ferry to Ocracoke. That's the last ferry for the night, and if we missed it wed be staying at the driftwood motel, a place where according to tripadvisor reviews, you're better off sleeping in the woods.

We took a reststop at a middle of nowhere store called " The Collared Shack".

 We got malted milkshakes and got to learn a little bit about shrimpin, even though with the accent it was pretty hard to understand. I also got called darlin which is always nice. 

Once we were getting close to the ferry which we think was around the gateway to the outer banks, it was very quiet and beautiful. It was just a strip of road, and on both sides there was just marshland and water. 

Luckily we made the ferry, which was two and a half hours.

Once in Ocracoke, we went to the pony island motel. It was clean which good. Unfortunately the wifi did not work.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Day 22

Day #22: Southport, NC- Wilmington, NC (34 miles)

We left our hotel around 8:15 this morning, perfect timing to make the 9:15 ferry from Southport to Fort Fisher.  The ferry ride was really nice- it was a good temperature, low humidity and there was a great view.

After the ferry we rode through Kure Beach and Carolina Beach. into 15mph headwinds.  For any fans of the CW show One Tree Hill that ended a few years ago, it was filmed in Wilmington, where we are now, and some of the nearby places.  On Carolina Beach, we rode by a beach house that was used in the show, and made ourselves at home walking around the property.

Nice flag, wrong direction though

We got to Wilmington, and we stopped at a North Carolina marine building to use the bathroom.  The people there were really nice and gave us a bunch of water bottles and directions on how to get to the downtown area.

We made it to the Riverwalk, in the historic district of Wilmington and sat down to find a hotel.  After looking on every website for every hotel in downtown Wilmington, we’re pretty sure we got the last hotel room there was. 

Our hotel is right near where Karen’s Café was on One Tree Hill.  My dad didn’t watch the show, but he is enjoying seeing all these spots as much as I am.

We look forward to sleeping a lot this weekend, and also walking around this Historic downtown area. 

Because we didnt bike enough yet

Have a great weekend and thanks for coming along for the ride!

Day 21

Day #21: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina- Southport, North Carolina (25 miles in a car, 40.7 by bike)

This morning we slept in after a late night last night.  Then we drove our Chevy Suburban to an Enterprise in North Myrtle Beach, and then they drove us a few more miles in the right direction.

Once we started biking it was only a few minutes before we reached North Carolina.  

These roads were much better than yesterdays.  There was a shoulder, most of them were paved much better, and there were signs with bicycles on them and an arrow telling us where to go, all things we didn’t see in South Carolina.

We took an ice cream break and a cookie break, and of course lots of water breaks.  Since the roads were quiet it could’ve been a very enjoyable ride.  However, we had a lot of headwinds, and we had a lot of uphill, especially towards the end when we were tired. 

We rode through some more farms today.  There was a lot of corn, horses, and roosters. 

It was hot all day, but not at all humid.  This seems like the first day where it didn’t rain at all during the day or at night.

Luckily, we made it to our Comfort Suites in Southport North Carolina.  

Hopefully tomorrow we’ll make it to Wilmington and stay there for the weekend.  We get to take our first ferry ride of our journey which we are looking forward to.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!