Nothing Like Riding 40 mi for Your Cup of Joe

Yes, it's true. I rode 40 mi for a cup of coffee - well, it was on the way. We also were out of fuel, so I couldn't make the last little bit that I had.

After getting an unrestful night's sleep, with the peacocks howling and the yet fly flapping, we managed to get on our bikes and bust out 40 miles by 11:30. We stopped for a while at a cafe to eat a bit, rest from the sun, and charge some devices.

We then biked on down the Outer Banks, which was beautiful. A big sand dune in a lot of places, with little refuge from the sun. Nearing the 'elbow' of the island, we stopped in a plaza to get food from the grocery store, toothpaste and such, and more fuel. A quick stop at the Hateras Lighthouse and we were on our way in search of a campsite for the evening. I had called ahead to a few near the ferry we needed to get on the next morning, but they were all $45+. Making my disapproving face, we biked toward them, but came upon a state park campground that was less than half the price.

Rolling in, we unloaded our bikes, set up our tent, then hit the water. Yes, this campsite was a short walk from the beach. The water was a good temperature to have fun in, while the sunset around us. A cold shower followed, then we began cooking. Robyn opened a can with the swiss army knife (I merely stabbed holes in it) while I prepared spicy mac and cheese. With full bellies, we laid down for another unrestful sleep. Robyn was worried about animals since we were close to a lot of shrubs/thick greenery, and the flapping of the fly from the wind kept us both tossing and turning.

An early morning wake up call - 3:30am - so we could pack up, bike 6.5 mi to the ferry, to catch the 5am ferry, is how we are beginning our day.

Almost the weekend!
-M

Bonus: road kill

That is all I am going to write about, feel free to skip. Don't worry, I will spare you photos.

We have seen quite a bit of road kill in the last 850 miles of our lives, I am gaining quite an appreciation for the different types.
Of course there are the different animals and where they occur regionally. There have been plenty of turtles, but I think I didn't see my first one until outside of DC. Deer were very popular in Virginia, saw about four or five but all within that state. Opossums and raccoons have been fairly consistent throughout, at least one a day. I am not sure how there are any squirrels left alive in these united states. Seriously. Those things must reproduce like what all, knowing that thirty percent or so will be wiped out by passing cars alone. Rabbits are a bit more careful or quick, only seen about four corpses. Good thing, it is harder to see the cute animals torn up. I had never seen a dead bird on the side of the road until this trip, now I have seen many. Not sure how they fall victim to cars, poor flight plans I guess. Saw a really pretty yellow bird today and a pelican on one of the bridges. We are even in a wildlife refuge. I did see one baby alligator/crocodile tail, the most rare square on my road kill bingo card.
The state of decay is also of note. Somehow the most pleasant seems to be mystery pelt, a dried out flat bit of skin and fur often bleached beyond even color recognition. The half decomposed, exposed skeleton are perhaps the most fascinating, like a biology lesson laid out on the side of the road. A tie for my least favorite between the less fresh recent dead, by far the stinkiest and generally covered in flies, and the very fresh recently dead, the horror of their final moments still frozen on their furry faces. That sort of trauma sticks with you.
We saw a dead kitten this morning, probably prompting this post in a weird way. Tiny, all grey, so vulnerable, luckily it was faced down and we were spared that particular image.
R

North Carolina! We'll be here for the next 4 days.

Marie is updating the post because if Robyn updated it would sound like this:
'Long, flat, hot, butt hurt.'

I cannot deny, today had all of those aspects, my butt even started to hurt. I lay here now listening to the frogs, cicadas, and howling peacocks, in our slowing cooling down tent, in which Robyn swears we have a bug. Personally, bugs give me the heebie geebies, so I'm going to pretend that is false.

This morning started off with a fabulous breakfast, Kim baked before she went to work! Delicious apple pie, cereal, coffee, mmmm. We said goodbye to Kim and Dave and we're headed toward NC by 8am. Getting started early is key now, as the sun definitely is a scorcher, especially when there are no clouds.

Quicker than I anticipated, we crossed over the North Carolina border! We spent four nights in Virginia! Crazy how we crossed so many New England states in the same amount of time! This is the last new state for me on this journey. At high noon (is there a low noon I wonder?) we took a two hour lunch break/rest/nap, so our tushies could rest and we could get out of the sun.

Trekking on, we crossed a loooooong bridge into the Outer Banks. After a quick stop at the visitor's center, we headed to the beach so Robyn could rest and I could play in the water. I love the water. I could watch it for hours, fascinating.

After a nice dinner, we headed to the campsite. I am a little curious as to where heck we are? We roll up and there is a peacock walking around (and then howling (screeching) later). Robyn says it sounds like Kevin from up.

We are now bathed (in something other than our own sweat and sunscreen) and hopefully falling asleep early so we can get up early to avoid some sun. Though, during our break tomorrow, I'm going to try to even out my awesome tan lines.

Best wishes,
-M

Witty Titles Aren't My Thing

Waking up and seeing a spider on the outside of your tent? AHH!

Virginia State Park at Chippokes is wonderful. We had a good night, rested well, I woke up and cooked breakfast while Robyn packed up the tent. Soon we were on our bikes and headed toward Virginia Beach. Nothing out of the ordinary today as far as biking goes. We went over four descent sized bridges, saving the scariest for last. Also adding more traffic each time. It was a smoldering 93 degrees today, though not so bad for me, but Robyn says it felt like she was being baked alive. We stopped for a snack and then headed to Kim's home where we were met by her boyfriend, Dave. We showered, chatted merrily and read some of the Adventure Cycling magazines. Later, Kim came back from her twice a week 40+/- mi bike ride that she leads, and we had a filling dinner including pasta and stuffed mushrooms. After exchanging different cycling stories, Robyn and I headed off to bed. If we have not mentioned it, this is our, 'long stretch'. 10 straight days of biking. No big deal. :D Ha!

Tomorrow - the Outer Banks! Stoked!!!
-M
Ps - Ask Robyn how many flats she has gotten the next time you talk to her. And the last picture is of Clarence, Kim's doggie.

I stopped counting days...

It's an interesting feeling, when you wake up after 7.5 hours of sleep and still feel exhausted. At 8am we had our gear packed, bikes loaded, and were on the road. Getting a load of miles done early makes me feel good. We can rest midday if needed, take a long lunch, etc. We biked about 40 miles to Spring Grove, Va and ate some lunch. Mostly processed foods, not going to lie, being a vegetarian in smaller places doesn't leave you a lot of options, plus biking has made us think everything sounds delicious. After an hour and half break (along with some postcard writing) we continued own toward Chippoke State Park. We rolled in a little before 4pm, got a campsite and set up our tent, then went exploring. We discovered a large swimming pool, that was solely ours for most of the time, showered, and started preparing dinner. Quinoa with sweet potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, green peppers and spices. Healthy, flavorful dinner. I think the camp stove and I work well together.

After cleaning up, we both are now retiring early. Tomorrow we are going to be in Virginia Beach and then we will head down the Outer Banks.

Favorite part of the day? I stopped to save a turtle from the middle of the road - within minutes a large log stuck zoomed by.

Goodnight,
-M

Remember when I said I had felt every emotion on this trip? I was wrong. P

Hold on to your seats kids, this is going to be a bumpy ride

There are not enough words for yesterday. Interesting night camping, followed by my chain breaking in the morning. We made it to Richmond, Va safely.
-M
If this is enough info for you, close the screen now. Read on with warning.




SO, the day is Saturday. We were in no where Virginia at about 60 miles at about 6 o'clock and about ready to settle for the night. This was our first day using the adventure cycle maps and there was a store icon coming up then nothing for MILES. We figured we would pull up to a grocery store, get some dinner supplies and ask about potential camping around the area. Finally we pull up to not a nice country grocery as we had hoped, but the sketchiest, isolated convenience store we have seen yet. Where to camp?!?
There was a church sign, something along the lines of, 'no church for seven days makes one weak.' we thought maybe someone there could point us to a good spot, no dice, it was empty. Pulled up to a friendly looking house to ask about camping in the yard, no one home. Just as I was asking Marie, 'isn't everyone supposed to be on their porches drinking sweet tea?' we saw some people doing just that. Or at least on their porch. The patriarch seemed wary about letting us camp on the yard, but grandma stepped in and said it didn't bother her. She did ask if we had a gun, not sure if that was for our protection or hers... Not terribly friendly but they gave us the green light so we figured it would be okay.
We set up our tent on the corner of their property next to the road in accordance with the wishes of the man. I felt exposed, everyone in town would know we were there, that comforted Marie. Not wanting to set the field on fire by cooking or impose on the chilly folk by using the bathroom, we ate some dried fruit and a cliff bar then hit the tent when it got a bit cooler for an early night. We heard some neighbor kids commenting on the light in our tent which put me on edge a bit, but despite that and feeling sticky, I eventually drifted off to sleep.
SUDDENLY I am awake and disoriented, I let out a scream, something is on our tent! Just as soon it is gone and Marie, mace in hand, and I are upright as a car drives away. Trying to gain my bearings I start to wonder, did an animal just attack us? No. Some mean little punk with nothing better to do JUMPED on us at 2:30 in the morning. Lucky our tent is so strong, thank you Danny! Marie watched the road through a crack under the rain fly and we listened for any signs of our assailant's return. What could we do, where could we go? It was the middle of the night in the middle of no where. I guess that was enough fun for them as they didn't come back. Took us quite a while but we eventually got back to sleep for a little more rest.

SUNDAY Happy father's day!
Got up and got out EARLY in the morning wanting to put as many miles between us and Nookesville, VA as possible. One mile into our journey Marie stopped suddenly. Her chain had literally come apart at one of the links. While I was preparing to walk 35 miles to the next real town (and the closest bike shop) and cursing the state of Virginia, Marie managed to gerryrig her chain back together with a crescent wrench and a multitool. I was impressed to say the least, nobody can deny that girl has excellent fixin skills. Still I was convinced we weren't going to make it five miles, but I said nothing in case superstition has a base in reality. Not only did we make it five miles, we made the next five and the five after that until fourty miles later we were in Fredricksberg.... where the bike shop is closed on Sundays. We stopped into an ale house to have a beer and regroup. That town is pretty cute if you are ever in Virginia.
We decided that while it was miracle the chain had made it that far, it was not going to make it the next 54 to Richmond and the next available bike shop. We then made a choice. A choice that may be judged by people sitting comfortably at their computer or internet device with a specific idea of what bike tour should be.... tired, traumatized, not prepared to lose a day or for anymore dicey situations just yet- we decided to rent a car. Of course the only car rental place that was open on Sunday closed in just under an hour. We busted ass and the chain graciously held out for five final miles. Renting cars is expensive if you didn't know, another reason to dislike them. On the other hand went in an hour what would have taken a day to ride... We went to the only (of many) bike shops open in Richmond and got Marie a new chain and me some brake pads and headed to legend brewery for some victory? defeat? drinks and food. They have some tasty beers.
Our series of unfortunate events ended at the red roof inn, the cheapest place to stay next to the airport. Our final extravagance: a good nights sleep to get us started on the second half of our trip. Great transition... Still, ten fingers, ten toes. We are safe and still positive and ready to take on the rest of this beast of a trip. Hopefully the bad luck has run out.
R

Day sixteen - forgot to blog more on that later

Safe in Richmond, VA. Time for sleep. Got some... good? stories for you soon though.