Today was a crazy, unbelievable day! Another day of 40-plus miles. 43 today. I added up my mileage, and I’ve biked 1,500 miles so far.
I had been warned that it would be another really hot day (it’s true - the weather alerts tell you to not even walk around in this heat, much less ride a bike towing a trailer!) I got an early start, before the free breakfast was served, so I stopped at a place called The Country Biscuit, which was close to downtown New Bern. It was a disappointing stop. People pretty much ignored me (including the waitresses), the food was just OK, and it took a long time to come out. I was anxious to get on the road to beat the heat.
Once again, I went completely off my route today, for the sake of avoiding a really long ride in the heat. Route 17 is a pretty direct route from New Bern to Jacksonville, but I was grateful that Google took me off of it for the first half of the trip. It gave me more interesting stuff to look at. As I left New Bern, I ran somebody over. It’s true. I was crossing the bridge, on the sidewalk, so I wouldn’t be in traffic’s way. A woman was walking ahead of me, on her way to work, wearing headphones. There was no way for me to get around her unless she moved, so I yelled “Ma’am! Ma’am! Ma’am!” with no luck. My intention was to tap her on the shoulder, but instead I crashed into her. Better than coffee, right? I’m sure it woke her up. She was fine, by the way. It was just embarrassing. There was a witness to the whole thing, too.
I followed my directions down some back roads. I wore my T-shirt today, which seems to keep me cooler than my bike jersey, and I slathered on the sunscreen. The past few days, I’ve been riding straight into the wind, and today was no exception. It slowed me down quite a bit. Eventually, I ended up back on 17, but soon after that, half of it was closed for construction. I took a chance and rode on the closed part. It was the right decision! If I had stayed where I was, I would have been in everyone’s way. I ended up on a closed 4-lane highway, with Port-a-Potties! It was so cool. I put on my music and sang my way down the road. This went for 10 miles. It was getting really hot, so every time I went under a bridge, I would stop in the shade for a bit. Luckily, I had plenty of cold water with me.
The construction ended, and I rejoined the traffic (and took my music off). I stopped at a community park for some shade and called Gramma to update her on my progress. She was happy to hear from me. I had 10 more miles to go. Back in the heat I went, with no shade. Once again, I rode into a town and saw motels all over the place, but I still had a few miles to go to get to mine. I stopped at a Ruby Tuesday for a salad.
I rode a bike path for a while, which was nice, and then found my motel. The owner was very nice and gave me a huge, cold bottle of water for free. A couple from New York was checking in at the same time, and we chatted a bit. I walked down the street to a place called the Marina Cafe. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but it was AWESOME. I had some really good food, and met a nice guy named Gerald from Colorado. His cousin, Wade, was about to start playing music outside, so I went over to check it out. I said hello to the parrot they have out back, and was careful not to get too close. He’s a social bird! They had a free pig roast, something I haven’t had since 1995, so I tried it, and it was SO good. The music was really good too. I had so much fun at this place. Unfortunately, a storm hit. A big one. Not a big deal for these people, but for me, it was the worst thunderstorm I’ve ever seen. The staff scurried around, getting soaked and trying to bring everything in (including the parrot). I had to walk back to the motel in it, and I’ll be honest with you. I was terrified. Lightning was flashing all around me, and it was pouring down hard. The streets flooded (again...no sidewalks), so every time a car went by me I’d get hit with a tidal wave. It was about a quarter mile walk like this. It was so dark, I thought it was night time, but later on the sun came out, and the sky looked really cool. I took a picture, but it didn’t do it justice. I will never forget my amazing night in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
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