Day 17 A pretty good day

We over slept. We were apparently very tired. So we got out at 7 instead of 6. Ok. Debbie wanted to do 50-70 miles. She lives a rich fantasy life. I didn’t think we would do that much, particularly starting out later. So, away from Sharpsburg we went.

We rode for about 1:22 before I needed a stop. We stopped at a MickeyD in Wilson  at the 11.1 mile mark and had breakfast sandwiches and I had a diet coke. We took a pretty long stop. We don’t much like having that much grease but choices can be limited and we had very little in the room for breakfast. Our motel did not have a free continental.... anything. Within a few tenths of a mile we stopped at a grocery store for some cheese (which the heat got later before we could eat it.

Then off we went again. We made it all the way to Kenly at 28.4 miles before we stopped for lunch at a Subway (a bit healthier). The road had been very flat until the last couple of miles leading up to this place. We were tired. We split a sub and each had a soda. We also split a yogurt. We took a long stop and felt much refreshed after. I though we only had about 12 miles to go.

At about the 45 mile mark in the town of Smithfield we spotted a Carrolls Pharmacy. Debbie wanted to get some generic  Benadryl because either she is getting eaten alive by something or she is getting hives from some as yet undiscovered allergen and I needed some more sunblock for my face. Several ladies were having some sort of a fund-raising out front so I chatted with them while Debbie shopped. They were astonished that anyone (I guess my age) would do what we were doing. Several of them went scampering for cameras to capture our “I have never seen one of those before” bicycle and trailer. It was a very pleasant stop just a few miles from our destination.

We rode on. At one point we stopped at a minimart for restrooms and information. It seemed we only had a quarter of a mile to go. It turned out to be half a mile and involved a bit of an incline over a little bridge. Finally, at almost 4:00 we arrived and got a room. It turns out to be our third consecutive cheap place. Of course some amenities are missing like food and a coin laundry. Drat, my job is to do the laundry in the sink when that happens.

After some difficulty with the internet connection, I worked for a couple of hours then we ordered from the only place that delivered. It was a pizza joint (big surprise)  so we had pizza for dinner. It actually was pretty good.

The two major problems today were the heat (90+) and the constant headwind. I think without the wind we might have been in an hour earlier. Without the heat we probably would have arrived a little less beat. But tomorrow is another day.

Today’s ride: We rode 47.7 miles at 8.1 mph. We were on the bike for 5:50. We are now 699 miles into our trip.

Debbie’s emotionometer: Tired and hot, but not too crabby. Reading over what Mel wrote I notice that we mostly talk (write) about stops and food, headwinds and hills. I guess some of you must wonder if we actually see any scenery. We see lots of trees, many pine forests, and farm land. Some corn and a crop we do not recognize that we think might be sugar beets. North Carolina informs you every time you cross into another river basin. We are currently in the Neuse River basin and about to cross over into the Cape Fear river basin. Lots of water features to cross.