On The Road - FINALLY!!!

 Pam -  we spent part of Sunday, all of Monday and Tuesday transfering things from our North Beach trailer into our motorhome!  Finally on Wednesday Oct 10, I told Mike to hit the road and I finished winterizing and closing up the trailer.  Then off I went to meet Mike at the Hatteras ferry docks.  I must admit that I got a few looks when I pulled up at the docks in the motorhome and within 5 minutes, I had "picked up" a guy in spandex and a bicycle!!!


Our "neighbors" on Ocracoke!

somebody called these guys "peckerducks!"

Mike - The training phase of retirement is officially over and we are on the road taking a generally southern track. As far as biking is concerned, my time on Hatteras Island  ended with a total of 3193 miles. I figured out that is the distance between  Bangor, Maine and Los Angeles, and I seldom left the Island.  I did take two trips inland, riding 113 miles on my longest ride of the summer, riding to Columbia N C  and back. Then Pam and I explored the Alligator River Wildlife Refuge with the Jeep, and on walking trails (including the long gone Buffalo City, a logging and moonshining town that has been swallowed by the marsh.) I then rode back to Rodanthe from the refuge.

 The tire dipping in the atlantic ocean actually took place a few days before we left so we could have friends with us. The ceremony included champagne in paper cups, and the bike, as well as myself getting christened for good luck

 Pam at Portsmouth Island,and pelicans flying off the flounder nets as the boat went by to get to the island

  Day one of the official trip was Oct. 10, and I rode 50 miles to Ocracoke, where we spent two days. Day one was spent riding 20 miles all over Ocracoke with Pam, exploring everything we had never done before.  Day two was spent with a boat ride to the deserted  Portsmouth Island and walking around all day.  Its the first time I've worn shoes more than an hour or two since retirement! The third night was spent in the parking lot near the ferry so we can catch  the 7:00 a m ferry to the mainland at Cedar Island.


   The first day of riding on the mainland was cool because this was the first day that I have ridden new terrain in strange places and the discovery of the country has begun. I rode appr. 82 miles in a little over 5 hours, thru the  Cedar Island  Wildlife Refuge .  When highway 12 ended,  I took U S route 70 and  state road 101 thru several small towns and we ended in New Bern N C at a koa on the Nuese river. Maybe its the Neuse River. Highlights included riding thru cotton fields and seeing cotton all along the roads, which must have blown out of trucks that were taking it away. Also, watching the jumping fish in the river at the camp ground at dusk, as well as a possible alligator sighting, as something was swimming around the dock with its head breaking the surface of the water and its tail causing big splashes every once in a while.  We think it was but, we are not exactly expert alligator spotters! By the way, New Bern is where Pepsi was invented.

The three above picures are the grasslands of Cedar Island. The creeks run in all directions.Pictures are taken from a bridge with the Coast guard boats in the middle picture.  The picture below was in a small town on the way to Beaufort. the boats in the background show how tall he is.

Another bridge over a marina in Carteret County, above.  Below is our KOA in New Bern

The Neuse River bridge in New Bern, above. Below, Cherry Point Marine Air Base in Havelock, N C

Sunda Oct 14 in New Bern was a beautiful 80 degree day, and we spent it downtown at the Mum Festival.  Alot of food, crafts, street vendors, all in a closed off downtown area surrounded by rivers and marinas