We all got up very early in Kinston...the plan was to get finished riding early so that we would have time to deal with the truck troubles and also see if I could get the spoke on my rear wheel fixed and then get it trued.
Ray and Melinda also got up and saw us off. They were so kind...so generous...gave us a LOT of leftovers from last night's dinner that we will feast on when we camp tonight and tomorrow night. Ray, I'll be looking for your blog when you do your cross-country ride! Thanks so very much for a wonderful stay!
Karen and I headed north on Highway 258 and then Highway 13. There wasn't much traffic at first, but it did get busier as we kept riding. Ray had told us there are no gravel roads in North Carolina. It was a rural route dotted with small towns and fields of cotton, soybean, and corn.
When Karen had 40 miles, she and Laura switched places, and we continued north, but now we had a lot of trucks passing us. The shoulder was adequate, and the drivers were all polite...giving us room, and sometimes a "beep-beep" that I think meant "I'm back here." I just wouldn't opt to ride Highway 11 again...there are too many other roads that might have been better.
One of the delights of this trip has been the names of places...yesterday we were seeing road names like Fowl Drive, Flossie St., and Titmouse Ave. Today we were ending our ride near the Great Dismal Swamp. We didn't actually see it, and since Laura and I had ridden past several miles of creepy looking swamp, we didn't need to see more. I just love the name...the Great Dismal Swamp...sounds like something out of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Ray and Melinda told us that we need to come back and rent a canoe at Merchant's Mill Pond...now there's a swamp...Spanish moss, snakes in the water...I just might have to come back to experience that.
My riding stats for the day were 303' of elevation gain, an average of 14.6, and 101.5 miles.
When we had finished riding, we were less than an hour away from our overnight spot and it wasn't even 3 o'clock. We surfed the web for a bike shop, and drove there, only to find that it was closed on Mondays. :) Oh well, everybody needs a day off. Oh, and the "check engine" light that had come on yesterday afternoon? It mysteriously went off today...so, we batted .500.
We drove to Davis Lakes campground and were really impressed with the park...very clean, nice people...AND...a fellow cyclist. Gary is riding a CatTrike to tour America. He is from San Luis Obispo and when he rolled up and offered to share a six pack of beer, we said yes and pulled out our stash of food. We had a great time talking about touring experiences, equipment, and cycling in general.
He will be gone about four months and you can find his blog at: www.crazyguyonabike.com/gphavas
He was camped under the pavilion because he had done some checking and the weather forecast was calling for a 40% chance of rain today...70% tomorrow. That's not what I wanted to hear, but we were grateful for the warning and checked with the office to see if we too, could pitch our tents under the pavilion. No problem. Actually, the office said, "Sweetie, you can do whatever you like". That's a pretty dangerous thing to say to me. We moved all of our stuff and settled in for the night, going to bed around 8:30. Seriously...
maybe you can't...because you won't...
Don't stress out over the check engine light. As long as the truck is running well, ignore it. Most of the codes are minor computer compatibility issues that for the most parttserve to enrich stealership mechanics. The most common code is a faulty front oxygen sensor, which could have been thrown by an over-rich condition caused by restricted air-flow from your clogged air filter.
ReplyDeleteJus' keep on truckin' and bikin'. Loving your posts,
Aloha, e' a hui ho, Smit &Kapalili