Monday, October 3, 2011

Entering North Carolina



This is the field that the Wright brothers began air flight
Wright brothers memorial
Replica of the Wright brothers first airplane
Crossing the intercoastal waterway with a new friend
Day 13
Stats
Distance-77 miles
Weather-54-61 degrees
wind-W 5-10 early 10-15 afternoon
Our journey today took us from Virginia Beach VA to Kill Devil Hill NC. For those not familiar with this location, it is on the east coast near Kitty Hawk North Carolina on the outer banks of the Barrier Islands. Cloudy skies and cool temperatures ( 53 degrees) mixed with a chance of rain greeted us as we began the day. When we began our southern route, there were blue skies to the east with rain bearing clouds overhead and to the west. We were on the cusp of this weather phenom, hoping the clouds would move away so we could enjoy the sunshine. The weather gods were tantalizing us and we didn't ride into the sunshine until well after the first 35 miles. But, eventually we were riding in sunshine with a crosswind that neither helped nor hindered. One small note here. Route 168 is road we used for most of the ride. It is a four lane road with a small shoulder. 99% of the drivers in North Carolina would pull into the left lane unless their was a car that would not permit them to do so. However, one car with plenty of room to pull over made no attempt to do so. In fact it missed our group by no more than a foot. Now, here is the irony. I would normally trash NC drivers, see New York entry, but this particular jerk had.......Illinois plates!! Go figure. I guess the lesson here is that all states have their share of drivers that don't respect cyclists
With about 15 miles to our destination, we made a left turn heading east that took us on a 3 mile bridge over the inland waterway. Now we were headed toward the ATLANTIC ocean. The wind was at least 15 mph and at our backs. Weather gods were favoring us as we virtually sailed over the bridge onto the outer banks. About two miles from the hotel we took a detour to the Wright Brothers museum, monument and field where Orville and Wilbur made their first flight. After a very interesting tour of the museum and grounds we completed the rest of the trip. Tomorrow's ride from Kill Devil Hill to Ocracoke Island is going to be very interesting since the Hatteras bridge is still impassable. We'll see how we will deal with it.
All in all another excellent day in the East Coast adventure.
Today's shout out goes to my mother-in-law Becky and her sister Hazel who were born and raised in North Carolina. Hazel still lives in North Carolina

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