Based in part on one of Matt’s suggestions, and also given the length of this trip, we decided to drive from Bath to Elizabeth City, NC. Hopefully this gave Beth more time to get work done. 

Before leaving, we met Carro and Corbin, the owners of the Bath Harbor and Marina Hotel, which is where you should stay if you are ever in Bath. Incorporated in 1705 and the reputed home of Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard the Pirate, it is a quaint little town of about a thousand or so inhabitants. Carro and Corbin are both incredibly nice people!

Carro and Corbin, the owners of the Bath Harbor and Marina Hotel

In Elizabeth City, we had both lunch and dinner at Hoppin’ Johnz Restaurant, a great place to eat. At dinner we met Stephanie and Ed, a really nice and friendly couple. Ed is a contractor for the USCG and is in Elizabeth City for a project there.

Stephanie and Ed, whom we met at Hoppin’ Johnz Restaurant in Elizabeth City, NC

Tomorrow we plan to bike about 60 miles, which will get us to a park in VA Beach close to the southern entrance of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, where Beth will pick us up for the drive home on US 13 up the Delmarva Peninsula.

There is no way we could have made this trip without Beth and we were delusional to think we could have done this unsupported.

This morning Beth dropped us off in a town called New Bern, NC, and this was supposed to save us about 30 miles of riding. But Google bike maps messed us up a few times today and the ride ended up being more than 60 miles total. The biggest challenge today was finding the Aurora Ferry to get across the Pimlico River. We finally made it there with about 7 or 8 minutes before the ferry departed. 

After crossing the Pimlico River, we thought it would be a very short ride to our hotel but Google maps struck again and it took us about another hour to get to our hotel. Oh well!

Here are today’s photos.

Our first rest stop after 22 miles today.

We’ve been seeing lots of private grave yards on our rides these past few days, like this one.

There is a mine on the other side of the trees in this picture and google bike maps kept trying to send us there, but there was just no way to get there.

The view from the Aurora Ferry across the Pimlico River.

Tim sitting on the second deck of the Aurora Ferry.

Tim and Beth at the Quarter Deck, where we had dinner tonight.

After driving to Wilmington, NC on Saturday, to avoid a 76-mile ride against a head wind, we explored the downtown area, including their River Walk, on foot. Tim and I went to the Basilica of St. Mary for their 5:30 PM mass, in a congregation that was more heterogeneous than that of St Mary, GA where we went the previous Saturday evening. It was the celebration of the Feast of the Assumption, as you can see from the church bulletin I have included below. Apparently mass must last more than an hour south of the Mason Dixon line, but that was fine.

Church Bulletin from Basilica of St. Mary, Wilmington, NC

We went to the Copper Penny restaurant in downtown Wilmington for dinner and had a very nice meal. It’s owned by two guys from the Philadelphia area and it had Phillies and Eagles pennants on the wall, so we felt at home there, and I bought one of their beer glasses since I know Nancy would want me to .

Today’s ride was about 68 miles and it was mostly on empty roads. Tim and I rode next to each other for a lot of the ride. He told me about his book “Shadow Divers” which describes the discovery of a WWII U-boat that sunk in early 1945, and the trials the divers had in figuring out what the boat really was and how it was sunk. I told Tim about my book “Against the Ice” and how hard it was for the two Danish explorers to travel in and map out NE Greenland in 1909. It helped make the ride feel shorter. 

We got to Jacksonville, NC and our hotel by 3 PM, met up with Beth, watched some of the Phillies game with her while having a beer, and then took showers, naps, and walked to dinner at a local restaurant. 

Here are two pictures I took at our 2nd and 3rd stop today. 

Photo of Tim at our 2nd stop today. Note the empty road, which was fairly common today.

Photo of our bikes at our 3rd and last stop today.

Our ride today was 63+ miles and we faithfully followed google bike maps, which took us off of US 17 and onto bike paths or bike lanes or beautiful neighborhoods for most of the time.  We were also on Ocean Blvd through Myrtle Beach, which is a copy cat version of A1A in Florida on the Space Coast. 

We made it to our hotel around 3 pm, so it took us almost 7 hours, but it was worth it for the added safety. 

Here are a few photos I took when we got to North Myrtle Beach.

The beach and the Atlantic Ocean at North Myrtle Beach near the end of our ride today.

Looking north on the beach at North Myrtle Beach.

Today’s ride was a bit over 54 miles with a pretty good tailwind most of the ride. After yesterday I think we both needed a shorter journey today. US 17 was more friendly today and when it was busy, sidewalks helped a lot, both leaving Mount Pleasant and entering Georgetown. We experienced a little rain at the end of our ride, but it wasn’t too bad. 

Dinner was at the River Room Restaurant on the marina in Georgetown and it was really good. 

Here are today photos!

The flag was blowing in the right direction this morning when we made our first stop at the Sewee Visitor and Environmental Education Center.

A dock to swim off of located on the South Santee River.

Wearing my new Sullivan’s sweater at dinner tonight.

Outside of the River Room Restaurant in Georgetown, SC.

Today was our longest day both in distance at 83 miles and in elapsed time at about 10 hours. Three flat tires contributed to our lengthy day, as did lousy road surfaces with an over abundance of gravel. I counted 15 armadillo road kill victims and countless dead snakes. 

Beth was a sweetheart and did our laundry while we were riding – what a really nice thing to do!

Tonight we went to dinner at Sullivan’s Fish Camp on Sullivan’s Island and had a really nice meal.

Here are today’s photos.

One of the many roads google bike maps wants us to take, which we do not.

Photo of Tim at the top of the US17 bridge to Mount Pleasant, SC

Photo of the USS Yorktown berthed in the Charleston harbor. (Taken from another source because my photo was blurry.)

Picture of our dinner menu tonight.

Dinner plate for our appetizer tonight.

Our clothes drying in Beth’s room today.

It was a long ride today and taking a ferry across the Savannah River broke up the ride nicely. Being in downtown Savannah was really fun, since I had never been there before. We saw a couple of Phillies fans and took a picture of them. Then coming out of Savannah on US 17, we passed by an alligator that was roadkill, something we had never seen before. I would have liked to take a photo of it, but really couldn’t stop. During the ride today it was hot and humid and I consumed almost all of my fluids.

After watching the Phillies game on Beth’s laptop last night, we went to a bar in Richmond Hill for some local flavor, which it had in abundance. Tonight we went to the Saltus River Grill in Beaufort on the water, and it was probably the best restaurant we have been to on any of our trips. We’re watching their game tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays, which they are currently winning 8 to 0. 

I’m headed to bed now and will blog again after tomorrow’s long ride.

Here are my photos from last night and today.

Today’s ride was supposed to be 67 miles, according to Google bike maps, but ended up only being 55 miles, since we decided again to stay on the main roads instead of taking all the off roads that google bike maps wanted us to. Saving 12 miles is quite a lot, and hopefully this continues for the rest of the trip.

Last night after dinner at an ale house within walking distance from our hotel, we went back to my room to watch the Phillies game. They were playing the SF Giants in game 3 of a four game series. Fortunately they won! They’re on a really hot streak and have even pulled into 1st place ahead of the Braves. When we were at dinner at the ale house, the Braves were in the process of getting swept by the Dodgers, and we were enjoying listening to all the Braves fans complaining about how badly the Braves have been playing. Anyway, I took this photo of the TV screen in my room during the Phillies versus Giants game. 

On our ride today we were coming through Darien, GA when a few police cars were escorting a group of bicyclists the town. We asked the riders where they were headed and they told us Savannah. They also gave us both a patch made expressly for their ride. Here is a picture of the patch they gave us.

We continued riding to Richmond Hills and made our 2nd and last stop about 21 miles outside of Richmond Hill on a bridge passing over some railroad tracks. Tim took this picture there.

We finished up just after 1 pm and were able to check in and shower. I plan to take a nice nap shortly.

. 

Today’s ride was supposed to be 51 miles but ended up only being about 45 miles. Google bike maps tried really hard to get us to get off of US 17, but every time we would get off of US 17, it would put us on a road that was not better and would take longer. At one point it directed us to take the GA rail trail, which sounded great, but then turned out to be a gravel road and since road bikes don’t do well on gravel surfaces, we immediately got right back onto US 17 North. 

We had left at about 8 am, stopped really only once, and made it to our hotel just before noon. Beth had made it there a few minutes before we did and took pictures of Tim and me as we rode to the hotel entrance. We were able to check into one of the rooms to shower and change, and then we went to lunch for some real Southern barbecue! It was really really good! After lunch we all took naps! 

Here are a few pictures I took on the ride today.

Today’s ride was only 34 miles and it was basically a shake-down ride to test out the bike lights, water intake, phone charging, and phone directions. We worked out some of the bugs and should be able to figure out the rest during our 51 mile ride tomorrow. We took a picture when we crossed into Georgia from Florida near the end of the ride, and here it is. 

When we got to our hotel, we showered and took a short nap and then went to the 5 pm mass at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church in St. Mary’s, GA. It was an interesting mass with a homogeneous congregation, and too few babbling babies for entertainment. At 70 minutes, it will hopefully help keep our time in purgatory to a minimum. Beth coming with us should also help with that cause.

Then we all went to dinner at an Irish Pub in St. Mary’s, bought beer, wine and some snacks at a Publix grocery store in Kingsland, GA, returned to our hotel, called home, and went to bed.