The adventure really started Friday afternoon where Adam, Alan, and I started to look for a place to stay that night. Adam called a connection through the NCSU sailing club to see if we could sleep on the floor of the maritime museum in Manteo, but that fell through because the guy was out of town. Next stop was Couchsurfing.com, here we had great success finding options. After sending out 6 or 7 requests for a place to crash that night in the Manteo area one fellow, Alan, responded saying that we could stay at his place; great we’re all set for the night. All we had to do now was pack up our stuff and drop it off with my new friend (Ryan) Neely who happened to be camping on Ocracoke Saturday and Sunday nights. I initially invited him along on the trip because he is also a biker, instead he was going to go camping with a bunch of friends and he was nice enough to transport things for our Saturday night, plus he provided a space for us to stay at the NPS campground. Thanks a bunch Neely!
Well after we packed up a headed out to drop things off a Neely’s place, but he wasn’t picking up his phone, so we spent some time looking for him and deciding what to do without stuff. We ended up piling the bags in the bushes in front of his car with the hopes that no one would see them and steal them. That was taken care of then we hit the road in earnest. As soon as we got
on the beltline there was very heavy traffic, but this eventually cleared up when I-40 split from I-440. We made our exit on Hwy. 64 without much traffic and made our way through most of Wake County before we encountered another slow up. This time it was a pickup that had run off the side of the road into the woods; needless to say it didn’t look pretty. We also encountered a home built trimaran being trailered towards the coast and this brought on a discussion of EC 2008 as Adam is now interested in doing it this year. Traffic was still moderately heavy on the way down there, but that could be expected for Labor Day weekend. We took our first stop at a shopping center to get dinner at Subway and let Alan get money at the SECU; but the bank was closed, and the Subway didn’t open until the next day, it was brand new. So we went further down the road looking for a place to eat when we came across a DWI check point. It was strange to have a checkpoint so early in the night, but at least the state is serious about the issue. Next stop was in a small town to get gas, and by that time grab some dinner.
Alan and Adam opted for the microwave burritos, while I went for the Wheat Thins, pound cake, and sugar wafers; now we were set food wise. As we neared Kill Devil Hills, where Alan and his puppy Lopez live, it started to hit us. How crazy was this guy going to be, and should we be prepared for a duel; but we knew it was going to be ok and figured he was thinking the exact same things. So we got there without a problem, met Alan and his crazy 6 month old German Shepherd, talked with him for a while and then crashed; he gave us some good local advice of where to go and what to do for the next couple of days. Alan had the perfect setup for us we each had our own bed to sleep on which was great for our early morning start Saturday.
We woke up Saturday, filled up on water, left a cantaloupe for Alan, and drove over to the Mariner Museum. We spent about an hour making the final pack and prepping the bikes for the journey to come, and eating our own cantaloupe, yum yum!
Off we went East on 64, and then South on 12 with a nice 15ish MPH tailwind. The first big obstacle of the ride was the bridge over Oregon Inlet which is apparently in very poor shape; they are always dredging the channel under the bridge because mother nature doesn’t like it. We noticed riding over the bridge that we had two choices in the event of a crash; go over the railing into the water (a long way down), or fall left into traffic and hope they stop quickly enough. Fortunately we didn’t have to find out what would happen. We made our first stop about 30 miles into the ride (1.5 hours) at a rental shop where an acquaintance of Adam’s used to work, but he was not to be found. On we went further south to kite point which is a big kite boarding location on the sound side of the barrier island. Then we made a quick stop for Adam to stretch and me to check on a clicking noise emanating from my real aluminum rear wheel.
Next stop was the 208 foot tall Cape Hatteras lighthouse, a quick stop, no climbing because of cost, but it was cool to see it again in its new location, after 15 years. Shortly after the lighthouse we were rode straight to the front of the line for the Ocracoke Island ferry.
After a quick ride over to Ocracoke we hit the fresh pavement of the island. I pulled ahead of Adam and Alan for about 10 minutes
just to get in a good hard pace for a bit. Eventually we made it to the NPS campground and checked to see if Neely was there yet, but no luck so we rode another couple of miles into town, checked out the harbor and then grabbed an enjoyable lunch. I was feeling for something on the light side, so I wanted a hummus sandwich, but wanted a grilled chicken breast on it, instead I ended up with a chicken sandwich with hummus on the side. We also all enjoyed a pitcher of Yuengling and a pitcher or Mimosa before we hopped back on the bikes to make the upwind journey back to the campsite. By that time Neely and friends had arrived so we did the meet and greet for a bit, and then setup camp with a little improvisation due to high winds, lack of tent spikes, and dysfunctional tent poles.
After getting everything situated we suited up and headed for the surf where we all body surfed, with varying degrees of success. But really it was about washing all of the grit and road grime off more than anything. The water temps were nice, and the sun started to peak out by this time so
it wasn’t too cold once we got out and were quickly dried by the stiff winds. Back to camp to get a rinse of shower, cook some pasta, grab some things from the town grocery, and fend off wild embers while making smores. I
also took a quick trip towards town to check out the island airstrip and some of the aircraft on the ramp. By this time the three of us were pooped, so we hit the sack. Adam and I had to get cozy in a poorly designed tent; two 6’+ people in a small round tent is interesting. The sleep wasn’t great, especially considering the previous nights’ accommodations, but anything was welcome considering the day to come.
We woke up at 5:15 to break down camp, fill up on water again, and the make a break for the 6:30 ferry. We made it down there with plenty of time to spare, paid our $3 each to ride the
ferry and hopped aboard for the 2.5 hour (really 3) crossing of the sound. There was one spot a little ways out of Ocracoke what was pretty cool to see (sorry no pictures). First there was an island where the dry sand was being blown across the exposed tidal sand which created a nice spectacle in the morning sun. Furthermore there was a sand bank extending off of the island where the waves were meeting at a 90 degree angle. Once they met it was cool to see a Cartesian grid of peaks and troughs traveling in unison through the water. Neato! Also aboard the ferry were three other NC State students who were biking the same route we did; they were unsupported though, telling us of their adventures to find a place to sleep on Ocracoke, getting the boot from the ranger, and then sleeping in someone’s yard between two sheets for the 3 of them. We were lucky that Neely was camping on Ocracoke for the weekend. Also on the ferry we realized that we needed to put on sunscreen and that Alan had left his at the campsite that morning, so our first objective was to find a gas station to buy some.
Once off of the ferry we had to do some navigating to find the right roads, and even then we had trouble; the whole day was going to be long because of the strong head wind this time. We were
planning on riding across Lake Mattamuskeet, but missed the turn; I didn’t care though because we got to see a crop duster in action right over our heads. Eventually we asked for some directions and back tracked to find the cross lake route. There were some big swarms of gnats that we rode through and most of the one that hit me stuck to my sweaty arms. The origin and history of Lake Mattamuskeet is not very well understood, so now I’m curious; I’ve wanted to see the lake for several years now after trying to figure out what the largest lake in NC is, but now I want to know more about it. If you look at an overhead shot (care of Google) you can see some curiosities in the land, but nothing I’ve found so far says anything about human intervention; anyway I digress.
So on the north side of Mattamuskeet is the little farming town of Fairfield were we stopped to stock up on calories, and buy some sunscreen. Well they certainly had the calories, but no sun block for sale; however the attendant was nice enough to let us borrow hers. We slathered up and chowed down and got underway towards Engelhard. We ended up stopping there at a rest stop (some picnic tables in the shade) to fill up on H2O again and take a break. While sprawled out on a picnic table I saw one thing that I would have never guess I would have see in such a remote place, a French speaking family; it turns out they are likely Canadian because of their Quebec license plate. It was nice to hear the French in a conversational manner. After the stop in Engelhard we rode for what seemed like forever on several stretches of very straight and very long roads. We did take a quick break on the road side when Adam figured out what the noise was in my real aluminum rear wheel; it turned out that there was a piece of metal wire that had pierced my rear tire and was knocking on the bike frame, it was lucky that is didn’t hit my tube.
In what we were expecting to be a mile more, it turned out to be more like 5, was Stumpy Point. We took a nice rest break here initially because my knee started acting up, but it ended up being a good stop. We all filled up on H2O again, and ate some energy; I got some pain meds down, and found a can of Fanta, so as my nick name says I drank it. At the north end of Stumpy Point there was sign telling us it was only 22 more miles to Manteo; in reality it was more than that because of the route we had planned, but a finite number was good to see. This boosted my morale, but at the same time the wind settled down so we made good time for the next 15 or so miles until we got to the 64/264 junction.
So we were about to turn onto the road that took us on the old Hwy. 64 bridge and I was looking back to check traffic when I ran into Alan who had slowed up. The only damage was a couple
bent spokes and a sore foot, but the wheel was still true, so we were good to go. I did come close, not that close though, to getting run over by a minivan; let’s just say that my life didn’t even come close to flashing before my eyes. We rode up to the old bridge, did out business and then did the last few miles to our jump off point. Adam and I made it there without a problem, but when Alan didn’t show up we went looking for him, he eventually showed up having missed the turn. All told we did 200+ miles in 12.5 hours of riding; 4.5 hours the first day and 8 the second day with very similar mileages. That tells you about the winds while riding!
We did the break down and pack up, decided to eat something, and then go fly Alan’s parafoil kite at Jockey’s Ridge, some big sand dunes. Dinner wasn’t what I was hoping for, I was hungry,
and I didn’t feel like arguing, so I did it I ate 3 Big-Mac’s from McDonalds; that was the first time I had eaten there in many years. The burgers looked like crap and tasted the way I remembered them, not great by any means, but at that point food was calories and I needed them. Afterwards we had fun at Jockey’s Ridge trying to float down the dunes, watching the hangliders, and the sunset; there was even a full sized paraglider out here floating down the slopes. After getting even messier at Jockey’s ridge we went to a kite boarding shop which had an outdoor shower where we rinse doff and cleaned up some, also the sun was finally setting there. Then we hit the road and made it back to Raleigh about 10:30.
Once back in Raleigh we unpacked and grabbed swim suits to go soak in some friends’ hot tub which felt great on our tired legs. And of course much sleep ensued.
Check out my Pamlico Swirly-Whirly photo album; or you can see Alan’s interpretation of the trip and photos. Also check out the video Adam put together, and the original video that the music came from. If you were wondering about the subtitle, Foux Du Fa Fa, this was a song that was running through all of our heads for the whole trip.
Nice, thanks for posting. It looks like a blast.
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