The rain and northeast wind that ended our ride in Otway, North Carolina creating a good day to rest and catch up on chores; laundry, grocery shopping and needed bike maintenance has ended. We are up early, 4:00AM to be on the road by 5:30; our goal is to catch the 9:30 Cedar Island Ferry to Okracoke, camp in the Okracoke National Park and the following day begin the ride north on the outer Banks of North Carolina with a 15-20 mph southwest wind pushing us to Hatteras. The strong southwest wind and insects add to the challenge of setting up the tent and getting the camp ready to prepare dinner and ready for the expected high winds of the night; I’m pretty good at setting up the tent by now, never the less it is made difficult by the strong southwest winds, well worth it considering we will be riding NNE on the Outer Banks; we are excited by the thought of an 18 mph+ ride. A three mile ride north from the campground, into the wind, returning to Okracoke for some hydration and fresh fish remind us of how wonderful it will be with the wind at our backs for the following days ride. Being fully hydrated in town interrupted my sleep with a call to nature about 2:30AM, the wind as expected is blowing harder than when we went to bed, the ride north will be even faster and more exciting, the wind has increased beyond the 15-20 from the SW, blowing 20 with gusts to 30; while standing to do what needed to be done and using the skills learned early in life; the wind at my back for the obvious reason, the Atlantic Ocean is to my left. “Bean, the wind is on my back and the ocean is to my left, am I confused or has the wind shifted to the NE?” 20 gusting to 30 from the northeast, I boot my Droid to consult The Weather Channel and confirm the prediction of SW wind 15-20, I am reassured now about the wind, SW 15-20 and reminded why we have never sailed the outside route around the Outer Banks, the wind is clearly from the NE 20 gusting to 30. Ten minute pulls is the answer for the 42 mile ride from Okracoke to Avon, with Christine keeping the clock, 10 mph we are giving it everything we have, we are not defeated by the wind and complete the ride at Sands of Time Campground, a cute island like campground.
The ride from Avon to Kitty Hawk is 62 miles; the wind has decreased, making the ride not too difficult. Christine is concerned about finding a campsite while I reassure her, “it will all work out”; it’s only the second biggest beach day of the year. We ride to Joe and Kay’s Campground located just down the road from the Wright Brothers Memorial, greeted by a” No Vacancy” sign and a closed office, we are not good at advanced planning, it is the Sunday before Memorial Day, what did we expect. “It will work out”. I locate the manager lounging in the back room of the office, her home, and suggest, “There must be a space for one more tent”. “I have a lot of room, a group just left, right here next to the water”. A small channel with several crab fishing boats and bushel baskets full of live craps lining t he dock, perhaps the prettiest spot yet to camp.
The following days ride is to Bells Island, North Carolina is fast heading NNW with the long awaited SW wind. The plan is to leave Bell’s Island and catch the ferry from Currituck to Knotts Island and from Knotts Island to ride to Virginia Beach. Again our advanced planning came into play; we are up early on Tuesday, 4:30AM and mess around until 5:45. Just before climbing into bed I asked Christine, “Do you have the ferry schedule from Cedar Island, what is the departure time to Knotts Island”? “I threw it away yesterday, goodnight”. A short 3 mile ride to the ferry dock timed our arrival just in time to see the 6:10 ferry casting off; the next ferry is 9:30, on to plan two, the alternate route to Virginia Beach.
Our friend Diane invited Christine and I to join her and her friend David for a bon voyage dinner a week or so before our departure; David lives in Newport News, Virginia and suggested that we alter our route to include the Delmarva Peninsula. “Fabulous idea David except that bicycles are forbidden on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel”. “Just call me and I will come with my pickup truck and transport you, your bikes and gear to Kiptopeke”. It is agreed that the Delmarva Peninsula will be an extraordinary addition to our tour. “Just give me a little notice”, suggests David. Again our advanced planning pays off, “David, hey this is Christine, where are you, we will be in Virginia Beach this afternoon, how about the ride across”. Luck is with us as David planned (I suspect he changed his plans to accommodate us) to return to Virginia that afternoon from a visit to Chapel Hill and was available to transport us across the Chesapeake Bay. David met us at the Subway closest to the last entrance to the Bridge/Tunnel within 15 minutes of our arrival; we loaded our bike and gear into his pickup truck and he delivered us to Kiptopeke, Virginia, offloading us at the rest area. Thanks David for the suggestion of including the Delmarva Peninsula and making it possible.
The ride north through Virginia, Maryland and then into Delaware was flat and absolutely beautiful, primarily agricultural; corn, wheat, tomatoes and peppers, very rural and almost no traffic, old churches and small towns.
After a night in Chincoteague, Virginia we looked forward to a 92 mile ride through Maryland ending at the Delaware Seashore State Park, no headwind, in fact a good tailwind, never the less not an easy ride. We have left the rural agricultural area of Virginia and Maryland and arrive at Ocean City, Maryland. After crossing the bridge we head directly to the famous Ocean City Boardwalk, we are greeted with a warm reception by a police officer on bicycle, not to inquire about our ride or see where we had come from, to inform us, “no bikes on the boardwalk”. Back to the road and on to Delaware.
We arrived after a long day of riding, nine hours in the saddle, at the Delaware Seashore State Park and begin to set up camp when two gentlemen, Rick and Mitch, “camped” in front of our site in their 24 foot travel trailer greet us, “where did yous coming from”? It seems to me we have crossed the Mason Dixon Line, no longer “you all”, now “yous”, no soda, just pop. “Come on over, yous sit under our awning, have a cold beer, get in the air conditioning, put anything you want in our cooler”; two guys here to catch Striped Bass in the Indian River Inlet, famous for the Stripers. We now decide that this is worth seeing, the big Stripers; Rick’s mom holds the record and Rick doesn’t waste any time fetching the photo of his mother holding the record Striper. The following day Mitch invited us to dine with them, “come over at 5:00. Rick is making his famous stir fry, shrimp, green peppers, tomatoes, onion and squash”. Excellent, a home cooked meal, and a famous one at that, “we’re going to Bethany Beach for a coffee and maybe a walk on the beach, we’ll be there at 5:00”. Bethany Beach is a small well healed beach town with beautiful old beach architecture and manicured yards, we returned at 5:00 for our dinner engagement, Mitch was right or close, it may not be famous but it sure could be, what a wonderful time with the two Striper fishermen. We left the following morning never seeing the big Strippers; my Droid beeps, a text with photo, Rick holding a 36” stripper.
We left the beautiful Delmarva Peninsula and entered Pennsylvania, “what are you going to do about the hills”, ask several people, I’ll tell you what we did about those hills next week.
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