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| For the third time along these rides, I found a Tesla charging station. They are situated near major Interstate highways, but always in some remote, rural area. As first blush, you start to wonder why Tesla would have a station here when no one in 25 miles of this charging station owns a Tesla. But here's where Elon Musk makes us all look stupid. Not only will Tesla drivers eventually use these stations but, in the meantime, these stations, charged totally by solar power, are selling back their excess energy capacity to the local power grids. These things aren't just sitting around. They are making money!! |
Today was a tale of two rides. A morning 47-mile ride under a cool, cloud-covered sky. Temps in the mid-70's. No real wind of any kind. And nice, gentle rolling hills. Popped in for lunch at the Corner Cafe in Elizabethtown, along with numerous other riders, as we had entered the coastal regions of Southeastern North Carolina. When we emerged from lunch, the clouds were gone. The temperatures had spiked up into the low 90's and the winds were now in our face for the remaining 26 miles of today's ride.
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| We've been passing signs for "Butterball" along the past few days of this route. Today, we finally saw the turkey farms as advertised. Here's the sad part. If you click on this photo, you'll see just how tightly packed those turkeys are in that barn. |
Of all the things on the list of things to do to recover from an upper respiratory virus, you can bet that long-distance cycling isn't one of them. My agitation from riding in the van waiting for my fever to break or my virus to just go away made riding yesterday all the more an act of determination. Today, I merely was trying to recover from both my lack of breathing as well as the exhaustion in my legs from yesterday. I got better in both cases. But I do think it also had a lot to do with the NyQuil I took last night. I actually got a good night's sleep for the first time this trip. Drug-induced, sure. But at this point, I was happy to take any method possible.
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| I realized today that I've been talking about passing tobacco farms and hadn't taken a picture of what a tobacco plant actually looks like. It's not the best shot I could have taken, but this was the only farm we passed today. |
In truth, I did feel stronger today. Both from the recovery from whatever virus had hit me as well as a renewed strength in my legs from the cumulative riding over the past two weeks. The ride organizers always tell you not to consider training while you ride, but it always seems the case that we all get stronger the longer we're on these bike trips. Today's ride clearly proved that.
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| The Corner Cafe in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. Our lunch stop for today. Beats the hell out of PB&J's as SAG! |
As many of us are leaving the ride after tomorrow and not continuing on to Jacksonville, Florida, we had a pizza and beer party for dinner tonight here in the motel to celebrate one last time together. Dinner was filled with lots of laughter, lots of camaraderie, lots of remembrances of earlier exploits (both on this and past rides) and a shared sense of accomplishment. For some, this was their very first long-distance tour. For veterans, this was just another notch in their gun belt. But newbies and veterans alike all took the same measure of personal joy and pride for what's been done. And many will leave after tomorrow with an expanded list of Facebook friends.
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| Ridin' the seams. Unlike most of our time in North Carolina so far, much of today was ridden on chip & seal roads. The rough pavement makes it harder to keep up a high speed as the uneven surface grips our tires. Sometimes, we get lucky and find seams (look at the lighter colored lines on the road surface) where the grittier portions of the chips have either been worn away or not properly sealed into the road. We'll try like hell to stay on these seams as it's a smoother, faster ride. As I was riding on this seam, I kept singing the Grateful Dead's song "Casey Jones": "Ridin' that train, high on cocaine, Casey Jones you better watch your speed..." |
While I am looking forward to getting back to the real world, there is a part of me that is echoing a feeling I've had before on these penultimate evenings of the ride...a desire to just keep riding and not end at our final destination. There's a part of me that gets used to the routine, even if the next day's ride is over some mountain or goes more than 100 miles. It's just something that you start to program yourself into acceptance and turn your brain off to the other issues that surround your life.
You forget what day it is. You forget about work. You forget about politics. You start to see the world with a different set of priorities. What matters most is the next fifteen feet in front of your front wheel, not what some politician or celebrity just tweeted. You don't care about your favorite sports team. You don't even remember if that sport's season is still going on. You remember that the simple joys in life come from total strangers waving 'hi" and saying "good morning" to you as you pass them in the coolness of the morning as they walk down to the end of their driveway to retrieve their newspaper. You appreciate the amazement in the little boy's eyes when his father lets him stand among 27 cyclists as they gather, adorned in their spandex regalia, to depart from a motel en masse at seven in the morning. You notice the smells, both fragrant and foul. You are grateful for that gentle breeze that cools your sweat-soaked bike jersey. You don't go running for shelter when a light rain helps relieve the oppression of a 90+ degree day. You embrace it all.
For all the miles I ride. For all the hills I climb. As I pass from one rural community to another across this country, I am thankful for so many things. To be in good health to be able to ride the different parts of America. To be able to afford the time to do these tasks. To be able to witness all of the darkness and the beauty that this country has to offer. And to do it in the company of some very talented, very funny and very warm, caring and welcoming people. It is an adventure I will never forget.
Tomorrow, onward to South Carolina and the end of this journey.
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