I’m ready to start this six-day, 325-mile bike ride along the East Coast Greenway. It’s great to see so many familiar faces among the riders and to start catching up with people, some of whom I haven’t seen since we ended last year’s ride in Raleigh. Thank you, Sherri, for welcoming all of us on the beautiful terrace in your downtown building. And now we’re all well-fed after that dinner at the Greek restaurant next to the hotel! Lovely to be eating outdoors, especially after all the rain and fleece-like weather we’ve had at home.
Tomorrow’s ride will have a good chunk of trail. That’s a nice way to get out of Raleigh, letting us avoid traffic. We’re headed to Smithfield 42 miles away. It’s a county seat with a population of about 13,000. So I’m really hoping our dinner choices are better than Chipotle (one of the three suggested options). But I’m definitely checking out the Ava Gardner museum.
Got to be ready to go at 7 a.m. Someone’s coming to film us heading out for some documentary that’s in the works.
Exploring by bicycle 