Tag: Fayetteville NC

Day 3 — 43.2 miles from Fayetteville to Elizabethtown

Today was a fast ride to Elizabethtown.

ecg-dexter-cape-fear-wineryToday was all about getting to the charming Cape Fear Vineyard and Winery in Elizabethtown for lunch. No trails today, just mostly quiet roads, though generally without a nice shoulder. Chris and I flew, averaging more than 15 miles an hour. Nice tailwind too. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this consistently fast.

But the group is already starting to scatter. Cheryl and her husband, Mike, who was driving the U-Haul with all our luggage, decided to head home to Florida and their home, a catamaran moored on a floating dock a few miles inland but still in the path of possible hurricane destruction. Kenny from Charleston was picked up by his wife — Charleston could get hit badly. Steve decided to take the most direct route to Myrtle Beach and get on a flight home to Connecticut tonight; he has a wedding to officiate on Saturday. After lunch, Kim hitched a ride back to Raleigh and will start his drive home to Vermont. And Chris, now reunited with his car, will head out tomorrow; he’ll wait out the storm from his brother’s home in Atlanta.

Here are those who have been with the East Coast Greenway’s Week-A-Year ride from the start:

ecg-riders-from-the-start

Now with those who have made up the missing Maine gap:

ecg-riders-who-have-ridden-from-maine-to-nc

One day I will have closed my remaining gaps.

The winery, on the southern outskirts of Elizabethtown, is pretty quirky. Celebrity art covers the walls, even in the bathrooms. I smiled at the Dr. Suess section.

ecg-celebrity-artThis miniature pony learned as a baby how to duck under the fence; he still roams free.

ecg-mini-pony

Among the other animals are a (free-ranging) chicken and some miniature donkeys.

ecg-winery-chickenAmong the other animals are a (free-ranging) chicken and some miniature donkeys.

ecg-mini-donkeys

 

Day 2 — 68.9 miles from Smithfield to Fayetteville, plus a long car ride

This was our longest day. It’s also the day we found out that the ride will end early because of Hurricane Matthew.

This is about all I saw of Myrtle Beach.
This is about all I will see of Myrtle Beach on this trip.

Today was our longest day on the East Coast Greenway. But today was more than the bike. The forecast for Hurricane Matthew is turning grimmer, and we’ve been told that the ride will end after 3 1/2 days. So we’ll be back in Raleigh on Thursday night instead of Saturday night.

That’s fine for all of us who’ve come from the north. But Chris, who I met on the Maine ride, had left a car at our end point in Myrtle Beach. So he needed to get that car out — today. So he rented a car after we spent seven hours on the bike with no proper lunch break, and we drove two hours to Myrtle Beach, moved it to Elizabethtown, where we will be tomorrow night, and then got back to Fayetteville.

Today’s route was heavily on roads, but we still had a taste of trails. We started with a repeat of Monday’s trail in Smithfield, then enjoyed the Cape Fear River Trail before the unpleasant ride through Fayetteville. We did miscalculate at one point, getting off the trail at the rocky parking lot instead of continuing on to the nature center and beyond. We thought we would have to climb a hill to get back on track — or backtrack. Neither was that appealing. The maps on our phones gave conflicting information about the neighborhood streets — did they dead end, or could we find a path to the other side?

ecg-escapeFortunately, we found a way to squeeze through. Note the barbed wire protecting the no-cursing neighborhood we escaped! (Oops, I almost cursed going through it.)

Here are some of the day’s other sights:

ecg-corn-signThe lower price is what farmers will be paid. The higher price is for dried kernels of corn (no longer on the cob) that can be fed to pigs and other animals. Even deer, if you’re crazy enough to do that.

ecg-cotton-fieldLesson learned about venturing into the fields: beware of fire ants. My ankles are still swollen. How did the slaves tolerate it? And yes, the cotton does feel as soft as a cotton ball.

Carolinas, here I come

I’m getting ready for my second big bike ride of the year along the East Coast Greenway.

East-Coast-Greenway-logoThis is the second big East Coast Greenway ride of the year. It’s 325 miles — similar to the fall rides of the past two years — but crammed into six days instead of seven. That’s what happens when hotels dictate where you can stop.

So I’ve got three days over 50 miles and one that is just under that. On the flip side, it’s mostly flat, unlike Maine, the hilliest section of the 3,000-mile route. I figure it will be cooler too — yay. There are 40 of us riding (plus staff and support), and I’m looking forward to seeing many people I know from previous rides. It’s going to be fun! Just hope we don’t have any big storms.

Here’s the itinerary:

Sunday, Oct. 2: We gather in Raleigh, NC, where we ended last year’s ride.

Oct. 3: 44 miles to Smithfield, NC.

Oct. 4: 69 miles to Fayetteville, NC

Oct. 5: 40 miles to Elizabethtown, NC

Oct. 6: 58 miles to Wilmington, NC

Oct 7: 66 miles to Ocean Isle, NC — after an early-morning boat cruise on the Cape Fear River.

Oct. 8: 48 miles to Myrtle Beach, SC and a celebration to mark a trail opening. Then we get shuttled back to Raleigh.

carolinas-routeAny suggestions for sights I should see out? Places to eat? If Maine was about lobster, this ride may be about barbecue…

After this, I can say I’ve ridden from Philadelphia (really just outside, in Conshocken) to Myrtle Beach — about 1,000 miles. Plus, of course, there’s the Maine ride earlier this year as well as training segments in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.

I’ll be blogging every day of the ride, so check back for tales from the road.

Finally, this is a fundraising ride for the East Coast Greenway. If you’d like to support the cause, you can donate here. All the money goes to the cause; I’m paying for food and hotels.