Tag: Smithfield NC

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.

What I learned about Ava Gardner at her museum in Smithfield, North Carolina

Today’s offbeat stop on the East Coast Greenway: the Ava Gardner Museum.

ecg-ava-museumThis Hollywood star is Smithfield’s claim to fame. She actually was born a few miles away and this was the “big city” back then, reached on dirt roads. But she’s buried here and the town is claiming her. And there was no way I was missing the Ava Gardner Museum — just because where else would I find something like this? It’s the sort of thing I stop for on bike rides. Continue reading “What I learned about Ava Gardner at her museum in Smithfield, North Carolina”

Day 1 — 49.1 miles from Raleigh from Smithfield

I’m back in love with the trails in the Raleigh area.

ecg-raleigh-trail-2Wow, what trails!

I can’t rave enough about the first 20 miles of our ride today. We were outside of downtown Raleigh within a matter of blocks and on a trail in just over a mile. And then we stayed on them for 20 or so meandering miles, at times along a river, at other times along fields (apparently full of sunflowers at the height of summer). Sometimes we saw neighborhoods with a connector to the trail. Lots of boardwalk (so lots of money spent), many short bridges and then some serious ones. It’s all part of the Capital Area Greenway Trail System. We rode parts of the Little Rock Trail, the Walnut Creek Trail and Neuse River Trail into the next county.

This fuzzy photo of a map gives a sense of what Raleigh has to offer — and remember that we rode from Durham to Raleigh via Cary last year primarily on trails too, and I fell in love then. So those red lines capture only part of what the area has to offer, and obviously it’s more than just the East Coast Greenway. But like the East Coast Greenway, it shows the power of connecting trails.

raleigh-trail-map

Here’s a view from the trail:

ecg-raleigh-trail-3

That may look like a harmless stream or creek but clearly it had recently flooded:

ecg-raleigh-trail-5

A view from a bridge:

ecg-raleigh-trail-4

The value of trails couldn’t have been made clearer than when we reached the Clayton River Walk’s trailhead at Covered Bridge Road and had to leave the trail. We had a long, steep-ish hill on a somewhat curvy road with the tiniest of shoulders. One motorist patiently held back behind a few riders slightly ahead of me, and traffic started backing up. The third in line became impatient at one point, pulled out and zipped past the two cars in front. Another thought about doing the same. I was equal with him at that point and the passenger window was open. I could see a car in the oncoming lane and quickly said there’s a car coming. So one mess averted. But I do wish there had been a trail to take us to downtown Clayton.

We hit another lovely (much shorter) trail toward the end of the day — the Buffalo Creek Greenway/Smithfield Neuse Riverwalk. Unfortunately, the local hotels are a few miles away at the other end of town, by the interstate.

Why is today’s distance longer than advertised? A bit of backtracking to reach that last trail — and more backtracking from the hotel to visit the Ava Gardner Museum that tacked on about four miles.

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.