August 12th, 2007 – August 14th, 2007
Getting there…
We reluctantly left Wrightsville Beach early on Sunday morning and headed out for parts north, aiming to end at North Topsail Beach or just before it. After not riding for perhaps 2 weeks, we were a bit concerned about our fitness level, and the heat had gone right back up again after the storm the night before. We remember the first few miles of the trip (trying to adjust Rosemary’s trailer load, which was rubbing the trailer wheel), and the last few miles, but nothing much in between, so it must not have been too good or too bad. We did run into two road cyclists about 15 miles out, and it was great fun talking to them. As are most road cyclists, they were impressed with what we are doing, and expressed a desire to someday do something similar. We keep encouraging everyone to make it sooner than later!
Virtually the entire ride was on very busy roadways. At one point, when we met the road cyclists, it actually looked like we were entering a freeway onramp. The traffic was doing 60-75 mph, but at least the shoulders were pretty clean and we had a wide shoulder most of the way.
We were finally getting wise, and when we reached Surf City we decided to stop and get food before we hit the area for the campground. We found out which one was our best bet (the best store that was closest to the campground), and pulled in. In some ways we are used to the attention we get when we stop somewhere, but in many ways we aren’t. We are just involved in our daily activities, and that means riding and food and camping somewhere, for the most part, so it doesn’t seem very unusual to us. But is sure does create a stir most of the time, everywhere we go.
At Food Lion, our store of choice that day, we met Don Kimrey who was really tickled about what we are doing. He said that he had written a bit for local newspapers, and wanted to see if he could either write about us, or get us some publicity. We exchanged phone numbers and emails; he took off for his appointments and we went shopping. It was quite fun to be inside the air conditioning and picking food to eat for later. Imagine that – having choices for food! We were already getting very tired of ramen noodles.
The last few miles toward the campground were getting pretty long – it was very hot, and pretty boring – it looked a lot like the area around Beverly Beach in Florida, but not as pretty, and there were no places to stop and get a drink or iced coffee, or much of anything. The first several campgrounds were closed, and Chelsea was really beginning to lose it in the heat by the time we got to what turned out to be the only campground remaining open, at least for tents.
The campground and neighbors…
The campground itself was really hot as there was absolutely no shade, and we were the only tent campers, at least those who relied only on a tent. Check out our photo gallery for a funny picture of our tent among the RVs. It had pretty decent showers, but no laundry, so we ended up having to wash out the essentials by hand and dry them on a line.
Our neighbors, however, were awesome. Right after we got our tent set up, one neighbor came over – a guy – and said, “You know, I feel like a real heel for not coming over and helping you put up your tent, but it looked like an awesome tent, and I wanted to see how long it would take you to put it up by yourselves.” We had to laugh at that! He, Steven, was interested in getting a small tent for some of his excursions, and ours just fit the bill. We had fun talking to him. We had another set of neighbors right behind us who made us fresh coffee every morning, loaned us chairs, let us use their microwave, gave us bottled water, and various other really thoughtful things. Still another set of neighbors went into town for dinner one night, and brought us back some take-out food. How is that not awesome, to run into people like this?
We also loved the owners. Talk about laid-back! They didn’t have us pay until we knew for sure we were leaving (we stayed two nights); they encouraged us to put our perishables in the camp store refrigerator, and they let us hang out forever at the table in front of the store. We got Internet signal there, so it was wonderful to be able to sit in front of the fan, at a real table, near bathrooms, and get our work done.
The campground was right next to the beach, and I mean right next to it. From our tent, we walked about 30 feet to a boardwalk, and it was maybe another 50 feet of boardwalk over a sand dune, before we were on the sand. Each night we went out and walked on the beach by moonlight and starlight, and the morning we left we sat and ate our oatmeal, watching the ocean. Now this is why we came on this trip!