Since it was around 4pm, it had begun to cool off. Marin and Elke charge the surf anyway, and were diving into the waves in no time. Matthew prudently held the camera safe on the beach, and snapped a couple of shots of the crazy girls, playing in the waves.
Since the Duke grads had covered 90 miles that day, Marin and Elke decided that they needed to hit the century mark before calling it a day. Lanier, an experienced touring cyclist, offered to watch their gear from the bar at the beach.
Matthew and I headed off in search of lodging and showers, and we all planned to gather back together for dinner. Marin knew all the local places and promised to take us to a good dinner spot. This turned out to be Batt's, a very small mom-and-pop place, serving every kind of seafood, all of it battered and fried. A typical southern "meat and two" place, where your plate is made of paper, your cutlery is metal, but comes in a velum envelope, and all drinks are served in styrofoam.
Southern food has its' own peculiarities, the meat-n-two concept being one of the most common, if not most cryptic. The meal comes with your choice of two sides--something that I've never encountered outside of the South. Then again, in the South, macaroni and cheese is considered a vegetable, and tea is served "sweet".
The scallops and shrimp that I had at Batt's were great--Marin's memory of Surf City had served us well!
Right as we were finishing up dinner, Lanier's boyfriend, Scott, arrived in town to collect the co-eds. He had driven from Raleigh, about a 3-hour drive to Surf City. He ordered a platter, and as we became acquainted, Scott related a bit of his experience hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT). He was a thru-hiker, completing the entire trail in one 7-month, 4-day stretch. (For anyone who's keeping track, his trail name is Flow Easy.)
continued in Part 3
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