Sunday in the Country

Sunday, April 30

The hotel we had selected was hosting a wedding, so we were two of the only people in the entire hotel who did not know everyone else; when we got up to have breakfast out in the lobby, we were greeted with astonished stares at our outlandish and bright plumage. Nevertheless, we sat and enjoyed bagels with peanut butter, half a cinnamon roll each, and some coffee and juice. We also secreted away extra peanut butter, coffee creamer, an apple, a banana, and two hard-boiled eggs for later. We are getting resourceful.

We did not see Marty and Nita outside, and by 9:30 we decided to get rolling. The wind, which we learned was 15-25 mph with gusts in the 30 mph range yesterday, were slightly abated. Very slightly. Today, the winds were forecast to be 10-20 mph.

It was some tough going, and even though we knew we were only going 40 miles, we also knew it was going to be a hard-fought 40. I was a little disappointed not to have seen Marty and Nita again this morning, but my spirits were somewhat lifted by the extremely light traffic on the road to Witherbee and Bethera. We saw two cars, total, pass us on that road.

Along the road to Jamestown, we passed a milestone, of sorts: 400 miles. We posed at the corner of CR125 and SR41, and I used the timer function to get a picture of us both, with me holding up four fingers and Nancy making two 0's with her hands.

When we got to Jamestown, we recognized that the lunch options were kind of slim; the best one seemed to be Anglers #9, which was also a gas station and a convenience store. As we approached, we noticed another cyclist sitting outside enjoying a snack. This turned out to be Joe, a triathlete and resident of Mount Pleasant, out for a little 90-mile jaunt on his time-trial bike, who was greatly intrigued by our gear and our journey. We had only just struck up the conversation when we were joined by another gentleman, Franklin Mason, an octogenarian who, until recent knee issues forced him to stop (or delay for the time being, according to him) RUNNING. He is a marathon runner, and has competed in 119 marathons, by his count, including 15 NYC's and 9 Bostons. He only started running when he was 60!

Our conversation with this very interesting pair was only interrupted by the arrival, on their signature tandem, of Marty and Nita Hayes! We must have made a pretty odd looking group - five cyclists and a distinguished gentleman, a tandem bike, a time trial bike, and two bikes loaded for touring.

After a little while, Franklin excused himself and wished us good luck on our trip. Joe and Marty and Nita talked while Nancy and I went inside to get our lunch; when we came back outside, they had decided to ride together the way we had come, back towards Monck's Corner, so we said goodbye again. Joe wished us well, too, and we shook hands; Joe, I hope you get to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway soon!

We made the last little bit into Andrews in long order (the wind, you know, it slows you down), and checked in at the Colonial Inn at the edge of town. Of course, the library was closed. We walked downtown anyway and had dinner, and just enjoyed the walk back. The weather has been unbelievable, despite the wind, and we will probably just keep going until we get to North Carolina before we take a rest day. We will see.