Day 2 – 350 Miles of Doubts

OK, this is the first mornin CK becomes painfully aware of my penchant for risin before the roosters on these bike rides...usually 'round 5:30. Hey, I don't know why...it's just what it is. So, I get up and get showered...take me a stroll 'round the grounds...and damn, it's still an hour 'n half before breakfast. What to do? What to do? Well, as I'm ponderin that very thing, one of the owners that's up gettin things ready in the kitchen, sees me wonderin aimlessly and invites me in for some coffee and some chit chat while he's scurryin 'bout. CK eventually rises and joins me for coffee. We enjoy one of the best breakfasts I think I’ve ever had, and bid our farewell and thanks to the proprietors of this fine establishment called the Madison Inn. We’ll visit this place again I’m sure.

The first leg of today’s ride would take us to the home of my ridin bud, Muthuh, in Durham, NC…’bout 200 miles…and then ‘nuther 150 miles to New Bern, NC..home of ‘nuther of my buds, Bulldog and his wife, Rae. Headin east outta Black Mountain is difficult to do without hittin the interstate for a ways, so I finally convince CK it’ll all be ok and we hit I-40 towards Durham. The plan was to zoom along I-40 over the rise ‘til we could pick up US-70 east again. Sounds like a simple plan…right? Well, US-70 zig zags back ‘n forth across the interstate several times ‘tween here ‘n Durhan…and the first couple exits for 70 would run us thru some congested areas…so we’re gonna wait a few exits and hit it in the clear. OK, so the intuitive navigational skills I’m so proud of out in the country failed me this time, as I jumped off an exit onto 70 and hauled ass. ‘Bout ten miles later we come to the interstate again…and I’m havin a bad feelin ‘cause the map says that doesn’t happen for ‘nuther fifty miles or so. Yep, my li’l run on 70 turned out to be in a westerly direction, and we got to enjoy a certain ten-mile section of I-40 twice this day. Since we had already taken the “scenic route”…twice!...we decided the best thing to do was just stick to the superslab on over to Durham. Argghhhh!

Anyways, we were to meet up with Muthuh at his place in Durham…and another couple, David ‘n Jen…and head towards our first overnighter with the whole group in New Bern, NC. As we’re nearin Durham, I musta drifted a bit ‘cause I just zipped right past our exit…and am instantly lost ‘cause I’ve never navigated the city of Durham before. OK, so twice in one day…I’m NOT stoppin for directions. I do manage to take an exit and a few turns that look like they head in the desired direction…and finally give in, stop on the side of the road, and give Muthuh a call. Turns out, we’re within a couple miles of his place, and he rode out to lead us in. This was Muthuh’s first time meetin my li’l sweetie, CK…and what does she do first thing?…spills the beans ‘bout already havin done this lost thingy earlier today. I had not yet clued her into the biker’s creed…what happens on a bike ride, stays on a bike ride…’sides, we were still on the bike ride so I guess it was fair game, huh.

After much hee-haw’n at my expense, it finally sinks in to CK that we’ve still got ‘nuther 150 miles to cover once Dave ‘n Jen show up. Hence, the doubts…’cause CK’s already talkin like it’s time to stop for the day. No such luck sweetie…just saddle up and hang on…we gots a couple or three more hours to go. Dave ‘n Jen show up just a little bit later, and we all fire ‘em up and head towards New Bern with Muthuh leadin the way…stoppin to pick up a couple more riders, Sarge and Jim, along the way at li’l towns here ‘n there. We roll into New Bern at a decent hour, and check into the Travel Lodge for the night’s stay. It’s not long ‘til we’re joined by Dog ‘n Rae and Cuz ‘n Loosie. New Bern is Dog ‘n Rae’s home and stompnin grounds, so they proceed to take us all on a pre-arranged tour of Hatteras Yachts where Dog has worked for the last twenty-sumthin years. The place should be named Hatteras Ships…these things were HUGE! Can ya just imagine how many really nice rides ya could take with what it takes to buy just one of these things?! Anyways, after the tour, we end up at some local dive for drinks and a little music by a one-man band. We had a really good time, but I think we all agreed we woulda rather listened to the juke box after only five minutes of this guys off-kilter bellerin.

So, havin wisely agreed to all pile into Dog ‘n Rae’s pick-‘em-up truck before hittin the bars, we pile back in it and they drop us off back at the Travel Lodge for the night. We’ll meet ya out front in the morn for the ride out to the islands.