May 1, 2015
Kitty Hawk to Coinjock
The morning brought a bright, sunny day but with a strong wind straight out of the north, our direction of travel.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
That picture was taken after breakfast at Stack'em High where we lingered long enough for a cloud cover to roll in. Shame on us, I guess, but we needed, fuel and Stack'em High had just the recipe (if not an odd and awkward ordering system). Fortunately, after breakfast, in addition to the cloud coverage, the wind direction also changed to a predominately easterly blow.
As we headed north to cross the Wright Brothers Memorial Bridge, we experienced a strong crosswind that would persist most of the day. However, for those three miles we were headed north, I knew we would be turning west for about five miles, and I was hoping the wind would maintain its easterly blow. It did. And that was good for another reason as well.
The Wright Brothers Memorial Bridge is really two structures, each carrying two lanes. As we approached from the east, I saw that the westbound structure was completely closed and the eastbound structure had been converted to two-way operation with delineator posts between the lanes. Plus, the eastbound structure is the older of the two and had barely two feet of "shoulder" between the edge lane marking and the high safety curb.
Fortunately, traffic was relatively light. I took a lane position just to the left of the white line and didn't budge from it as I crossed the bridge. Some cars passed in the opposite lane, dodging oncoming cars and the delineator posts. But eventually I had someone behind me who just kept a proper distance and paced me all the way across the bridge. And I kept up a good pace. After crossing the high point, I built up speed to about 22 mph and maintained it to the far side. Thanks to:
Momentum. A downhill start. And a strong tailwind.
Happy was not far behind. As we continued up US-158, the road took a northwest orientation all the way to Coinjock. The wind pretty much stayed to our right, out of the east, but would sometimes come at us from the north. From the east, it was strong enough to push us into the travel lane, even with a three-foot shoulder. Sudden gusts would blow up, particularly around open fields where there was little cover. We also had about two or three moments of rain, each lasting about 20 to 30 minutes.
After the crossing, we made two stops going to Coinjock. One for coffee at McDonald's in Grandy and one for lunch about five miles up the road at the Digger's Diner, a fun place with a theme dedicated to monster trucks (one named Graveyard Digger).
So that left an additional five or six miles to Coinjock after crossing the Intracoastal Waterway.
We arrived at the Midway Marina and Motel, the only game for miles around.
Unfortunately, the restaurant next door was closed (by the health department), so later that evening we walked back out to US-158 to Currituck BBQ for a decent meal . . . and the wind was still blowing! Tomorrow promises to be better. Not that today was bad . . . just tomorrow will be better.
Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 1,632 miles (2,626 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |