Day 9: Little River, SC to Wilmington, NC

May 21, 2008

80.52 miles, 5:58:02 Ride Time, 13.49 Average Speed, 25.1 Maximum Speed

After the unimpressive "continental breakfast" at the motel (only three miniature donuts were remaining by the time I got there), I said goodbye to Robert (http://www.bike-360.com), and immediately rode the wrong direction out of the parking lot, wasting five valuable minutes getting back on track.

I was in North Carolina in three or four miles, and into the pretty little town of Calabash shortly after that. I rode east through the small town of Sunset Beach, and then through Shallotte. The population of the town (according to my Adventure Cycling maps) is 1,381, but it seemed much larger than that - clearly Shallotte was experiencing the ugly suburban sprawl that I am no fan of (and that I would see much of in North Carolina in the next few days).

I saw a sign for a bike shop, so I rode into the shopping center, where I learned from a nice lady standing outside the Belk's deparment store that the shop had closed recently. Not having good luck with bike shops so far on the trip.

As I was leaving town I passed a Radio Shack, and decided to stop and see if I could buy a replacement for my ruined WiFi detector. The old man running the store had no idea what I was talking about. He had better get with the program if he wants his business to survive - how many people still buy CB radios and police scanners (which were prominently displayed in his store), anyway?

The eight or ten miles from Shallotte to the little community of Supply were the best of the day - among the best of the trip so far. Quiet country backroads. Great.

Too soon, though, I arrived at a busy crossroads, where I had an early (10:30) lunch at Subway. Then, 17 miles straight east to Southport. This was an ugly section, with lots of traffic, but at least there was a shoulder today. Southport was a very pretty little town, especially the waterfront area along the Cape Fear river. I met some friendly people there, including Herman Jones, a super-nice guy who was now driving a tour bus after retiring from IBM.

It was a few miles to the Fort Fisher ferry, where I arrived about twenty minutes before departure, and got in line with the cars. When I got on the ferry, one of the men there berated me for getting on too early ("I guess you didn't listen when you got your ticket", etc.), while I just smirked at him. Whatever, dude - despite your snazzy uniform you're basically just in charge of a floating parking lot.

The ferry ride took about 40 minutes, and was pleasant. I talked to some tourists from Indiana, and then to a couple from Raleigh, NC who were filming from the ferry for a local nuclear power plant's recruiting video. They owned their own video production company: The wife was a make-up artist, while the husband shot and edited the films. Interesting.

Fort Fisher was another beach town, but with surprisingly little traffic. I had ridden about 60 miles by now, and the sky was looking dark. I continued on to Carolina Beach State Park, and checked out the campground - it looked nice. Before I checked in, though, I sat at a picnic table and looked at my maps. For the first time, I saw the implications of Camp Lejeune being closed - if I stopped now for the day, it would be difficult to find anyplace within riding distance to stay tomorrow. I called Adventure Cycling headquarters (and talked to Carla Majernik, the lady in charge of the maps), just to verify that Camp Lejeune was really closed to outside traffic. I decided I had to get at least to Wilmington.

The sun came out again as I rode to Wilmington (pop. about 100,000) along River Road, but I now had a headwind, so the eleven miles into the city went slowly. The Adventure Cycling route takes you into town through a very heavy industrial section (although there is a bike path for much of it). The scenery is not what anyone would describe as "pretty", but it's actually interesting, and the traffic wasn't that bad.

I passed a vast fenced-in yard full of thousands of the big boxes that container ships carry. I moved a few feet off the road to get a better look, and had my second run-in of the day with an authority figure. An angry hardhat-wearing guy yelled out "You're on private property!" I guess they take the security around the seaports seriously. I suppose I could have been a terrorist cleverly disguised as a bicycle tourist.

Once I got to downtown Wilmington I had to ride a couple of miles off the route to find the motels - exciting during rush hour. A few years ago, I would never have imagined that I could ride in that kind of traffic.

I got a pretty nice room at an Econolodge, where I had more success negotiating with the girl at the front desk there than I did with the old guy a few days ago in Andrews. She warned me about the Motel 6 down the street, which was apparently a hotbed (heh) of prostitution.

A few days ago I had torn my one pair of off-bike shorts, rendering them unwearable, so I was excited to see an "alterations" shop next to the motel. By the time I got the shorts and walked back, the shop had closed, but the Vietnamese lady who owned the little place let me in anyway. She fixed the shorts in a few minutes, and told me I owed her "a couple of dollars." I was appreciative, so I gave her a five dollar bill and told her to keep the change.

Later, I ordered a pizza from Domino's, and ate it while watching "El Dorado" (1966). Overall, a good day.