Today transpired to be another day following the pattern of a great start, a brilliant 2nd breakfast, then a rough afternoon. Is the answer to make the 2nd breakfast at the end? Please, no, don’t make me do it. Even as an experiment.

• Today’s Distance (miles): 52
• Time in saddle: 3h 38
• Max/min temp – in full sun (°c): 40°/23°
• Climbing (feet) : 272
• Calories used: 2,435
• Today’s 2nd Breakfast: BLT (with pickle) and coffee at the City Cafe, Holly Ridge NC
• Cafe time: 3h 18

I thought I’d welcome you all to a small part of my morning routine, at least when I’m staying at a motel: wheeling the bike down to the ice machine prior to checking out.

I had 1.4 miles of illegal behaviour this morning, almost as soon as I’d left Jacksonville. Trying to get to Route 17, I accidentally took a short stretch of freeway and couldn’t really go back. The shoulder was very wide, so that was ok, but it was also full of junk and rubble. Feeling a bit paranoid as I wove a path through the obstacles, I wondered about CCTV and whether I was going to hear the start-up ‘whoop’ of the highway patrol at any moment. At least there wasn’t much traffic. Then I saw up ahead that a State Trooper was waiting for miscreants like me on the bridge crossing the freeway. ‘Oh, %£^&!’ I thought (please insert your own choice of ‘exclamation’ here). I started planning my explanation-speech as I got near enough to see the face of the officer at his open window, and wondered what the fine might be if they decided to make an example out of me. But guess what happened? He waved. 0.6 of a mile later I rejoined the 17 and became near-normal and legal once more. Thanks mate, I owe you one.

THOUGHT ON HIGHWAY TRAFFIC: The highway traffic is very different to that in the UK. If you’re driving a motorised vehicle, you’re slightly unaware that you’re actually in a wave of vehicles, created by the wait at the last intersection. Once the wave passes, the cyclist is left in a peaceful oasis for a several minutes, until some lights miles away change again, releasing the next generation of noisy people.

After 10 more miles on the 17 I spotted a side road running parallel and decided to give it a try. It was fairly hard-topped with gravel, and very shady and wooded, so I stayed there cycling in pretty much a dead straight line for another 10 miles.

Occasionally I was passed by gigantic construction machines or flat-beds pulling long trailers, which threw up great clouds of dust. The drivers slowed and gave me very friendly waves, laughing at my cowboy/bandito/plonker-demeanour. Which brings me to the trusty bandana once again.

I left off two important uses of the bandana yesterday. Tied around the neck when the sun’s beating down on your back, and tied around the neck when the aircon is just toooo good. I’m sure I’ll think of more.

Then the bandana became unexpectedly the cause of a problem, rather than the solution. I had my AirPods in to message using Siri (are you still with me?), but decided to take the bandana off. This flipped the left AirPod out and onto the road, and I was travelling fairly quickly at the time. I slowed as quickly as I could, then looked round and thought ‘Well, that could be anywhere!

These things are expensive, hard to replace on the road, and I use them all the time. I tried to use the ‘Find My’ app which makes the lost apple product emit a noise that gets louder the longer you leave it running. But it just kept making the right AirPod bleep. So I started trying to work out how far back to look, whilst scouring the road. Every single white stone I passed looked like an AirPod to me. Then with a bit of fiddling I worked out how you can make the left one bleep on its own, and started listening.

Sure enough, the bleep got louder and louder, until I was standing right above it.

If there was a speed eating competition on Incidents of Travel, the champions would be anyone dining at the superb City Cafe in Holly Ridge, roughly half way to Wilmington from Jacksonville. I stopped there for 2nd breakfast today. Whether you ordered just a BLT like me, or plates of ribs and chicken and coleslaw and fries and who-knows-what else, it was obviously all so good you just had to stop whatever you were doing and EAT! The service was so friendly, and once the eating was done everyone just got on with enjoying the endless top-ups of coffee and chatting with the great women who run this place.

Because I’d already had a big cooked breakfast at the hotel, I wasn’t as hungry as usual, otherwise you would have probably had a full blow-by-blow report of the great-looking Ribs, Coleslaw and Fries which a lot of the clientele were ordering. Sorry. The further I go into North Carolina, the more the feel changes, and the stronger the accent becomes. People are so friendly and take so much time to say hello, it’s very relaxing to be around. And they really like to encourage me on my journey, which I appreciate a great deal. It seems to me that almost no-one uses their bikes except for local trips, so any distance I tell them I’m travelling sounds impressive! As I paid at the till the manager asked where I’d come from, so I gave my usual answer of ‘Halifax, Nova Scotia’, and a few minutes later she was putting my card up and getting a pin put in the map they have on the wall, to show my start and roughly where I’ll finish. We also got a photo which they said they’ll put on their Facebook page – I’ll share it here if it appears.

Just before I left to ride the last 30 miles to Wilmington they were announcing to everyone in City Cafe: ‘Next Thursday is meat loaf! Next Thursday is meat loaf! Unless something happens! See you Thursday!’, which really made me laugh. Great place.

The ride from Holly Ridge to Wilmington is just plain problematic. There’s no real alternative to using the 17 most of the way, and the shoulder is very changeable. The real problem is the way the space you do have is so full of debris. This is an issue in North Carolina, and once again had the same result – rear wheel £%$^&*%$ (don’t know why I bother being superstitious!) caused by a long screw going straight through. It’s becoming a familiar routine fixing it, at least, after all this time not needing to. Let’s just say that the 50+ miles today (esp the afternoon) felt a lot further again due to the conditions, and it was truly a relief to arrive at my motel (after stopping at a Walmart just before to buy myself a fresh and lovely salady/fruity/chessecakey-supper) and to soak in a hot tub for a while, and phone home. All the problems of the afternoon just melted away.

THE ONE WHERE I MENTION A LOT OF FRIENDS: Tomorrow should be a short day on the bike as I head out first to see a bit of old Wilmington, then drop down to Southport be hosted by a friend of a Friend of the Blog, Oriel O’Loughlin, a friend of my dear mum and dad’s! And if I can make the route work, it may also be a ferry day…

SIGNS THAT ARE FUNNY: Only one offering today.

PIZZAS THAT ARE FUNNY:

BIKES THAT ARE FUNNY (AND A BIT POIGNANT):