This morning checked another item off my Bucket List: cycling from Kitty Hawk south down to Cape Hatteras National Seashore and back - a 40 mile round trip.

Now if ya'll are the type to hear "blah blah blah" when your wife chats endlessly about something she just accomplished, you can stop reading now. All you needed to know was in the top sentence. But...if you want to hear the whole story....keep reading.

Since the OBX is due for a few days of rain, and today was supposed to be among the nicest, it was time to clean the chain, pump the tires, and get on my bike for the long ride south.

I started right after breakfast, told hubby to enjoy his morning with the collies, and hopped on my bike heading due south.... directly into a SSE headwind. As in "straight in your face" 10 mph winds with gusts up to 15. Lordy! I zigged and zagged down some side streets looking for relief, but all the roads are aligned N/S and there was no escape from the headwind. None at all. So back out onto the highway which was the straightest route. I think I averaged 10 mph in the 'resting your arms on the handlebar to get a low profile, dropping your head, and just keeping the pedals turning' type of riding. At times when the winds became intolerable, and my speed dropped down to power walking speed, with my "fun meter" hovering just above the "unhappy face" zone, I debated turning around and going home. But this was a Bucket List item and the upcoming days were full of forecast rain, so I carried on, through Kill Devil Hills and their lovely big wide biking shoulders that are wonderful to cycle on, and then into Nags Head. Enroute I passed a house that had a pirate flag hoisted high, mocking me as it flapped and snapped in the breeze. I glowered up at the grinning face, and silently vowed to see the back of that flag when the homebound tailwind let me sail on by with my head high and a grin on my face.

As it was, my bike and I continued on, me checking out all the houses along the way. The route had a decent biking/walking path to ride on... if you were walking or just tootling along on a beach bike. There were too many blind driveways, and expansion cracks for me. So I tended to remain on the road, and thus kept out of the way of the many locals out walking their dogs or strolling in packs for group exercise on the path. Everyone was very pleasant, and it was a nice morning to be out. Only a few road bikes passed, speeding along with destinations in mind; the rest were comfy old beach bikes, happily out for a slow sightseeing tootle. Those I passed with a smile and a wave, receiving the same in return.

As my bike and I made our way further and further south into the Old Town section of Nags Head, taking the beach side road off the main highway, the houses along the beach began to sit on the shoreline again, rather than cower behind a huge sand dune. Their sizes also shrank, more congenial and far more visually friendly than the monstrous skyscraper impersonal "houses" planted in the commercial end of Nags Head. I rather liked southern Nags Head for that reason.

At the very bottom of Nags Head, and at the end of two hours, my bike and I had covered the 20 miles to the sign announcing I had reached the border of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The quiet beach road had now ended, taking a short jog right to join with the main highway which is the only road going through the national park. I posed my bike in front of the National Park sign for a photo to show hubby later. It was time to take a nice long drink, text hubby to let him know I'd made it, turn the bike around to face north towards Kitty Hawk 20 miles away, catch a tailwind, and ride home. Hooray!!

On the way back north - at easily twice the speed as the trip south because the wind very considerately had remained coming from the SSE direction - I saw three touring riders heading south with loaded bikes. All in their mid 70s. One single guy and later a married couple - all happy to wave and smile back at my wave and thumbs up. All riding very slowly into the wind. Time isn't their big concern; they'll get wherever they are going when they get there. Nice philosophy. I was also keeping my eye open for an ice cream place to stop and get a dipped cone...but sadly they had all closed at the end of the summer season. Ah, well. I texted hubby to let him know I was halfway home.

With the brisk tailwind my bike and I, even with my now tiring knees, made short work of the return miles, and I got home clocking 3 hours and 20 minutes for the 40 mile trip.

Hubby met me at the door with a grin and a hand dipped ice cream cone for me to celebrate. Life is good!

Bucket List item: Bike 40 miles from Kitty Hawk to Cape Hatteras National Seashore and back. Check!