The weather report looked pretty dismal for Northern VA this weekend, and I just needed a nice long warm ride, so I decided to make a road trip. I started checking the weather forecasts on the web by going further and further south to locations I knew something about. Finally I settled on Wilmington, NC, about a 400 mile drive from here. I had worked there for a couple of years in the early 90's, but had never biked there, so I decided it was time for a Road Trip! I left the house about 2:30am and was on the bike by 9:00am.

The weather was gorgeous. Mid-60s, sunny, but a bit windy, but I would take it. Please forgive these lame pictures, but it was the first time I'd carried the camera on the bike. Most of the pics were taken while on the bike, so the composition is a bit lacking.

Also I have to say this. No offense to Wilmingtonians, but I would hate to have to ride there exclusively. The area is low, flat, and swampy. There might be some nice rideable country roads, but I wasn't able to find them.

Here's what the start looked like:


I started at the Porters Neck area. I don't have any pics of this, but it was a nice loopy residential ride for about five miles. Unfortunately I got majorly lost and spent a bunch of time on Rt 17 going the wrong way. Rt 17 is for all practical purposes like riding on an Interstate highway. I decided to bag it, and drive to another part of the route starting in Castle Hayne, which I knew how to find

Soon I was looking at a LOT of this:



and this:


and this:


I have a bunch more, but I'll spare you

(cont.)