Thursday May 12, 2016. South Hill, VA

We left Annie and Jay's house on a bright sunny, HOT day! Annie and Zoe rode with us down the bike trail. After we left them we had a short stretch on city streets and then got back onto the Tobacco Train in downtown Durham. The trail was a mix of crushed limestone and paved trail. There were lots of other cyclists, walkers and dogs. We rode through rural NC into the heart of Durham. It was great riding without all of the traffic to worry about. It really made us appreciate our backcountry mountain bike ride last summer.

The bus is leaving!

Once we reached downtown Durham, the route finding began. But FIRST, we stopped at a coffee shop for sandwiches and coffee. Ok now we can continue. Hap had downloaded our route (East Coast Greenway) onto his ETREX 20 GPS unit. As a backup we used Google Maps on my Iphone and as a backup to our backup I had some actual Paper maps...............Also, the East Coast Greenway route is marked. So what could possibly go wrong?

Tight corner!

Using the GPS really did make things alot easier. We planned to spend the night at a Warm Showers host just north of Durham. Once we got outside of Durham traffic picked up some so we stopped for an attitude adjustment at a Convenience store. Sometimes its just better to stop! It seemed to get 

hotter the further we went. Not that dry mountain heat, but the humid, hot heat of the southeast. We were bushed by the time we found the Warm showers house. We were greeted like old friends and welcomed into Ray and Deena's house. Ray even fixed "homeade" pasta for us (with Haps help). Thanks Ray!

Before leaving the next morning Ray even fixed us "homeade" egg soufle. Wow! Awesome breakfast. All of the route was on low traffic backcountry roads. The terrain in more rural with rolling hills. Beautiful riding roads. We had a delimna today. The weather man is calling for storms again this afternoon. We had two options for places to stay for the night. Either a State park campground or a hotel just short of the campground. I called the State park and asked about the camping. When I told the lady we had a small tent, she said um you may want to stay at the other campground near 

Clarksville. It's alot cheaper than here. Ok. That was strange. Wonder what they charge? I also called our other option, the hotel in town. They had a room and a resonable rate. We rode on for awhile with an eye to the sky. It looked the the storm was on its way. So I called the hotel back and reserved a room. 

We had a new first for the Eaton's! We were riding along on back roads when all of a sudden we saw 

the dreaded ROAD CLOSED ahead sign. Uh oh.... we came around a corner and there was a bridge that was under water. A small black truck was sitting there as we pulled up. As I got off the bike to see how deep the water was, the guy said he would drive us across. OK, wonder how we're gonna get that big bus into that teeny truck? Guess what? It fit! so off we went sitting in the back of the truck. Thanks mystery man. Saved us a long do over!

When we got to town, we planned to stop at the grocery on the way into town. I looked at 

google maps and found two Food Lions in town. When we got to town, we could either go left or right. There was one either way. After circling a block, doing a "do over" and pulling out my hair. We figured out that there was only one Food Lion. Thankx Google maps. And it of course was at the top of the hill. Did I mention the heat and humidity. After picking up dinner supplies we finally found the hotel and checked in. No problem sleeping tonight! Almost forgot we are still speaking to each other after the let's turn right, no left, dag where is this place, oh there it is on top of the .....stupid hill episode!

May 9, 2016. Apex NC

Breakfast at Fayetteville RV Resort. 

Oatmeal, bananas, Peanut Butter, bagels and Pistachios

We left the campground after a great breakfast ++ coffee A good start for the day. Beautiful weather, altittle warmer maybe 80 degrees with a NW wind. Which way we going Hap? Todays ride did seem like we were riding more into the wind but still a beautiful day, we were pedaling so how could it NOT be good?

Along the way we saw several Civil War Trail signs. This pic shows one of the memorials to the Battle of Aresburg, NC. Interesting. There was a Union field hospital maybe a mile from a Confederate field hospital. It is really hard to imagine what was going on in that era. 

This pic show how we are carrying our "stuff". On the rear rack we have our "condo"(some people call it a tent). We also have our "bedroom" in the larger blue bag.This includes Big Agnes our double wide sleeping bag, our sheets AND our pillows (me 2, Hap has one....). The black bag that you see is the "closet". It contains our clothes which is sort of three sets of riding clothes,  a couple extra T shirts, 2  long sleeve shirts, one set of long pants each, tights, rain gear and that's pretty much it for the next few months. Hope you like that grey shirt, Hap!!

We stopped at McD's for some ice cream. Do they have ice cream?? Mmm. But then I saw this Frappe??? Whats that? Coffee.....? must be good. After drinking my Frappe I looked up the nutrition info. Big mistake! Guess I won't have many of these!

Our goal for today was to ride to Apex NC on the west side of Raleigh to stay with our friends, Anne, Jay and Zoe. Anne texted and asked if we were coming in on Ten Ten road? We looked at the map and sure enough we were. She said it was really busy so we detoured to Holly Springs. We are still following a Google bike map to their house. Wow, lots of traffic! We usually try to avoid big cities but not this time. Most people gave us plenty of room. But there is always one! If will never make sense to me if you have two lanes and there is a slower vehicle why you just can't move over to the 

other lane and go about your day. We were alittle stressed when we finally got to there subdivision. A 

car backed out of the driveway right in front of us. Ahhhh. We stopped and with alittle frustration said no you go ahead we'll stop it's ok we don't mind. No really go ahead we're just passing throught.....After all that we realized that this was one of their neighbors........ooops sorry hope we didn't make anyone mad!

We made it to Anne and Jay's house! Yeah!They fixed us a great dinner, it was so good to see them and to meet Zoe. What a cutie. We decided to spend another day just enjoying good friends and watching Zoe. Kids are a novelty to us, we don't get to spend much time with little ones so staying another night was a bonus! Thanks so much to good friends!

May 7, 2016. Wade NC

What a great nights sleep. I don't know if its the tent or Big Agnes but something makes sleeping good! We ended up talking to Cindy the KOA manager quite awhile so that made for alittle bit of a late start. We had some coffee in the office, ate a pop tart and power gel and took off. Today's goal is Wade NC, Fayetteville RV Resort.

Let's see which way is the wind blowing......... of course out of the NW. It looks like the weather is starting to dry out alittle. We have had some rain and clouds for the past three days. Today it was 78 degrees and sunny. Most of the roads were bike friendly except for maybe a ten mile stretch. But we all missed! We road through some farmland today, interspersed with some treelined roads.

At one point we were riding and Hap said What is that uphead?? It looked like a bunch of people riding horses and some wagons?? Strange. Sure enough we passed about 10 small wagons and maybe 5 or 6 kids riding horses going up the road. As we passed them I said mmmm I've never seen that before. Then I realized they were all probably saying mmmm I've never seen that before?

We stopped for lunch at a Walgreens parking lot. I made peanut butter bagel sandwiches and we ate a salad I bought the day before. Good lunch! After lunch we rode through the big metropolis of Fayetteville, NC. Busy busy roads. But we found our way safely through. After Fayetteville we stopped for dinner supplies at a IGA. Tonight we are having spaghetti and for a salad, avacodos, and cucumbers. Does that sound good or is it just me?

We made one more stop at the gas station for our beer run and arrived at the RV Resort about 5pm. A good day of riding! Both of us are feeling better, it usually takes us about three riding days to get used
to the bike with all the weight.

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May 6, 2016. Lumberton NC

We left St Stephens on a bright sunshiny day (little did we know...). South Carolina sure is flat. The roads are bike friendly with nice wide shoulders. Most people moved over in the far lane and gave us plenty of room too. That's always a plus! We stopped for lunch at mcD's for our annual Big Mac. Yes that's right. Once a year that's what annual means. On these tours it's difficult to find healthy stuff all the time. Therefore the ANNUAL part of last statement. For dinner last night we had our more typical salad with salmon.

We stopped to buy our fuel for the stove which means

.65 cents worth of gas! 

buying about $.65 worth of gas at the gas station. I went into pay, gave her a dollar and got change! Anybody else done that lately?


We have been having quite a time finding campgrounds that allow tents. Or riffraff as I like to call tents. We searched all over and finally found a County owned park that had 2 tent sites. And just in the right spot! We checked into the office and they had a neat education center with a lot of info and displays on local flora and animals. They been had a treetop swinging bridges where you could
observe animals.

Hap had fun trying to figure out the "Sunshine Recorder". We set up our tent and headed for the
showers. It's a really nice area and well cared for. I especially loved the showers! For dinner we fixed a noodle dinner with peas and extra chicken. Now that's more like it. The only downside of today was we "lost" our dessert Payday. Not sure what happened to it. I know it was in the dessert pocket on the bike.....   Wait..... You don't know about the bicycle dessert pocket......👏

We had a great nights sleep. We had asked the ranger about a breakfast place close and he
recommended a place about 3 miles away. Perfect! We headed out about 10 am sans coffee. If you
have been reading the blog you probably already know about the ten mile coffee rule so I won't
explain it again. Luckily the Ranger was right in the distance or we might have had a problem! The only comment about breakfast is it was food and we ate. Not so good. But we were good to go!

We started out on some 2 lane low traffic roads and life was good. Although the wind was from the NW about 20 mph. Guess which way we are going? But Headwind Hap wouldn't have it any other way! We ended up on a four lane very busy highway going over a 2 mile bridge. Luckily most of the
traffic moved to the open lane and went on with their day. But there is always that one! After the bridge it was time for an attitude adjustment so we stopped at Subway. Whew!

After lunch we did a map check, changed our route and found some quieter roads. I always wonder if people appreciate us going 20 miles out of our way so they don't have to change lanes. Aw well. It's
all good as long as we got here.

We arrived at the KOA in Lumberton NC around 3p, set up camp and headed to the shower and laundry. Since we were doing laundry we pushed the bike along with us. All of a sudden big rain drops fell on our heads. Just as we arrived at the shower the skies opened up. I opened the door and Hap pushed the bike in. We made it just as the duck drowner came down. Wow what a storm! Thank you Lord. Once again he provided just what we needed at just the right time. When we came out of the shower house the sun was out! Haha........ We went to the laundry, got that done and headed back
to cook our dinner. Once again a noodle dinner, with green beans and chicken. Oh and I forgot to mention we found the missing Payday! Woo hoo!!

Hap found some shuffle board stuff, so we went over to learn another new game. It was fun, and we were still speaking when we got done. Let's see the score was Hap (2), Diane (1). But who's counting. I'll get him next time! After that rigourous game we headed to bed, tried to watch a movie but not sure if we saw the whole thing or not! Good nite Irene!

Tuesday, May 3, 2016 St Stephens SC

The BUS is ready to go!

We started todays ride from our hotel near Charleston SC airport. The tandem was patiently waiting for us at the hotel when we arrived. I had called the hotel the night before we left to see if it had arrived. I was speaking to Aaron on the phone. He said yes a big box was waiting for our arrival. I asked him if he wouldnt mind putting the bike together for us and deliver it to our room. There was dead silence on the phone and then Aaron stuttered "um I guess so"...... I said I'm just kidding! I heard a sigh of relief on the phone. 

It didn't take Hap long to get the bike together, and this morning we left the hotel with threatening and stormy weather. A big splotch of red and yellow was just north of the hotel when we left. Due to the storms we decided to head to a hotel in St Stephens SC. Good thing we did! We also had several people tell us a big storm was coming at 3pm. How did they know when the weatherman doesn't know..........? 

It's a good thing we let God plan our routes instead of us. Most of the day we spent on four lane US highway. But the traffic gave us plenty of room and vice versa. We did get to an area just north of us where the storm had just passed through. The roads were full of puddles! It was sort of like the parting of the Red Sea! All the storms missed. We had a few sprinkles but they felt pretty good since the temps were in the 80's and very humid. 

We had a great day of riding, stopped at the grocery on the way into St Stephens for dinner supplies and headed to the showers at the hotel. Awesome start to the tour! Now its 5:30p and I'm waiting for the 3pm storm...................

The BUS is leaving the station

Charleston SC - points north? Maine? 2016

We have had alot of people ask us how we pick where we want to go, train and then plan for a tour. So For 2016 the where happened because we have wanted to ride the sections of the Atlantic coast that we haven't ridden yet. On our 2006-2007 US perimeter ride we had to head back to OH-IO from Wilmington DE and not able to ride north to Maine like we had hoped to do. Ten years later we decided to finish that Atlantic coastal tour. Although we did ride from Circleville OH to Maine in 1996, I don't think that counts!

The plan for 2016 is fly to Charleston SC and head north and see where we end up with Maine being the "goal".  Sounds like a simple plan! For the most part we will be following the East Coast Greenway Route (www.greenway.org). This is a route that attempts to link all of the bikeways, bike routes and trails from Maine to Florida. Although not all on bike trails, hopefully the route will be bike friendly. There  are GPS coordinates available for the route so that should make it a piece of cake! Hap spent alot of time downloading the route onto a microSD card so that we could use our ETREX 20 GPS unit. This almost seems too easy doesn't it?

For the route section from Charleston SC to Raleigh we opted to not follow the East Coast Greenway route because it followed the coast. We had ridden up the coast from Charleston to Virginia Beach in 2007. Lots of people, traffic and no fun in general. Why would we want to do that again? I used Google Maps to plan a route. Google maps has a "bicycle friendly" road option. We have used Google quite a bit so this seemed like a good plan.

I decided to call the campgrounds and make a reservation, because we have run into some campgrounds that don't allow tents. Sure enough the first three campgrounds said NO tents. Actually one of them said we are booked through July as soon as I mentioned our bicycles. Thats interesting,
she didn't even ask when we wanted to make a reservation. Oh well, guess they don't want the riff raf.



It took me quite a while to finally get our first two nights reserved. Now we have a plan!

Packing?? We pretty much take the same thing every time we do this, so packing isnt too big of a deal. Believe me once you realize you are carrying everything, deciding whether to take an extra shirt or whatever is an easy decision!

For this trip we are riding the tandem. We haven't ridden the tandem for touring since 2010. We have missed riding it. But have enjoyed the mt bike off road touring and our single bike road touring. It's all good! As long as we're pedaling....  We shipped the tandem to a hotel near the Charleston SC airport a couple of days ago. Hap packed it in a box and off it went. We had a little snafu when we took it to the shipper and realized the box was an inch too big. Oopsy........ That was "easily" fixed by cutting a piece off the box and retaping. No harm no foul. The fact that we weren't speaking after this "little snafu" doesn't matter or does it??

One other route planning note. Most of you know that Hap is an engineer. I know -- I know what your thinking. He can't help it! Here are pics of Hap doing some route planning. We were trying to figure how far our route is. Charleston SC - Maine  So Hap was measuring. Keep in mind that if I ask him to hang a picture on the wall it takes forever as he is using a protractor, slide rule etc etc. like I always say bike touring is NOT an exact science!