I woke up his morning to an amazing breakfast made by my AirBNB hosts. I had eggs, bacon, grits, waffles, fresh fruit, coffee, OJ, and sweet potato home fries waiting for me when I woke up. These people were just insanely nice and accommodating. Excuse the poor food photography I’m new to this blogging thing.

I plotted my route to Fayetteville which once again diverged from the ECG route. I decided to take route 50 which goes directly to Benson and then catch back onto the ECG route there and head to my AirBNB in north Fayetteville. Route 50 was great as expected and 25 miles flew right by. Went past some cotton fields and other crops on the way.

Also went past an overly decorated house …

Eventually I ended up at Benson which is where I planned to pick up the ECG again. Of course once I got on the ECG path dogs started barking at me but I decided to stay the course. I crossed Cape Fear River which was pretty cool.

Immediately after crossing I took a left onto Beaver Dam Road which sounded harmless enough. Sure enough another fucking boxer starts barking at me and chases me for about 100 yards. Those dogs are ridiculously fast but I outran it. About a mile later an older looking lab/pit mix was standing in the freaking road and barking at me as I approached. My patience for this crap is completely gone now so I slowly approached with mace in hand and the dog slowly backed away (still barking) and eventually ran home to mommy without me having to do anything. That dog was all bark no bite.

Side note: In North Carolina it’s illegal to have a dog not on a leash or in a fenced in yard so I could report these dogs to animal services but that’s too much hassle for me.

Anyway, I decided the ECG, or East Coast Greenway, is really the East Coast GRRRRRRReenway (dada ching!) as you have to deal with dogs the whole fucking time. I said screw it I’m just going to deal with traffic and stick to the direct routes so I hopped on 401 and took it into town. I even saw some sheep!

I’m currently killing some time at a local Starbucks until I can check into my place for the night.

Total for the day was 57 miles (which will be 60 when I get to the house) at a little over 12mph. Tomorrow I head to Elizabethtown as a stop over on my way to Wilmington.. Tomorrow I am going to huff it to Wilmington because there is no space at the one hotel in Elizabethtown. That will be a 100 miler tomorrow! Weeeeee… It is downhill with a tailwind though and temps are lower 70s so I should be able to make it. Just need to make sure to pack a lot of fluids and food.

Going to just take it easy tonight for sure… Hopefully it’s a comfortable bed.

My plan for the day was to drop off my bike at TLC Bikes and then head into town and check out the North Carolina Museum of Art and their Porsche exhibit. On my way to the bike shop I got a flat tire which was really annoying but didn’t really set me back. I picked up a couple more tubes and a patch kit to be safe. Gary at TLC did a great job tuning up my bike and now everything works as it should. Thank god my derailleur works properly now. I can’t thank him enough for the quick turnaround.

After I dropped my bike I hung out at Jubala Village Coffee again and had too much espresso, coffee, and biscuits. My god that place is amazing. Here’s them making me a fresh cup of coffee,

Anyway, I eventually made it to the museum and it was really cool. Here are a few of the cars.

There was also a really cool sculpture garden there and the art museum was nice too.

I eventually made it back from the museum to pick up my bike but was running out of daylight. I had to hustle to beat the darkness so I ended up getting a bit of a workout in on my “rest” day. Oh well.

Tally for the day was about 30 miles and now I’m hanging out in South Raleigh with a very nice lady currently picking me up Chinese food.

Tomorrow I head to Fayetteville which will probably be a little over 70 miles and will stay in some crap hotel.

Wow what a great day. I woke up on time in my King sized mattress and ate two of the Best Western Plus’ sausage egg and cheese biscuits and was on my way. My first stop was a donut shop called S&B Donuts in South Hill which the fine bartender Kristen at Applebee’s had suggested to me. I gave it a shot and their donuts were great, especially the old fashioneds. While I was there a couple older fellows asked me where I was headed and I told them my story and that I was headed to Raleigh for the day. I showed them my planned route and they laughed at me and told me dogs would be chasing me all day and told me just to take US1. Naturally I took this advice, because fuck dogs, and it worked out great. The whole ride was just me riding my bike and enjoying the scenes and perfect weather.

I crossed the Roanoke River his morning which was very pretty. Here is a picture of it…

I also finally got out of Virginia and it’s awful hills, wind, and back country.

I stopped at the KFC in Henderson, NC for a healthy lunch and saw this amazing billboard trying to get me to buy a trailer home. Tempting!

I eventually made it to North Raleigh after passing through Wake Forest but was here too early for my 6pm check in at the AirBNB so I decided to get some coffee and I’m very glad I did. Just a heads up Jabala Village Coffee is amazing… Great espresso and biscuits. On my way there I happened to see a bike shop called TLC Bikes which worked out perfect because the guys at Shitty City Bikes didn’t tune my derailleur after converting my bike into a triple and I needed to get my bike tuned up. I hung out with the guys and their Great Dane named Mystic for a bit (I don’t hate this dog) and am going to get my bike taken care of tomorrow morning.

Also on the way to the shop I ended up on a trail and saw some deer and nice scenery on the way.

Waiting for my AirBNB hosts to get home now but once they do I’m going to check in and take a cab into town and grab dinner and a beer at some college bar.

Final tally for the day 88 miles at a 12mph average. Tomorrow I am going to take my bike in to get tuned in the morning and then be a tourist for the day. I’ll grab my bike at 3 or so and head to South Raleigh which is maybe 20 miles