I spent the night last night at an AirBNB in Fayetteville and devoured 3/4 of a large pizza for dinner. I saved the last 1/4 for breakfast and called it a night after hanging out with the AirBNB host and her two Salukis for a bit. Here’s a picture of Emir on the couch with me.

I woke up at 6:30am, packed my stuff up and ate my pizza breakfast and set out on my way to Wilmington. Since today was going to be a really long ride, I wasn’t taking my time to stop for photos very often and was more just trying to get to my destination. The weather also got a bit warmer today and I was wearing just shorts and a shirt today. This is the first time I’ve rode without my windbreaker on.

I took a pit stop in Elizabethtown (about 45 miles in) and ordered two 3 piece chicken strip meals, one I ate there and one for the road. I also refilled my water bottles there. Right around this time was the first time on this journey that my legs were in pain. My knees were absolutely on fire for the second half of this journey and thankfully I was able to make it. Here’s me icing my knees in the hotel upon arrival (ignore the fat woman on TV)

I also ran away from probably 5 dogs today. One time, two of them chased me down a busy highway and the cars had to avoid them. Unreal! These people really don’t love their dogs because they’re literally going to die or get maced unless they get trained better.

Anyway, there were a few things I did stop for to take picture of. One of them was a strangely worded church sign…

I made the decision not to follow this road, although I ended up on it later in somehow.

Finally I thought these trees looked really pretty so I took a picture of them.

I ended up going 95.47 miles today at a 12mph pace and felt every inch of it. I’m thankful tomorrow is a rest day although I may still end up going a few miles to get to another hotel. I’m loving this Holiday Inn Express but $100 a night is a bit steep. I will either stay here, another hotel in Wilmington, or Carolina Beach somewhere. Either way I will be a tourist tomorrow and not going more than 15 miles on my bike.

Tonight I’m walking to a sports bar and watching some Thursday night football then sleeping in.