Greg & Camille Go Bike

We were both awake, chatting and packing up well before dawn. We took a break to enjoy the sunrise over the water just a few feet from our campsite. It was stunning. We snacked a bit, finished packing up camp and were on the road around 7:30.

Most of the morning was spent biking along roads with marshy grasses and large bodies of water on either side. Some copses of trees started to fold in as we continued. After maybe 10 miles, we stopped for coffee and some breakfast sandwiches. Outside we were questioned about our trip by a guy with a laid back attitude and a thick southern accent.

As we continued on, the roads were less than friendly and we spent way more time on heavily trafficked roads than we'd have liked. We decided to take the Adventure Cycling route that left the coast and passed through Croatan National Forest, rather than follow the East Coast Greenway through more heavily trafficked areas on the shore. Initially it seemed like a great decision as traffic noticeably dropped after the fork. The first 15-20 miles had minimal shoulder but also only a few cars passing us per minute. The last 10-15 miles though had us turn onto Route 24, a 5 lane highway with a narrow shoulder and cars rushing past at a pretty steady pace. The looks of surprise we saw from some cars was pretty telling.

Finally, shortly after crossing a bridge into Swansboro our route took us off Rt 24 and we were on back roads most of the way into Jacksonville, NC. In Jacksonville we even spent a few miles fully off-road on a multi-use path! We arrived at our Air B&B right at dusk, cleaned up and ate almost the last of our food for dinner.