THURSDAY - DAY 13 – Washington to Swan Quarter (61 Miles)
TIME ...........
4:46:33
DISTANCE ....... 71.81
ODOMETER ....... 3233
AVERAGE
SPEED .. 15.0
MAX SPEED ...... 30.0
On the way out of Washington
we crossed the Intercoastal Waterway. In the spring many yachts go up the waterway to New
England and then in the fall they return. You can not see it in this
picture but there was a great line
of them stretching off to the north heading south. While I was on
top of the bridge a rider
on a recumbent arrived.
As I left Washington this day I
was passed by Carrie and Mark. Carrie is a young woman from Ohio who
was riding a Trek Y-Foil 77. She was always the among the first ones
into camp, I expect Mark was not far behind or in front. Anyhow here
are Carrie and another fellow leaving
the rest stop in Bath
NC. Mark was with
them, his bike had these really nice 4 spoke wheels that really make
for a nice ride. But they are not real stable in a cross wind. Well I
stayed at the rest stop and watched the video on Bath the oldest town
in North Carolina. Just a little way down the road I came upon my
second ambulance of the ride. This time it was Mark who was down.
They were tying his arm to his chest when I got there. I helped get
him on the backboard and then get the backboard on the gurney and the
gurney in the ambulance. As we were loading him up Mark was saying
"Somebody take a picture!" Carrie said "No way Mark!"
He insisted and so I said I would take his picture. Well here you go
Mark, your crash shot!
Carrie rode with him to the hospital. He had a broken collar bone,
when I arrived at the campground in Swan Quarter that afternoon he
had just arrived from the hospital in Belhaven. He was unwrapping his
arm in preparation for taking a shower. Well he still beat me to the
campground.
Other than that sobering event it was a beautiful
ride. We really saw a lot of flood damage this day. Almost every
house in Swan Quarter had sustained some damage from the hurricanes
this season. As soon as I arrived I pitched my tent to dry out from
the dew fall of the morning took a shower and changed cloths. I
packed the backpack I purchased from WalMart in Washington the day
before and put my bags back on the truck. I then set out for the
ferry landing. I met John and Jane as I headed to the ferry. They
caught up pretty soon after I arrived at the ferry landing. Around
4pm the ferry was ready to load up and take off, cars first then
bikes. As we pulled
out I saw a biker riding up, oh my, too late. The ride over to
the island was sunny and
relaxing. We stowed our bikes
along the side of the ferry. I realize that the group of riders
we were with were the 'hotel-group'. One option on the ride was to
stay in a hotel at night. The ride would (for a fee) drop off your
luggage at your hotel and pick it up in the morning. You had to make
your own way to the hotel. Well on this day all the hotels were over
on Ockroke Island. I expect a few extras like John and Jane spent the
night in a hotel this night. I saw a familiar group on the ferry, the
videographers. They were
putting together a video of the ride. The sunset
over the Pamilico Sound was beautiful.
You know it really is rare to see the sunset
over the water on the east coast of the United States.
QUEUE SHEET for this ride.
MAP1 that goes with queue sheet.
MAP2 that goes with queue sheet.
