October 22, 2016. Maysville to Atlantic Beach, NC. 40 miles.

The wind was still howling this morning so we used our good judgement and rode the route backwards. After breakfast we piled into the vehicles and Bill and Doris dropped us off at Piggly Wiggly in Maysville.

We passed by several cotton fields in bloom in the early miles of our ride. Of course we had to stop and look at it--Diana even picked a piece so we could all feel it. I am going to bring it home to show the grandchildren.

There were a lot of runners on the road today. Last night the woman in the motel office told us that a big run was finishing here today. I asked one of the runners how long their run was, and he told me it was a 200 mile relay! Teams ran all the way here from Raleigh! The legs varied from 2.5 to 10 miles, and each runner ran multiple legs around the clock.

We crossed a high bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway and coasted onto Emerald Isle. Shortly after that we got off Highway 58, which we had been on all day, and rode Ocean Street. We stopped at a public access to the beach. The waterfront was very busy with mansions, but there were public access points about every half mile.

We got back to the Island Inn in time to take a shower and have a late lunch at the local diner. Fred and Doris went to the aquarium and the rest of us got in the truck and went to a bike shop on Emerald Isle. I talked with a runner in the parking lot here--her relay legs were at 9:30 last night and 3:30 this morning. That would be pretty hard to do!