BillsBigRide: Hundreds of Wow Moments

Day 66, June 6, 2011 Hundreds of Wow Moments

108.7 miles, averaging 15.6 mph

Route Kitty Hawk, NC to Davis Lakes Campground, Suffolk, VA

Best Moment – This morning as a raccoon crossed the road in front of me, I thought about all of the wow moments. I’ve had the opportunity to see lots of wildlife much more closely than any other way other than at a zoo. There have been fox, deer and alligators, cardinals, woodpeckers, egrets, hawks, pelicans, and, today the most amazing small yellow bird. The wildlife sightings aren’t the only Wow Moments, I have seen some really incredible scenery and been in some amazing historic areas. Every day there is something that makes me think, “Wow, this is really special!”

Worst Moment – Unfortunately as I rode into Virginia, there was no “Welcome to Virginia” sign. There had been, but it was missing and hadn’t been replaced. That’s okay since almost immediately, I was in Suffolk and their street signs indicated that I was indeed in Virginia.

After a restless night, I got a fairly early start on the day. Last night it seems that everything that could go wrong did. Somehow, when we turned off the air conditioner, last night (who needs a/c at the beach, right?) we accidentally turned on the heat and woke up about midnight all sweaty. Well we did need the a/c then so it ran for awhile. I was just starting to fall back asleep when because the a/c had shut off, I could hear the shower dripping drip – drip – drip. Then around 2:30 someone decided to celebrate the 4^th of July early by launching a number of noisy fireworks on the beach across the street from where we were ( I saw the spent firework casings when I took Duncan for his morning walk. Almost sounded like shotgun bursts.

I was glad to start the day and rode away from the coast and over the 3.5 mile bridge/causeway over Currituck Sound. The maps had warned that there wasn’t any shoulder on the bridge, well the maps were wrong and it was a great ride.

The entire day was just beautiful small country roads with hardly any traffic or if I was on major roads, there was a huge shoulder. Nice. These were certainly farm roads and I went through acres upon acres of wheat waiting for harvest, corn mostly waiting for rain, and other seedlings that sort of looked like they might be soybeans struggling to get out of the ground. When going through the cornfields, it was easy to tell who had irrigated – their corn was lush, beautiful green and nearly 6 feet tall. Those who had not had corn looking very parched, stunted, and sort of had a bluish tint.

Just before crossing into Virginia, I rode through The Great Dismal Swamp. The area has significant historic and environmental significance. George Washington was here, and formed a company to drain part of the swamp. Later a canal and railroad were built and still later the canal became part of the Underground Railroad. The swamp currently serves as a bird preserve and national wildlife refuge.