On To Plymouth...

Another glorious day ahead by the looks of it.  Patty, our guide, is pretty good at giving us directions at our map meeting the previous evening, pointing out things to look out for and be careful of.  Gotta say, though, I don't take notes and sometimes I don't listen all that closely.  So - when confronted with three different highway choices right out of the parking lot this morning, it took me a moment to go back in my memory bank to recall what she said.  Once that was done I was underway over the big bridge that was in yesterday's last picture.  

We were on reasonably busy US or State highways for only short periods of time today; just long enough to connect to another quiet country road.  And - lots of recently paved roads.  Such smooth sailing on those :)  The usual scenery - mostly rural residential with some forests or farmland in places.  

These guys came out to meet us on the early part of the ride.  A nice change from barking dogs, I've got to say. 

There are still some logging trucks on the roads, although way less than the other states.  New Bern used to have more than a dozen lumber mills, but is down to one.  Here was some logging in action.

Pretty, huh?  Not!

Here is a typical "nice" rural residential property.  

And since I've just shown you nice stuff so far I thought I would give you a glimpse at the other side of the spectrum.  

And lots of stuff in between, including a lot of mobile homes in various states of disrepair.  

We had a ferry ride across the Pamlico River today at mile 35.  We were told the times were 9:45 and 11:15 so all but the speedsters were on track for the 11:15 one.  Then at about mile 27 I saw a sign saying the times were actually different - 8AM, 10:15AM and 11:45AM.  I put my head down and started pedalling into the headwind and made the 10:15 ferry with 2 minutes to spare.  The speedsters and the van-riders were already there.  

Just past the ferry was the charming little town of Bath.  It was the first incorporated town in North Carolina (in 1705), but now is home to just 249 people. Pretty, though, and they do a great job down here in posting historical plaques.

Back on the quiet roads towards our destination town of Plymouth.  Interesting stuff along the way.  We saw at least a dozen little cemeteries that were in farm fields (ploughed around) or right next door to houses.  Some of the gravestones went back centuries; some were recent.  

This was an old trailer that was in a yard with a mobile home in not much better shape.  I'm guessing the trailer hasn't moved in a few years.  

The last 17 miles into Plymouth was a bit of a grunt into a headwind, but most of the road was closed to all but local traffic so it was very quiet.  I made a quick tour through town on the way in.  Another historic town that has seen better days.  In 1864 it was the site of one of the last major battle of the Civil War.  There is a scale replica of an ironclad ship from the Civil War - the Albemarle, I believe.  There's a museum and a lighthouse and a little boardwalk down by the Roanoke River. 

A pretty setting, but there's not much keeping the little town alive.  You've heard the term "toodles" for "goodbye".  I wonder if that's where they got the name from??

Stats for the day:

128 km from New Bern NC to Plymouth NC.  Pretty darned flat.  Temps more comfortable than yesterday - 19C to 30C, but most of the day around 25C.  Definitely not a tailwind today!