This day promised to be very adventurous. My plan was to ride from False Cape State Park in Virginia to North Carolina via the Outer Banks. Neither an internet research nor asking some locals gave me an answer to the question, if this was actually a smart way to ride (Well, it turns out it probably wasn’t, but it was a fun day nevertheless), so I decided to just go for it.

First I had to make it to the state boarder. The only option for this was to take the Sand Ridge Trail in the state park for some miles. I should have been warned by the name, since I actually had to push my bike through dry sand about a quarter of the way. When I entered North Carolina through a giant gate on the beach, I thought that it would be just a short ride on the beach to get to the first paved road. How wrong I was! First of all, riding on the beach wasn’t possible, because my bike was so heavy. This meant that I had to push it through the sand against the salty wind. Second of all, what looked like nice little trails on the map, turned out to be dry sand in reality. So I kept pushing my bike towards Corolla, NC (Don’t pronounce it like the Toyota!) without a real plan. I wasn’t desperate enough yet to stop one of the passing cars on the beach. But since Corolla was almost 12 miles away, I was in need of some kind of miracle.

Well it happened. After some time a big pick-up truck stopped and a truly southern voice asked me if I needed a lift. Yes I did! Jodie and Jamie who were riding the truck helped me to load the bike. After we got in the cabin they showed me not one but two guns they had in the arm rest, saying that they would not be afraid to use them, if I did anything bad to them. Gotta love the South for moments like that! The following ride to Corolla was a lot of fun and we got along really well. It was just a nice combination of talking about serious and stupid stuff, and little things like yelling at people to get off the dunes! They even took me a bit farther than needed, so I could get something to eat. Best sub ever! Thank you for your hospitality, Jamie and Jodie!

Later I rode down Highway 12 towards the South, always keeping an eye on the sky, which looked really dark. When I was in Kitty Hawk, a thunderstorm came through the area like I had never seen one before in my life. The rain seemed to come from every direction, so I hid under the roof of an ice cream shop for some time. I decided to get a motel for the night, since it was impossible to camp out. When I turned on the TV in my room, the bad weather in NC was one of the main topics.

Last bike ride to Kitty Hawk:

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