15 May 2026: Day 7: 24 miles from Surf City KOA Wilmington NC
I have to say it was hard to leave Surf City Family Campground & Topsail. But as the great Dr. Seuss might have said, “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” This was our last day pedaling… We rolled about 3 miles to a below average breakfast at the New York Deli Cafe. After breakfast we exited topsail via the new and beautiful Surf City Bridge with dedicated bike/pedestrian lane. Our planned 32 mile ride was cut short at 22 ish miles of pedaling on about 1/2 backroads and about 1/2 heavy traffic on NC-17. The NC-17 traffic started to become too treacherous for safety. I was planning to pick up a rental truck to get back to our vehicles in Kitty Hawk after setting up camp, but instead the ladies waited and had refreshments in Hampstead at P.T.s Old Fashioned Grille while I ubered to the rental place at Wilmington A/P from there and then retrieved them and bikes and trucked the last 9.7 miles to our KOA camp. Sometimes ya gotta go with the majority… Later, after setting up camp and chilling awhile on a little bike ride around the neighborhood, we had our best dinner yet at Cape Fear Seafood where the ladies shared mussels in a white wine, garlic, & butter pan sauce with parmesan grilled ciabatta while I munched on a fresh and delicious salad with white balsamic vinaigrette… the ladies followed with Fisherman’s pasta …shrimp, sea scallops, grouper, mussels, house made marinara, white wine, garlic, shallots, red pepper flake, fennel, linguine, & more grilled ciabatta. I feasted on Chicken Jarrett… seared chicken breast, roasted tomatoes, goat cheese, beurre blanc served with creamy risotto & asparagus. Our best meal of the trip as a crowning experience! 254 total pedal miles in 7 days plus about 35 ferry miles! We finished with our typical average speed was 12.5 mph with rolling speed usually about 14 it was very flat and the winds could cut our daily average closer to 14 or 10 depending on direction. Tomorrow is the drive home should be no problems and a little weird going car speed again.
Until the next adventure… Aloha my friends!
14 May 2026: Day 6: 34 miles from Jacksonville to Surf City Family Campground on Topsail Island NC
We rolled about 8:30. The first 10 miles included a mix of carefully selected side streets, deadly highways and quiet backroads… at the 8 miles point after a few miles on dreaded NC 17, we found Muddy’s Sandwich and Coffee Shop. Lovely kind folks, retired marine owned. Nice breakfast sandwich’s and excellent coffee. From there we took some hit and miss backroads, gravel roads which seemed set for marine training areas, some miss marked roads that required backtracking. Ride with GPS tried to take us through a marine installation but we were stopped without being handcuffed or arrested… We also had to put a few more miles on busy NC 17 (not terrible berm) then 210 over the big bridge onto north topsail. We were awarded with a smooth roll down to Surf City Family Campground… a joyous friendly camping place right on the ocean. We walked down the beach about 3/4 mile to Surf City Line for dinner. Asta enjoyed the Sticky Salmon, Sushi rice, honey soy glazed salmon, onions, peppers, poblanos, mangos, and pineapple pico… 😋 MB had the Haddock sandwich with sweet potato tater tots. I had a fried chicken breast sandwich with corn and tomato salad… We strolled back along the ocean and settled into our quiet and calm camp. Goodnight friends.
13 May 2026: Day 5: 45 miles from Newport to Airbnb in Jacksonville NC
It was a nice start this morning with less camping gear to deal with from having a little “cabin” at the campground. We rode a few miles on the busy roads to get to a morning speedway coffee and banana quick start in Newport. From there we made our way to the gravel “Millis Road” and ventured maybe a dozen miles through the Croatan Forest which is named after the Croatan or Croatoan Indian tribes famously associated with the “lost colony” of Roanoke (1587) where the abandoned settlement had “CRO” carved on trees to and posts to hint where they may have gone. The forest covers over 160,000 acres of unique costal ecosystems including pine forests, raised bogs or “pocosins”, and estuaries. Upon leaving the forest we took a short detour south in Peletier for lunch to a restaurant, “Birdies” ast Star Hill Golf club. Lunch was EXCELLENT and the golfers seemed to enjoy the novelty of our biking caravan. We started with divine hummus that had roasted red peppers, relish, cucumbers, tomatoes, pickled onion, feta, kalamata olives, crispy chickpeas, EVOO and paprika with grilled pita. ..chef’s kiss. I had a protein bowl with blackened chicken over yellow rice, topped with all the same ingredients of the hummus plus carrots, arugula and Tzatziki. Asta had the special of the day Mahi sandwich with fries I think. MB feasted on fresh Spinach Salad that included eggs, baked croutons, apples and hot bacon dressing. After lunch we powered through 26 miles of backroads, busy secondary highways, and a sort of expressway in Jacksonville, home of Camp Lejeune, famous marine base named after John Archer Lejeune, 13th Commandant of US Marines. We arrived at our exceptional and lovely Air B&B with the ladies a bit frazzled from traffic and they gave me some top level instructions on how to ride and not ride bikes, make turns, communicate and be a good leader. I took it like a man and did the laundry. We ordered Chinese which was Asta’s treat. We were all famished, and devoured the food but were sad to not find the missing fortune cookies, so we have no idea what our fortunes should be. Later, I got some good instructions on listening and how to do or not do laundry. Then we all made nice and went to sleep full and happy. Did I mention we have been in each other’s company 24/7 for 5 days? I think we are doing pretty darned well.
l2 May 2026: Day 4: 39 miles from Davis to Hipcamp in Newport NC
We rolled at a reasonable hour this morning though I have no idea exactly when it was. We hit the Jim Dandy’s a mile down the road for breakfast sandwiches then rolled on a mix of super quiet roads and semi busy secondary highways NC 70&101. Traffic was mixed but very polite and friendly. We went through Williston, Smyrna, Otway, Bettie, and finally Newport. We stopped at The Time Out Tavern for our “dinch” meal. Mary Beth had the 1/2 lb. Mushroom Cheeseburger with a baked potato. I had the same burger with fried okra, and Asta made it “burgers all around. It was just 4 more miles to our Hipcamp which is like some petting zoo Dr Seuss theme park. Goats, emus, chickens, ducks & geese, dogs, and cats…. Plus now, bicyclists! In case you didn’t know, Hipcamps are like Airbnb for campers.
11 May 2026: Day 3: 39 miles Hatteras to Davis NC 69 miles including ferries
We hit the road about 8:30 and rolled a couple miles to the first ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke which is a very quiet island famous for the once wild ponies that is about 15 miles long with only the ferry station on the northern tip down to the small town of Ocracoke. After biking this island tip to tip, we had a nice lunch at Jason’s Diner where Asta had Redrum Barrelfish with fries and salad and MB had broiled Fish and shrimp also hush puppies and fries. I had the homemade spaghetti and meatballs and a salad and we all had garlic bread. Then we jumped on the 2.5 hour ferry to Cedar island. About 2 hours into the ferry ride it started storming, I mean Gilligans Island type storm. We waited at the ferry station for about an hour and a half already soaked just traversing the 500’ between the ferry and the station building! The rain gave way to just clouds and a few spots so we rolled the remaining 20 miles to our “Hipcamp”. We had a little struggle finding the exact location and had to walk through a mosquito death cloud. We made a 1 mile emergency run to Jim Dandy’s for Deep woods DEET. As Our chemical free mosquito repellent seemed like an attractant! Finally we got camp set up, cooked and ate some camp meals, and hit the sack. Whew, long day.
10 May 2026: Day 2: 36 miles: Rodanthe to Hatteras NC
We did hit to road at 8:30, not bad since we got up at 6:30. our entire ride today was on Hatteras Island. We cycled about 15 miles through Waves, Savo, and some very rural sections to Avon where we had brunch at nice little spot called “Muffins & Scones” which also included Quiche and bagel sandwiches. Following our breakfast we rolled through rural narrow sections then Buxton & Frisco, finally to Hatteras and a little mom & pop motel place on the water (Atlantic Side) called the Sea Gull. We hiked to dinner at a sort of fancy place at the Marina (Cape side) called Dinky’s. The deluxe fair at Dinkys included Asta’s Parmesan crusted Mahi Mahi on a bed of angel hair pasta with mushrooms and vegetables. MB had seared tuna on a “salad” which was a bed of green beans, artichokes, finely slivered carrots, Kalamata olives, and other loverly vegetables (no lettuce). I had Caribbean jerk chicken on a bed of rice and beans with chunks of mango and lots of veggies… did some laundry, plan to hit the sack before 10… see ya tomorrow.
9 May 2026: Day 1: 37 miles: Kitty Hawk to Rodanthe NC
We planed our early start and got rolling at the crack of 11. Suffice it to say we had some day 1 snafus… but all was well. We pedaled mostly bike path to brunch 10 miles down the road at Sam & Omie’s in Nags head. MB and I both had pulled pork sandwiches with some rice and beans ans chips. Asta had a nice salad and ham club sandwich. We headed out and rolled through lots of vacation areas followed by a short pit stop at Oregon Inlet Campground a National Park. From there we traversed the Marc Basnight Bridge an amazing long and sweeping affair right of Alice and Wonderland. We also crossed another sweeping rolling bridge, rightly named Jug Handle Bridge. When we landed at KOA in waves we set up camp and had some dinner at Mirro’s Cafe where AstaWe dined on grilled shrimp with sweet potato fries and Cole slaw while I had the Mushroom Burger with chips and Iced Tea. Mary Beth enjoyed the Mahi BLT on toast. We were ready to hit the sack at 9:30! Oh, btw, MB & I are on the Co-motion Tandem & Asta on her Trek e-assist bike.
7/8 May 2026: CLE to Kitty Hawk NC via Car… Made it to Sea Ranch Beach Resort… one night to rest!
Mike’s Life on the Bike 