A Visit to Mayberry...well Mt Airy, NC, home of Andy Griffith

Yesterday morning saw us once again on the Blue Ridge Parkway with intermittent rain – on with the raincoats, off with the raincoats, repeat.  Leaving the Parkway we descended into the town of Mount Airy.  Mount Airy is the hometown of Andy Griffith and inspiration for everybody’s favorite small town, Mayberry.    

After a much needed stop at Walmart, Nicholas and I continued the ride into Mt. Pilot where we stopped at Greystone RV park.  They get 5 stars for the bathhouse... It would rival the bathroom in many 5 star hotels!  The park is very new and the owners are putting a lot of effort into making it a small, but top-of-the-line RV park.

 Greystone sits below Pilot Mountain and just outside the state park. Pilot Mountain rises more than 1,400 feet above the rolling countryside of the upper Piedmont plateau and has been used as a landmark for north-south travelers since the Saura and Tutelo Native Americans lived in this area.  Here is the track for the ride.

View from Greystone RV Park

Today, Beth decided to take a much needed rest day.  The riding and day-to-day logistics of doing a 9 week self-supported trip is starting to wear us all down a little.  It would be hard enough just to do the 80-100 mile a day of riding, but also having to cook, do laundry, keep the food stocked (and we are eating A LOT!), maintain the bikes, maintain the RV, modify routes based on RV accommodations, etc.  We start early and finish pretty late every day.  But we still get in the occasional game or two of Catan.  Not that we aren't having fun, but it is probably good that we are within 300 miles and 4 days of the finish.  

Today, I started the journey from Pilot Mountain alone while Nicholas followed his typical morning routine of running.  I had made it 46 miles down the road when I ran into a sign on my route that said "No Outlet" I was trying to decide what to do as they caught me in the RV.  It was going to be a 6 mile detour, but a couple of ladies out walking their kids in strollers told me the road was blocked by a gated community and I could just slip through the gate.  Beth and Nicholas took the 6 mile detour, while I risked being arrested for trespassing on the half mile of road in the gated community.  

More views from the Blue Ridge Parkway

At mile 85, we hit another little road block.  Beth had driven ahead and found our route was marked with "No Bicycles" signs.  We checked the maps on the iPad and made a quick adjustment.  Nicholas and I diverted to another nearby highway, but had to put up with significantly more traffic and no shoulder.  We made to the hotel in Hillsborough (just west of Durham) without any problem, but I know I was riding just about as fast as I could.  I logged 99.8 miles on the GPS, but I think I'll just round that up to 100.  Here is the route for today.