Orientation! (Manteo, Nag’s Head)

Hi everyone! My friend and co-cyclist Mary Olive and I arrived in Nag’s Head, just down from Manteo, on Friday afternoon and met up with our team. For about three-fourths of our trip, we will be hosted by local churches and YMCA’s, and the rest of the time we will be camping out. Since the Outer Banks are so crowded for Memorial Day weekend, however, we’re being hosted here by some friends of Bike and Build—who own Gallop Funeral Home. I have to admit, it’s a little weird sleeping in a room with a coffin (they say it’s for display purposes only, but we haven’t checked), but our hosts are very generous and we’re very comfortable! I really like the team members I’ve been talking to so far; most of us are recent college grads, and we come from all across the US.

In two days, we’ve gone over Bike and Build policies and learned a lot about bike maintenance and safety. I’m amazed and how many volunteers come together to make this trip work. Last night, we were served our first dinner by Nag’s Head Church, then had presentations from a Dare County housing representative and a local cycling enthusiast, Jack McCombs. Mr. McCombs lead us today on a shakedown ride (15 miles) to Bodie Island Lighthouse, where we met a 91-year-old veteran who grew up working in the lighthouse. He shared stories about painting the lighthouse in the 1930’s—1 million bricks over 3 summers for $3 a day, a small fortune at the time! My friend John Derrick came over for the afternoon and rode along with us (yay John). Anyone is welcome to ride with us for a leg or visit at a host site along the way!

Tonight we’ll be painting the trailer that carries our gear for us, and tomorrow we’ll start out on our first leg—67 miles to Swan’s Quarter down US-264. We’re all itching to get on our bikes and on the road!

People I’m thankful for at the moment:

My dad, for driving us down to Manteo and buying us peanuts at Mackey’s Ferry

Mr. McCombs, for arranging much of our time in Manteo

Mrs. Gallop, for hosting us assuring us that that coffin's empty...

PS - I bought a bike computer, which has an odometer and speedometer, to help navigate as we go. I’ll update my total trip mileage with each post. Our route is supposed to be 3416 miles (!), but from what I hear we’ll actually bike a bit more, as we take detours and get off course. For today, though:

Bike odometer: 15.59 miles