No shoulder, great ending

 From the moment I arrived at Ray’s house in Sneads ferry, he feed until I nearly popped. Three large meals in less than eighteen hours. Before I left he whipped up homemade waffles for breakfast.  In turn I demonstrated to Ray my stretching exercises.  He was feeling his age and I explained the importance if loosening up in the morning along with a tall glass of water.  

On the road at 7:48, an immediately made a four mile mistake but got into the groove for four hours untill I reached Wilmington. Routes 201 and 74 had no shoulder at all which made the cycling a bit stressful. Staying far enough out in the lane forced drivers to switch lanes. Although I was constantly checking my rearview for what was coming up on me from behind.  The few jerks who me close got the finger but I made it through safely.  Once I entered Wilmington proper Google map tortured me by sending me to Mars but I suspected foul play and rebooted for the correct directions.  Fifty miles behind me, I arrived at Angela and Stephane’s house in Wilmington.  Angela greeted me and her daughter Clementine got me a glass of water and offered me a donut immediately, great kid.  A delicious IPA, cheese and pate followed, pure heaven.  We talked straight for an hour about everything and I learned that Stephane ( a frenchman) made kitchen cabinets and was making progress in becoming a furniture maker. We have a lot in common. After cleaning up and a brief nap, Angela drove me down to meet Stephane at his shop.  Stephane and I struck it off right from the get go. With dinner approaching I sprung for the wine, beer and pizza and we went back to the house and dined on the back patio.   A fun time was had by all. Angela told me how she had bicycled  four hundred mikes with her three year old daughter (Clementine, now eleven) between her saddle and the handlebars on a custom seat.   The route she took traverses the country and commemorates women pioneers, “Madonna of the Trails”.  It is marked by twelve statues of a woman with babes in arms or something like that.  I need to do more research. Another subject, Angela had played college woman’s baseball but can not get Stephane to relate to the game.  It bores him. I explained to him that baseball is a game of life with its successes and failures. Perhaps, his light bulb clicked on. 

Tomorrow with 100% rain predicted plus 14 mph winds from the SSE, they readily agreed to let me stay another day; my first break of my trip.  Tomorrow I will check out downtown Wilmington.