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Last update, I was sitting inside the library around a couple of other computers when there was a loud, VERY loud, sound of a door slamming near the entrance. Everyone, including myself, jumped out of their chairs but soon forgot the event had even happened. I finished my journal, walked outside and geared up to ride over the bridge into Kitty Hawk. That's when I found out that the huge sound was my bicycle, Shadowfax, screaming under the hot sun.
Assassinated by the sun, the front tire tube was blown to hell. I had mistakenly over-inflated it just a little in the colder hours of the day then let it sit in the sun around high noon. KABLAMO -- hello ideal gas law! T'was my first flat. Thankfully there was no damage to my rim or tire.
| Can you spot the problem? |
| Topeak makes a digital pressure gauge for presta valves. It's a giant piece of shit and I encourage you to boycott. |
I replaced the tube and found my way into Kitty Hawk and the visitor's center. The maintainence dude there told me it was closed but we ended up talking for about an hour about the trip and whatever random things he thought of. I asked him where the nearest campground was and he immediately spatted out both the name of the campground, the mileage, and the exact address of the place... weird.
It wasn't long before I found the camp site, put up my tent and headed back out to the main drag to fulfill my 2-week long craving for pizza. And boy did I luck out big time. Immediately down the road, open 'til 10pm, there was an all you can eat pizza buffet... bliss. I ate nearly two pies myself and struggled to return to my bike afterwards, but damn was I happy :-)
| Looking at this photo makes me want more pizza. Everytime I want to go to a buffet, like a chinese buffet or pizza buffet, I always feel like I could eat their entire stock of food. After about an hour or so I'm full of course, but later on that day, I'll get pissed off at myself for not eating more. Right now I'm kind of upset I didn't eat at least 4 or 5 more pies. Next time I'm shoving them in my panniers... and I'm taking their sugar packets, too :-) |
The next morning I decided to take the day off. I showered at the camp ground for a change and sat around staring at my maps and OBX literature. Some dude came along who saw my bike and it wasn't long before he offered me to join him and his friends in the THC cloud the next spot over. Not really my thing, but I thanked him anyway. I packed up and hit the road with intent to find the Walmart and make that t-shirt I was talking about previously. $3 for the t-shirt and $3.50 for the lettering... voila:
| If you find a dude wearing this shirt, it's me. The price to lay eyes on such a masterpiece is, of course, pizza. |
I put the shirt together inside another pizzeria despite the thousands of strange looks I was getting from everyone inside... meh. Nobody said a word to me, but I sat there for nearly two hours playing arts and crafts.
Anyway... as I was stepping out of the pizzeria, I saw two bikers coming into the shopping plaza with bikes absolutely loaded with shit. I shot over to their location and it turns out they're from Montreal and they've been biking for a month together on their way to New Orleans. Lucas and Francis... two French Canadians both capable of French, English, and Spanish. These guys are a trip in themselves... Long story short, I've been cycling with them and camping with them for the past two days... and it's turned the tour into FAR more of an adventure than it was before.
| Francis |
| Lucas |
We cooked and camped on the beach for the last two nights and have watched the sun come up and go down each time. On the western part of the island we'll watch it go down and then we'll camp on the eastern and watch it come up in the morning... it's so awesome. Nobody is on these beaches anywhere and we have the entire place to ourselves.
Oh, I should tell you about the shirt. The first day I put it on, yesterday, I met Ralph. Ralph is a motorcycle dude who greatly admired what we were doing. Him and I talked for about an hour about the ride and his life pertaining to motorcycles... he seemed to really connect with what we were doing, it was good to hear. Before he left, he offered to pay for our dinner and I was completely taken back by the gesture... I don't need anyone to pay for me, but shit, I'm not going to turn down money and possibly insult him, heh. He didn't have time to sit down and eat with us, so he gave me $26 and pointed me towards a pizzeria, haha! I can't get enough pizza it seems :-) The shirt isn't coming off for a long time.
We're about to hop on the first of two ferries, so I've gotta jet... but know that things are going great and it's becoming everything I hoped it would.
Ciao,
Chuck
| This dude waded into the water to go fishing just as the sun was going down... it made for some really amazing photos. If you can't tell, both Lucas and Francis are aspiring photographers. |
| Unbelievable. |
| God busts out the 64-box of Crayola crayons this night. |
Comments to date: 1 Angela: | July 31st, 2008 @ 8:35am | Wow those pictures are gorgeous! Looks like you're an aspiring photographer, too. I'm reading this @ work right now...jealousy pangs abounding...
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Learn how I've handled
all my finances from the road and have managed to withdrawal cash from
any foreign ATM for free!
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A New Earth
Written by Eckhart Tulle
2008
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Transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world.
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My mini laptop that I carry with me to make this site possible. Only 2lbs and nearly impossible to break.
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refuse to be just another cog in the machine. There's too much important work to be done and too many eyes to open for us to be content with personal goals or riches. In late 2006, I managed to escape the machine, and now I'm setting off to help bring it down.
