At Interstate 40 we turned south on US 117 which parallels I40 to Wilmington. This route was chosen because we expected it to be only light, local, slow, traffic as the interstate would surely siphon off the heavy long distance traffic. Not true. US 701 had lots of large trucks, and was not at all slow. As I look at the map, there really isn't any other road we could have used to get here from Clinton which has lighter traffic.

Jonathan and Connie caught up with us in the truck later in the morning (photo 2). Since we already had reservations at the motel in Wilmington they had plenty of time. They went to a grocery as we cycled along, and came back again with bananas and other goodies.

As we approached Wilmington the traffic started to pick up dramatically and the road was narrow. Later as we got close to Wilmington, Jonathan came back in the truck and warned us of the traffic on the way we had planned to go into town. He had planned another route which was much better, and that's the way we went.

At the beach we went to the water to take the pictures you see above. I have included the picture Connie took of me last July 24 in Monroe, WA for grins (photo 1).

Lynne and Stacy arrived here tonight from Atlanta and tomorrow we will go to the beach, and just lie around. Steve leaves by plane for Atlanta to see relatives about noon tomorrow. The rest of us will drive to Atlanta on Sunday.

I'll be working on a few statistics of the trip and will add them to this page tomorrow and the next day.

[Connie] It has happened as planned, despite broken and wrenched bikes and bones. It was a lifesaver (for me and other motorists) that Jonathan could load up the truck and drive into Wilmington and unload the truck again. My ankle has been in an elastic brace since last night. With the support of the brace, I can more or less walk and function, but couldn't have driven a vehicle requiring use of my left foot to use the clutch. I also couldn't have loaded and unloaded gear. The adrenalin of yesterday's activities must be wearing off, because as we approached Wilmington, I passed in and out of sleep. In the motel, I was reading the book about the area and found my eyes closing, and woke with a start as I dropped the book. I need a very long sleep.

Tomorrow is Connie's ocean play day. The water here is nice and warm.