Day 6 thru Mike's lens

We had budgeted one day off in planning our journey and decide that today will be it. We have a slow moving morning at the motel before hopping on our bikes for a short 4.5 mile ride to the Clarion hotel in downtown Raleigh. That's the extent of our biking today, so Erin even opts to ride in a dress. Still, this is summer in North Carolina, and we have both broken a sweat by the time we check-in early with the friendly staff at the Clarion. 

We spend our day off the bike enjoying a fabulous burger and fries at Chuck's for lunch, walking the historic districts, exploring the state capitol, cooling down with some homemade ice cream, and then completing a crossword while having a couple of pints at the Flying Saucer near our hotel.  The highlight, though, is dinner with Erin's brother James and his son Joseph. They flew into DC from Texas earlier that morning and then took public transportation to Erin's apartment where they grabbed some additional packed bags of ours and accessed Erin's car. Though they have a long driving journey ahead of the them to get to Little River, SC (where we will eventually join them and James and Erin's parents), they opt to drive a bit out of their way to join us at a local pizzeria. So cool. 

Later on that night, I begin planning tomorrow's journey. We are shooting for Stedman, NC where we can stay with Erin's cousin Gigi, but the weather these next few days may or may not cooperate. I am counting on the statistician Nate Silver's observation that non-National Weather Service forecasters typically overestimate the chance of inclement weather!