Day 7: Outrunning the Storms

Day 7 started with breakfast at the rooftop restaurant in our hotel. We had he whole place to ourselves. It was a pretty good way to wake up. Then we hit the road with my mom's cousin's house as our destination. 

It was a hot one, with lots of rolling hills. It took a bit to get used to riding again after our day off. About 10 miles away from our lunch destination we saw a roadside veggie stand. We stopped, bought 2 peaches, and sat down to rest and enjoy them for a bit. 

Note to self: filling up bottles from a hose can end up tasting like dirt. 

Back on the road. Rain clouds were all over the place. We rolled into a town just as some rain hit. We had hoped to eat lunch there but there werent many good options. So we had some snacks  under the protection of a gas station and set our goal for a town ahead that looked more promising. Erwin was our goal for lunch. (The name of the town reminds me of how my brother used to say my name). We got chased by another little dog on the way there and ended up ducking under a carport at a house to avoid another downpour.  We ended up eating in Dunn at Kim's BBQ. The restaurant was hardly noticeable as we rode by. It looked like more rain was on the way so I went in a business next to Kim's to see if we could leave our bikes locked under their awning. Then off to Kim's. From the moment we walked in everyone in the restaurant turned and stared. The waitress brought us a whole pitcher of sweat tea! She asked where we had been biking and everyone in the restaurant had their ears turned up. They couldn't believe what we were doing. They had tons of questions, and even offered advice on routes to take. We were definitely the talk of the restaurant and probably the town. The food was okay, but the atmosphere was awesome. It was hysterical. And the restaurant had icecream that came with the meal!  Everyone in there was so nice and helpful though. Gotta love small town America!

Then back on the bikes. We got chased by our first big dog. I had a burst of speed I didn't know was in me!

The rest of the afternoon we were watching the sky to see if the rain was headed our way. We avoided most of it today and were close to cover when it did come down. And we even got a rainbow!

We are getting closer to GiGi's and on her street we got chased by a basset hound. He had no chance, but it was pretty comical. 

Then we rolled up to GiGi's and met her son Doug. They had pizza and salad and wings waiting for us. After eating we went over to the barn to see the horses and then on a quick tour of some family history. I got to see the house my great grandparents lived in, and got to go to my grandma's grave. Love you GaGa!  Then we headed home and my Aunt Diamond had come over to say hello. It was so wonderful to see everyone again. It has been quite a while since I have seen a lot of my mom's side of the family. 

All in all it was a grand day filled with friendly people, family, and  61 miles. 

Total mileage: 368