I think we had a first last night — Leo cooked his first meal! He’s been pitching in by washing up the dishes after dinner, but we all need to step up and take on all roles during this trip. Leo swallowed hard and stepped up to the stove with some trepidation. His task, re-heat some veggie/bean burgers and melt some cheese no them. Period. You’d think we’d asked him to cook a 7 course gourmet meal !!! Sarah supported him by making salads (also a staple of ours….). It was delicious. Now that we know he’s a chef, can’t wait to see what he prepares the next time it is his turn.

This morning’s ride was a little different and very pleasant. We rode inland away from the shore along some back roads to the Bayview-Aurora ferry. Beth, Sarah and I started out on bikes (partly because Leo lost time trying to fix his computer’s network connection after breakfast so wasn’t dressed to ride). The first part of our ride was on a pretty busy road with a relatively narrow shoulder and lots of large trucks — lumber is big business in these parts. But, the truckers (and cars) were all very courteous and waited until it was safe to pass us. Nice !!!

I couldn’t help but think how different things are here than in the wealthy sea-side communities we’ve ridden through recently. Actually, a stark contrast! No giant mansions with large manicured gardens and lawns. This is were ‘real’ people work and appear to just barely scrape by. I might be dead wrong about that — but I just got that feeling as I rolled by dilapidated houses and out buildings. Older automobiles, boats and homes that could benefit from a new roof or a coat of paint. Here’s some photos — see what you think.

These roads were lightly traveled and there were large tilled fields and a few with crops planted and just now showing some growth. The trees up here are budding out too — we are no longer in the part of the country where trees stay green all year long.

It was also apparent that family’s put down roots and stayed here. There were numerous ‘family’ cemeteries. I stopped at two of them and took pictures of all the grave markers. Some dated back to the mid/late 1800s. From the looks of it, they lost several infants and toddlers back then. If a person made it past 10 years old, seems like they went on to live a relatively long life. As always, when visiting a cemetery, I wonder what living in this area was like 150+ years ago. Being North Carolina, I think about how slavery fit in with all this too. Guessing that these were white folks buried in family plots. A lot to ponder….. These are from the Knox Family plot. I Goggled and found photos and info on all the graves. Here is a link to the patriarch, William Riley Knox.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/159747822/william-riley-knox

There was a turtle pond that I rode by (I was in the lead at the time). I heard several ‘plop’ sounds and saw concentric rings in the shallow, swampy water off the right of the road. When I looked closer, I could see a couple dozen turtles that had been sunning themselves slide off their logs into the water. Very wary. I stopped and tried to get a photo of the remaining ones, but most of them were in the water before I could snap many pictures. So, for these next shots — imagine lots of turtles, ok?