John, me and Phil before leaving Sanford

Phil made breakfast in the morning – poached eggs and oatmeal with apples and blueberries in it.  John was extremely generous and offered us pretty much anything we could have ever needed.  He also made us promise to get in touch with him if we run into any trouble or need any help or supplies along the way.  Every day I am touched by how nice everyone we meet really is, and I hope we get to see these people again some day.  It’s a little sad not knowing whether we will run into them again, but fortunately we can keep track of everyone more easily through technology like e-mail.  And, of course, everyone can keep track of us through the website for now, so you’ll know where to find us!

After we left John’s house, we stopped briefly to shed our outer layers and adjust our equipment, and then rode on until we hit 20 miles.  We have generally been stopping about every 20 miles for a quick snack or a stretch, or occasionally, a long lunch break.  The weather was absolutely perfect, but with more hills to contend with, our average speed was a tad slower than it has been over the past week.  A few miles down the road from mile 40, we stopped at a Chinese restaurant for a long meal and stocked up on food at the Food Lion next door.

The sun beginning to set just before pulling into the woods

Because of the daylight savings time change, it has been getting dark an hour earlier.  It started to get dark on us around 5 pm, after we had only gone about 50 miles.  We were planning to camp in the forest between Sanford and Charlotte today, and we were already riding through the middle of it, so we looked along the road for a place to set up our tent.  Phil found a suitable location for us at just past 53 miles, so we pulled into the woods and set up camp.  It got dark quickly once the tent was up, and with little else to do, we got into our sleeping bags and settled down for an early night.