Holiday weekend…

What a wonderful day!!!  Started out different than normal though.  When I woke up Mary was already in and out of the shower and getting dressed.  That scared me to death cause she never wakes before me.  Turned out I had set my alarm for the wrong time and our room was so hot that she wasn’t sleeping very well and just went ahead and got up.  So we were showered, loaded up and checking out before 7 this morning.  I love it!

**just a note..after returning to the room and folding clean clothes, Mary realized her clothes weren’t there!  If you can believe…. she failed to take her dirty clothes out of her luggage before we went to wash.  She thought I should wash for her tonight since we did for me last night.  Good thing we still have plenty of clean clothes left.**

We left Roanoke Rapids heading east on US158 and it was an excellent road choice.  Conway, Murfreesboro and Camden.  No, we weren’t in Arkansas.  We pretty much had the road to ourselves til 9 or 10.  And traffic didn’t really pick up until we hit US17 around South Mills.  The plan was to ride out to the Outer Banks and then back to the mainland and south through the “marsh/swamp” to our day’s destination. That is, until we made the turn and US264 was closed due to high water (residual Irene stuff) so there was the first detour.  No harm, no foul.  The ride was still pretty nice.  The temp was warming up but still nice.  Note signs on the highway “DO NOT FEED BEARS ON ROADWAY”, “RED FOX CROSSING NEXT 10 MILES”, and “ALLIGATOR RIVER”.  I wasn’t too good at spotting wildlife but Julie and Phil saw deer, turtles, storks and something else.  Danny spotted an alligator!

We have been seeing downed trees since we got back in North Carolina.  All damage attributed to Irene.  Everyone was cleaning up, cutting up fallen trees, burning limbs, etc.  So different than what was reported after the hurricane in New Orleans a few years ago.  As we traveled along our detour route, we noticed more and more fallen trees, some obviously had fallen across the road only to be cut up and moved.  Once we turned south at Plymouth onto SH32 the destruction started mounting.  Damaged houses, twisted mobile homes, vehicles under trees and piles of debris where folks had already started cleaning up.  Lots and lots of trees toppled, twisted, and sheared.  Surprisingly, from what we saw, there was minimal damage to personal property by comparison.  It just seems to be a miracle that lives were not lost! 

We arrived at New Bern, NC and the motel by 3:30 or 4.  Even despite having to take a detour, we still managed to keep the day pretty short.  Checked into the motel (along with a ton of FEMA folks), unloaded the bikes, decided on a dinner spot and were on our way!

I really haven’t written much about food this trip.  First of all, by the time I finally got internet, I was trying my hardest to remember where all we had been… not what we had eaten.  But, I’ve got to say that we really haven’t had any memorable meals (except maybe the fried shrimp at Pea Soup’s).  Tonight that will change.  Since last night was seafood, the group decided to go steak for this one.  Morgan’s Tavern and Grill.  A pretty unassuming name.  Located in the historic district in old downtown New Bern.  We almost pulled away because it didn’t appear to be open.  So glad we didn’t.  Entering the old building, that was small warehouse size, exposed brick walls with several dining areas/rooms constructed within the space.  I already had a good feeling!  As if the entrees didn’t look good enough, Mary and I started with baked brie in a filo dough and drizzled with raspberry sauce, served with toasted pita bread.  Ummmmm good!  I tried sharing with the rest of the table but I didn’t try too hard.  It was delicious.  I know we had come for steaks but I spotted the “crab on crab” entree.  It was 2 softshell crabs fried a beautiful golden brown then topped with local lump blue crab meat and their own hollandaise sauce. OMG!!!  Last time I had soft shell crab was at Herby K’s in Shreveport.  His was good but this was out of this world.  Nancy had the same dish although this was her first time and she didn’t have anything to compare.  Now she will.  Danny had a pasta dish – with blackened chicken, sundried tomatoes ,etc.  Julie, Phil and Mary chose the steaks.  I tasted Mary’s peppercorn crusted ribeye and it was also excellent.  Grilled to perfection and topped with sautéed onions and mushrooms.  Yeah, I’d eat that too.  All-in-all, I believe we were all very pleased with our dinners.

Back to the motel and studying the weather.  We have been so fortunate thus far to have the beautiful weather that we’ve had.  Our luck is going to run out — and probably tomorrow.  Between Katia and Lee, we will probably spend the next few days trying to dodge rain or, at least, minimizing our exposure.  Riding in the rain is not a favorite for any of us so we will take our time and stop when we need to.  Destination tomorrow is Charleston, SC or (maybe) Savannah, GA.