To Florida: Day Two: Life's a Beach

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

You know it is funny, you can tell who real friends are, but you have to spend time apart to find it out. Take my friend, Mike. We met in college at Vincennes University. He lived in the dorm room across from me the first year, and the room next to me the second year. I lived in the same room both years. I was the Resident Assistant my second year, and lived with the R.A. the first year. Mike and I were studying the same thing, and often had the same classes. Not always at the same times, but I do remember one semester, we just bought one set of books for both of us. Being 18 to 20 year old, I really didn’t know much about making and keeping friendships, but I may have known more than I thought I did.

So here I am leaving Mike’s Home, his wife and his four children, born 33 months apart, and it had been 20 years since I had seen him before this. We had been in and out of contact with each other since, through email, cards, and instant messenger. The night spent talking to him felt like we still lived across, or next to each other for those 20 years. I have had this with other friends that I had made about the same time. There is no need for apologies, or blaming for who didn’t call or write who. We just picked up and was gracious for more time with each other. I wish we had more time to spend with each other, and Kasey and Mike’s Wife got along very well too. Not to mention how well behaved the kids acted.
So enough about friendship, lets talk about the ride. We were headed out for a more leisurely day, and some beach scenery. We started out heading south and east on US 70, angling our way to the coast. It was an easier road than the interstate.
Bays were the first water we were seeing, besides regular streams that you pass on all kinds of roads. We had been on the road about 120 miles, and we pulled into the town of New Bern. I had a placed picked for lunch, with no idea if it was any good, or even open. Day one started out with a closed restaurant. We made our way into town, making a detour around construction, and made our way to Morgan’s Tavern. It was the kind of place that looked like a tavern since the days of the Civil War. It was getting unbearably hot, and we needed a break in the shade and cool.

Well, I lucked out again, and the place was fantastic! I highly recommend New Bern, NC and Morgan’s Tavern. The food was fantastic, and well priced, and the waitress was quick to refill our tea glasses.

It took us more detours to get out of town, and we missed going over a cool looking bridge that was being worked on. We made our way out of town, and along the bay to the coast line. The heat was draining on us, but as we got closer, the ocean breezes began to cool us. Maybe it was the scenery that distracted us.

We were able to cruise along one beach, with water on either side of us. At one point, the land was only about a quarter of mile wide. Then it was back inland for a bit, no roads that ran along the coast, returned us back to the road further down the trip.

We made our way back to the coast via Sneed’s Ferry. There was another beach area that allowed us to go out on another peninsula. There was a mix of old homes with the new, near mansion type homes. A lot of them were for sale.
That would be the last of the beach we would see for while. We made our way to Wilmington, NC, and further inland. It felt like the South Carolina Boarder was never going to come. We had been taking our time and strolling through beaches, so it was going to be a long day, time wise.

Wilmington brought rain. It started out light, but with the clouds darkening, and a gas station appearing on the horizon, we decided to pull off, and don the rain gear. As we suited up, the rain increased, and the temps dropped, by about 20 degrees. We continued on, and drove out of the rain in short order.

It was getting time for another refueling, for both the bike and Kasey and I. The route was taking me on the loop around towns, so we backtracked into a town along its business route. We were about 30 miles shy of our hotel in Myrtle Beach, SC, when decided to get a bite to eat. We pulled up to an Italian Café, got off the bike, and pulled off the rain gear. It helps having someone with you to help take off the rain pants.

I hate to say that I did it again, but I found another great place to eat! We were a hit at the place too, as people would mention the motorcycle. After dinner, we headed back out of town, stopping for fuel, and admiring a movie being shown in the parking lot across the street, we were on our way to South Carolina. Shortly after the state line, we ran into North Myrtle Beach. It was an endless string of T-Shirt, Surf, and other kinds of shops. We took a little break there, as Kasey needed a potty break.

Myrtle Beach was next, and we would turn inland to get to the hotel. We were greeted with Fireworks from the near by amusement park. We made our way along the frontage road to the hotel. I parked the bike under the canopy, and we went to check in. The man behind the counter had our reservation ready, and called us by name when we walked in. It seemed to be a friendly place.

I was instructed to park the bike somewhere the desk clerk could see it, and he promised to keep an eye on it overnight. One more day to go until we got to Florida, and Kasey would get to her kids.