Day 25: Raleigh to Dunn

During my sleep last night, I thought about cycling east to Outer Banks, North Carolina, rather than going south first. When I woke up at 6 AM, I checked the routes and decided that I’d rather go south to Dunn instead so I won’t be late for my friend Ed’s wedding.

I left Akshay’s house around 7:30 after Akshay woke up. I wished him best of luck in the future and hope that he can stay in the US. Then I rode my bike for about a mile south to Hardee’s and got a ham and egg sandwich, hash browns, and orange juice. Just when I was unlocking my bike a homeless man asked me for food. I wasn’t comfortable giving him money and I didn’t want to waste any more time by ordering food for him, so I said no. Looking back, I should have bought him something. He only wanted breakfast, not cigarettes or anything else.

I had to get going since I’ll be riding close to 40 miles to Dunn. The roads were busy with the morning traffic. There were more cars going into Raleigh than going out, but the roads had little to no shoulder. I had to be very careful to not get hit. When I was further out of the city, the traffic subsided.

Some abstract art on the road!

I made good speed and after about 28 miles I arrived in Coats. It was before 11 AM, but I was able to order a Carolina Dip brisket sandwich at the Kicking Camel Grill. I normally don’t dip my sandwiches in sauces, but this one is pretty good.

The Carolina Dip

Dunn was only 10 miles away, I thought about riding to Fayetteville, but that’s an additional 30 miles or so. I decided getting to Dunn will be enough for the day.

After riding on more roads with narrow shoulders, I rode on the bike trail for the last bit going into Dunn.

Riding on the trail

Dunn has a commercial street called Cumberland Street that goes to the interstate. There is a parallel street called Broad Street that has more local shops and restaurants. I also saw several churches, so I decided to try my luck to see if I can stay at one of them for the night and maybe tomorrow, too, since it’ll thunderstorm the whole day.

Dunn's historic downtown

I saw a church that’s very well built with bricks. It looked to be the best looking church in town. I rang the doorbell and a lady opened the door. I told her that I’m a cyclist looking to camp for the night and maybe stay an extra day due to the rain tomorrow. I got a sense that she was unsure and told me that the secretary is out until Monday and she can’t make the decision herself. I was thinking of pressing her to call the secretary or someone else to ask, but I didn’t want to be too needy. She ended up saying to check with Beacon that’s a block away. She didn’t say what Beacon is, but it’s not a church.

I decided to try my luck at a second church not too far away. After I rang the doorbell at the parishioner’s house no one answered. I decided to check out this place called Beacon.

As it turned out, Beacon is a rescue mission. I tried my luck a third time. After ringing the doorbell, a man named James came out and I explained my story to him. He immediately invited me in. Soon after, he granted me two nights of stay. I was so grateful to be saved by James at the rescue mission!

After James showed my bed and the bathroom, I took a cold shower. There was something wrong with the hot water or maybe I didn’t know how to work the shower knob.

I met another person who is staying at the mission and his name is also James. He told me there’s a library not too far away that has wifi since there isn’t one in the mission. I decided to go there, but before I left I donated $40 to James and the mission to thank him for allowing me to stay.

At the library, I sent out some Warmshowers requests and rewatched a YouTube video about how to change the oil in the internal gear hub that my bike has. I will do that tomorrow since the odometer has reached 621 miles or 1000 kilometers. Then I walked to Gabriella’s restaurant and had a bowl of spaghetti and meatball as an early dinner.

I’m back at the library to type up this post. Tomorrow looks to be another rest day due to the thunderstorm.