Day 20: Elizabethtown to Fayetteville, NC

Dee on a covered bridge on the Cape Fear River Trail

Some of you kind readers have told us you are enjoying this journey because you can travel along without even getting sweaty! I wish we could have put you on a bike today to join us for the last 5 or so of our 51 miles. They were on a beautiful greenway, the Cape Fear River Trail, which follows its namesake river north out of town. We cruised along on nice asphalt and over wooden bridges, enjoying our first truly rolling hills of the ride. Yes, we had to climb a few steep, stubby hills. But we also got to coast down the other sides, free rides that you never get when your whole route is flat. We had been talking at lunch about some aspects of aging, like grandparenting, and other serious adult things. Out there on the greenway, with lush trees shading us on a warm afternoon, we could have been 10 years old again, carefree and flying.

Much of our day was carefree, actually. We were fed a delicious breakfast, served elegantly by our innkeeper, Christine. She and her husband, Nico, joined us at the dining table to swap stories with Dee of living in Africa and France. The couple feel like new friends and we highly recommend the Elizabethtown Inn, gorgeous and gracious.

​ We rode pretty, quiet back roads dotted with yellow buttercups. We saw horses, one donkey, a tobacco field, and corn fields At 25 miles, just when we ready for a rest stop and cold drinks, there was a Short Stop gas station and store — amenities are pretty sparse on back roads in this part of the state. At 45 miles or so, we arrived in downtown Fayetteville. It’s an appealing small city with plenty of our favorite things: coffee shops, restaurants, a bookstore, and more. Nice place to end a ride — but then we still had the stretch of Greenway to get to our motel.

This distinctive historic building, once the site of a slave market, marks the heart of downtown Fayetteville

Feeling a little stressed, burnt out, burdened? My Rx: get outside, jump on a bike and ride on your nearest bike path or greenway. I think it will do the trick.