WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- North Carolina's longest-running paperboy retired on Sunday.

Billy Joe Smith, 71, got up for work at 2:30 a.m. seven days a week for 41 years, reported WXII-TV in Winston-Salem.

Smith, who lives in East Bend, N.C., got up Sunday morning and delivered his final Winston-Salem Journal.

Smith said he finally has time to reflect on what it was like to deliver the paper out of his own car almost every day since the late 1960s.

"Well, it hasn't really sunk in yet," Smith said.

He said he has had a good relationship with the people on his East Bend and Tobaccoville route, a few of whom were up before dawn each morning to see him.

However, like anyone in any profession, there are few things he said he won't miss, like the early hours and winter weather.

Smith said that when his route started, he would deliver about 800 papers a day. He said that by the time he retired, it had shrunk down to 400 a day.

He said he plans on gardening, fishing and spending time with his grandchildren.