Day 164: Charleston to Ridgeland, 82 miles
Day 165: Ridgeland to Townsend, GA, 75 miles
Day 166: Townsend to Amelia Island, FL, 106 miles
Day 163: 8/22/14
Another really hot day! Pushing up into the high 90's... Rode most of the day on SR-17S which basically sucked! 4-lane divided highway, heavy traffic, little to no shoulder for most of the ride but, I got through it relatively fast and crossed over the Arthur Revenel Jr. Bridge into Charleston. Charleston is hands down one of the coolest cities in the country. I spend a few hours lazily riding down around through the historic downtown looking at all of the cool old buildings and houses and then I crossed over the Ashley River to my warmshowers hosts for the night Charles and Missee of Charlestowne Street in Charleston... Yikes! I was told by Rob, the guy my dad and I met back in Monticello, FL that I had to stay with these guys, and so I did and they did not disappoint.
Even with a very busy family weekend with lots of their extended family in town and lots of events they took me in, gave me a room in their wonderful house and recommended some local eateries for me to try out. I ended up going to Yobo Cantina Fresca where I got some delicious buffalo chicken, bacon and blue cheese tacos and naturally a few Dos Equis and then got some FroYo at the joint next door and then retired back to the house for a nice sleep in a real bed where I didn't have to sweat all night... It was quite nice!
Day 164: 8/23/14
I rode out of Charleston a little before 10:00 a.m. and rode about 2 hours and stopped in at a gas station in Jacksonboro to eat lunch and avoid some of the midday heat... Temps were topping out at 100 and it damn sure felt like it.
After a long break I got back out and rode some pretty easy miles off of SR-17S which was really nice and then just outside of Yemassee (the town 13 miles out from where I was planning to stop for the night) a heard a little thunder and then out of nowhere it started to downpour! Lightning, thunder, hail-like rain and wind pelting me and I pedaled as hard as I could towards the nearest place for some relief which just so happened to be a McDonald's! Lucky me! I got down to the McDonald's completely soaked from head to toe and decided I might as well go inside to check it out... I'd never heard of this said establishment and figured why not??? I'll check this place out and see what it's got... Not bad. Not bad at all I tell ya... They sure do Diet Cokes well I'll tell ya that.
Finally, after the storm mostly broke I got back on the bike and rode the last 13 miles to Ridgeland... The rainstorm completely sapped me of my energy to stealth camp so I decided to treat myself to a hotel for the night. Indoor pool, indoor bed, AC, continental breakfast, a bunch of soaps and shampoos I can steal! Are you serious?!?!? Damn, Quality Inn has got it down too!
Day 165: 8/24/14
After my feast at the continental breakfast (strawberry waffle, two sausage links, two biscuits with two buckets of gravy, one bowl of cereal, a bagel (and two for the road), a banana (and two for the road) 2 orange juices, and a coffee!) I rode out... About 30 miles in I came to the South Carolina and Georgia State Lines and got my typical picture... Just
South of Savannah I stopped for lunch and when I checked my email I'd gotten a response from a warmshowers host in Townsend, GA which was awesome because I didn't know where I was going to be staying yet. Now that I did I hopped on the bike with a little extra pep in my step and got to Darlene and Ken's (my WS hosts) by 4:00 p.m. They weren't home yet, but had informed me that I could make myself at home and get a shower in their sweet outdoor shower and hang out in their camper (outfitted with some nice AC) which I did until they got home.
They got home later with their daughter Joy and we all sat down for some pizza and wings in their awesome cabin home! After dinner and some conversation we all called it a night and went to sleep.
Day 166: 8/25/14
In the morning I had some cereal and a cup of Joe and started on down the road and today the miles just seemed to melt away. I had 45 miles under my belt by noon when I stopped for lunch. Then by 3:30 p.m. I was up at 75 miles for the day and in the town that I had planned to stop in... But, it was still too nice out and too early so I kept riding and finally got to Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach and was over 100 miles. By now it was close to 7:00 p.m. so I killed some time until it started to get dark and then started the search for a place to sleep the night. I knew I had to try to get under some kind of roof for the night because it was supposed to storm so I was headed down the island towards a church that I'd checked out via google maps-satellite that had some kind of a pavilion-looking thing. But, a little before I got there I saw a sign out of the corner of my eye "Bicyclists Welcome". Well, I'm a bicyclist Kraft Athletic Club. Am I welcome? I think so and don't mind if I do... You say I can enjoy the river view? I think I'll just enjoy it all night long. Thank you kindly! I rode into the Tennis club lot and saw a nice covered pavilion with picnic tables and popped the tent up on the ground and walked over to use the bathroom that was also open. As I opened the door I was greeted by a nice slithering snake but, he couldn't stay long so after a little chat and photo he made his exit.
As I was walking back to the pavilion it started to rain and boy did it start coming down.. When I got to the tent I saw that the water had already overflowed onto the cement slab and was dangerously close to my tent so with cat-like reflexes I snatched up the tent and threw it onto high ground (a picnic table) and I'd escaped another catastrophe for the night.
So now I'm high and dry (literally) and about to attempt to sleep under this tin-roofed pavilion while it downpours outside... Should be an interesting nights rest....
Oh and also I'm in freaking Florida! And tomorrow I will be back in St. Augustine where I started this whole thing back on March 14th... Yikes, this thing is coming to an end! Good night.
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