NYC -2- ATL

Today we awoke early to a bight sky over the marsh views from the back of our hotel. As planned, we were on the road to hear the church bells as we left through Georgetown at the stroke of 8:00. We pedaled over another causeway between a steel mill and a paper factory and we headed out of town towards Charleston. 17 South is its quietest on Sunday morning, and we intended to take advantage of the timing. By 9:30, we had over twenty miles behind us!

Where the two-lane highway would have been quite scary under other circumstances, the traffic was so scant that nearly every single car saw us from hundreds of yards away and promptly moved over into the passing lane to give us space. We stopped a bit early at around 25 miles where we would turn off of the highway at a gas station. The selection was slim, but we knew this would be the last commercial spot we would pass for hours, so we found prepackaged sandwiches and cold drinks and packed them on the bikes.

We were making good time. We had food. We had plenty of battery power. Everything was going perfectly according to plan. Then I led us astray. I had been studying the heat maps on RideWithGPS that show where other cyclists travel. It seemed like we could turn southwest again sooner and cut off a large corner from our planned route. We decided we were making good time and saving miles on what would be a long day was a good idea, so we would give it a try.

At first, it was great. The road was even smaller than the one we left the highway on, and the surface was fine. Then, after a few miles, we would make a turn, but when we arrived, the next road was unpaved. No problem… Our bikes can handle a gravel road. But then after several miles of the slower, bouncier gravel, things got dustier and the gravel turned to sand. Loose sand is extremely hard to ride in and slowed both of us to a crawl. There was about a four mile stretch where we were pedaling up the side of the road in the tall grass and pine straw to avoid the loose sand ruts on the road.

We finally made it back to the pavement, but the painfully slow road also cost us a lot of battery power. We found a nice campground in the middle of nowhere to stop for lunch. The afternoon ride was peaceful and full of nothing but forest views until we began to reach the outskirts of Charleston. We came in through Wando, then into Mount Pleasant, up over the exquisite Ravenel bridge into downtown, then a quick few miles up into North Charleston.

I am so excited to be here at my friend Josh’s new house. It’s gorgeous and he has been the most gracious host. We went to the pool for a dip, then came back and showered. He made me an incredible craft cocktail, brought out some addictive jackfish dip as an appetizer, then grilled us beautiful steaks for dinner. I can’t tell you how nice it was to eat a home cooked meal after weeks of dining out!

After dinner, we added a few lights to Josh’s bike and the two of us went cruising down to the little downtown area in search of dessert. Everything had already closed as it was getting late on a Sunday night, but the weather is still ideal, and we both had fun riding around and talking. I am so excited just to rest and have fun with my friend tomorrow. Riding is great, but this has been one of our few planned destinations, and I feel like crossing 1,000 miles deserves a day off to celebrate and eat oysters.