Ride Day 60

Today was a long day for me. I left my hotel at first light and needed the lights on my bike it was so dark. I rode the 52 miles into Savannah Georgia which was on a flat road with various amounts of bike riding space from zero space to 8 feet wide. It was warm but I made it to Savannah by 9:30 in the morning and had a nice cup of coffee and a sticky bun in honor of my friend Gary. I missed the opportunity to take a pic of the huge selection of baked goods just to make Gary suffer. After my relaxing break I rode around in the historic district of Savannah for about 4 hours and took a few pics. I thought I would have been taking lots of pics but there were so many tourists around that I felt stupid taking the pics. The few I did take I tried not to get any tourists in the shots but it was almost impossible there were so many of them. When I had seen enough of the squares and homes I rode down to the waterfront along the Savannah River. There was not very good access to the river front so I gave up and headed north on 17. To leave Savannah there is a huge bridge and I started up the ramp only to see the dreaded PROHIBITED PEDESTRIANS BIKES AND MOTOR DRIVEN CYCLES. I turned around and at the entrance to the bridge there were a bunch of people selling tours. I asked them about how to cross the river and they told me hundreds of bikes ride over the bridge everyday. The only time the police will stop them is in windy or stormy conditions. There was a cop that came by as we were talking and I asked him the same question and got the same answer. After our talk about riding around the country ended I thanked them all and headed up and over the bridge. The road was sometimes very good and most of the time there was very little shoulder for riding room. I had to trust all the big trucks and cars not to hit me. I am still here so they all let me ride in safety today. I rode another 60 miles to Point South, South Carolina. That made for a daily mileage of 120 miles today. Late in the afternoon 15 miles from my end I got a flat which I fixed and pulled another piece of truck tire wire out of my bike tire. I got back on the road and five minutes later had another flat from yet another piece of wire. While fixing it this time a bunch of police came by and started to hassle me by accusing me of calling 911 repeatedly. I told them I had not made any calls at all today but they insisted on checking my phone in case I was butt dialing they said. I told them my phone can not make a butt dial and handed my phone over. They checked it carefully and passed it around between them with each one checking and handed it back. Then one of them said let us see your other phone. I could only laugh at that. Like I could afford to pay for two cell phones. They finally left me alone when I said it wasn't me that called so you better go find who did they might be in trouble. After getting the tire repaired, I was back on the road but I was feeling tired and ready to stop. It was over 90 degrees and 90% humidity and I was starting to melt. I had to stop in the shade twice in the 15 miles to rest. At Point South I went into a McDonalds there and just drank filtered water and sat in the air conditioning until I felt ready to go find a place for the night. The cheapest campground was 29 bucks so I decided to get a hotel at that price. On the way to the hotels I ran into another biker from China and we talked for a while. We decided to share a hotel room which ended up better for us both. He was heading South and I was heading North so we compared notes for about an hour which worked out well. Just North of here there are severe thundershowers and high winds. I will have to wait until morning to get an update on weather to know what my plans might be for tomorrow. Until then...