Day of Rest in Calabash

I decided to take some time off after cramping up so bad yesterday. I spent the day slowly riding from Calabash to Sunset beach and back to Calabash. I enjoyed my time at Sunset Beach. I started out with a good cup of coffee at Java coffee shop and then rode across the big bridge to the ocean beach. There I walked out on the fishing pier and talked to some of the anglers about what they catch and so on. There were a lot of people fishing and it was a beautiful day. After the pier I rode my bike down the hard packed sand on the beach to Bird Island. I did not see many birds there but there were a few jaybirds skinny dipping on the beach. I did not stay very long and rode back to Sunset Beach. I tried to get some pics of the shore birds but I was not very successful at it. When I had my fill of sun and beach I rode back to Calabash and had lunch at a buffet style all you can eat. I got my money's worth and then had a couple of cold beers at the local bar where I had my drinks last night. I talked to the owner of the bar for a while and had some beer then I had to go back to my campsite and take a nap. I actually slept for about an hour which is extremely rare for me to nap. I was hungry again so I went into town and had some ice cream and brownie at the local creamery. Then I had a couple more beers before I went out looking for dinner. I ended up eating pizza at Tony's Pizza in Calabash. That was it for me I had to go back and take a shower and crash for the night. Tomorrow I am also taking the day off. Enjoy life.

Ride Day 63

The ride today was terrible. I did just over a hundred miles on roads with absolutely no room for a bike and the traffic was very heavy almost all day long. I was terrified that I would be hit by a drunk or inattentive driver. I took only three pics all day because I had to focus on riding in a straight line as close to the edge of the roadway as possible without running off the side of the blacktop or veering out into the traffic. The drivers were mostly great at giving me as much room as they could but it was just too tight sometimes especially when the logging trucks went by. Needless to say I did not enjoy the ride very much. I did enjoy some of my stops though. I stopped at one store to get a cold drink and there were a half dozen guys sitting around solving all the world's problems. We had a little talk about bike riding and about my trip, then threw in some fishing stories...I enjoyed their conversations. They took cards with my blog on and told me they would look it up. I planned on riding from Andrews to Myrtle Beach but the road I started on was so tight and filled with traffic that I turned around and went back to the ACA route which was longer but claimed to be on quiet country roads. Well some of them were quiet at times that is true but most of the day there was just way too much traffic on the narrow roads with no room for me and my bike. I was nervous all day long and that is just not my style. I got very little site seeing in because I had to focus on riding in a straight line all day long. The scenery was mostly long leaf pine tree lined roads with fields of tobacco and corn or peanuts mixed in here and there. The towns were all very little burgs, some did not even have a small store. I stopped at a lot of the stores just to get a break and rest my eyes from the intense riding. When I got to Conway I almost got a hotel but then decided to push on because it was only 11 in the morning. AS I got closer to Little River and the state line I started to cramp up. At first it was just small cramps in one leg but within a few minutes both legs were cramping. I stopped at a store and walked them off and drank a high potassium drink and ate a banana then made sure I was hydrated by drinking a large gatoraide. I felt better and hit the road but within a few miles I was again cramping up. I just rode through the cramps because there was no point in stopping in the middle of nowhere. As I was riding along two large deer came running out of the trees right at me. I kind of froze up and one ran in front of my bike and the other ran behind me. I thought sure they were going to ram into me but I was lucky because they could have seriously injured me. I got to Little River and called the campground. They told me there was room but that it was still another 6 miles to the site. I pushed on sometimes just pedaling with one leg or the other to rest one leg. I made it to the campsite and immediately took a long hot shower and sat down to rest. A half hour later I decided to ride back to a bar I had seen on my way to have a cold beer or three. I enjoyed hanging out at the bar even though there were only three other guys in the bar. They quizzed me about my bike ride and we talked about all the world problems, solving most of them. Then I went back to my tent and was out cold by 8:15 in the evening. A long hard mixed day with some good and some bad. I was just happy I am still here to talk about it. More later.

Ride Day 62

My ride today from Givhans State Park to Andrews South Carolina was kind of boring. The road was lined with trees almost all day which kept me in the shade and a bit cooler but with nothing to focus my attention on I could have fallen asleep at the handlebars. I am real tired of Longleaf pine trees by now. That is the tree that has lined most of the roads since Alabama. They block all views of everything and it is like riding in a tunnel sometimes. At least the oaks when they are lining the roads will sometimes make a canopy that looks good with all the spanish moss hanging off them. There were only a few small towns along the route. Most of them had no services at all. I did stop at all the open stores along the way. It was Sunday so most things were closed as they have been throughout the South. I stopped sometimes just to talk to people in the stores because I was so bored. I obviously did not take much for pics today. It was also a short ride of only 65 miles of flat roads. I stopped in Andrews South Carolina because big black clouds were building in the sky and the next town with services like a hotel were over fifty miles further down the road. I needed the rest anyway. After a nice long soak in a hot tub I tried to stretch my legs out. I tried different ways of stretching but I am so stiff that I had a hard time stretching. I am going to have to figure out a way to loosen up because I am getting stiffer the longer I ride. I hope I don't just lock up when I eventually stop riding. I must also point out that it isn't me that does not make paragraphs as needed but rather Blogspot removes all my paragraphs and runs it all together for some stupid reason. I have complained to them but since there is no dialogue nothing has been done to fix the issue. My hotel is just a cheap crappy one but there is a TV to keep up on the severe weather that is in the area. I might be here for a couple of days or more before it drys out enough to hit the road again. After almost 4600 miles of riding my bike I could use the rest. Maybe I can even loosen up a bit before I am out of this little burg. From here I head to the beach and ride the Ocean Highway going North. The forecast is for high heat and high humidity left over from tropical storm Debby that is hitting Florida right now. More later....

Ride Day 61

Last night I stayed in a hotel with a Chinese guy I met on the road. He is going to graduate school in Maryland and is riding his bike to Key West Florida. We shared the room and compared notes on our routes. In the morning we both left early. I rode on quiet country roads that had shade for most of the day which was a good thing because the temperature and humidity were both high again. I only rode 62 miles after yesterday's 120. The State Park was on a river and there were hundreds of people floating down the river in tubes and mattresses or whatever would float. When I arrived they told me there was no room to camp. I pleaded my case that there was no where else close for me to put up camp and the woman working as host told me I could share her site. I was eternally grateful for her offering to share because I would have had to camp on the road which is not always very safe. In the park, I had a nice swim in the river but did not float down stream. There was a copperhead snake in the campground which was beautiful but deadly and some campers killed it for the "safety of the all the children". I don't really buy that idea. I would have caught it and moved it but they would not let me so they killed it with a brick. Snakes are just not very popular with most people. I set my tent up and went to the bathroom for a shower. When I came back an armadillo had eaten a hole into my tent. The little rat might look cute in cartoons but I was pissed at it. Now I have a big hole in my tent and lots of rain in the forecast. Such is life. I sat around and chatted with a bunch of local South Carolina campers. They were all very friendly and nice people. We compared politics a bit just for laughs and mostly just enjoyed ourselves shooting the breeze of the usual things. They seemed to like hearing about my travels around the world. They pumped me with lots of questions which was fine by me. I had a beer with them and then I had to go back and sleep. I was very tired from my long day riding the day before. I slept well and hit the road early in the morning.

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...

Ride Day 59

I struggled this morning with what route to take. I had some issues with the ACA route and I wanted to go through Savanah. In the end I chose to go for it without using a bike map and just took off in the direction of Savanah. I am just outside of town for the night tonight and tomorrow if the weather and things play nicely I will ride through Savanah then hook back up with the ACA route north of Savanah. I want to return to Savanah because the last time I was there I ignored all the architecture and the parks and the history. I would really like to spend about a week there but I can not afford to be in the big city that long so it is not an option for me. I will have to be content to just ride around and look at things and maybe take a pic or two. The ride today was very boring. The road was almost a straight line all day with no change in the scenery. It was longleaf pine trees and swamps with almost no breaks in the trees lining the road. The road itself was fairly good for riding with a narrow shoulder but very little traffic. Then after I past Jesup the road got worse as far as traffic and the shoulder sometimes vanished. I only took two pics today one of the road and one of some flowers in the swamp which I will need to post later. I was mostly just in a riding zone and not site seeing at all because there was really nothing to see but the trees. I ended up stopping in Hinesville because my legs suddenly started to cramp up. The heat in the nineties and humidity over 90% combined with me pushing myself maybe a bit to hard are the likely reason for the cramps. They were so bad that I ended up just checking into a hotel that just happened to be right where I had to stop riding. I tried just resting in an air conditioned McDonalds next to the hotel while I played on the net but the cramps just kept getting worse so I hobbled over to the hotel and checked in. After a hot soak in the tub and a lot of water and gatoraide I do feel better now. I was not dehydrated because I was drinking a lot of various things. I just hope that tomorrow I do not have the same problems. I can not afford to be staying in hotels like this. Such is the life of a wandering biker.

Ride Day 58 Georgia

Well I rested up in Florida for less time than I thought I needed. My weight went back up about five pounds. More weight gain would have been better but I will take the five lbs. I hit the road this morning leaving St Johns, near Jacksonville Florida, and riding North across the border into Georgia. Tonight I am camping in Folkston Georgia at the Okefenokee RV Park. The RV park is almost deserted with only two RVs in the camp. My ride today was almost all flat. I started out with about 40 miles of urban riding to get through and out of Jacksonville. Jacksonville Florida is the largest city in the world as measured in area, 896 sq miles. I crossed the river to get into downtown and that was my biggest climb of the day. Good view from the top of the bridge. All the traffic and stop and go lights were a bit irritating and the roads have a shoulder to ride on one minute and the next minute the shoulder disappears and you are in a busy lane of traffic. It made for a rather dangerous ride but all the drivers played nicely today so it was all ok. The first thing I had to do today was to replace my brake pads. I ordered the parts a few days ago and was at the bike shop first thing in the morning to pick them up and put them on. The shop was Champion Bikes on San Jose in Jacksonville and they were great to work with. The help was friendly and competent and they accommodated my time constraints without any problems. I was on the road right after they finished. My route took me through some sketchy areas of town. There were people sleeping on the streets and some people were calling out at me to sell drugs and stuff but I had no problems riding through even with all the rundown buildings and boarded up businesses. I have lots of experience in tough parts of towns after living in Oakland California for so long. The roads got better as I left the more populated central area of town. There was a nice wide shoulder for most of the way out of town but it sometimes just disappeared without warning. Bikes are the lowest priority in road safety. I navigated all the areas easily and the drivers were good today. Unfortunately it only takes one bad driver to ruin your day. My luck held out today. After leaving the urban sprawl the traffic thinned out and the shoulder was more consistent. I just rode along at about 17-18 mph and sang to myself as I went. I took a break at a McDs to use their wifi for a minute but then was back on the road. I did not take many pics today. After crossing the border into Georgia there was a nice wide shoulder BUT BUT BUT it was impossible to ride on because the entire shoulder was rumble strips which just jarred my entire body and bike to bits. I would need a bike mechanic and a dentist if I had to ride on that shoulder. Instead I rode on the right edge of the main lane. It went ok because all the drivers were polite today. A couple vehicles came a bit too close to me but I never felt like I was close to being hit. I took the long route to go through the Okefenokee Swamp and that road was fine. I did not take a single pic of the road there or the swamp. I just forgot to. I have ridden through so many swamps now that I don't notice their beauty anymore unless I make myself think about it. I will try to do better tomorrow. Folkston is a railroad funnel. There are about 70 trains going through here everyday. There is a rail museum which I went to and there are picnic tables and things lined up so people can sit and watch the trains go by. There were about 15 people doing just that today and the lady in the museum told me they get huge crowds on some days. I am sleeping close to the tracks so I hope I can sleep with all the noise. More later...