DAY ONEJerry, being the great friend that he is, picked us up at 4:45 am Friday morning and transported us to the Georgia line.
Set up time on the Georgia side
Mile 0.0
We started at Georgia’s West Dam Park on their side of Strom Thurmond lake near Clarks Hill. We set up things in the dark but still ended up with a 20 minute late start. I had driven the first leg of our ride, from the Georgia line to Orangeburg, in the car last week so I knew what to expect. Mike had driven the second leg, from Orangeburg to the beach, so he knew what was ahead for Saturday. We made our first Gatorade stop west of Graniteville. There we encountered an elderly gentleman who asked where we were headed. When we answered, “the beach”, he hesitated and replied, “I know that ain‘t right!” We enjoyed our first historical stop at the old Graniteville mill. Remember the train accident in 2005 at the mill where 10 people were killed and hundreds were hospitalized. Over 5000 in the town were forced to be evacuated for nearly two weeks to escape the chlorine gas. Within months, Avondale Mills would close all of their plants and bring to an end the employment of over 4000. It was about here that we passed our first and only vehicle of the trip. It was a motor-grader. We hung out behind him, choking on the exhaust, until Mike said, “I think we can take him.“ So we did. Next came the thoroughbred stables and pastures of Aiken. Then my dad and granddad’s birthplace near Perry, SC. Coming into Wagener for our lunch stop at Subway we had a surprise welcome by several members of Team Whetstone, Jackie, Mary Beth, and the four youngest members, Jackson, Owen, Maizeigh and Emma. Before returning to the saddle, I reapplied sunscreen and anti-monkey butt powder.
Lunch with the team in Wagner
Refueled, refreshed and ready to go again
We enjoyed the countryside thru North, SC and stopped at the Bull Swamp Cemetery to view some family history. It was there that we saw several lightening bolts and dark clouds which encouraged us to get back on the road and begin to worry. Our worrying was in vain because our prayers for good weather were certainly answered. A little cloud cover but no rain. This was typical for the entire trip. Both Jackie and Brenda drove through rain storms but Mike and I never had to experience that. We arrived in Orangeburg about 3:30pm where Jackie was waiting at the hotel. I followed Chris Walters’ advice and took my first ice bath, followed by a dip in the pool then a nice rewarding shower and Ruby Tuesday’s for supper. I had a much better nights sleep Friday night than I had Thursday night.
DAY TWOWe had a nice continental breakfast at the hotel then took off again about daylight. I made it all of a mile and a quarter when I had a flat tire. This turned out to be a valve stem problem which was okay when I reinflated with a CO2 cartridge. Jackie had been following the route with a two hour delay and met up with us in Eutaw Springs at the site of the last major battle in SC of the Revolutionary War.
Eutaw Springs battleground
We tanked up on Gatorade and I went to check on my tire when the valve stem shot out. It was perfect timing for Jackie to be there with a new tube for a quick repair. Next was a stop at a little old store near Pineville where I encountered another elderly gentleman who asked the same old question, “Where you boys headed?” My reply was the same, “the beach”. He promptly said, “Ain’t no beach ‘round here!” Brenda and Mike’s boys passed us honking and pulled over to meet us at the Francis Marion burial site. We agreed to add a couple miles to our journey so that we could visit this historical site of the Revolutionary War hero nicknamed the “Swamp Fox”. I am thankful that a good portion of our journey was on country roads where we could ride side by side and talk. The balance of our trip was on highways that put us in single file where we would hustle to pick up the pace to reduce our time with the most treacherous traffic. The worst of these roads was US 521 where the white line had “wake up” groves cut in it. We met Brenda, Hayden and Luke in St. Stephens for lunch at yet another Subway. Brenda graciously purchased “do rags” for us at the dollar store next door. This seemed to help contain some of the sweat underneath my helmet. Since Mike was now our navigator, I didn’t even pull out my last two queue sheets. I am sure that the more we rode, the more Mike probably felt like “dad” in the front seat with the kid in the back saying, “are we there yet?” We were fortunate to have stores every 20 - 25 miles to purchase Gatorade. Even though we carried powdered Gatorade with us incase we could only find water, we did stretch our rehydration out on a few segments. One of those being the last few miles when I totally ran out of fluid. I told Mike I needed to stop and borrow someone’s garden hose but it was obvious that he could smell the beach because he gave me half of his remaining Gatorade just so we could keep riding. To keep my electrolyte level up I downed close to 80 endurolytes and about 7 gallons of Gatorade on the trip.
The diversion canal between the lakes
Old fire tower
A day or two before we left, Jackie gave me a training session on texting with my phone. We set up a group with Jackie and the kids so that I could keep them posted of my whereabouts during the trip. I sent them about six texts during our journey, including one when we hit US 17 in Pawley’s Island in front of an Eagle’s Store which I knew the kids would recognize that I was finally at the beach! They used to beg to go in those stores to look for the famous $1.99 t-shirts. From the store we only cruised about a half mile down the road when we saw the sign for our destination, the Litchfield Inn. We heard our cheerleaders yelling for us as we road up to the hotel. Jackie, Brenda and the boys were thrilled to see us and to know that we had accomplished what we had set out to do.
Since we started at daylight and rode most of the day I just knew we would see quite a bit of wild life. However, we only encountered 1 rabbit, 1 opossum, and got chased by two dogs. We did see a few buzzards that were eyeing us as if they thought they might shortly be getting their next easy road kill meal.
Several of my prayers were to be surrounded by courteous drivers and we were. So many swerved completely to the other side of the road to stay clear of us. I only remember two or three angry sounding honks the entire trip. The best example of the courteous drivers was a man who pulled up beside us on Highway 45 holding out my little blue, 95 cent endurolyte pouch asking if we had dropped it a little ways back. I acknowledged that we did and he pulled up ahead of us on this busy road and got out of his truck just to give it back to me. I wish I had had a compact waterproof camera to put in my bento box for a quick shot at the good photo ops. Even though Mike and I were together, it was reassuring to know that either Jackie or Brenda were close enough to come to our aid should the need arise. Last year I considered doing this ride by myself and now I’m so glad that I didn’t. I feel like Mike and I had a great time experiencing this together. The last 30 or so miles on Saturday he drug my worn out butt to the beach. After posing for a few photos I parked my exhausted bike in the hotel room and headed down for a refreshing dip in the ocean. We are continually counseled to be specific in our prayers and so many of our prayers of the last few days were very specific and we received very specific answers. There in the surf and later while relaxing on the beach with my dear wife I began to express thanks for those answered prayers. I enjoyed two fresh seafood dinners and a relaxing day on Sunday before we headed back on a very long ride home Monday morning.
Across the state on a bike. What’s next?
Day 1
Mileage: 104.3
Time: 6:27:41
Average MPH: 16.1
Day 2
Mileage 133.0
Time: 8:28:50
Average MPH: 15.8
Total Mileage: 237.3
Total Time: 14:56:31
Total Average: MPH 15.9
These horses were exhausted and in need of rest
THE END-East Coast at Litchfield Beach
