Wednesday in Beaufort and thru Savannah, Georgia

Billy and I both woke late sleeping through our alarms. He had a charming and well appointed, immaculate home on the water that overlooked the city just across the bay. It was filled with the most fantastic collection of folk and regional art imaginable. 

...."Diversity is Delicious" ....

The view from Billy's front porch....

I finally set off after lunch and seeing Mayor Billy at a ground breaking for a new fire station. The sun was out and Billy was booked for the evening entertaining som out of town politicos and I had more miles to ride. First I took a few more pictures of Beaufort for Sarah. So far Beaufort gets my nod as a possible winter get away from the cold New England winter.

After leaving Beaufort I was soon back on RT 17 headed for Savanah. The going was good on some nice back country roads until the Savana River and other lowlands rivers began to limit my route to the busier state highways.

At this point I travelled some of the least cycling friendly roads of my life. I have photos and some day I hope to become more politically active so no other thru rider has to suffer what I did. 

I finally crossed a huge modern new bridge into Savanah and got a glimps of the state capital dome and passed through the city. Savanah is much more industrial than I expected but downtown had the charm and remnants of an the old southern city that it is. However with the unfortunate first impression from the State of SC it will not rank very high on my list of potential warm climate for my sweetheart.

I ended the day by exiting the city in a rainstorm of epic proportions but with arrangements for a "warm showers" host in the suburb of Richmond Hills I rode through the rain knowing I would be able to get warm and dry at the end.

I arrived as is typical to a party. This time the celebration was running club at a local atchletic store that was having a send off party for 6 runners that were leaving to go to Boston for Mondays Boston Marathon. Needless to say a cyclist who had ridden to the party from Boston (Stockbridge....Boston ...their MA geography was weak). I was immediately dubbed Boston Al.

After the celebration I had a restful night and met Sonya from Bulgaria and her 2 sons about to enlist in the military.

Tuesday an amazing day to Beaufort to see the Mayor.

I woke on Wednesday after a luxurious nights sleep in the Holiday Inn and languished at the breakfast buffet fueling up for the days ride.

But first being on the outskirts of Charleston I wanted to check out the city having heard good things about the town, and as a possibility for somewhere warm to establish a foothold where my loved one and I might spend some time since she doesn't like the long cold New England winters.

First impressions of the city were positive with a huge modern bridge and most important a great first class 2 lane bike path across, something not seen since NYCity.

And the downtown was cosmopolitan and charming. 

I over did the photos for benefit of my sweetheart at home so that she knows I was always thing of her and looking out for her interests. Some folks I met over morning coffee described an active art community and a gentle laid back atmosphere. 

There were great marked bike lanes, many young people, a large medical center and many folks out about and riding bicycles. It looked like a place worth investigating.

Leaving town .... there was a nice low old fashion draw bridge

 And I got off the highway and on the back roads as much as possible. The land became agricultural and I found some deserted roads that were just my style.

There were big oak trees with hanging Spanish moss. 

Mid day I uncovered what what must have been one of the old original plantations. There was no marker but I had read some of the historical markers along the way to know that in this area there were some big old plantations.

Finding such gems and enjoying the back roads so much and trusting my I-phone GPS I began to get a bit more adventurous, until I encountered this ...... on what my GPS said was a "road".

Which lead to 2 miles of this .....

..........throughs of the movie DELIVERANCE crossed my mind.

Eventually I found my way back to the highway and reluctantly suffered through a few miles of this....

South Carolina was not generous with their road shouldeqrs and what they did give you to ride on usually had a dreaded rumble strip right down the white line which is where I liked to ride.

I pressed on as the day actually turned hot with the afternoon sun. 

While crossing this bridge I saw a nice shady river side spot a perfect spot to stop for a 2nd lunch. I had on board some PB &J and bread and I bummed water from some local fishermen.

After my rest and snack and when the fishermen had left the dock, I wandered down to the water.......

The Combahee River looked cool, refreshing and clean. It was part of the Yemassee basin wildlife refuge. I was hot ..... the water looked refreshing ...... and there was a boat ramp of concrete so I could see the bottom. A swim maybe???

But there were some signs posting a lot of rules.

The one on the ground said no swimming. But for those who know me know my personal rule..... taught to me by my spiritual guide the D L. "Know the rules so that you can break them properly". 

Well that is just what I did ..... a full body emersion and some push-ups in about 3 feet of water. It felt fantastically refreshing and I peddled on toward Beaufort clean and refreshed.

It qwas getting on toward late afternoon and I had not made any arrangements for the nights lodgings.  I was closing in on beaufort, SC and I remembered that Nick's final destination was Beufort and that he was intending to stay with a friend or family there and had vaguely offered me a place to stay when we arrived.

Well I was about to arrive and when Nick's friend Kate called my phone looking for Nick, because without a phone he had been using mine, I asked her if she knew who Nick's contact was in Beaufort. She said it was the mayor ... Billy Keyserling.

Not being able to contact Nick, I tracked down Mayor Billy's phone number and called him up. He knew Nick but had not seen him since high school and after my explanation of the bazaar circumstances, and at first thinking this was some sort of a scam, he graciously offered me a place to stay and we arranged to meet for dinner after his weekly city council meeting. 

I passed city hall.

....... and arrived to find a prosperous, old, historic and charming city. Downtown was bustling with a Back Roads cycling tour, a boating crowd bring their yats north for the sommer and other well healed tourists. So i waited in the local coffee shop for the Mayor to call. 

He did call and we went out for a late and lively dinner with lots of laughs telling stories about politics and life on the road with Nick. He is a smart, funny and very generous man with endless stories about good old boy southern politics and about how a red haired, Jewish, dyslectic. ADD, liberal, Cambridge Mass. educated boy got to be Mayor of a small Southern city.

 

...... dinner with the Mayor of Beaufort. 

Monday 118 miles into Charlestown

I woke rested and started early toward Myrtle Beach for my planned rendezvous with Nick. The streets were deserted this early as i passed through this typical vacation beach town. 

......complete with boardwalk.......

.......and beach at sunrise.

I was early, it was a beautiful day, there was a tailwind and rain and thunder showers were predicted for later in the day. I was itching to move on partly because it is my nature when riding but also because I had a destination in FL and a deadline to see my younger sister Linda for her birthday and older sister Janice before she left on a 3 month cruze from China to Seatle.

Needless to say I am justifying why I rode on and did not wait for Nick now at least a half day behind. Our relationship was strong yet based on a very independent coexistance. Nick would expect nothing less of me than to follow my own calling. 

I generally followed RT 17, the main road, where SC was not very generous to cyclists with the shoulder and most of the time layed down a bike and body shattering rumble strip ..... The bain of all cyclists.

But fortunately with my handy I-phone navigation device I could usually find parallel deserted back roads that only added slightly to the distance.

.....but we're vastly more scenic and pleasant. And sometimes even a bicycle path.

As the day progressed I eventually ran into a the predicted rain but it was only a passing shower that I could wait out for 15 minutes or so under shelter .......

Just before noon I passed through Georgetown SC and some large paper mills and I think a wire and cable mill ....

.....with more industry in the distance far to the north.....

As the day wore on I piled on the miles closing in on Charleston, a city I had heard many good things about and wanted to visit. I had not heard back for a warm showers contact and Nick was not around to lead the way to sleeping out Hobo style, so I was looking around for a motel.

Coming onto Charleston even the main route 17 was rural and deserted. On a parallel side road I encountered a group,of friendly locals boys who gave me water.....

.....and the sad news tha there were no accommodations until the outskirts of the city, but they did tell me about a terrific local seafood restaurant down the road..

......Where I stopped for the best crab chowder, slaw, fried green tomatoes and fried local fish imaginable. They had an article posted for have been written up in the NYTimes.

While at dinner I found a Holiday Inn Express on the north side of Charleston and lumber in at dusk, exhausted with 118 mile behind me.

That night I made contact with Nick by phone to know he was all right, glad that I went on ahead He had been grounded by heavy rains all afternoon and had spent the day in the public library in Georgeton and was now about 100 miles behind.

We happily said our fare-wells by both agreeing it had been great fun riding together, that each of us had learned a lot from the other and that we would meet up again at Abbey's coffee shop in our hometown of Stockbridge in a few weeks to,retail,our friends with tails of our travels.

That night I slept well.

Sunday Wilmington to North Myrtle Beach SC

After a great nights sleep thanks to Nick's fine selection of secure accommodations we headed across the street and enjoyed a fine cup of Starbucks coffee al fresco on their comfortable patio.

Here is Nick in his sporty wool,outfit stil stylish in the south and all acquired at the Talbot center for recycled goods in Stockbridge. 

...... And we headed south reward theSC boarder.

Now we were away from the beaches and passed inland crossing over the intercostal waterway, which always I tailed a high bridge. 

Soon to leave the state of NC we could not resist another ferry ride provided free by the NCDOT. These ferries are great for themselves but even better because they take us to deserted roads in out of the way places and on the ride we gwe a chance to rest while traveling and best of all meet other travelers. 

View from the ferry

Shortly after our 7th boat ride of the trip we passed through the cute small town of Southport.

.......and proceeded on down the road, seeing spring time in full bloom.

 

Nick began to scout out a place to sleep.

.....no .... too populated in his small pup tent we might be seen ...... 

....... not for me the ground was wet .... It was a swamp .... With mosquitoes and who knew what else.

First some provisions for dinner you can never have too much lard.

I kept telling Nick that "we could do better". Then finally a spot fit for a king.

But after seeing some ominous ant hills around the site, I made a strategic decision and decided to move on toward SC and Myrtle Beach. 

There I found a nice Hampton Inn with a pool and an outback steak house where I had a tall draft bear and the biggest steak they had to ofer.

Needless to say I slept well.