SAVANNAH...Dream city for BikingDreamer

We made it, after 1400 miles, 22 days, 12 states, 8 ferries, and one train ride.

The final ride was not easy but not even a final rain storm could dampen our enthusiasm, John also managed two more flat tires, losing that challenge 7-3.

Thinking back I maybe over played the difficulties we faced, indeed these challenges made the days uncertain AND interesting.  I told Mike he would make a formidable competitor on the TV show, Amazing Race.

But I digress...Fricken SAVANNAH!!!!!

On Dec 10th, 1864..General Sherman  and 60,000 Union Soldiers decended into Savannah with approved orders from Lincoln and Grant to destroy the 10,000 man Confederate army and all else in front of him.

He did neither.  The Confederate army abandoned Savannah and Sherman spared the city and its citizens.

It is hard to describe the beauty of this historic, mystifying city.  It has 33 unique city square parks laid out in checker board fashion.  There are no skyscrapers, Spanish moss drape from the trees, the river walk where the slave ships would unload their cargo is bustling with restaurants and night life, and 10 story high cargo ships seemingly larger than the city itself float past.

I was here 25 years ago and much of the charm from then, and even the colonial times remain.

We took a free ferry across the river and had a celebration beer and pizza....we were done for the day.

Today we toured the city on bikes....see pics.

Now I really don't know how to best conclude this blog without sounding too sappy...but I do want to leave you with an idea about watching corn grow.  When we started, the corn in Massacuettes was bearly breaking the surface and as we moved down the coast to the south you couldn't help but notice how each day the corn was noticably taller, knee high by the time we reached Virginia and almost full grown in Georgia.

You can see this if you travel at bike speed...but not in a car or plane...you can't see it if you walk or run.  The thing is, what we see as normal depends somewhat on the speed we travel

Want to see something new?  Change your speed. I can guarantee a discovery awaits you, even though I don't know what it is.   Faster or slower, there is a known unknown adventure before you.

Mike and I, hope to see you out there... changing gears!

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John and Mike reach for Savannah

I decided to include some additional photos taken yesterday in Charleston

I also wanted to give credit to Mike for his incredible work, scheduling and photography during this trip

We limped out of Charleston, and Mike planned a route for us that kept us off the busy highways...the irony for the day, it turned out we made the best time on the highways as the roads got alot more friendly and the traffic was light.  Our off road, well was a bit rougher

He did find a great trail

But the road took us along two trails that were not maintained, of course we jumped the fence

I didn't get a picture of the second one which was covered with 4 inches of sand, and once our skinny tires hit and sank in, it was all over except the crying.   For the next half hour we walked and pushed our bikes thru the sand and the mosquitoes had a feast.  Adventure!

It was hot, and we drained our water bottles several times...lucky we found a busy highway and made it to our destination without incident except John's 5th flat tire...the good news, I  bought a spare tube in Charleston for $7, the bad news is that I left it at the restaurant with the $7 Margarita specials.   Mike patched the tube.

We rode 71 miles....and Savannah is only 45 miles off..I am torn with a happy and sad feeling of an adventure concluding.

A lady noticed my "I ride with Diabetes" jersey...pulled out a twenty and handed it to me.  Find a Cure, she said to me with tears in her eyes.

I inquired...and she said she had lost her mother to diabetes.

I hugged her

Charleston - Jewel of the South

Well, can you believe it...the plan worked like a charm, although at the start of the day, you'd never guessed it.

We got up and it was dark outside at 5:30 am, and moved to the road...except John had a flat front tire.  Nothing to do but fix it but neither of us spoke what we both were thinking...Not again...Current score 4 flats for John and 3 for Mikey.

BTW...I posted more photos to yesterdays blog.

The road was smooth, the temperature was cool, the traffic was non existent, the time was 6:30, the focus was ride, ride,ride and we did.

By 11 am, we had gone 60 miles and were feeling very good about the riding day coming to a close....We made it... Charleston SC

We got to the hotel at 12:30, showered, caught a cab, had lunch, caught a ferry to Fort Sumpter.  We were on fire!

Walked the streets of old town Charleston, on a beautiful May day, before heading to Battery Park, turned East to come up the wharfside of the city and hit the Smokehouse Bar-be-que restaurant for a great dinner just in time for a Margarita happy hour...

We returned to the hotel, to do laundry, exhausted, but full of the times of the day.

Pictures say it all

We have two more days of riding

Savannah lies ahead 130 miles

1281 down range

Victories and Defeats - Stay tuned

I'M MISSING SOME PHOTOS FROM THIS POST DUE TO POOR WI-FI SO I'LL ADD THEM TOMORROW

We blew out of Wilmington with high hopes of a big riding day and troubles of the previous day behind us.  While the miles are ahead of us the roads to Charleston are decidedly less interesting with long streaches of road along Hwy 17.

Our first 24 miles was to catch a ferry from Fort Fisher acroos to a cool little town of Southport.  We stopped for some ice cream.

Next we made a fateful decision to stay close to the shore and find our way on a shorter route thru Myrtle Beach.  The weather stayed clear and the temperature was in the mid 80's but the humidity...wow

The roads were fairly clean although the fine for littering is $250 and this transgression was very costly

Actually, Mike was just trying to demonstrate his surperior riding skills.  Sick, I  know

We crossed into South Carolinia, with 85 miles down showing on the Odometer and found a spot in North Myrtle Beach.

Mike picked Mongolien stirfry for dinner.  John found frozen Pina Coladas at the grocery.

I asked Mike to get some pictures of pot holes as I am trying to convince one of my better clients that this trip is really an asphalt survey and is chargeable, with no mark-up of course.  We have seen tons of asphalt!

The next day didn't start out well and got worse from there.  Mrytle Beach was a crowded hot humid place without any good roads to ride.

We were kinda trapped.  My bike was much harder to ride and we soon discovered that the Wal Mart tire we had to buy days earlier reaaly didn't fit...it had to be replaced.  We found a nearby bike shop, made the required adjustments, had lunch, and tried to agree on a plan forward.

We made to the town of Georgetown.  With no good options into Charlestown except along busy Hwy 17, we agreed to get up with the sun, be on the road by 6am and make a 60 mile dash for the city before sleepy South Carolinian's wake up.

If you don't read another post....the plan didn't work

Houston, we have a problem - got duct tape?

We broke camp and got on the road still a bit fuzzy on goals, distances and routes.  We decided  to take a more scenic route along the coast over Emerald Island

This was the normal outcome with Mike and google maps leading the way, where as the alternate route suggested by the intrepid explorer often had various outcomes

I kept reminding Mike we were a team.  If there are any hills in this part of North Carolina, we didn't find them although our course selecttion made things a wee more difficult by adding 20 miles to the journey that passed the 1000 mile marker.

You have to drink an incredible amount of water, which means stops to fill water bottles, gatorade, or iced tea...we had had enough after 70 miles and called it early at 3 pm

We shopped for groceries and did laundry and declared victory over the day.

Dinner for two by TV light

(yes, he drinks a quart of milk)

The next day began as the previous but was not to end smoothly.  The route took us on to State road 17 which had limited sholder and fast moving traffic.  We agrreed to take the longer route on quite road onto Treasure Island thru the towns of Top Sail and Surf City.

With our gear in tow, people are curious as to our journey and share stories of their jouneys across America.  Facinating!

We return to busy State Road 17 when the unexpected tire blowout occurs.  Memorial Day.  No bike shops open and I am 10 miles from nowwhere.  Everybody knows sidewall blowouts can't be repaired and i called Mike with the bad news.   To my astonishment, he carries an emergency tire boot kit for this exact predicament.  Okay?

We need an inner tube and luckily I came prepared with a spare that was the wrong size.  Wait....What?  Yeah, I bought the wrong size tube.  Ugh!

Best we can do is try to make it work, but it fails after about 3 miles.  Did I say it was Memorial Day....nothing open!

Mike pulls the blown out inner tube which he saved out of his bag and begins to to try and patch it...but we need some duct tape.  There is a nearby storage facility that only sells shipping tape.   I make a deal to buy shipping tape and they "loan" me their own roll of duct tape for office only use.

New Life...we are off to Wal Mart twenty miles away for a new tire and tubes....Mike makes it all work including the needed fender adjustment.

While at Wal Mart we get advice to stay at a near by hotel with a pool

Still Alive!

Where's the pool?

We went to dinner and I bought Mike the biggest steak on the menu.  The guy is genius!