I Couldn't Stop Smiling

Day 55, May 26, 2011, I Couldn’t Stop Smiling

101 miles, averaging 15.4 mph

Route from Statesboro, GA to New Green Acres RV Park, Walterboro, SC

Best Moment – As I was riding this morning (in fact most of the day,) I couldn’t help but smile.  Just thinking about all of the places I’ve seen since this ride started and how lucky I am to be able to undertake such an adventure made me smile.  It was a wonderfully cool morning with beautiful roads and great scenery.  

Worst Moment – Two flat tires in the same day has to count for the worst moment.  The one good thing about it is that only one of the flats was the rear tire.

As I left the RV around 7 this morning, I rode into downtown Statesboro.  It really is a beautiful southern town.  There were the old courthouse, and municipal buildings along with colorful country gardens.

Then there were miles of well-maintained, empty country roads through the pine forests with just enough hills to make it fun.  (A few rollers here and there.) 

Then came the challenge – a right turn onto CR 82 also known as Reedsville Road which was not paved but deep sand.  Can you see the bicycle tire track down the middle of the road?  It is there.  The quads really got a workout for the 2.5 miles of that.  (And here only a few days ago I was perplexed why the GPS would route me on a sandy road – apparently that is just the way it is – sometimes.)

Just after crossing the Savannah River, I entered South Carolina – the ninth state of the adventure.  One of the things that I’ve noticed about South Carolina is that there are a lot more historical markers than there were in Georgia.  Perhaps it is that I’m just on a better traveled road, or maybe there was more that happened in South Carolina.  Much of the route was along Sherman’s march to the sea and it is well marked with signs telling what he burned.

Perhaps it is very touristy, but I stopped at one of the roadside places advertising peach cider – free samples.  I can’t say too much about the peach cider, but they did have Moon Pies, Pecan Pies, and Peach Cobbler.  I got one of each.  The pie is Pecan pie is for Neita – it is really good.  The Moon Pie was gone in a couple of minutes.  And the Peach Cobbler is “put up” in a sealed glass jar.  It has chunks of peaches and chunks of pastry – should be interesting. 

The New Green Acres RV Park is quite nice – just not quiet. It is right next to I-95. That makes for easy access, I’m sure, but also lots of traffic noise.  It has a beautiful swimming pool – not open yet for the season.  It is 95 degrees, what do they want?