Larry's log:
It was another comfortable morning, about 75 degrees at 6:45, when we rolled out. I had thought that we were pretty much done with climbing. But there were still some rollers today. I don't mean to make it sound like it was constant climbing. The rolling hills were generally nothing more than we might find on a ride in East Texas. On a "normal" ride, we might not even notice these. But, after 24 full days of riding, you tend to notice these things a lot more. Tomorrow we finish up. By our unofficial count, there are now 18 of us that can say we rode every mile of the trip on our bikes, if we ride the entire day tomorrow. We are proud to be three of them.
The scenery today was much like yesterday, but perhaps more economically depressed. The town of Ninety-Six, which we hit after about 11 miles, looked quaint, however. There were signs to a historic site, but not on the road we were riding. My guess would be that something happened around here, maybe in 1796?
Most of the day found us on quiet state highways and some back roads. Around Mile 46, we passed through Ridge Spring, which I thought had a few interesting, Southern style houses. One that I remember had wrap around porches on both levels. Lunch was in Kitchings Mill, around Mile 80. Henry, the three year old, said he had to "pee," and proceeded to drop his pants and go up against a tree right in front of everyone eating lunch. It was a hoot.
At Mile 93, we passed through the small town of Springfield, which proclaims itself home of the "Governor's Frog Jump." I'm not sure what that is, but there were frog cartoons on the water tower, railroad station and other buildings. Our 104 mile rest stop was in Norway, which is nine miles down the road from Denmark. I didn't spot any Scandanavians in the area. We were on County Route 751, about seven miles out of Orangeburg, for a couple of miles. It was a nice, residential road. Finally, around Mile 121, we hit the motel.
You can sense that we're approaching the finish. The three of us are taking it easy and careful, simply making sure that we don't do anything that would jeopardize our ability to finish tomorrow. Others, who have held back thus far, are starting to ride faster, figuring it's almost over, and that it won't hurt to push it now. In general, people seem to be spending less time at rest stops and lunch. This might also be due to the cooler temperatures (high about 90 again) and reduced humidity (40% or less). Ice was a sacred rest stop commodity a few days ago. Now, most of it just remains in the coolers.
This has become such a daily routine, it is difficult to believe it will really be over tomorrow.
-- Larry Schwartz
Another cool crisp morning and I had goosebumps on my arms as we started out the ride. But that did not last. Thankfully, the humidity and heat has died down.
More rolling hills on the ride then I had hoped for but the painkillers seemed to be doing their job and I was not as sore as I had been.
The scenery was more of the same, only further into the ride, there seemed to be more pine trees and sand along the road. Henry was excited with the sand at the second rest stop and asked if it was a sandbox to play in. Then he wanted to know if he could pee in the sand.
We rode along back roads with very little traffic. The drivers were patient and courtious to us. Closer to Orangeburg, we noticed more mobile homes and the population seemed to be more African American. We also noticed berries growing in the fields along side the road. Presumably raspberries.
It was a good feeling to enter Orangeburg. We know that we have one more day of riding until we can throw ourselves and our bikes into the Atlantic Ocean.
Larry and I went for a quick swim and had dinner at the Subway down the road. This was the first Subway that offered a barbeque rib sub and the option of apple pie with your value meal.
Tonight will be an early bedtime. Regain some energy before our last ride of 107 miles to the beach.
Judith Jolly (and Daniel Schaaf)