Thursday, July 26, 2007
This is the end?
So, please ignore the locator map (I can't upload the new image there or on the pictures page until I get a wireless connection). We have made it to the end. I can't believe I haven't posted since Savannah, GA. I my defense, we've been doing A LOT more camping on this part of the trip. Plus, longer days, so I've been pretty beat even when we did have access.
So, from Savannah we made our way through Georgia at a pretty fast clip. We only spent two more nights, one at a campground in the rural, approximate center of the state and another in the rural south of the state. There was one stretch during this part where I'm pretty sure the ECG people took one too many hits off the crack pipe. Just after Woodbine, GA, we were routed about 3 miles off Highway 17 onto "Old Jefferson Highway." This was the dumbest possible place to attempt to ride any kind of bike, much less heavily loaded, thin-wheeled touring bikes and a trailer. So, after walking our bikes for three miles through an unmaintained dirt (NOT gravel, dirt) road and saying some very bad things about the mothers of those who chose that route, I can honestly say I would recommend skipping that part of the route.
After that, we dropped into Florida (our last state line) and took a rest day in Jacksonville. We may have been bordering on heat stroke that day because both of us were feeling very nauseous and run down. The next day, in St. Augustine, was the beginning of what felt like a whole new trip.
Florida was, without question, the state that was kindest to us. People took an interest in our trip, offered host stays, helped us pick up supplies, fed us, plied us with liquor, etc. etc. What a great state to bike through. It all started with a couple, Bob and Bonnie, in St. Augustine who are great ECG - and bicycle touring in general - enthusiasts. They showed us around their town with the enthusiasm of people who truly love where they live (an enviable trait). Not to mention feeding us and sending us away with a bottle of homemade grapefruit wine which, I'm sure, will be delicious (we were told to age it a few months). This is also the stop where we discovered Patch loves playing in the ocean. Too bad it's probably the last time he'll see an ocean. We met so many kind people, it will be hard to remember them all, but standouts include: John & Bev; Marianne, Anton & Min; Marta, James, Tracy & Mark; Maritsa & Carlos (intrepid dogsitters in a pinch); and our newest addition, Rebecca, who saw us on the street in Key West and donated to our cause.
Kindness didn't always work out for us, though, and sometimes put us into weird situations. One couple, who won't be named, offered us a place to stay, which we gladly accepted. We arrived, though, only to find ourselves caught in the middle of some kind of bizarre, alcohol and codependence fueled mating ritual involving plenty of yelling a recriminations (and, apparently, about two quarts of vodka) well into the wee hours. Don't get me wrong, they were very kind to us, but the weird awkwardness is something we could have done without.
On to happier subjects ...
The riding in Florida was also among the best we'd had. As advertised, we were on side paths or bike lanes for significant periods - more than any other state. We also saw some of the most beautiful beaches and even camped on a couple (see the photos, when I get them uploaded, of Long Key State Park: Florida's hidden gem).
We did some snorkeling off Key Largo in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, which was amazing. We saw Moray eels, tarpon and tons of colorful reef fish. We also did a snorkeling trip off Key West last night. Two stops and some beautiful reefs. We even saw a couple of sharks, which was very exciting. Sadly, we're starting to contemplate leaving (tomorrow, YIKES) and getting back to the real world. It looks like I'm going to have to return to Connecticut to retrieve our stuff (I was misled by Pack Rat, their shipping rates are exorbitant). So, I hope you nutmeggers will pencil me in for a drink. I'll let you know about dates as soon as we get stuff figured out. For now, we'll be doing the long drive to Oklahoma. Ahh, goodbye sweet vacation.
I'm not sure when I'll be posting again, but keep an eye out for my book, which I'll hopefully write soon ...
So, from Savannah we made our way through Georgia at a pretty fast clip. We only spent two more nights, one at a campground in the rural, approximate center of the state and another in the rural south of the state. There was one stretch during this part where I'm pretty sure the ECG people took one too many hits off the crack pipe. Just after Woodbine, GA, we were routed about 3 miles off Highway 17 onto "Old Jefferson Highway." This was the dumbest possible place to attempt to ride any kind of bike, much less heavily loaded, thin-wheeled touring bikes and a trailer. So, after walking our bikes for three miles through an unmaintained dirt (NOT gravel, dirt) road and saying some very bad things about the mothers of those who chose that route, I can honestly say I would recommend skipping that part of the route.
After that, we dropped into Florida (our last state line) and took a rest day in Jacksonville. We may have been bordering on heat stroke that day because both of us were feeling very nauseous and run down. The next day, in St. Augustine, was the beginning of what felt like a whole new trip.
Florida was, without question, the state that was kindest to us. People took an interest in our trip, offered host stays, helped us pick up supplies, fed us, plied us with liquor, etc. etc. What a great state to bike through. It all started with a couple, Bob and Bonnie, in St. Augustine who are great ECG - and bicycle touring in general - enthusiasts. They showed us around their town with the enthusiasm of people who truly love where they live (an enviable trait). Not to mention feeding us and sending us away with a bottle of homemade grapefruit wine which, I'm sure, will be delicious (we were told to age it a few months). This is also the stop where we discovered Patch loves playing in the ocean. Too bad it's probably the last time he'll see an ocean. We met so many kind people, it will be hard to remember them all, but standouts include: John & Bev; Marianne, Anton & Min; Marta, James, Tracy & Mark; Maritsa & Carlos (intrepid dogsitters in a pinch); and our newest addition, Rebecca, who saw us on the street in Key West and donated to our cause.
Kindness didn't always work out for us, though, and sometimes put us into weird situations. One couple, who won't be named, offered us a place to stay, which we gladly accepted. We arrived, though, only to find ourselves caught in the middle of some kind of bizarre, alcohol and codependence fueled mating ritual involving plenty of yelling a recriminations (and, apparently, about two quarts of vodka) well into the wee hours. Don't get me wrong, they were very kind to us, but the weird awkwardness is something we could have done without.
On to happier subjects ...
The riding in Florida was also among the best we'd had. As advertised, we were on side paths or bike lanes for significant periods - more than any other state. We also saw some of the most beautiful beaches and even camped on a couple (see the photos, when I get them uploaded, of Long Key State Park: Florida's hidden gem).
We did some snorkeling off Key Largo in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, which was amazing. We saw Moray eels, tarpon and tons of colorful reef fish. We also did a snorkeling trip off Key West last night. Two stops and some beautiful reefs. We even saw a couple of sharks, which was very exciting. Sadly, we're starting to contemplate leaving (tomorrow, YIKES) and getting back to the real world. It looks like I'm going to have to return to Connecticut to retrieve our stuff (I was misled by Pack Rat, their shipping rates are exorbitant). So, I hope you nutmeggers will pencil me in for a drink. I'll let you know about dates as soon as we get stuff figured out. For now, we'll be doing the long drive to Oklahoma. Ahh, goodbye sweet vacation.
I'm not sure when I'll be posting again, but keep an eye out for my book, which I'll hopefully write soon ...
An addendum
So, it's come to my attention that I have slighted some friends. While in Baltimore, we took a rest day and stayed with two of our best friends, who hosted us in grand style. Tony and Sarah were wonderful about showing us around their town and we couldn't have asked for better hosts. Not to mention, they were kind enough to send along some stuff we'd forgotten there. So, to be clear and for the record, Tony is a big, thumb-sucking cry baby! (Yeah buddy, you knew it had to end that way! Thanks again.)
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Big, gigantic update
OK, I know, I've been totally remiss in updating the blog and owe all of our worthy fans (read: our moms) a whole ton of news. So, here goes:
My last post was when we were in Chapel Hill, NC. We stayed with an old Peace Corps friend who has quite a wonderful life there. Perhaps I glossed over that segment of the trip with a bit of a broad brush, but so be it. We had a great time and loved the riding the state of North Carolina offered us. South of Chapel Hill was even better, with these great little backwoods roads and some of the finest people we've met. There was this one day, somewhere outside of Henderson, when we'd been riding all morning and hadn't seen any signs of civilization. We were running low on granola bars (always a scary possibility when Kerry's along) and hadn't packed lunch, thinking we'd eat along the way. Finally, I met a woman who was trying to quiet her incessantly barking dogs and asked her if there was anywhere to eat close by. "Well, just up ahead there's a little grocery store. I think they serve something up there. We don't have no Mac Donalds or anything like that. We're just a little COUNTRY town." I swear, I almost fell off my bike. She was so sweet and kind and yet sounded like such a caricature. I love the south. For the curious, we found the store, ate some delicious hamburgers and ice cream and, when we left, the extremely kind ladies working at the store gave us a container of chicken gizzards for the dog.
We did make one major mistake: We hit the South Carolina coast on July 4th weekend. Not good, Daniel-san. We'd just come off a nice rest day at Carolina Beach state park at the southern extreme of North Carolina, and rolled into South Carolina only to find every campsite and cheap motel room within 30 miles of our route booked up. After the indignity of riding through Myrtle Beach on a peak tourist day, we then had to scramble to find a place to stay. We finally found a room that was a bit more expensive than we'd hoped, but did the trick. With nothing but a completely occupied national forest campground between us and Charleston, we began to lose hope. That's when a Greenway advocate came to our rescue. The interesting part was, he wasn't going to actually be in Charleston when we were, nor was his family. Without even knowing us, Peter set it up so we could stay in his house, by ourselves, while we were in the city. We'd planned to take a day off there anyway, since it's so beautiful, but with the bleak outlook of the Fourth of July lodging still staring at us, there was no choice. Peter and his family proved to be the nicest hosts we never met! Here's to the kindness of strangers.
After Charleston, we veered from the official path in order to visit Beaufort, SC (pronounced byu-fort, I've been reminded at least a hundred times). It was so nice there, we took another day off and went on a dolphin/egret/crab watching cruise. Awesome. Then a short day to a town called Hardeeville and another shorty into Savannah, where we spent the day checking out the beautiful waterfront as well as a really cool railroad museum. This city is super nice and I'd recommend visiting here.
All theses days off seem pretty close together, right? Well, they are, but we actually powered through pretty hard in a lot of the more rural areas, so don't have any problem taking our time in the places we wanted to see. So what if we're slacking some, we did a 75-mile day from Charleston to Beaufort and didn't have any problems, so it's not like we're losing our shape.
By the way, for those of you who are curious why Kerry hasn't posted in a while, something went wrong with her blogger account and tech support (yours truly) hasn't figured out the problem. We'll see if we can't get her back up pretty soon.
Patch is well, though he did attempt suicide today by throwing himself under the wheels of a UPS truck. The driver's quick reactions and the dog's bad aim resulted in him only banging himself up on the side of the wheel. Otherwise, he continues to get all the attention and do none of the work. Oh well, I guess that's just what we expected.
So, that's it. We've got about 130 miles in Georgia and then it's a 500-mile, high-speed burn down the Florida coast until we can cool our heels on the beaches of scenic Key West. I've got tons more thoughts about the trip, but I think I'll keep them to myself for now, as I'm considering a book about this experience and wouldn't want to give everything away now. Why would anyone buy the book, right?
Until next time ...
My last post was when we were in Chapel Hill, NC. We stayed with an old Peace Corps friend who has quite a wonderful life there. Perhaps I glossed over that segment of the trip with a bit of a broad brush, but so be it. We had a great time and loved the riding the state of North Carolina offered us. South of Chapel Hill was even better, with these great little backwoods roads and some of the finest people we've met. There was this one day, somewhere outside of Henderson, when we'd been riding all morning and hadn't seen any signs of civilization. We were running low on granola bars (always a scary possibility when Kerry's along) and hadn't packed lunch, thinking we'd eat along the way. Finally, I met a woman who was trying to quiet her incessantly barking dogs and asked her if there was anywhere to eat close by. "Well, just up ahead there's a little grocery store. I think they serve something up there. We don't have no Mac Donalds or anything like that. We're just a little COUNTRY town." I swear, I almost fell off my bike. She was so sweet and kind and yet sounded like such a caricature. I love the south. For the curious, we found the store, ate some delicious hamburgers and ice cream and, when we left, the extremely kind ladies working at the store gave us a container of chicken gizzards for the dog.
We did make one major mistake: We hit the South Carolina coast on July 4th weekend. Not good, Daniel-san. We'd just come off a nice rest day at Carolina Beach state park at the southern extreme of North Carolina, and rolled into South Carolina only to find every campsite and cheap motel room within 30 miles of our route booked up. After the indignity of riding through Myrtle Beach on a peak tourist day, we then had to scramble to find a place to stay. We finally found a room that was a bit more expensive than we'd hoped, but did the trick. With nothing but a completely occupied national forest campground between us and Charleston, we began to lose hope. That's when a Greenway advocate came to our rescue. The interesting part was, he wasn't going to actually be in Charleston when we were, nor was his family. Without even knowing us, Peter set it up so we could stay in his house, by ourselves, while we were in the city. We'd planned to take a day off there anyway, since it's so beautiful, but with the bleak outlook of the Fourth of July lodging still staring at us, there was no choice. Peter and his family proved to be the nicest hosts we never met! Here's to the kindness of strangers.
After Charleston, we veered from the official path in order to visit Beaufort, SC (pronounced byu-fort, I've been reminded at least a hundred times). It was so nice there, we took another day off and went on a dolphin/egret/crab watching cruise. Awesome. Then a short day to a town called Hardeeville and another shorty into Savannah, where we spent the day checking out the beautiful waterfront as well as a really cool railroad museum. This city is super nice and I'd recommend visiting here.
All theses days off seem pretty close together, right? Well, they are, but we actually powered through pretty hard in a lot of the more rural areas, so don't have any problem taking our time in the places we wanted to see. So what if we're slacking some, we did a 75-mile day from Charleston to Beaufort and didn't have any problems, so it's not like we're losing our shape.
By the way, for those of you who are curious why Kerry hasn't posted in a while, something went wrong with her blogger account and tech support (yours truly) hasn't figured out the problem. We'll see if we can't get her back up pretty soon.
Patch is well, though he did attempt suicide today by throwing himself under the wheels of a UPS truck. The driver's quick reactions and the dog's bad aim resulted in him only banging himself up on the side of the wheel. Otherwise, he continues to get all the attention and do none of the work. Oh well, I guess that's just what we expected.
So, that's it. We've got about 130 miles in Georgia and then it's a 500-mile, high-speed burn down the Florida coast until we can cool our heels on the beaches of scenic Key West. I've got tons more thoughts about the trip, but I think I'll keep them to myself for now, as I'm considering a book about this experience and wouldn't want to give everything away now. Why would anyone buy the book, right?
Until next time ...
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