May 8, 2017
Day 11: St. George, SC to Manning, SC
Today’s journal was written by Kerry
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETALS!!Today we had another good day that had a little adventure (by our standards) mixed in. After a leisurely morning, we headed out at about 10 AM. Less than a mile from our motel, we made a turn and ran out of pavement. The road looked like packed sand and, by riding slowly, we made it to the next intersection which was about a third of a mile away. About 8 miles further down the road we turned on a small road that had a very rough surface. I was thinking I should get a photo of all the pot-holes when we came upon a sign that read “Pavement Ends”. We soon discovered that pot-holes were really not that bad 😉. This section of road was soft sand and un-rideable. It was also longer – we ended up walking our bike for slightly over a mile before we hit pavement again. Later in the afternoon, we hit our 3rd section of unpaved road – it was rough, but rideable and, although Jeanna was apprehensive, we made it safely to pavement and finished the days ride without further incident.
I must mention that, when we were planning this trip, Jeanna mapped out the route and it was my job to go over it in detail, making sure that stuff like this didn’t happen. This was gently brought to my attention several times today in the sweetest manner possible. (Jeanna here - to be honest, I really didn't say much about the route, but after 43 years, he can read my mind :))
About midway thru todays ride, we crossed Lake Marion.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
After crossing Lake Marion, we took a short detour to visit the Santee National Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center. They are open Tuesday thru Saturday. Unfortunately today was Monday.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
We were back in farmland today.
After passing several farms that were growing corn and cotton we came upon a large field of melons. A bit further down the road, we saw a crop that sort of looked like tobacco, but not really. Across from this field were several farm buildings. I saw a man walking across to a barn and stopped to ask him what he was growing. He said the field was turnip greens. His name was Troy and he was the owner of the farm. We learned that he farmed 4,000 acres, and besides turnip greens, he grew collards, mustard greens, string beans and peas and that he sold his crops McCall Foods, a large cannery located in Effingham, SC.
As were arrived at our hotel, the owner came over to welcome us. She was delighted to learn we were from Crystal River. Her daughter was married in October to a man who lives in Citrus County. It turns out that he is an oral surgeon who has an office about 1/2 mile from our house!
Today's ride: 53 miles (85 km)
Total: 570 miles (917 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |