Day 9: Sylvania, GA to Yemassee, SC

May 6, 2017

Today was another long day of cycle touring happiness. We had a leisurely morning at the B&B in Sylvania and enjoyed Kathy’s Dutch babies breakfast. It’s a German pancake and egg dish. (I didn’t get a picture, but you can find it online.) We took our time and didn’t get on the road until 10AM. It was 50 degrees at 8AM and we wanted to wait until it got a little warmer.

The first 15 miles were on GA 21, which is part of Bicycle Route 85. It was great on a Saturday morning with very little traffic. We were told it was very busy on weekdays with commuters. The rumble strips on the edge of the road were done correctly to accommodate cyclists. There was plenty of room to the right of the cuts to ride safely.

GA 21 - designated as a bicycle route and a good road to ride on Saturday morning

The weather was near perfect and we had a great tailwind. The sky was bright blue and we were sailing along in cycling heaven when we encountered another cycle touring moment. Right after we turned off GA 21 on a side road, a deputy sheriff pulled up beside us and said we could not proceed down that road because it was completely blocked by a fallen tree. We rode on another several hundred feet and found the road blocked by a fire truck and another deputy’s car. Because we still had 50 miles to go, we asked if we could just walk around the tree, but one of the deputies said it was not safe and that we needed to wait until the road was cleared. One of the firefighters on the scene told Kerry that they had called the county road department and they were expected to be there soon. We decided just to wait there instead of looking for another way to go. A couple of the firefighters were very friendly and they and Kerry passed the time in conversation until the county guys arrived with a front end loader. Once they got it unloaded from the trailer, it only took a couple of minutes to push the tree off the road. Another guy moved some branches by hand and the road was open. We were there about 30 minutes in all and it turned out to be an enjoyable break.

We enjoyed talking with the firefighter while waiting

Kerry managed to fill the time waiting for the tree to be cleared

A front end loader cleared the road in a couple of minutes

Clearing the debris by hand after the tree was moved

The rest of our ride was uneventful. The scenery was mostly woods (not many farms today), and we passed some swampy areas that looked just like home. We stopped at the Clyo Trading Post just before we crossed the Savannah River into South Carolina. We shared a “vegetable plate” for lunch that had a very high bacon to vegetable ratio. It was wonderful. I agree completely with the food critic Jeffrey Steingarten who said “All my favorite vegetable recipes start with “Fry several strips of bacon.””

How to serve vegetables in the rural south - delicious!

After that high fat vegetarian lunch, we rode a few miles and crossed into South Carolina. Kerry even let me take his picture 😊

We ended up with 70.5 miles today and got in to the hotel about 5:00 PM. We’re doing laundry and catching up from not having WIFI in our room last night.

Tomorrow is a short 50 mile ride to St. George, SC.

Today's ride: 70 miles (113 km)
Total: 467 miles (752 km)

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