AND SO IT BEGINS!
We finally hit the road Thursday morning and it’s already been a roller
coaster ride of emotions and experiences.
We are already more than 1/250th done, how exciting! We had to do the math a couple times, because
it did not seem right, but sure enough it was.
My goal (This is Brent) is to keep these blogs short…which can be a
challenge, as I can be a bit wordy. My
initial goal was to keep it under 500 words, but now I think 1,000 will be the
goal. So, we’ll just see how these posts
develop along the way. Hope you enjoy
Day one was full of many
emotions. The adrenaline was absolutely pumping as we rolled out of town,
thanks to the excitement embarking on our journey as well as the ridiculous
traffic on highway 378, which we rode for about 15 miles. Once we got off
that road it was smooth sailing for the rest of the day. The tough part was the
heat; with highs in the lower 90's we were drinking a lot of water making sure
to stay hydrated. After 72 miles we rolled into Whitmire, South Carolina
where we would be camping for the night. We stopped at a gas station to
ask for the nearest campsite and grab a drink. I (Brent) was feeling a
bit nauseous and was ready to set up camp and get to cooking. We were
directed to The Brickhouse about 7 miles away, however along the way we passed
Friendship Baptist Church, where we struck up a conversation with gentleman and
were invited to stay under the awning of their Family Center. We were
worn out and ready to hit the hay, so we cooked up some rice and beans, added
some hot sauce, ate our dinner and went to sleep. The next morning, one
of the Deacon’s and another church member showed up to cook us breakfast. (this
would turn out to be extremely helpful
as the day progressed)
The morning of day two was
cold, we woke up to temps in the low 50’s.
While this was chilly to pack in, it was great to ride in. (much better than 90’s) halfway through the day we stopped to eat lunch
on the town square in Laurens, SC. As we
were pulling out our tuna, a joyful woman came out to offer us some bottled
water. One thing led to another and we
were having lunch in the historic courtroom and she called their local
newspaper the Advertiser. We left
Laurens with a smile on our face, energized for the next leg.
We planned the day to be a
short 50 mile ride to Greenville where we would camp for the night, but it
turned into a 75 mile ride when our friends father offered to let us stay at
his place for the night…he just happened to live on the north end of Greenville. (which is extremely hilly, good practice
right?) Whilst it may be good practice,
it was rough after 50 miles. Either way
we finished and had a great dinner thanks to Mr. Gerald. Then we crashed again. (we are sensing a trend…it’s going to be easy
to go to sleep at night) The next
morning Mr. Gerald cooked us breakfast, provided some recommendations for
around town, and saw us off.
We decided to rest today,
as we want to ease into the long days and not push it too hard in the
beginning. Our first stop was Sunshine
Cycle on the recommendation of both Ms. Crotts as well as Mr. Gerald. These guys were awesome they gave our bikes a
once over, tightened some of the cables that had stretched and hooked Michael
up with a kickstand. It turned out they
had just returned from their Saturday morning and there were a bunch of cyclists
in the store we got to chat with. Mr. Fitton,
one of the cyclists invited us to stay the night at his house for the evening
and we could not turn him down. We
exchanged info to meet up later and Michael and I rode to downtown Greenville
for some R&R.
We got to catch a bit of
football while we ate lunch, then we headed down to TTR Bikes (Tandem, Touring
and Recumbent Bikes) The guys at Sunshine Cycle said we should stop, and we had
to agree…I mean touring is in their name.
The owner was not in, however his father, Scott McCrary, was and he
provided some great insights into touring and how we can become more efficient.
Mr. McCrary was a blast to chat with; he was extremely jolly and just loving
life. We appreciated his advice and
genuine approach and passion for cycling advocacy.
By the time we were done
at TTR the Fittons had returned home from their trip to the Orchard and the oldest
daughter, Camilla, a culinary student and her boyfriend was busy cooking away making spiced
apples ice, apple cheesecake, apple streusel muffins and applesauce. We did find time to take some breaks to play
ninja and take a family photo. Perfect
way to cap off an awesome day in Greenville, SC!
In Good Health,
Brent and Michael
Great start guys! Christy and I have been so excited for your adventure and now it's here! We will continue to support and cheer you on the whole way through! I want you guys to write more about those emotions...what are they? Excitement, fear, exhaustion ... What else!? The mind is your best friend and your worst enemy! Stay positive and support eachother! -Adam
ReplyDelete