August 7 & 8.
When I first signed up for this ride, I signed up to go across the country. That was my main goal. Then I saw that the Cross Country Route and the East Coast Route came together in Savannah–so, like a crazy person, I thought, “I’ve never been to Key West! After nine weeks, what’s two more? And it will be flat!” And then I proceeded to sign up for the last two weeks of the East Coast Route of the Fuller Center Bike Adventure.
My first day riding with the East Coast riders, we weren’t terribly close to the coast, but we hadn’t had too much in the way of hills for quite a while. We left Savannah at what seemed to be about rush hour, though since we were heading out of town, I don’t remember it being all that bad. It was bad enough to make me think that we had probably left right in time for rush hour, but that was the extent of it.
I was excited once we got going to discover that a couple of people in this group ride close to my speed. In the cross country group, I was the slowest person by quite a bit. This day, though, I was still in the last place except for the sweeps (those who volunteer to come in last and make sure everyone is accounted for). Once they caught me, they helped block the wind. We went a little tiny bit faster than I was really comfortable with, and eventually caught up with another group and went even faster. (I think. I get my days mixed up sometimes) I was able to keep up, but it wore me down and I got a bit overheated.
I didn’t take any pictures on the way to Darien. When we arrived in Darien, our destination was a Catholic Church there. We were all sleeping in one room, not very large, and had to share one bathroom. Originally, all our bikes were supposed to be kept in there, also. We did, finally, manage to get a key to another room to put our bikes in, and a key to another bathroom. It was locked all night, but it was unlocked again in the morning. We not only use the restroom for its normal purposes–since we are a mixed sex group, we also use it for changing. Quite a backlog when everyone is dressing and brushing their teeth and getting ready for the day!
In Darien, we were up before the sun. The purpose of getting up before the sun is to be ready to take off as soon as it gets light enough to go. It is cooler in the morning, but it doesn’t last very long. Some mornings, we come out and it’s already hot and humid both.
Three of us: Mark, Mariesha, and I, had discovered the previous day that we rode comfortably together. No one of us had to adjust our speed too much to be able to stay together. So we rode together most of the day. We were determined not to let ourselves be pushed into traveling too fast. We saw some beautiful scenery that day, and were able to take a few photos.
This was also the day when we had to take a detour that ended up being quite long. Detours on this trip are a strange experience, and it was lucky that it wasn’t raining. When someone up front determines that a detour is necessary, I’m not sure what, exactly they do to determine the best route. They may ask around, or they may simply check Google maps. In the back, however, we are stuck with following the chalk marks on the road. The marks, themselves, are usually well done. The problem is, we’re never quite sure whether we missed one or not.
Today’s ride was scheduled to be 61.1 miles. We had about reached that distance when we were met by Melissa with some ice water, who told us there were about 20 more miles to go–but only six to the next rest stop. The three of us decided we had enough energy to go six more miles, but we weren’t so sure about another 20. Actually, we understood her to mean there were 20 more miles after the rest stop, which was incorrect. Nonetheless, we had decided that we would be done once we made it to the newly added detour-necessitated rest stop. Eighty miles on bicycle is doable for me, and I probably could have gone that last 14 miles, but it’s really hard to reset that goal in your head from 61 to 81.
That night we stayed at St. Marys. The church there was great! They provided us with dinner and they let us use whatever we wanted. Connor was playing ping pong with someone and dived after a ball and knocked over a pitcher of water just before dinner. No one got upset. We learned that St. Marys is the second oldest city, right after St Augustine. It’s also the gateway to Cumberland Island, the largest of the barrier islands, and very close to the Okeefenokee Swamp–which sounds like a place in horror fiction where you get lost in the swamp. It was a really fun evening.