Today was a long one...101 miles. But it was actually a pretty good ride with some good stuff to see so there weren't too many complaints.
Esmith got a snake along one of the highways; some red guy with white stripes...real snake handler style, too. Upon realizing that perhaps it might have been poisonous, he returned it to the high grass and we moved on (pics in the gallery soon enough).
The areas we hit were getting pretty Southern, with the broken down cars in the yards and guns in the gun racks (in the trucks). Sean (the cyclist we camped with a week or two prior) had warned us it was "Deliverance Country" down here and hot damn, was it so. Just after crossing the Georgian border, we found ourselves idling (yeah...bicycles idle) that everyone had warned us about, Reedsville Rd./DR 82. It was just pure sand and Emitt, who I had called earlier in the day (the guy who drove Sean across the sandy road), had said that we should ride around the road, adding about 5 extra miles but avoiding the impassable connection. Upon approaching the road, Esmith and I intelligently decided that we could, in fact, ford this sandy villain. It had rained the night before, so the sand was decently compacted and somewhat ridable. Though we had some hairy spots where our back wheels got a little squirrelly, nobody bit it and we were able to make it. Go Team E-squared!!
The rest of the day was just spent riding, riding, riding and I actually was able to make a bunch of phone calls to college friends by putting my cell on speaker phone and laying in the nest of my front pack. It's a good way to cruise along those straight, flat roads killing miles without actually realizing it. When we got to Statesboro, we headed to a bike shop that had stayed open a little longer for us because we really needed some supplies. Both my toe clips no longer worked unless I cocked my heels out to the side (very uncomfortable riding position) and Esmith needed a tube before we got screwed on the next bad flat tire. I had called ahead to the bike shop to see if they carried my cleats (google text rules!) and finally a bike shop between Maryland and here had them! After the bike shop, we rode down to the Fire Station that I had called earlier (once again, google text rules!). They agreed to put us up which was much appreciated. We didn't get any pictures with the fire fighters, most of whom pretty much kept to themselves, but there were Tommy and Ezette who were nice (they let us know that teh other guys weren't rude, they just don't really talk to anybody). I also talked to a guy named Weston the next morning who was nice as well, but no pictures.
We got a rotisserie chicken along with salad and other goodies at the store and had an awesome dinner while we got to watch the opening ceremonies for the Olympics! We were both worried that weren't going to get to see any of the Olympics while we were on this trip but our chances are improving. We had a good night's sleep in the training room on our pads after a late night watching the TV.
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