Day 34: Aug 14 - Vero Beach is Vero Hot and Vero Full of Mosquitoes

Trying to get a place to stay after today's ride was quite a debacle. There were plenty of fire stations in the area where we were headed (originally Floridana Beach, now Vero Beach), just no one that wanted to take us in. Finally, I was able to get in touch with a nice woman (or man...gosh, at this point I can't remember) who hooked us up with the Vero Beach Fire Rescue Station 5 personnel. They had just been transplanted to a brand new station two years before because of a hurricane that came through and tore up the old place. The woman (or man)...the "individual", on the phone assured me that if a hurricane came through, that was the place to be because it was built tighter than a _____'s _____. Can't exactly display that kind of language here, but that's what they said! So we headed for Vero Veach, 74 miles down the coast, into the wind (as usual) on an extraordinarily hot day. Now, you might think "but at least it's windy, so the heat isn't as unbearable, right?" Wrong. It could be gale force coming at you, but you're still pedaling all strength, all the time. Sure, you may evaporate a drop of sweat or there, but your pores are working overtime pumping perspiration out of every possible spot. Wind + Heat + Heading South = Dead

Well, not exactly dead...but close.

So looking back on today's pictures, we had some good (and bad) events. Let's run through them...
Unique and astounding architecture: some of these homes along the sound (actually the Indian River Aquatic Reserve...which would lead me to believe it was a river...but I'm saying sound) were just incredible...the variety of architectural designs gave a great reason to slow down and just see how different each house could be from the one next to it, let alone the next 100 down the street.
Dolphins: thank god for Esmith's eagle eyes, or these guys would have gone undiscovered! We rode by a set of docks and lo and behold, a pod of dolphins! They stuck around for a little while, long enough for me to get my D80 out of my front pack and snap a few shots of some dorsal fins slicing through the calm surface of the sound. We were tempted to try to get on one of the docks and see just how friendly the dolphins would be, but arrest for trespassing was not on our list of objectives for the day.
Bike malfunction #1: remember that guy Sean that we met in North Carolina? Well, one of the stories he told us was about the pelotons (groups of bicyclists...think the Tour de France and all those cyclists) that form on the roads in Florida. Apparently, there aren't a lot of great roads to ride on, so most cyclists all tend to ride together on the same roads, forming these massive groups. Not only is it fun to join in one of these rides with your fellow enthusiasts, you can save a lot of energy through drafting. This is especially helpful when you've got 60 pounds of gear to carry, and these guys will go out of their way to suck you into the amoebic mass and do your work for crazy people like us. Well, Esmith and I had been excited about finding one of these pelotons since Sean told us about them, and today was going to be the day. The weather was getting nice and hot and were about to head out onto the coastal island with lots of traffic where a big group would be good to fight the cars and the wind. Well, we're about to head out onto the land bridge and a bolt on Esmith's rack shears right off, dropping his rack onto his tire, completely incapacitating his ride. I stop, walk the bike back, and we start to investigate the severity of the failure. And just as we surmise that some serious fixing is in order, what do we look up to see passing us but a peloton of about 40 guys on bikes. Oh, the cruel irony of life!!! Luckily, just a mile back was a bike shop (a very helpful running lady was nice enough to stop by and let us know), so we drug our bikes back to the shop and let them take care of the ordeal. 45 minutes and 10 degress Fahrenheit later, we're back on the road.
Ron Jon's Surf Shop: the plan was to stop at Ron Jon's surf shop, the original huge shop, just to see what they had. This did not work out as planned. I got there first by a few minutes, and pulled over by a bench to wait for Esmith...who, absorbed in the biking as we tended to become, shoots right past the shop, not noticing me waving frantically on the corner. I hop on my bike to try to catch up with him...but then, he's doing the same thinking that I'M ahead of him, so it's a no win situation. I don't know if I've mentioned this by this point, but Esmith's phone has been rendered useless without an electrical outlet by the downpour we rode through in northern Florida. So I just kept riding until Esmith called my cellphone from a table at McDonald's (boooo! booooo on McD's!!). Unknowingly, I'd already passed him since he had stopped, so the next 40 minutes was spent with us ricocheting back and forth, up and down the street until we finally met. Our first time getting separated on the trip...and so close to the end!!
Our first legitimately caused flat: short and sweet, my tire exploded because finally an object of worthy inflation-deadliness was able to penetrate and cause a flat.
Tortoise: I was able to snag a tortoise just as it tried to escape into the underbrush beside the sidewalk. And by "just able", I mean, stopped my bike, got my camera out, took some pictures, and got in its way as it slowly made its escape. Then more pictures and some angry hissing from the infuriated reptile.
High five plants: probably one of my top 20 coolest parts of the trip was this simple plant. Almost a weed, even; it was everywhere. But gosh darn were its big leaves great for high-fiving (see picture above). Esmith demonstrates this technique perfectly (and I'd like to mention that I stupidly took that picture while turned around while riding) I'm glad it didn't have some sort of toxin or allergic reaction causing sap, because I think we high-fived 643 of these things.


After a stellar shopping trip to CVS (not exactly), we arrived at the Fire Rescue Station. Now, THIS place had some characters. I was a little unsure how it was going to be hanging out there for the night, because they were a little ambivalent to our presence at first (just going about their daily routine), but this soon changed to hilarity and absurd conversations. The whole crew was awesome. From left to right in the picture, I think it goes like this: Emit, Esmith, Pete up top, Ray down below, Me, Lt. Wayne (or as most call him "Big Sexy" or "The Love Machine"), and Jay. It was like college hanging out with these guys. Jay, Esmith, and I were up for quite awhile exchanging stories and jokes, and just musing about life in general. I think his wife was on her last year of law school, so I hope she's coming along well, Jay!! This crew of guys were great and I'm really glad we were able to stop by and spend the evening with them. Hope you're all doing well, fellas.

Day 33: Aug 13 - So close to the space shuttle and no blast offs!! WHY GOD, WHY!?!?!

Alright, I'll start this off with an aside that it's been quite some time since I wrote last and also since Esmith and I ended the trip...so a lot of this is fuzzy as I didn't take as great of notes toward the end of the trip. But I'll do my best and if I leave anyone out or forget a name, you can e-mail me a complaint. I don't foresee this though, so off we go!

The day started as most do: early, drowsy, but ready to bike. Mary took us out for breakfast out a local eating establishment (good old hometown breakfast place, you know the type). Plenty of greasy consumables were eaten, paying no heed to the calories or fat because really, our metabolisms are roaring infernos at this point. We say our goodbyes to our one-day-family and strike out on that lonely road again.

Today's destination was originally supposed to be Mims, but because we had torn asphalt the last few days, we could bump ourselves up a little bit. We ended up deciding on Titusville, a city about 62 miles just down yonder road (oh, wait, it's Route 1 AGAIN!). I was busy trying to line up our sleeping arrangements for most today's ride (if you think talking on a cell phone distracts you while driving, try it while riding a bike), so not much occurred on today's ride that I noticed...except for the amazing Pet Vet Cruiser. It's a bus that drives around, spaying and neutering every poor animal in sight. Actually it's a lot less rampant and out of control than that and serves a great purpose in lowering the animal population...but it was a little humorous seeing a bus that cruises the streets, chopping off and removing the crucial bits and pieces of male and female (respectively) pets everywhere. Amazing that the highlight of the day was a genital removing vehicle.

We were able to stop at a library and negotiate our residence for that evening through Lieutenant Rodney of the Titusville Fire Station. He assured us that they would have a place for us so our destination was secured for the day. It ended up being a pretty short day so we had time to get lost looking for the grocery store which was right down the street from the fire station for about an hour. Great dinner of Caesar salad and chicken I think. Then talking to Bobby (one of the fire fighters) about motorcycles (he had pretty cool modified one) and Olympics. Probably one of the more interesting parts of the evening, as well as one of the most disappointing, was the fact that we were literally just under 10 miles from Cape Canaveral. That's right, where they shoot off the space shuttle!! The guys said that they've seen so many by this point that they aren't even that amazing anymore (cha right!), and seeing one during the day is great, but at night they're even better. You'd swear it was daylight the amount of energy that vehicle puts out in the form of light. So that was the incredible part. Unfortunately, we were not around for any launches. That's the disappointing part. But they did have a gnarly old fire truck, the FIRST one the city ever owned, restored to its original condition. They use it in parades and events. And being the big shot, highfalutin big shots we were, they let us play in it. Well, take pictures with it, but same thing. You should have seen how bells and whistles this baby had!

After the Olympics and some mindnumbing episodes of whatnot on the TV, we hit the hay in preparation for the ensuing day of biking. Thanks for the great hospitality, Titusville FPD, namely Allan, Bobby, and Rodney.

Some Interim Work

So, it's been a little while since I last blogged and unfortunately I can't continue until I find my notebook with all my jottings of info to remember. Until then...

Day 32: Aug 12 - Sloberts and our new friends feed us like we were kings

Though I slept on the typical pull-out sleeper sofa last night, it was probably my best night of sleep on this trip. When I laid down, I got about 4.5 seconds of reading in before I was out. So waking up was a treat as I was actually well rested and lively. Breakfast was delicious...bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs...maybe some toast even. We got a late start, about 11, as we just moped around our new home with Liz and Rod (and Fudge of course). But the road beckoned, so we finally got all our junk together on our bikes, took our family picture (see above!), and hit that old dusty trail. It was a little overcast and we had a long day ahead of us. Our buddy (one of my best friends from UMD) is attending the University of Florida in Gainesville for graduate work in aerospace engineering (he's doing some research with flying velociraptors or T-rexes or something...). And he's actually applying for his PhD-ship this fall, so wish him luck! Anywho, Brob, as we call him, decided that if we were going to be biking through his area then he might as well join us for a little ride. Bear with me here as I work out the progression of the day.

We were originally supposed to be spending the night in Flagler Beach, but unfortunately the closest Fire Department was about 9 miles down A1A in a little town called Ormond By the Sea. So we called ahead to the Fire Department and who answers but Manny, a sweet girl with a bubbly voice. She puts me in touch with Phil, the chief, and apparently he's already heard about us. This stuns me because how in the world could he already know what we're about? I just assume there's two other guys who are biking the same route and we're just filching off of their fame...which I have no problem with. So he says to come on in and they would gladly take care of us for the evening. Yada yada yada, we contact Brob and he plans to park near the station and ride up to meet us in Crescent Beach on his sweet Giant racing bike. Little did he know there would be unfavorable weather. Ha, sucker.

So before I get to the awesome weather that accosted us for most of our ride, let me tell you about a little bridge called the Nassau Sound Bridge. This unimposing, 0.9 mile bridge presents you with the opportunity to lazily cruise over the Nassau Sound, 360 degree vantage points surround giving great views of the ocean, beach, and island...ALONG WITH 30 MPH HEADWINDS THAT SLAM INTO YOU FOR THE LENGTH OF THE BRIDGE!!! With the winds and the slight uphill because of the bridge, this traverse rivaled some of our worst hills in New England (if it had only been longer...). All we could do was laugh hysterically as we churned our way over this behemoth. There wasn't even any respite on the downhill, because you actually had to PEDAL down the hill. So that was the first piece of awesomeness in a day full of miserable weather.

Apparently in Florida, "rain showers between 3 and 4 pm" actually means "relentless downpour from 2 to 7 pm". We were able to wait out the first portion of the storm under the porch of a gas station in the middle of nowhere, but the rain was just not stopping and we had places to be so we buckled down and moved out. The ride was pretty miserable; everything we owned was soaked (Esmith's brand new phone...the one he just got during the stop in MD because his last phone died due to water damage...yep, it got water damage again). Luckily all my electronics were well protected with Ziploc Bags (did you know that "These food storage containers lock tightly so your foods stay fresh and your items remain protected."?...I'm shamelessly plugging products here hoping for donations from their respective companies). So we rode on and on, and the rain kept falling...into our bags and shoes and eyes. Cars were dowsing us with wonderfully clean road water and at one point we came over a bridge and confronted a 4 inch deep puddle the ran the width of the road and stretched about 50 yards ahead of us. There was no going around it so we had to just ford the damn thing. Since both my fenders were removed during the course of the trip, my tires took the liberty of dumping any water they picked up right into the heels of my shoes. Oh joy!

So we rode and rode and rode and finally met up with Brob 32 miles from our destination (Brob is a sadomasochist when it comes to working out and being active, so riding the 64 miles that day in the rain was not as awful for him as I would have liked it to have been). The ride from there on out was great. We kept up a decent pace and it was relieving to have someone else to talk to (when you're on the road with the same person for a month, you unavoidably run out of topics of conversation). So the ride went smoothly and quickly with the rain lightening up later in the day (though never stopping).

When we finally got the fire department, it was about 7:30 pm and Phil came running out "Your food's getting cold! Get in here and eat!". Apparently the guys and girls at the department had cooked us a HUGE meal for our arrival (these people were great). We got showered up, Brob started cooking his delicious chicken, vegetables, and pasta meal, and we realized that everyone at the station was pretty much the nicest person ever. I don't know if I've ever met a group of friendlier, nicer, more welcoming people in my life. We had a lot of fun hanging out and chit chatting and also found out that someone, a mystery friend who may or may not be a fire chief from one of our previous Station sleepovers, had sent an e-mail to all the fire chiefs that he knew down the coast of Florida letting them know about our trip and that we may be coming through and needing help (sorry about the long sentence). So they were well aware of our adventure and astounded us with their capacity for assistance. There was Phil, the chief (runs triathlons and does all kinds of crazy physical activity), Manny (the sweet one who I talked to on the phone and was all smiles), Mike (never saw him without his hat on or a smile off his face...he was also a big fan of the olympics), Jodie (he showed us all around the trucks and let us play with all the gear...then showed us all the tracheotomy equipment and the drill to put IV's into people's shin bones), Courtney (Jodie's exuberant girlfriend who is a beach lifeguard and a cheerleader at UF...I believe), Mary (the mother of the department...such a sweet gal), and Joe (I didn't get a lot of interaction with Joe, but from what I saw, I imagine he was the jokester of the group).

So the day ended very well; we got to meet a bunch of new friends and meet up with an old one. We were able to watch the men's 4x200 free relay race (and I use race lightly) and got some good sleep. It was a 96 mile day, but that just meant the next few would be a little bit shorter!

Special thanks to the Ormond By the Sea FD; you guys were awesome hosts and went above and beyond what was necessary for two ragtag ruffians like ourselves. Thank you.

Day 31: Aug 11 - The Coast Is In Our Sights Again!!

The miles were short today and the day went by pretty quickly. At least towards the end, because the beginning was spent with Esmith trying not to die on his bike. Apparently the food/water poisoning was still in his system and he was something to see as he biked. I've tried to ride like he did when I'm tired, but just can't do it. He was basically slumped over his front pack, hands hanging over the front and his chin resting on his arms, just slugging along at a speed that was just below the one that would make him puke. As the day went on he got better though so the riding was much smoother. I unfortunately felt really good on the bike this day, so at one point I just rode ahead for about 25 minutes going 20 mph...which never happens so it was a REALLY good day for me. We met back up at a convenience store and made the last slog to our place of residence for the night in Fernandina Beach in a gorgeous neighborhood.

The family we stayed with is related to us in this way: Emsith's mom is a substitute teacher with a woman whose husband went to the Coast Guard Academy and is best friends with a Coast Guard buddy Rod...who is the father of the family we stayed with. So we spent the evening with Rod, Ashley, Liz, Maddie (Ashley's unbelievably adorable 2 year old daughter) and Fudge, the dog. The whole family was so easy to get along with and we had a blast. Liz had just graduated college the year before so we had some stuff to chat about, what with the dilemma of careers and moving on in the world as adults (bleh!). Liz, Esmith, and I ended up going to see Pineapple Express which although it dragged on at the end, was incredibly funny. I almost peed myself during the scene when kicks through the windshield of the cop car. Bedtime.

Day 30: Aug 10 - High Schoolers Rock

Today started out very foggy, with our tent (we had set it up the night before for the illusion of us sleeping in it) soaked from the dew and our shoes and bikes covered in sand as we pedaled out of the campsite on the sandy road. I got some good shots of some horses as we pedaled through the country and the day went by relatively quickly. For lunch we stopped in Atkinson GA next to a church (the Church of God of Prophecy) and I decided to head in and see if they would offer us a table inside out of the heat to eat at. It was Sunday, so they were in service, but before I knew it, we were at a table with our food plus tons and tons of food that they were offering us as well. They were more than helpful and let us stay for quite some time. We ended up talking with the Pastor and one of the parishioners (I can't for the life of me remember their names and I think I lost the paper where I wrote it down). The pastor is in our photo gallery though!

After lunch we kept riding and came across a bridge over the Satilla River. This was the bridge we had been waiting for, too. All this trip, we've been keeping our eyes open for a bridge or cliff or something to jump off of and finally we got the perfect one. We rode down under the bridge where there was a boat ramp and several families and groups of friends hanging out on the water on the gorgeous afternoon. I asked a lady if the water was deep enough to jump off the bridge, to which she responded: "Well, I don't know how deep it is, but people jump off it all the time." Good enough for me. We got changed into our suits and a fisherman actually found the deepest part of the water for us with his depth finder. The jump was exhilarating and we finally got our leaps!! The pictures are great and will be in the photo gallery soon. While we dried off, some guys our age gave us some soda and hung out chatting with us before they sped off in their boats and jet skis for a day on the water.

So we finally arrived in Folkston, GA at about 6 pm. I had tried calling the Fire Department earlier in the day but to no avail. When we arrived in town, we stopped a lady coming out of a Rite Aid and asked her where the fire station was; directions ensued and we found that the station was volunteer only and wasn't actually occupied. So great. We didn't want to ride ahead to the campsite which we found out wasn't actually even open, so now we had no place to sleep. We asked a guy about the police station, but he said that probably wouldn't work and suggested we just sleep on the Amtrak station platform (that sounds great!). That seemed like our only option, so we went to a deli/seafood place for dinner (didn't want to cook) while night time approached. Esmith and I were feeling a little sick because I think we got our hands on some bad water at some point in day, so dinner was a little slow; though Esmith was definitely more under the weather than I. We were trying to decide what we wanted to do about sleeping when I finally decided that to just buckle under and ask the high schooler behind the counter. When we had ordered, he was pretty interested in what we were doing and seemed legitimately excited about what we were doing, so I figured why the hell not ask him? It went something like this:
ME: "Hey, what's up I'm Evan. This is gonna come across as weird, but do you live around here?"
JUSTIN: "Uh, yeah, why?"
ME: "We don't have a place to stay tonight and we were wondering if we could crash at your place...even just camp in your backyard."
JUSTIN: "Ha, no problem. Let me call my grandmother and see if it's ok."
*goes into kitchen and calls grandmother...a few minutes pass*
JUSTIN: "Hey, my grandmother wants to know if you happened to ask an older lady this afternoon where the fire station was." *I say so* "Yeah, that was her. She says it's cool."
BOOYAH!!! We hung around the deli while Justin finished up working...drank about a gallon of sweet tea so he would have less to carry into the back...and followed him home on our bikes. His grandparents, Ellen and Dean, were great. Dean was retired from the military (he'd been all over) and Ellen worked as a correctional officer at the State Pen right outside of town. Her shift was 5pm to 5 am the next day, so they were wide awake when we rolled in. We chatted it up, exchanging the normal descriptions of our journey and finding out everything about each other. Justin is a senior in high school and will be attending college for classical guitar (he's pretty good). We got to watch the Olympics and saw the men's 4x100 free race. Oh. My. God. I have never been more excited about a sporting event in my life. That was by far the best race I've ever seen; up on my seat, practically standing on the recliner, watching Lezak make the most incredible comeback ever. We were all screaming and yelling and it was absolutely ridiculous. I was jacked up on energy for the next few hours. Esmith got the fold out futon and I got the floor (still infinitely more comfortable than being in a tent on my pad...actually one of the better night's of sleep I've gotten on the trip). We exited quietly in the morning because Ellen needed her sleep with her flipped schedule.

Day 29: Aug 9 - Odum, GA...Odamnit there’s no fire station

Today was an interesting one. We finally got a break from the boring flatlands as some small rolling hills got thrown into the mix. We broke 2K miles and boy was it hot. It was just too hot to eat outside so we ended up taking our lunch materials into a Dairy Queen and just making our PB&J's in there. It was a little awkward, but again we've developed the ability to feel no shame on this trip. The interesting part of today was arriving in Odum at the campsite. It was cheap, only $10, so we were very happy about that, but again it's crazy hot outside, the ants are EVERYWHERE and they fill everything you own, and it looks like it might possibly rain. Drat. But wait, what's this? KC's Clubhouse? What is that? Apparently, this campsite has a little building that a main room, kitchen, and two screened in porches that they let the local 4H Club use. Well, no one was using it, so we decided we just may sleep in there tonight. Though the porch was just as hot as our tent might be, there were ceiling fans all around. Unfortunately the lights for the whole place were also on the same switch as the fans, so the place was lit up like the fourth of July if the fans were on. Now, not that we were doing anything wrong or anyone might be mad that we were sleeping on our pads on the porch, we just didn't want to deal with any complications. So we went around the building unscrewing all the lights so we could have a good night's sleep without any interruptions.

Backtrack. We got to take showers and the bathrooms are full of geckos and green tree frogs. These guys can stick to pretty much anything and we had a great time playing with them and watching them leap onto the walls, mirrors, ceiling, and us. Esmith spent 10 minutes trying to catch the gecko until it finally just leapt onto his back and then just crawled around on him for awhile. Outside, the frogs and toads were just as plentiful, and Esmith spent some time taking pictures and watching the frogs swim around in an old empty pool that had rain water in it.

Day 28: Aug 8 - Georgia, Here We Come

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.

Day 27: Aug 7 - Thank god for nice people

Overnight a cur got into some of our groceries and they were strewn all over the field when we woke up the next morning. He ate an entire loaf of bread for god sakes! At least it was an early start because we had a long day ahead of us to catch up on the miles we lost yesterday.

We ended up doing 92 miles today...and although it was as hot as it was yesterday (there was a 105 degree heat index), it was much more humid so pretty much worse for riding. The foliage is starting to get interesting with lots of Spanish moss on all the trees and...oh, what's this? The soil is actually pretty much sand...and what's this??! There's ants on every square inch?! OH JOY!! Everything you own (including your body) gets pretty much swarmed if you leave it one space long enough. So that's nice.

I ended up calling the Walterboro Fire Department to see if they would put us up for the night...just a cool place to sleep with a roof over our heads. Eventually, after several calls and transfers, Fire Chief Barry hooked us up with the Colleton County Fire & Rescue just outside of Walterboro...thank god we wouldn't have to sweat all night in our tent.

On the way to Statesboro, SC we met a guy named Dan who was on his afternoon bike ride and he gave us his address just up the ride so that we could stop by for some cold drinks and a break in some AC. Dan was originally from Northern England, near Yorkshire, and he lived with his wife Sharon (who I believe is a coordinator for the Special Olympics...maybe). We got a nice break at the house and as a storm started rolling in we headed out for the last 8 miles to the Fire & Rescue center. The wind and some rain came in and often I would swerve to the center line of the road as I heard branches creaking and cracking overhead. Luckily no large branches crushed either of us and we arrived at the fire station in one piece.

The rest of the evening was spent hanging out with the fire fighters: Scotty, Duane, Ashley, and John. We heard plenty of crazy stories, from guys getting tazered on calls to getting shot at by the locals with their shotguns as they were putting out a fire. Crazies left and right in the county were well known amongst both the veterans and new guys, with plenty of stories to be told about their crazy antics. This was podunk country and these guys readily admitted it. I think Scotty's quote of "See if anybody in your hometown ever had their girlfriend's dad arrested for trying to shoot them" pretty much sums that up.

The guys were great to hang out with and we also got beds...BEDS I TELL YOU!!!...so the sleep was great.

Day 26: Aug 6 - Rough Riders

Wow, today was a late start. And the festivities of the night before left us a little worse for wear than we would have liked...well, I was downright useless. We ended up not getting on the road until about 1:30 pm, leaving us with a rough set of miles ahead of us. Nothing really happened, but it was just ridiculously hot and ridiculously not fun to be on a bike in our current states. That's the price we pay for having fun (good thing we're young and can afford it). That night was spent camping outside the volunteer fire hall in Andrews, NC. I say camping and not sleeping because sleep was pretty much avoiding us that night. It was probably about 93 all night...miserable.

Day 25: Aug 5 - Chillaxin’ in Myrtle

Most of this day was spent catching up with blogs and relaxing by the pool at Katie's work. A little beach action with some waves, then more icy beach drinks of pina colada, lava flow, mango something or other, and exploding coconut disaster (the names are a little fuzzy) and food. That night we hung out with Katie's friends at a party at her boyfriend's house...which, by the way, had the most legit beach private residence volleyball court I've had the pleasure of playing on. Food, beverages, and conversations ensued, mostly us repeating to new people (lots of new people) why in the world we were doing this trip and HOW in the world we were managing it. A good night overall...though bed time was a little later then we might have liked...

Intermission & Apologies

Alright, so I know all of you are feeling SERIOUSLY deprived of up-to-date information of our journey (Jaidip, your late night messages of anguish as you rest your quivering chin on your window sill, staring at the starry night through watery eyes, tear stains streaking your cheeks, wishing that just a word or two would grace the Ride for Rescue page to quench your thirst for adventurous stories...those calls have not fallen on deaf ears). Unfortunately, they will be a little longer coming. We've just been meeting a lot of fun people lately and I haven't been able to tear myself away from their company when in the vicinity of a computer. Libraries are out, too, as we've been riding some pretty long days as of late. I can give you a brief synopsis of the biggest events, though. So here goes:

I last left off at our arrival in Conway, SC to stay with my cousin, Katie. I will pick up there:
Day 25: Aug 5 - Most of this day was spent catching up with blogs and relaxing by the pool at Katie's work. A little beach action with some waves, then more icy beach drinks of pina colada, lava flow, mango something or other, and exploding coconut disaster (the names are a little fuzzy) and food. That night we hung out with Katie's friends at a party at her boyfriend's house...which, by the way, had the most legit beach private residence volleyball court I've had the pleasure of playing on. Food, beverages, and conversations ensued, mostly us repeating to new people (lots of new people) why in the world we were doing this trip and HOW in the world we were managing it. A good night overall...though bed time was a little later then we might have liked...
Day 26: Aug 6 - Wow, today was a late start. And the festivities of the night before left us a little worse for wear than we would have liked...well, I was downright useless. We ended up not getting on the road until about 1:30 pm, leaving us with a rough set of miles ahead of us. Nothing really happened, but it was just ridiculously hot and ridiculously not fun to be on a bike in our current states. That's the price we pay for having fun (good thing we're young and can afford it). That night was spent camping outside the volunteer fire hall in Andrews, NC. I say camping and not sleeping because sleep was pretty much avoiding us that night. It was probably about 93 all night...miserable.
Day 27: Aug 7 - Uggggghhh. Too little time to do this! I'll catch up later. Here's the highlights from the last 6 days:

Staying at firehalls. Very friendly and helpful people.
Jumping off bridges. Very high and luckily pretty wet down below.
Asking a random high schooler at a restaurant if we could sleep at his house rather on the Amtrak platform...success. I have no shame anymore and will ask anyone pretty much anything if it will make my night more comfortable.
We broke 2000 miles...we rule.
Eating PB&J inside a DQ...quizzical looks from the staff and customers.
Seeing Pineapple Express at the theatre with Liz. There is life off the bikes!
Staying at a firehall that apparently knew we were coming without us letting them know...creepy.

So real blogs will come, but probably not until after Key West...just too much fun to be had.
Evan out.

Day 24: 8/4 - Conway here we come!!

Weather: hot
Day: short
Afternoon: awesome

So today was a really fast day with a nice stopover at a stream with some swimming and peanut butter and orange marmalade sandwiches (jelly was getting old).
We got to my cousin's incredible apartment at about 2 pm, showered up, did some laundry, and then drove out to meet her at her work (apparently the Saab 93 turbo is mine for the next day...going from a bicycle to a car born from jets was a nice little change). We gathered great sorority sunglasses from the apartment and headed over to the Beach Country Club where Katie works. Not having ever met each other before, it was interesting to trying to find her but we did and the rest of the day was so relaxing and incredibly fun. We got drinks and food on the house at the amazing beach resort (where we will spending the day tomorrow, unfortunately!) while we chatted it up with Katie and her room mate Kristen (both fun, talkative, and very pretty). It was so nice to just relax and we eventually headed out to a Mexican restaurant for some enchiladas and margaritas. Just a great relaxing evening with new family members!

Day 26: 8/3 - Shalom to a Century to Shalotte

There are only a few things you need to know about today. We woke up to the tent mesh covered in mosquitoes just waiting for us to leave so they could swarm us and steal our blood. It made us a little hesitant to finally get up. Then came another ferry ride with more entertaining southerners, Harley guys interested in our trip, and ferry attendant who used to be a cop in good old Montgomery County, MD. Then came an alligator in a ditch and 100 miles of biking to our campsite. It's interesting because your legs don't get tired from biking 100 miles, your body just gets irritated that you've been on a bike for 8.5 hours!!

When we finally got to camp, there was coincidentally a guy biking from Key West, FL to NY who was staying there that night as well, Sean. We ate dinner together and chatted it up until sundown. It was great to have someone to talk to that knew what we were going through and we didn't have to explain the whole biking process or motivation behind the adventure. We just shared stories and tips (he'd done the pacific coast, Vietnam, Morocco, and now this trip, so he had some experience). He graduated from Duke (boo!) in '04 with a degree in Botany and he teaches so he always has 3 months every summer that he uses to complete a tour. He also gave us the number of an interesting character in Georgia who would gladly drive us over this five mile section of road that's nothing but sand (for those of you who don't know, you can NOT bike over sand in road bikes...simply impossible). So that was a great warning. Dinner was salmon helper with gnats (they were ridiculous) and we got to sleep in a little because the next day was going to be a short one. And we would get to meet my new cousin, Katie!

Day 25: 8/2 - Camp LeJeune=Can’t LeJuIn

Today started with great weather and sleeping in (until 7!!). And also one of those southern kids riding around on his bike with his leg stuck through a cereal box. God they were fun to watch.

Nothing worth talking about occurred until we hit Camp LeJeune Marine Corps Base. Our maps showed us taking Route 172 through the base, which is fine because we met a guy in the grocery store the day before who actually worked on the base and said it would be a good ride. So we figured no issues. Then we arrive at the gate, the Marine asked for our ID's...we hand them over and he repeats, "No, your DOD ID's". Well, I'm not exactly privy to this scheme of things...but I guess I should have brought mine with me. And Esmith as well. And that was pretty much that, no ands, ifs, or buts. There was no way we were going to talk our way onto a military base (though I wish I would have tried...the M16 in the guy's hands was a deterrent, though). So we pulled our bikes off to the side and made some phone calls trying to figure out what we were going to do. I was looking around and saw a sign that said, "Civilian Access Denied Due To Forced Protection Condition Alpha", which is pretty much self-explanatory. Good old Forced Protection Condition Alpha.
About the time we were realizing there was an addendum to our maps we should have read which stated this exact problem (and a solution of riding AROUND the base, adding an extra 20 miles to the day), a DOD contractor and his wife pulled out of the base (being fellow bike riders, they were stopping to see if we needed any help). They gave us some advice which consisted of going down to the gas station 3 miles down the road and watching for trucks with the Active Duty Marine sticker on them, then asking if they would take us through the base. I was all for this idea because that would just be awesome. So we said our goodbyes and headed toward the gas station, trying to stop trucks coming in the opposite direction along the way. We must have looked ridiculous because no one seemed to care.
We ate lunch at the gas station and after about 2.5 hours of asking people, we decided it was time to give up and take the reroute (it was supposed to be a really short day to begin with, so it wouldn't have been too bad, but out of principle, I refused to give in). Just as we were about to leave, I approached a guy in his truck who had the sticker, gave him the sob story, and after a few seconds of considering it, he said was heading pretty much to the other end of the base anyway, so we could throw our bikes in the back and he'd take us through. His name was Zack and he'd been in the Marines for about 5 years. We traded some stories as we rode through the base (had we had to bike this thing, it would have been so boring) and he dropped us off a couple miles from base. Great guy and really saved our asses (literally).

We made it to camp pretty early, so we set up, met our neighbors from Jacksonville, NC who hooked us up with some folding camp chairs (so nice to sit on something not a bike seat or a picnic table), and then we rode to the beach and relaxed in the waves for a bit. Got dinner, rode back, and cooked up some hunter's stew (old family favorite of ground beef and alphabet vegetable soup) and other goodies. The ants we disturbed while cooking attacked my feet and the mosquitoes got a little too frisky as well. Our neighbors had left for the evening for a Shrimp festival or something, but they said we could use whatever was outside the camper as if it was ours, so we relaxed in our Dale Earnhardt chairs outside the camper with our crap scattered on the table having a Busch Lite. God it's easy to be Southern.

Another super hot night. Hooray.

Day 24: 8/1 - Drowning bikes and crazy whites

Today was fairly uneventful, just the normal riding and pedaling, watching the scenery fly by at 14 mph. The real fun part was when we got to camp at Cedar Point Campground in Croatan National Forest. It was one of the nicer campgrounds (and cheaper!) we've stayed in, with nice showers and amenities. The best part were the southern families that were there as well. Very entertaining. We rode down to the river and took a dip while we just listened to this family of about 7 kids yelling and gallavanting around. One child rode his bike out onto the dock, rest it against the fence, and loudly stated "I hope nobody drowns my bike!" (insert strong southern accent). Just the absurdity of the comment along with situation at hand made Esmith and I lost it. Next came the little girl who fell into the muck and got covered in mud, as her friends ran away screaming in disgust... "I could use a little assistance getting this crud off of my leg!!" Then the boy with the ultra flat tire, asking if he could ride on it as he rode in circles, the tire issuing the squealing noise of rubber losing its strength. Apparently the parents didn't seem to mind, because the circle riding continued.

In the water, shrimp would jump out at acute angles, then continue to skip for a few hops before they resubmerged. The interesting part was how the shrimp would collide us often...we'd be conversation and a shrimp would smack us in the chest, or back, or side of the face. Crazy wildlife down here.
Another ungodly hot night with vicious mosquitoes. Awesome!

Day 23: 7/31 - Ferries, ferries, ferries!!

It was very early start today because we had to make sure we hit Ocracoke by 4:30 pm to get the ferry to the mainland. Here were the highlights of the day:

35 miles straight into the wind. Hooray!
At our first stop of the day, we pulled off the side of the road and drug our bikes through the sand into some shade. Then the hilarity began. Apparently there were these cacti that blend in with the sand grass, but have 1 inch spikes and sit only a few inches off the ground. Now, our biking shoes have one hole the size of a penny in the bottom, and these cacti just happened to find their way into Esmith's shoe. We hadn't seen these cacti yet, so we had no clue what was going one when Esmith starting hopping around on the other foot yelling. The cacti were everywhere, in our tires, on our bags, stuck to our shoes. No matter where you went, they were there. For some reason, Esmith was the only one that they were attacking, which was hilarious for me, just watching him step back and forth, getting more and more of them stuck in him. Great entertainment.

Next came the first ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke, a 40 minute ride on which we met Randy and Gayle from Fairport NY. They had been staying in Avon in the OBX and were irritated that they had only just met us because they had had a huge party the night before with tons of food and would have put us up for the night. Oh well...the rainy, hot tent was comfortable enough. They were very nice, continuing our streak of meeting nice Americans on the trip, and offered us ice cold gatorades...which we accepted of course.

Next came more riding with a stop in Ocracoke just before the ferry to pick up some dinner and snacks for the 2 hour and 15 minute ferry ride ahead (sandwiches, lifesaver gummies, chips, chips ahoy super soft and chewy, etc). The ferry ride was a great break and we got some nap time, charged the cell phones, and read some. We also met Glenn and Courteney from Smyrna, I believe, who chatted with us at length about the trip and biking in general. They also hooked us up with some Bounce drier sheets, because apparently they work as an excellent bug repellent.

The day ended with the arrival at Cedar Island where our campsite was literally 100 feet from the exit of the ferry. A storm was rolling in, but we were stilll hungry so we braved the weather and rode into town to grab some rice and cheese. The night was interesting, with crazy mosquitoes attacking from all angles, and the water at the site tasted like liquified hard boiled eggs (very sulfur-y). Sleep was pretty much nonexistent as we had another rainy night with another sauna in the tent. Better days were approaching, though!

Day 22: 7/30 - The Outer Banks will own you if you’re on a bike

Here's the gist of the Outer Banks:

If you are on a bike and you are going South, you simply just shouldn't do that. 15 mph headwinds made the what should have been relaxing and beautiful ride along the coast a virtual 61 mile uphill ride. The winds never waiver, never giving you reprieve. Just thigh-burning, non-stop pedaling with your body contorted into the most aerodynamic position possible while still maintaining balance and bloodflow. Drafting was essential between the two of us, but we still were only able to maintain an average speed of just under 12 mph while heading into the wind.

Fun things did happen, though, I will not lie. We shared a pint of Ben and Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough during a break, which went down fast and was not nearly as filling as it would have been a month ago. Then came the sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge State Park. The two of us pretty much became kids again at the sight of the dunes. We locked our bikes up at the fence and half ran, half walked up to the top (our legs don't really work that well for walking and running any more...I feel like a goon every time I try to do a jog or greater). The views were great and the sand was soft...soft enough to leap off of the steep hills at full speed! The pictures are awesome, so make sure you check them out (keeping the sand out of my camera was priority number one). After all the fun, it dawned on us that we were covered from head to toe with sand, which when mixed with bicycling does not exactly make a great combination. Luckily, we found a hotel with sprinklers watering the nice, green grass, so we helped ourselves to some showers in the water spray. Being a bike on a trip such as this, we've started ignoring the normal taboos of society, such as signs that say "KEEP OFF THE GRASS!!".

The campsite was windy, hot (even with the 20 mph winds), and filled with high class citizens (sarcasm!) at the Bodie Island Lighthouse State Park. Dinner of hamburger helper and mashed potatoes was delicious, but sleeping became an issue. This was by far the worst night of sleep yet. A storm rolled in, so the rain fly had to be put up. And here was the sequence of events that followed:
Rain comes in, fly goes up. Tent becomes a sauna, Esmith and I sweat to death. Rain stops, fly comes off. Tent cools down ever so slightly. The super fine sand blows through the tent mesh, coating our sweaty skin with comfortable grittiness. Rain starts again, fly goes up, repeat aforementioned process. This went on all night until finally when it started to rain again at one point, Esmith and I looked at each other and said "screw it" and just slept in the rain, because at least we could sleep in the rain.

Day 22: 7/29 - The Outer Banks are in our sights!!

The destination for today was Currituck, NC which is just before the entry to the Outer Banks. Originally our plan was not to bike the Outer Banks, but we've got the time and figured why not take a nice ride down the outer coast. The day was really hot with long...straight...roads...that went on...forever. Luckily, the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was to our left while we rode. I swear, it's a little bit more interesting than its name implies. Blue herons and white egrets had roosts all throughout the swamp as we rode by and we were able to snap a few shots. I ended up riding most of the day without a shirt because it was boiling hot. After a point, a shirt that's saturated with sweat really isn't doing any good because the evaporation can't keep up with how much sweat you're putting into it. When you can wring out a cup or two of liquid from your shirt with little effort, it's time to just give it up. Unfortunately, even with several reapplications of sunscreen, my back was a little burnt by the end of the day.

Just a few miles before we hit camp, we stopped out "Powell's Packing Shed", a farm "stand" that is packed with fruits and candy. We helped ourselves to peaches, strawberries, and some soda (cream for Esmith and peach for me). There were two teenagers tending to stand, TJ and Erica. TJ was a high schooler who plans on enlisting in the military when he finishes high school and Erica was a recent high school graduate who will be attending UNC Wilmington in the fall and majoring in chemistry with a minor in math (good luck having fun in college, Erica!). They let us cool off in the deep freeze walk in freezer, which was amazing and probably 80 or so degrees cooler than the day itself.

Camp was between Currituck and Maple NC right on the North Landing River, so we took a dip before dinner, which resulted in the discovery of clams! We collected two dozen or so and decided we would supplement our already purchased dinner with some steamed clams (we made sure from the camp owner that they were safe to consume). Just as dinner was finished being cooked, a huge storm rolled in and we ended up spending the next hour or so eating and reading in the tent. So much fun!! But the storm let up after a little while, leaving us with a little day light to use for more swimming and showering. It was another long day of 80 miles, totaling 251 miles over the last two days. To make the point bluntly, our butts were sore.

Day 21: 7/28 - Our first day of boring straightaways

Today began with an excellent breakfast made by Polly with all the fixings. The last couple days had definitely spoiled us, what with the beds, real meals at night and morning, and general luxuries that come with living not in a tent. The day was a LONG day of flat roads with small hills, our first taste of the South's unbelievably flat and expansive landscape. Nothing extraordinary happened during the day (it doesn't help that this was a week ago as I'm writing this and everything beyond yesterday has just blurred together into a mixing pot of road signs, my legs rotating those pedals incessantly, and jamming whatever edible items I can find into my mouth).

Upon approaching our destination, we realized that we had not found any markets or grocery stores...most of those listed on our maps had been closed or moved apparently. Finally, there was a building that appeared to be an old gas station (we knew it was old because the pump listed "leaded" gasoline). The building was run-down with bars over the windows and the door looked like it been kicked in a thousand times. As we entered, we were greeted by a surprisingly friendly clerk along with a view of wares we could select from for dinner: about 10 items. At this point, I guess I should explain that the area we were riding through was the South that isn't plantation estates or Nascar raceways. Poverty-stricken small towns with ramshackle buildings, broken down cars in the front and back yards, and zero affluence whatsoever. The clerk explained that the lack of food options was due to the fact that desperate individuals would often break in and steal all she offered, so it was necessary to carry nearly no food. Thus our diverse selection of foods. We ended up selecting only the best of the best: ramen noodles, a generic version of Dinty Moore beef stew, and canned peaches. Delizioso!!

We arrived at camp just north of Central Hill, NC, in which we were the only campers (the RV's were across the lake), and had some ice cream from the freezer...it was a very hot day. In order to get to the bath house, we had to cross a small field which was full of mosquito-like bugs, though they didn't sting or bite. They were just doing their thing, laying on the grass, and when disturbed, thousands would take alight. With all those flapping wings, the noise was like a distant 747 taking off. If you stopped moving, they would all land again and the noise would cease...our entertainment for the night was walking around disturbing these bugs and listening to the unnatural noises produced.

The stove was broken so we had to cook over a fire of pine needles and pine cones. Excellent. The day was an 81 miler, adding to yesterday's 93 miles...perhaps tomorrow would be a little break?