Day 1 Tues, June 15, Mt Pisgah (5749 ft), Brevard, Rosman, Table Rock St. Park (55 miles)
Barbara drove us to the top of Mt Pisgah and after the obligatory pictures and instructions ,"watch out for cars, eat well, brush your teeth", we left at 9:30am in a cool breeze  and slight fog. Great ride DOWNHILL, at times 31 mph! The fog dissipated as we dropped in elevation. No rain YET, but the ole "Rolling Vibrations" Orange jackets from the first 1972 trip were a bit damp when we made our first top at the Cradle of Forestry for quick look. The attendant allowed us to enter only for a bathroom stop. Ought to go back sometime. It is the first forestry school in the nation.

A little farther down we made a photo stop at Looking Glass Falls. A bunch of  boy scouts were making more noise than effort to get into the frigid water under the falls. Later at water stop (drinking that is) at Sliding Rock, we saw more brave people sliding down into that cold water. But what's the difference when that stream stays a constant 33 degrees!!!! Though we hardly peddled, my hands were almost numb from braking so much. Had to be careful going around the sharp windy corners. Stopped at bottom of the mountain at the only bike shop in the area. Patrick bought a pair of padded riding gloves (I should have!! He let me borrow them for the last few days since the two smallest fingers on my right hand were becoming numb. Ten days later, they are still numb and I can still hardly hold a pen to write, but it is a common malady for bikers and will eventually will come back to normal)

Stopped at K mart for mirror. Barbara found mine smashed on our driveway where it must have been knock off by the low Laurel bushes on the way out. I also left the metal rack I made the night before for my front pouch. Fortunately, the straps made for the old Schwinn held it ok. It was a fairly easy ride down through Brevard to Rosman for brunch at local Rosman Cafe (Rain forced us into a general store just before entering Rosman where they recommended one of the two restaurants. Though there was some discussion between some of the locals about which was the best) While we were eating our country steak, beans and AWFUL mashed potatoes, a guy three tables over kept asking us questions about our trip. When he finished his meal, he came over and sat at our table to ask more "Technical" questions. We left in a drizzle and had to pull into a few open garages to wait for the down pour to slow. Beautiful ride through the mountains. We had planned to take 276, a long but not so steep incline by Sassafras Mt, highest pt in SC, but chose a more up and down less traffic 178 from Rosman. Rained off and on. We were cheered on by a large group of panchoed youth campers (same one that Andrew Massey was to attend the next week)

Bought drinks at general store at turn to Table Rock Park and were told the restaurant at park was open, but on the way we pulled over to a small log cabin store about the size of our log cabin where two rednecks were rocking. The owner called out to us as we came in from the rain. "Now there are two guys crazier than I am". He also told us that the restaurant in the park was only open on the weekends and offered us the best homemade BARBQUE sandwiches I've had in a long time. We talked a long time with him and several different people that stopped by. Finally on to the park and set up the tent in a slow drizzle. We had prepared for most everything EXCEPT rain. There had been NO rain for the two or three previous months! Everything was wet, but not soaked. The saddle bags I had borrowed from Mark Boyd were NOT as water proof as I thought.  Our bodies dried out the sleeping bags quickly and we slept well after a good hot shower. We were to find that all the South Carolina State Parks had HOT showers, unlike the North Carolina parks!!!  The days mileage was 55, half being down hill from Mt Pisgah, but had to spend a lot of time in the "Granny Gears" up over to Table Rock. One of my goals was NOT to walk up any hill. (which I did not have to do...though there were many tempting times)
 

Day 2 Wed, June 16  Pumpkintown, Pickens, Liberty, Anderson  (55 miles)
Left 8:00 just before the rains came. Had to take our ponchos on an off all day,  but rode on some really pretty back roads to Pumpkintown. Ate breakfast at the local filling station/grocery store/drug store/meeting place and the only establishment in Pumpkintown (except for the church). Great grits, greasy eggs and bacon. One of the older locals told us this very small town (only a cross road) grows to 15,000 people once a year for their Pumpkintown festival. But no pumpkins... he did not know nor did anyone else in the store, why the town was named Pumpkintown. We found this to be true all along the route. No one knew much about their own town history.

Ate lunch at Joy's Cafe in Liberty. Nice waitress asked about our trip. When asked what the local economy was based on, she pointed out the window to the one block main street with just a few stores and said. "That's it". As in most of the small places we ate, there was always one table in the back where all the neighbors came in to sit and talk.  We called my brother David in Anderson to ask if we could dry off at his place this night instead of the campground on Lake Hartwell.. As it turned out my sister Joyce and her daughter Katie were also arriving that night.  We had a great time. Great laugh over Joyce's worry about how  to take Katie to visit Furman, then make it up to Wake Forest University in the town of Wake Forest near Raleigh. It took a while for us to convince her that it had moved to Winston Salem. Dried out everything and repacked everything in plastic garbage bags.  As it turned out, it did not rain a drop the rest of the trip. BUT WE WERE PREPARED!

Day 3 Thur, June 17 Anderson, Due West, Hodges, Coronaca. Lake Greenwood St Park (56 miles)
Both Joyce, Katie and Patrick and I left at 9:00. An easy sunny ride down to Due West. Biked around Erskine College then had lunch at another Gas station/cafe... Chicken Strips...our staple lunch. Asked two local workers next two us for directions to highway 20, they did not know.  Asked the same thing of the town policeman at the next table. After thinking a few seconds, he directed us down the street to the RIGHT where we would then turn left on to Hiway 20. Well as it turned out, the cafe where we were eating was sitting on Hiway 20 and all we needed to do was turn LEFT out of town.  It was Crazy!!!!!!! We had the same kind of problems on a previous trip from Mt Mitchell to Myrtle Beach. On to Hodges to stop for drinks at corner all purpose store. It was fun to roam around these general stores to see every kind of thing you need. Just like our own Town Hardware Nice old gentleman at counter told us of the old Cokesbury Women's College buildings that we would pass down  the road.  Rest of the day sights were mostly pine trees. We thought about  taking the road to LEVEL LAND but thought it was probably just as "rolling" as the rest of our trip. We were happy to be welcomed to this little town, but we couldn't find the name in the weeds around the welcome sign! The whole area around the sign was cut very nicely except right in front of the sign. The road had no shoulder as did most of the roads we were on, but most people were considerate. Only one dumb Winabago literally blew us off the road.  No places to eat near the campground so we feasted on BeenWeenies (only type of can that had a pull top) and powerbars and potato chips and orange juice. This was the first trip that I brought my small stove and it worked great. After a swim in the lake,  the mandatory back rubs and game 20 questions, the dry sleeping bags felt good in the cool evening breeze coming off the lake.

Day 4 Fri, June 18 Lake Greenwood, Saluda, Ridge Spring, New Holland, Wagener, Aiken St. Park (74 miles)
Breakfast of Grits, Powerbars and Orange juice. On the way into Saluda, we were laying down on a lawn under a tree, when the owner came out and laid down with us as he told us of the history of Saluda.  Travis, who lead the defense of the Alamo and his friend were born and raised in Saluda. If we had not gotten up to leave, we would still be there talking to him.... rather... listening to him. The rest of the morning I was half way kidding with Patrick about huffing up so many UP hills and not so many down hills. As we were to find out from the resident historian at lunch, I was not far from wrong! We stopped for lunch in Ridge Springs, the highest point between the SC coast and the mountains. Great meal at the only cafe in town, run by Barbara Barr. She sat with us while we ate and wanted to know all about the trip. When we left she gave us 4 pieces of delicious homemade sourdough pound cake, two bottles of real bottled water and our young waitress spent about 15 minutes trying to stuff large  ice cubes in our small mouthed water bottles. The owner came out on the sidewalk as we packed up to leave and told us to call her if we got in trouble. She also told us of a short cut out of town past the cemetery. Patrick tried his best to get me to turn at a corner where they were SELLING tombstones. I had a hard time convincing him that one does not usually have a cemetery on the lawn of a business. Besides the fact that HIS road went in the opposite direction. After much discussion of WHOSE directions were right, I got us on that nice back road short cut through the peach orchards. We were told by the same cafe historian, Bobbie, that Georgia was indeed NOT the "Peach State", that their county  produced more peaches than all of the state of GA. We ate half the cake at the next drink stop, but saved the rest for desert after our BeenieWeenies at Aiken St Park.

Under another front lawn shade tree, the old pot bellied southern retired farmer came out and offered water and chatted about the trip. We asked him if there were any places to eat at Kitchen Mills, just outside Aiken St. Park.  He said not only was there just a joint to sell beer and crickets, but that the bridge was out to the Park. Fortunately we were able to cross over with the bikes as we did on another bridge just out of Andrews.  So it was BeenieWienees again, but this time we got a can of stew to mix with it. I asked Patrick to go see if one of the other campers in the park could use their can opener on it.  He came back with the top of the can looking like it had been BLOWN open with a pipe bomb.  The camper has used his hunting knife to chop it open. I hope he was not a coon hunter!! So we had a hot meal of BeenieWienees, stew and whatever else the the hunter had killed that day. This was our longs ride or 74 miles, so the hot shower, back rubs and story time went quickly before we dropped off to sleep. I found out this night that Patrick "sings" in his sleep.  So at least my family members are unique sleepers. Colleen walks in her sleep, Kevin, talks, Patrick sings and Barbara sno......  well she sleeps very well!

Day 5 Sat, June 19 Kitchen Mills, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Bamburg (72 miles)
   
Left about 9:15. Breakfast of Grits, Oatmeal, powerbars and orange juice. Sound familiar. We were looking forward to going through Norway, Sweden and Denmark, not only to just SAY we had biked through these this summer, but for some change of scenery. I was hoping to see some log sod roofed houses like we had seen in Norway, and colorful high pitched roof houses like those in Sweden and Denmark. But... we saw only the same dusty small small towns, old houses and boarded up business that we had been passing all day. Rather disappointing. The larger towns of Denmark and Bamberg had some nice homes and churches, but no scandinavian influences. We asked several people along the way, how they go their town names, but of course no one knew.  We ate lunch in Norway (Chicken Strips, again, in Filling Station/store/cafe/gambling house). Young kid about 6 played poker machine while we ate.

In Bamberg, the young black girl who sold us drinks at food store said  "You lie" repeatedly, when we told her of our trip.  Stopped at a dilapidated one room store in Midway for drinks. Two guys sat in the dark stuffing $1 and 5$ bills into their poker machines. From the size of their wads of $1 bills, they probably spend most of the day....and their salary in this hole in the wall.. Old man who owned the store told us that Midway was half way between Charleston and Augusta on the old road. Midway is just his store since Bamberg became a larger city. More long stretches of  pine trees. We had considered going to Givhans Ferry park, but that would have been another 18 miles and it looked like this was going ot be another 70 mile day WITHOUT that extra 18 miles. We could always tell when it was time to eat. Our energy level began to peter out. On this day Patrick began dreaming about a foot long Subway sandwich. He began to describe all the garnishes he was going to put on the sandwich and how he he might be able to eat another 6 inch.  Of course none of the small towns we had gone through even new what a Subway store was. In our hungered state of mind, we thought we were both seeing a mirage as we went up over the bridge crossing I-95 and there at the end of the off ramp was a SUBWAY sandwich shop!!!  I could not believe it. So Patrick got his foot long BLT and devoured it before I finished my 6 inch steak sandwich. Colleton State park was only a mile from the Subway store   Again we asked  several people how far the state park was from the store and got a different answer each time. Almost dark when we set up the tent. The Park Ranger who took our fee for the night chatted with us for a while and we found out that he had attended several conferences in Montreat. In fact, he met and corresponded with Jeanie Crawford who was in my junior choir when I was choir director at Montreat Presbyterian church and whose father Jack Crawford taught History during my tenure at Montreat-Anderson College.  Small World!! After a long hot shower, we both fell right to sleep...after the mandatory back rubs and a couple of games of 20 questions.

Day 6 Sun, June 20 Colleton St Park, Middleton Place, Magnolia Plantation, Charleston (73 miles)
Breakfast of only power bars and soup and orange juice, again! We had planned to have breakfast along the way, but.... more long stretches and the few towns that were shown on the map seemed to be only a few houses and no stores,  Almost all Black. The road was flat, but we had a headwind the whole time. I would almost rather have a mountain road up than a flat road with a headwind. On the mountain road you knew you had to tuff it up the hill, but into the wind on the flat, I kept thinking how easy it would be if the wind was NOT blowing against us. It was a mind thing.

  At intersection of our  state road 61 with 165 our energy was just about to run out when we past by a very nice golf course with very nice luxury  houses lining the course. The driving range across the street did not have any food and the lady looked us up and down and did not think that the club house would serve us. We went in anyway and the young girl served us a hot dog and steak sandwich. We ate in style in wicker chairs, air condition, looking out on course with the "beautiful people" walking by..  No one spoke to us accept the girl at the bar. She told us that Middleton Place was the best of the three plantations to see, but they wanted $25 a piece to enter... we chose instead to lay in the shade under the big oak at the end of the great lawn and read their brochures.

At Magnolia Plantation down the road, we turned into the gate and one of the first signs  indicated a "Bike Trail" to the left, so we turned and followed this paved path that wound all around the Plantation...several miles. We finally caught up to a little   tourist train where the driver was telling about the plantation history and wild life. So we followed and got the whole tour. Saw many small ‘gaters' and several large ones, remnants of the rice patties. nice gardens and finally ended up at the main house. We went through the petting zoo- Deer, goats, geese, miniature horses, ate  ice cream took pictures of the gardens, house etc. We could not figure out how they kept up the area with just proceeds from the snack shop and entrance into the house...that is until we left and past the entrance gate that we missed on the way in.  The price was $15 each. .......we kept peddling on....
At Dreyton Hall down the road, they would   not even let us just ride around the circle and ride out... so we rode on.  At the beginning of the day, I told Patrick about the beautiful Oaks that formed a canopy over the road all the way into Charleston.  Well, the last two hurricanes pretty much tore off most of the overhanging limbs.  Pretty sad to see those ancient limbs ripped off.

We decided to take the few extra miles to James Town County park and campground. Very nice park,  After our last  hot showers, we left out packs in the tent and peddled into town  We past an outdoor Black revival of two people and preacher shouting into a very bad amplifier.  Other than our Subway stop, this evenings stop at Wendy's was our only fast food on the trip. Since it was father's day and the end of the trip we splurged and parked our bikes outside the movie theater we pasted on the way in and saw Star Wars. It was dark when we got out, but we had a blinking red light for Patrick and I had a flash light, but really did not need it with the Half Moon light. Tired but happy we slept well.

Day 7 Mon, June 21 Jamestown County Park, Charleston sights, Patriots Point (14 miles).
 Only power bars for breakfast, we planned to eat in Charleston. We had to cross over a major access bridge over the Ashley River into Charleston, but was not too bad since it had about a three foot marked shoulder all the way across.. Walked around dock at the yacht club and picked out which sail boat I would buy...someday! Then roamed around the small back streets in the battery. Went into several churches. One volunteer gave us a lecture on the history of the Episcopalian church. The Lutheran church had a brochure. Read some of the old tombstones. Right beside the old slave market we had our feast at "T-Bones". (our gift to ourselves for  finishing the trip) Went to the Post Office  down  the street and picked up the bike rack I had sent to General Delivery. I had to use two of my bungies to hold this large bog on top of the tent bag. While holding it stable with one hand and steering and breaking with the other, we rode about 10 blocks to our car rental location.  We took every thing off the bikes and left the car there while we toured around a bit more. Back at the car at 2:00, we put the bikes on the rack and headed off to Patriot's Point in Mt Pleasant to tour through the aircraft carrier "Yorktown", Submarine "Clamgore", Destroyer "Laffey" and Coast Guard Cutter "Ingham". We left about 5:00 and arrived home at 10:00.

The trip was all that I had hoped for Patrick... and me too. Patrick got to experience the hospitality and friendliness of many people along the way,  got to see the "back roads of America",  heard a lot of history and rode a bike 417 miles. I was glad to have been able to finish! I did this earlier with Patrick, because I'm not sure how much longer I will be able to physically make a trip like this. I wanted to make sure that he had experiences similar to Colleen and Kevin. As both Colleen and Kevin have said, the people and events of their trips are things they will never forget. That's why I do it.