Bicycling Georgia,
South Carolina and North Carolina
October, 2006

Walterboro SC to Sylvania, GA

October 25, 2006
Distance 74.5 Miles
Elevation 1414 Feet

We woke up and had a nice breakfast at our motel. We were all set to leave, when we discovered Jim had a flat rear tire. So, after it was changed, we were on our way. It was another cold morning. We started pedaling around 9:30 and the temperature was around 40 degrees. Our morning was pretty uneventful. We had lunch at Julianne's coffee shop and café, in Hampton, SC. The owners made really good potato soup and ½ sandwich specials. Last night, we planned 42 and 43 mile days for the next two days. We were talking to a guy in the café, who drives all over the Georgia area back roads every day. He made some phone calls for motels for us, saying he wanted to find out which motel in Allendale, SC was the "cleanest"-this was our first clue. So, we continued on, riding from little town to little town, with the temperature never really getting any warmer than about 53 degrees. We pedaled into the town we planned on staying in and noticed there were fences topped with barbed wire around all the schools. This was the second clue. Then, we noticed all the closed and boarded up factories and mills. This was the third clue. We went past the first motel and it didn't appear to be open for business. This was the fourth clue. The next motel had some doors open and a couple cars in the lot, but the office was locked and nobody answered the bell. Then, we noticed a guy bug spraying the rooms. No Thank You!! Motel number 3 was just about half a block further, but we were not going to check it out. We had a meeting in the parking lot and decided to go on to Sylvania, GA, where the guy in the café told us we would be able to find a decent room. As soon as we crossed the GA state line, we started going up and down hills. They weren't huge hills, but we could feel them. So, now, our 42 mile day just went into the 70+ range. We had a snack at the visitor station and kept on pedaling. The last 10 miles seemed to take forever! Scott and Barb were ahead of Jim and Mary Kay and stopped at the turn to wait for them to catch up….waiting………..waiting…………Then, Jim and Mary Kay came into view. They stopped and called Scott and reported a truck got too close, forcing them off the road. Mary Kay's knee was bleeding, so we headed into town and found the hospital. Mary Kay received some TLC from some extremely nice nurses, who called the Doctor at home. The Doctor came to the hospital and put 4 stitches in Mary Kay's knee. The nurses gave us plenty of bandages and antibiotic ointment and sent us over to our motel. We went to Pop's Kitchen for dinner, to Hanks Groceries for Gatorade and ibuprophen, then back to our rooms to figure out tomorrow's revised route and get some sleep for our weary legs.