The Space Race

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Fourth of July all over the world!

I am in Chapel Hill after riding through Asheboro, NC and Liberty, NC this morning and afternoon. Along the way I met two groups of cyclists and I got some good directions and was able to take nice roads that weren't on my map. I will stay here for a few days and get cleaned up and rested before continuing on through Virginia to Washington D.C.

North Carolina

Tonight I am camping on the edge of the Uwharie National Forest near the town of Abner, NC. It was slow going all day today because of a strong head wind and rolling hills. From here I head East again to get to Chapel Hill.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

More river camping

In diverting from any post of established bike route I have to do a lot of guessing about what roads are going to be safe and nice to ride on. Also there are lots of roads in South Carolina that on my map have state highway numbers but in the real world aren't signed with or called by those numbers. This leads to a lot of wandering around hoping that I am on the right road but lots of times I get somewhere which is five miles from where I thought I was going. Other than getting lost a few times today I went through Florence, SC and now I am camping by the river near Society Hill, SC. From here the route to Chapel Hill seems pretty straightforward unless I run into more phantom roads. When I am making up my route as I go along it is especially nice to see these 'bike route' signs as they let me know that I have made a somewhat good choice. Today at the library in Society Hill I met Joan, Kevin and Angel who were all very nice. Kevin said that he helped establish these routes!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Lane, SC

Tonight I am in Lane, SC on a detour from the Atlantic Coast route to visit a friend in Chapel Hill, NC. Originally I thought that I would try to race there by the Fourth of July which would be 300 miles in three days but it works out better for me to get there on Saturday or Sunday so instead I'll take it easier the next 3 or 4 days after riding 100 miles today. My campsite today is behind the volunteer fire department in Lane which is a nice spot except for that a little bit further behind the fire station are the train tracks, hopefully they don't run too late. This picture is of two chimneys that looked like they were growing out of a maze of vines, probably a house that burned down.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

South Carolina

I am in Walterboro, SC tonight. This morning I crossed over the Savannah River into SC which so far is similar to GA with many forests of tall, thin pine trees. Walterboro is a nice small city where I even found a grocery store relatively easily.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Camping by the river tonight

I started out today biking into Reidsville where I went to the post office to get the rest of my maps sent from CA. There I met another biker at the library who was coming from Key West but from here he was going to in off on another route. Then I rode on to Statesboro which was another small town with a ring of new stuff around it where the hardest thing to find is a grocery store. Fortunately after about an hour of ailing around I did find one and they luckily had almond butter which I ran out of today. Now I an outside of Oliver, GA. Tomorrow another new state.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Waiting out the rain

I am halfway between Ludowici, GA and Glennville, GA waiting out a thunder storm in the shelter of a church. When I was in Ludowici I thought I could out run the storm because it was blowing the other direction. It looks like it will be clearing up soon. So far Georgia has been very rural, even the bigger towns are just very small towns with a ring of new stuff around them. --- One hour later, clear skies and in Glennville.