Day 7 Savannah to Rincon, GA - 50 miles, 525 feet ascent
On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again
~ “On the Road Again” by Willie Nelson
We needed the day off. Most of yesterday was spent performing bike maintenance, muscle maintenance, appetite maintenance, and prolonged eyelid inspections. All of this between heavy rain showers. Dave Frost and Kelly Ganjei parted company with our fellowship of the bike taking the team to 11 riders. Kelly will rejoin the ride in Raleigh, and we expect to see Dave waving a checkered flag near Gnarly Bill in two weeks. We also received some outstanding service from the Hill on Wheels Bike Shop in Richmond Hill, GA. If you find yourself in that neck of the woods in need of bike help, please consider paying them a visit. It’s always good to support your local bike shop.
This morning we woke up with a few questions:
How do we get onto Route 17 from our hotel parking lot? This is a valid concern due to very heavy traffic density, but fate and some initiative from Chuck Geyer provided an interesting solution. Some of us witnessed a fender bender as we mustered in the hotel parking lot. From this precipitated an argument, dispute, and a call to the police. While one of Richmond Hill’s finest attended to the accident report, Chuck prevailed on the officer to stop traffic at the intersection allowing us to cross without incident. Genius. We’re holding our collective breaths that Arlen won’t get a call to return to Savannah as a star witness for the plaintiff.
Once we get a few miles up the road on Route 17, the traffic should taper off, right? No.
What’s the longest uninterrupted stretch we can ride without passing a Baptist Church? Twenty-six miles. We passed at least two taxidermists during that same stretch.
Is it pronounced RIN-KIN or RIN-KAHN? RIN-KAHN according to the hotel receptionist.
Awesome day for a ride. We achieved escape velocity and maintained that pace with ease through most of the ride. No wind, mostly clear skies, and temps in the mid-80s made for a splendid day hooking clockwise around the greater Savannah area. Once off Route 17, we traded traffic density for a road surface more closely resembling the lunar surface. Magically road conditions improved immediately as we passed out of Savannah city limits. Smooth roads would prevail over the remaining miles and light traffic allowed us to push the pace with some quality pace lining. Most of the soil is sand and that sand coats the road. When a large truck passes either way, the bow wave of air moves that sand and getting caught in the air mass is like getting sandpapered. The Spanish moss is a little shorter here and the butterflies a bit less numerous. I keep looking at barren trees standing apart in the marshes hoping to see an eagle, but so far, no luck. We arrived at our lodging in Rincon around 1330. Even on a short day a cold beer is awesome. The showers in our rooms aren’t much to write home about so I won’t write about them.
Today’s ride takes us to a total of 425 miles since 1 October, 35 percent of our total distance. To date we have climbed 6,549 feet and spent 29 hours in the saddle. This was our final full day in Georgia, tomorrow we’ll cross the Savannah River approximately 25 miles into our ride to Santee, SC. After that, Georgia blurs into memory and in my mind I’m going to Carolina. It’s good to be on the road, GO NAVY!