I spent today dodging thunderstorms, mostly successfully. Chuck checked the radar, and for a moment I felt like George Clooney, when Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio yells at him, “What the hell are you doing?? You’re headed right for the middle of the monster!” Turns out, it wasn’t the perfect storm, and I missed it or it missed me. We missed each other. I’ve actually been hoping for a big storm because I want to see nature’s fireworks, but I really don’t want to ride my bike in it.
I had a nice chat with a man from Indiana, who was in the room next to me at the motel. He was very sweet and helped me with my trailer. I told him I had biked through Indiana on my Seattle trip. He wished me well, and waved goodbye as I sped off (ha). I made another poor dining decision, and had breakfast at Hardee’s. Got to stop eating that stuff. The forecast had promised rain all morning, but I was spared in the beginning. I rode down 210 with the morning traffic. Another narrow bridge with very little room for me, but I didn’t run anybody over today.
It started spitting rain when I got to 17, so I stopped and put my jacket on. Rode a bit further and it eventually started pouring. No lightning though, luckily. I had my sunglasses on, and they got so wet and fogged up, I could hardly see, so I took them off. This part was tough. Parts of 17 are terrible for bikes. No shoulder and very heavy truck traffic. Throw in pouring rain, and you’ve got a bad situation. You can get to Wilmington by staying on 17, but ACA knew that bikers shouldn’t be there, so they took me another way. So glad for that.
Today is a day to celebrate. Wilmington is the end of Map 4. Tomorrow I start Map 5, which takes me to Statesboro, Georgia. I cashed in a free night from Hotels.com, so I got a riverfront condo, with use of a pool, for eleven dollars. I had a really nice time in Wilmington. I hung out with an amazing couple from Kansas City. I loved chatting with them. They were using Airbnb, something I should get into someday. They said when I bike the TransAm, I have a place to stay in Kansas City. So cool.
There was a washer/dryer in the condo (but no soap...go figure) and my stuff had gotten dirty and soaked from all the riding in the rain. I bought some soap at a shop downtown and washed everything. Went back out to hang out with my new friends, and then we parted ways so they could go take a nap. I went over to the hotel and met some more nice people, who invited me to sit at their table. I was shown a lot of love in this beautiful city, and I’m so grateful and happy. There’s amazing, sweet people everywhere you go. I stayed out later than I usually do, but I had a good time. Walked back to my door, through the raindrops.
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