John Aylward Photography

Today’s Highlights:
My rest day started with a 6:00 AM walk in the dark around Savannah. I wanted to try some night photography in the town squares and streets. I strolled along several blocks and shot into dawn. Then I had a pre-breakfast at Panera Bread, a drink at Starbucks, and eventually a real breakfast at the awesome Goose Feathers bakery with Kirt, Brenda and Sara. Then from 9 to 1:00, I strolled all around the city looking at the architecture and parks. Forsyth Park was especially nice and had a lot of visitors.
In the afternoon, I spent a couple hours on photo editing and bike cleaning. Then I was back out for another walk to sightsee. I met my friends at 5:30 for dinner at the Shrimp Factory on the Savannah Waterfront. It was very good. We joked about finally getting to eat with real silverware and use cloth napkins. That doesn’t happen often on this trip.
Savannah has a lot of interesting architecture, parks, history, and good restaurants. It’s well worth visiting for those things. I didn’t find much art or quality shopping, and the museum was closed on Labor Day.

Day 23

Today’s Highlights:
It was another perfect day for cycling, with comfortable temperatures and low humidity, and a little wind generally at our backs. The roads were flat and straight. There were so few turns today, that I almost fell to sleep on one long stretch. There were several places where huge moss-covered trees stretched over the road creating a tunnel. I also saw more than a dozen vultures feeding on a dead deer. In case you didn’t know, it was International Vulture Awareness Day two days ago. Look it up.
Near the end of the route, we cycled through the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. The Little Back River flows through it, and that is the border between SC and Georgia. Several miles after crossing into Georgia, we reached our hotel in downtown Savannah. I finished the ride just after noon, averaging 17.5 mph. With all the conditioning we have had in the past three weeks, everyone is finding a flat 75-mile route to be a comfortable morning ride.
We have our last rest day tomorrow in Savannah. There is a lot here to explore.

Day 22

Statistics:
Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 9/4/2016, 4:17:39

Duration: 04:57:54

Ascent/Descent: 3090 ft 3072 ft

Distance: 74.03 M

Today’s Highlights:
The tropical storm has completely passed, and today’s weather was the best we have had since we started this ride three weeks ago. It was just perfectly comfortable for cycling, with a wind from the north to clear the air, cool us off, and occasionally give us a push down the road. We had a late start at 8:30 this morning. With only 67 miles to ride on flat roads, there was no rush to leave. The main reason for the delay though was so the crew could drive ahead and see if there were any flooded roads or downed trees that we would have to detour around. The route was clear, and there were no issues the entire way.
Our route was similar to recent days, on country roads with farms and forest. Today, however, there were several horses and some longhorn cattle along the way. I also saw many black vultures in the sky, and three places where they were feeding on roadkill. A couple were opossums, and surprisingly one was an armadillo. We passed through one tiny worn out town, St George, with a mural letting us know it was the Town of Friendly People. I didn’t see any people.
I finished the ride around 1:00, a little slow due to the rough roads. As we often do, we arrived at the edge of town near an interstate exit, and all that is here are a few motels, McDonald’s and Ruby Tuesday. I have no idea what Walterboro SC is really like. We are all looking forward to cycling into Savannah tomorrow and having time to explore that town.

Day 21

Statistics:
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Time: 9/3/2016, 5:31:31

Duration: 04:35:50

Ascent/Descent: 4994 ft 5088 ft

Distance: 66.77 M

Today’s Highlights:
Hurricane Hermine hit Florida yesterday and weakened into a tropical storm as it continued through Georgia and South Carolina. We were supposed to cycle to Santee SC today, but the forecast was for 5-7 inches of rain with 40 mph sustained winds. The ride was canceled, but we had to move forward anyway. So, this morning we loaded the luggage truck in our civilian clothes, and loaded all the bikes on top of the two vans. All 16 riders and 4 staff people fit into the two vans, and we drove from Georgetown to Santee. We arrived around 11 AM while it was raining hard, but before the worst of the storm. We are save and dry for today. Tomorrow will be a very nice day to ride, barring any flooding.

Day 20