I again took advantage of the late check out time in hopes that it would warm up a little before I had to head off. This hotel had some fancy raisin-cinnamon bagels and individual packets of cream cheese, which was so good I went back for a second one.
Today I was going to be riding on genuine frontage roads right next to I-95 on my way to Ridgeland. I hoped they were actually passable and paved, as I wouldn't have the option on hopping on I-95 if I got stuck. I shouldn't have worried, though. I had the roads almost entirely to myself, and although I originally thought that the super straight road right next to the highway would be too loud and boring, I couldn't stop smiling at the cars as they couldn't get me. I couldn't help feeling like I was mocking them with my presence and how I was definitely having more fun than they were today! How my priorities have changed. It's safe to say that my standards of what makes a good day's ride have dropped to just above not dying here in SC. The only really enjoyable places to ride are the places you have to yourself. Plain and simple.
Ridgeland was supposed to be close to a 20 mile ride according to my GPS, so I was surprised when I got there in only 12. From the way I got into town, it appeared that this place was halfway on its' way to becoming a real ghost town, almost exactly like the kind you can find in the prairies out west. I got such a bad vibe about the place that I almost didn't even take the time to find the library for a little break. I was glad I did, however, as the garden walls offered some sense of safety that was otherwise lacking. I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to keep going or not. If I did, I would need to go over 30 more miles to cross the Georgia boarder and get to the next town, as it was still just a little bit nippy for camping. I did a quick search and found that there were a few hotels here, and the Blue Heron Nature Center with a nature trail not too far away!
I headed to the center only to find that it was closed. It had closed an hour prior, even though it was only 2 pm. I wandered around the short loop next to the road and stopped to watch a couple of guys mowing down all the ferns and small trees and other vegetation on a huge industrial riding mower. There were several signs instructing smokers not to light up under orders of the fire marshal, as well as an info board explaining how fire is an important part of the ecosystem here. Fire is good because it keeps the leaf litter and hardwoods under control, yet there is so much leaf litter on the forest floor because of lack of burning that the fire marshal has banned smoking in the area, and they are mowing down everything that a good burning would take care of. I asked about it and they told me that they were clearing out the area to put up Christmas lights...
I moved on to look at more of the ironic info boards on the semi-nature trail going around the artificially mini-golf-blue water of the man made lake with the fountain in the middle next to the handful of hotels and restaurants. I tried to let it be relaxing. I really did. There were lots of places to sit and enjoy the water. There were lots of turtles in the lake, and also an alligator. The alligator didn't look right, though. It was sitting too high in the water, showing almost it's entire body. A floating gator would only have its head and maybe a row of the tips of its back ridges showing. I suppose it might have been laying on a tree branch or pipe, but I couldn't see anything like that. I was so very, very tempted to throw a rock at it to see if it was real, which is not like me.
I went back to the museum, which had a very nice wrap-around porch with benches in the front. I was just about to have a snack and think about my next course of action, when a couple of guys, who had come to look at an old dug out Indian canoe that had been found in the swamp nearby, came around the corner. They were also a bit disappointed about the hours, and struck up a conversation with me about my trip, as they had noticed my loaded bike near the parking lot. They were Mormons and had done a bit of missionary work by bike way back in the day. After I told them that I had been having a rough time with the traffic the last few days, we joked a bit about swerving to look drunk to get people to give us more room. I was invited back to their office up the road to work on the computer for a little while, if I wanted, and since I didn't really have anything better to do, and still hadn't decided what my plans were, I followed them up.
I got a very warm welcome at the gas station where the office was, with a bottle of cold water and fresh-baked cookies, and soon it seemed that everyone knew about my trip. A fellow biker came in to ask about my planned route, and I told him that I was actually kind of torn because the bike route took me around the long way, but when I had looked for a shorter route into Savannah, I was discouraged by the volume of traffic on the roads that the satellite images had picked up. He seemed shocked that I was planning to go a full day out of my way (also that I only did 30 miles a day), and encouraged me to go ahead and take the shortcut, as he's gone through there several times.
It didn't take long for the awesome guy I met at the Nature Center and his wife to invite me back to their place for the night. I was more than welcome to ride if I wanted, but they had a truck as well if I wanted to load it up instead. I didn't want to admit it, as it had been such a short day's ride, but I was glad for the offer. My legs were very sore after the last few days, and I had been treating a rash that had developed in an unfortunate place between my cheeks, probably due to friction and me being too lazy to change into my proper riding clothes since my bum had toughened up enough to not be too easily bothered by chaffing from my khaki's and cotton underwear.
We stopped at the grocery store on the way home, and he drove me around to look at his son's house and a few other places in town so he could tell me a little bit of history of the area and his family. The closer we got to the house, the more I realized that I had happened upon someone who was very well-to-do. After I stepped into the house itself and had a little look around and heard a few more stories, I realized this couple will likely never want for anything money can buy. As I'm still struggling with just how much to say about some of the people I meet, I think I will leave this particular topic at that.
Their three young grandchildren were spending the night as well, and it was quite a change of pace, as it's been quite a while since I've babysat for a few little balls of energy. First thing on my list was a shower, as usual, and after that it was breakfast for dinner, with oatmeal, bacon, eggs, pancakes, and chocolate milk. After dinner, the kids played around a bit, and I got to visit with the grown ups. Eventually, the kids went for a bath and I snuck back upstairs for a long hot bath myself. I found some Bengay in my bags that I had forgotten I had packed, which turned out to be a bad idea, as it burned badly on my wind-chapped hands and made my thighs feel cold, taking away the good done from the hot bath in my opinion. It was nice to have such a generous, down-to-earth family take me in for the night (it got down well into the 30's that night) and feed me, and just give me some company, which I do miss sometimes.
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