Day 35: Charleston to Beaufort

Yesterday morning, I got up around 5:30 AM. By 6, I was packed. I rode about 2 miles into downtown to a restaurant called Toast All Day on Meeting Street. That’s the only place that’s open at this time on a Sunday morning. I had an omelette, along with some grits.

Riding before the sunrise

I started my ride shortly around 7:15 AM. After getting out of Charleston, I rode on a very nice bike path for quite a while. The temperature in the morning was just right, not too hot. When I got on route 17, there was no shoulder. I had to be careful not to ride too far on the left of the white line to avoid getting hit. The East Coast Greenway route then had me take a couple of local roads to avoid 17, which I much preferred. At one point, the pavement turned into dirt. Good thing I’m riding a gravel bike with 40c tires, but the dirt still made it for less than ideal riding condition.

The wonderful bike path

Where's the shoulder? And why all the grass?

The dirt road

I encountered the first real asshole of the trip. It was a driver in a pickup truck who honked at me while passing. I was riding on the shoulder and there was no need for his assholery. I guess I could have worse things happen to me. I wasn't going to let this person ruin my day so I cheered up soon after.

After 36 miles of riding, I arrived at Jacksonboro. It’s a very small town with a couple of gas station convenience stores and maybe two restaurants. The first thing I did was to get an ice cream bar at the convenience store. Then I went to the only restaurant that’s open on Sunday, the Ace Base Fish Camp. I had a crab cake sandwich with fries this time.

An older couple thought I looked interesting and asked me about my trip. The man seemed impressed that I’m on a bicycle for such a far distance. He and his wife were on their way to Charleston to see their granddaughter’s music recital. He wished me good luck.

From Jacksonboro on, route 17 had a wide shoulder that I was able to ride on. But there was so much debris that it made it felt like I was riding on gravel.

The wide shoulder is a luxury

Not too far down the road from Jacksonboro, I heard a clicking sound coming from my bike. At first, I thought it’s another broken spoke. I stopped to check and found all the spokes were fine. I couldn’t see any other issues so I kept riding. With every turn of the wheel I heard the sound. I pulled over on the side of route 17 and gave my bike an examination.

As it turned out, it was a huge nail that went through my rear tire, but it didn’t puncture the inner tube so there was still air in the back tire. A man named Tom in a BMW SUV stopped to check on me just as I found the cause of the issue. He told me his brother was a cyclist and had been in three accidents, he wanted to check on me to make sure I’m ok and if I needed any help. I pulled the nail out of the tire and I was still in disbelief how it got there. I got lucky that it didn’t cause a flat tire. After Tom left, I rode on, while checking my back tire now and then to make sure there wasn’t any air leak.

Nail in tire

I saw a total of 6 long distance cyclists, but they were all coming from the opposite direction. I saw one guy walking his bike that pulled a trailer. I yelled to him to see if he needed any help. Since he was on the other side of the highway, I didn’t hear a distinct yes or no. I kept riding since there was no way to cross the divided highway. By the time there was a way to cross the road I had ridden about a mile farther. I thought it’s too late to turn around and catch up to check on the guy. I hope he got some help, if he needed it, from a kind driver like the BMW man who checked on me not too long ago.

I got off of route 17 and rode into Beaufort. I made another stop at a convenience store to get a banana and an ice cream bar. I was riding on a bike path called Spanish Moss Trail when I heard loud booming sounds in the sky. There were some jets flying around. As it turned out, there was an air show in Beaufort. I watched a little bit of it when I arrived at an open field. A local told me the air show is once every two years. I caught it right on time.

My new friend

Jets at the air show

I didn’t stay too long since the temperature was hotter and more humid in the afternoon. I continued riding into Beaufort toward the Airbnb place that I was staying at. When I saw a McDonald’s, I stopped in to get a spicy chicken sandwich, a vanilla shake, and some fries for an early dinner. The Airbnb was only 2 minutes away from the McDonald’s so I checked in at 4:30 PM.

The hosts of the Airbnb were Bob and Kathy. When I arrived, Bob had other guests staying in the house as well. Bob is an interesting man who had a diverse range of careers, from a finance director at NBC to owning and operating a hotel, a gift shop, and a bike shop in Rhode Island. He also knew how to fly planes.

After I settled in, I took a shower and Bob helped me do the laundry. I stayed in for the rest of the day and went to bed around 7 PM since I was so tired. I had ridden a little over 76 miles. A new record for me.

This morning, I got up at 5:45. I was the first person to be up. I made some coffee and wrote this post. Today’s plan is to visit downtown Beaufort in the morning then cycle to Savannah. Not sure how long I want to stay in Savannah. There isn’t a single Warmshowers host there so I’ll be staying at another Airbnb for the night. Rain is predicted on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I really want to avoid the rain, but I don’t know what to do during those three days. I might stay in Savannah to avoid the rain, but that’ll be a very long stay.