32.7 mi / 12.7 mph / 93 ft. climbing
Home: Country Inn

Rett rolled over onto me as I slept, I assumed because she was just looking for some snuggles, but no, she was waking me up. Because it was after 7am! I’m almost always awake before her, and also before any alarm we might set, but this morning I had been dead asleep, and my (lack of) memory showed that I hadn’t had a moment of wakefulness since head hit the pillow last night, which is very unusual for me. She got up to pee at 11pm? If you say so! The air-conditioner (yeah, still need that here in November) kept cycling on and off all night? Sure… It rained for much of the night? I guess the puddles prove that. Who knew that the squishy mattress of the $57 Scottish Inn would lead to my deepest sleep in…years?

Once awake I felt completely fine, and we walked to the office for the extremely-limited (but-with-waffles!) breakfast, which, at a $57 motel, deserves zero complaints.

The radar said the rain was done, but 10 days ago the weather models had been showing this rain as a two-day event connected to a hurricane slashing across Florida, so we still bagged up the bikes as we headed out under the dull gray skies.

Our entire route today was on US-17, and that’s probably another factor besides the clouds that made the day feel a bit dull. We’re not going far, and just hopping from cheap motel to cheap motel, so it was just a day of going through the motions. So far nothing has made me say “Dennis, we really screwed up by ending our 2010 tour at Savannah!

Traffic was busy coming out of Richmond Hill, but lightened considerably at the road that branched off to Hinesville (US-17 showed that it knew about this pattern by dropping from 4 lanes to 2, and the traffic count decreased by more than that ratio). We hadn’t gone far before we had to pause, for a snack to make up for our non-hearty breakfast, and for Rett to strip down in response to the soaking humidity (my thermometer peaked at 75F early in the day).

We stopped for some proper 2nd-breakfast in Riceboro once I realized the McDonald’s was a few miles further than I’d thought. It was odd that the big chemical plant and paper mill weren’t enough to support a restaurant (the gas station and Dollar General were the only consumer businesses). Fitting the day, the donut Rett bought was moldy, but the nice owners had no problem exchanging it.

Once we reached the McDonald’s, another customer nearly fell over when we told him we started riding in Seattle. Incredibly he then responded “so did you leave in ’21?” Even if he may have been part-joking, part trying to grasp the ridiculousness of what we’re doing, he totally nailed how long we’ve been nomads! He then recommended a stop at “The Smallest Church in America”, just down the road.

The McDonald’s was positioned where US-17 crosses back coastward under I-95, and from there to Eulonia had probably the least traffic we’d seen on our “favorite” highway.

Day 2

On this segment to St. Augustine we have space for one more off-day. The cheapest choice would be to use it in the campground we’re heading to next. But despite yesterday’s heat, the temperature isn’t going to go much over 60 for the next three days, so staying warm outside for two nights would be a challenge. And this motel with walls and a roof and climate control doesn’t cost that much more than the campground…