Day 21

I awoke pretty early in the morning. Since I was camping out at a church, I wanted to get out of there before they had any type of service. Everything I had was soaked. It didn't rain, but the air was so thick with moisture, and the ground so soaked with the morning dew, it seemed like there was a downpour in the middle of the night. In the morning, I rode for hours in a dense fog.

I knew I was in the south because of all the Spanish moss on th trees.

Also, I knew because of all the non-flowing rivers cutting across the state. Sights like this were pretty typical, yet I could not get over the mirror-like reflections on the water.



Most of my journey today looked like this. Fair road conditions and trees lining the road. That's about all you can expect in SC. Oh, that and churches.



I came across this abandoned school. For some readon, I really likesd it. The New Deal-era architecture was great. It had been abandoned for 13 years. It seemed like a cool place to stay for the night, but I decided against that notion because of all the local traffic. By that, I mean there were a lot of sketchy people roaming around. But what else would you expect from a town that's only school closed 13 years ago.




Again, I was back to the fair roads and trees. Can you see the bumps (inverted bumps?) in the road? OH MY GOD! What a pain. I had to ride in the road because of those things. The drivers did not like that.



One of the many bridges I went over during the day.



These are the lakes they have in SC. Shallow water and trees. That's what lakes are down here. Strange.



And then they have these huge beautiful rivers. Strange.



Here is the view from the opposite side of the bridge I was going over when I took the picture above.



I the entered a forest. Lovely...more trees. What more could I ask for? AT least it was in a National Forest.



This road went on for ever.



I was hoping this wasn't going to be a bad sign. For those of you who don't know, Murphy's law means states: all that can go wrong, will.



I was hoping I would run into hikers in the forest. I didn't. Only a shooting range - hikers and a shooting range in the same area...great idea!



At the edge of the National Forest, I came across a church - my bedroom for the night.



I wanted to stroll around town to find maybe a better place to stay (unsuccessfully) and found this sign. Two bad omens in one day?



SC 41. Oh, how I loath you.



I retired bac to the church and made my camp.I cooked some dinner on the front porch and read a book while I waited for someone to stop by and officially give me permission to stay on the property. Someone rolled by and did, so I set up camp. As soon as it got dark, I found a spicket on the side of the church, grabbed my cooking pot and a bar of soap, and took a bath. I was gross, I didn't want to sleep near myself. Taking a shower, butt naked, on the side of the road, at a church, seemed like a great idea.

Total mileage for the day: 85