bike trip 2 Bike Trip Part Two: Wilmington NC-Savannah GA: 9 days & 330ish Miles.

Day 11: I left Wilmington very late in the day. I had intended to get an early start, but the comforts of civilization were to much for me... I ended up lazing about all day reading & didn't leave until 3 in the afternoon. Just before I left, I took some snapshots of my host's house. Unfortunately I accidentally deleted my favorite one: my host had built a hydroponic herb garden that sucked water from their fish tank. (see link in comment section) My route took me through the downtown area, & out through the industrial area around the harbor & through Carolina beach state park. When I got to Ft. Fisher, I had to take another ferry to Southport, where I had a leisurely dinner of pasta & Newcy brown. During dinner my waitress told me about her uncle, who at 65 did a cross-country race for the cure event. Even more remarkably, he had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in his youth, & his doctors could no longer detect it because of his active lifestyle. After dinner I wandered down to the boardwalk(a little tipsy) & finished my book(Siddhartha by Herman Hesse) before going to sleep on the beach. In the middle of the night it started raining & I had to relocate to beneath the city pier. This turned out to be a good thing, because the tide came in in the middle of the night & I would have been soaked if I'd stayed where I was.

Day 12: It was still drizzling when I woke up, so I used the opportunity to do some errands in town(library, post office, coffee shop etc.) Eventually I got sick of waiting around & started out, even though it was still raining lightly. At some point a few miles out of town the rain picked up, so I ducked into a nearby used bookstore. Although they didn't have any of the books I was specifically looking for, I made several purchases, including "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", which I then proceeded to read while waiting for the rain to let up. I can't really think of anything else that happened that day. I ended up sleeping on a couch in a pagoda-like structure outside a Habitat for Humanity Restore, my logic being that Jimmy Carter wouldn't mind me crashing on his couch.

Day 13: After having an omolette & gritts at George's Pancake House in Calabash SC,(so far my second favorite name of a town after Sligo NC) I decided to take a detour to Myrtle Beach to see the World Famous "Mt. Atlanticus Minitaur Golf Course"(see photo album) a haven for Bryanologists worldwide. Myrtle Beach sort of reminds me or Reno Nevada... without the casinos & with less prostitutes. I spent that night behind a club that was being renovated right next to the beach.

Day 14: After a quick dunk in the ocean, my next mission was to find food. This was easily accomplished at "Grandma's Kitchin," where I opted for the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet, but had to put of with an extremely grumpy old chain-smoking Yankee at the table next to me, who hated pancakes, was outraged at the absence of butter-paddies at his table & the overpriced coffee. Goddamn yanks. After a somewhat miserable ride along the highway, I made it back to my route around lunchtime, & made Andrews SC(home of Chubby Checkers) just after dark, where I broke down & got an(admittedly quite cheap) motel room, & gorged myself on free soap, television, & vending machine popcorn.

Day 15: I wandered around Andrews for a while, looking for some place to fine breakfast, but had to settle for gas-station coffee & a muffin of highly questionable nutritional value. I did stop by the town museum, which was really more of a large storage room full of random crap... not that I'm complaining. I was a little surprised that they didn't have any Checkers-related exhibits. I returned to my hotel room only to become engrossed in a documentary about Woodstock, so that I didn't end up leaving till just before noon. Despite this I managed to make it all the way to Charleston that night(taking some short cuts & arriving long after dark,) where I had arranged to couchsurf for a couple days. I figured out later that I did around 85 miles that day... about the most I've done in one day so far. On the way into town I passed through the 'corporate slime-mold hell' that is north Charleston, & an extremely creepy abandoned railroad area where I somehow managed not to be killed by psychotic meth-heads. When I finally made it to my hosts house, he was out partying with some Australian couch-surfers, so I kicked back & watched some "Dexter" on his recommendation & helped myself to some of his vodka. Eventually David came home alone & very drunk(the Ausies apparently went off to party with some Irish guys they met at the bar.)

Day 16: After sleeping most of the day, I went to pick up the Ausies(who I had not yet met) in their car. The Irish guys, who were in town for a wedding, were staying in a sort of beach-resort area about 45 minutes away. On the way back we discussed the Ausie's travels & Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. After we got back & the Ausies had gone upstairs for a nap, some more couch-surfers arrived! At this point we outnumbered our host 5 to 1... although the Ausies left soon afterwards, intent on driving to Florida that night. The new couch-surfers(Taylor & Erin, a very nice couple from Boone NC,) David & I went out to a party were I very wisely abstained from playing Twister, was fondled by a very nice but very large older lady, & partook of some very good chili, Taylor's beer, & whiskey. I was a little uncomfortable at first, since the crowd was a little older & a lot drunker than me, but alcohol that great social lubricant soon fixed that.

Day 17: I had decided to spend another day in Charleston, since I had slept most of the previous day & as a result didn't get to see much of the town. Taylror, Erin, David & I went out to breakfast at Gaulart et Maliclet(fast & french) cafe, where I had french press coffee with ice cream, salmon & goat cheese on toast & white bean & ham soup. Hands down the best breakfast of my trip so far. We then proceeded to wander around Charleston, stopping at art galleries, rooftop bars & seafood restaurants, before returning to Davids for an afternoon nap. That night we went to another party, where we were regaled by two crazy tales of super-Christian former Acid freaks. The first fellow had 'accidentally' dropped acid when he was 6. Apparently his cousin had been tripping with a friend, & they were debating giving him a small hit as an experiment when he grabbed the bottle & chugged half of it. His cousin & his friend ran off leaving him alone(probably the worst thing they could have done) leaving him alone with this poster: http://www.leninimports.com/iron_maiden_killers_mbr_flag.jpg
To cut a long store short, he ended up a schizophrenic devil worshiping druggie death metal enthusiast, before eventually finding Jesus & prescription drugs.
The next story was even crazier. Subject Number two claimed that in his early twenties, he went on a three week acid binge, during which he decided he was the second incarnation of christ & spent most of his time wandering around downtown Charleston barefoot, handing out all of his money to homeless people. At some point around week 3 he dropped acid & decided that god wanted him to kill himself. Before dawn, he swam as far as he could out into the ocean. At some point his parents notified the police & they somehow figured out what he'd done & began a massive search for him. At two o'clock in the afternoon, they stopped looking for his live body but continued looking for his dead body. After sunset that evening, after sobering up, having spent 18 hours swimming in open water, our man washed up onto the beach & walked into a church. Where he found Jesus & prescription drugs. Problem solved.
Around midnight we all ended up at the beach, were Taylor & I & one other feller ran out into the surf, splashing around amidst the phosphorescent algae.

Day 18: Again, got started really late in the day... it's always hard to leave the comforts of civilization & get back on the road. That days ride was pretty uneventful. I biked about 40 miles before slinging my hennessey hammock & turning in after reading from "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe. A had a hard time falling asleep, as I'd been severely bitten by mosquitoes just before climbing into bed.

Day 19: I finished the last 60 or 70 miles to Savannah. Apart from seeing several dead armadillos(first time I'd seen those, although I had seen dead dear, possums, raccoons, frogs, turtles, snakes, all manor of small rodents, birds both waterfowl & birds of prey) probably the most interesting roadkill I've come across so far. I stopped at a tourist-trap ''country store" for a breakfast of apple pie, alligator jerky, and peach cider. Just before I crossed the bridge into Georgia, I was caught in a terrific rainstorm, & received a thorough soaking. Luckily my destination (Britt Irick's dorm room at the Savannah College of Art & Design) was just on the other side of the bridge.