Newberry

Hi all following the blog! I think I have at least a few new readers. Welcome and thank you for your interest.

I stopped in Newberry, SC (mile 60) on my way to Cross Hill, and passing through campus I met some very cool people. Some basketball players heard and were thoroughly impressed with my endeavor, and alerted all passerby to it. One of the passerby was Pavle of Serbia, and he had just been playing tennis with his Brazilian friends! So of course we went and I met them and we went to dinner and met some more Brazilians. I had a great dinner and answered all their questions--all thoroughly impressed and enamoured with the idea.

The Brazilians are putting me up for the night--one called his sister in Rio and told her all about the trip and he put her on with me. We spoke portuguese and now she's reading this blog. (Oi!--Hello!)

Today was eventful: one of the roads on my route turned out to be a dead end--"Road Closed" with a big mound of dirt and drop-off to a streambed. It looked like maybe a road was planned but not finished, like the trees were cleared, a path was made, but no road laid.

I decided to cross the stream and trek up the path through the forest. What is an adventure anyway if all the roads are nice and paved?

So I drank some water and had a snack preparing for an Indiana Jones mission into the wild. I pulled my bike around the "Road Closed" sign and forged down the riverbank towards the stream. How to ford the stream and not get my shoes soaked for the rest of the ride? (This was mile 31 for the day.) I took off my shoes and socks, and heaved them over to the opposite bank, committing myself to cross. I pulled my bike into the stream, barefeet into the sandy streambed and cold water flowing over them. No watersnakes, leeches, or snappy crustaceans. I pushed my bike up the steep back a bit. The rustling caused a huge, black bird with a heron-type neck to unsettle from his perch in the branches above and squawk off up the clearing into the trees. I pushed the bike a bit further, and then heard a gunshot off in the distance. Was this a hunting territory? Maybe this was just a dumb idea, I thought. Don't be stupid and risk your life, I thought, trapsing through a hunting area. I thought about turning back, but I remembered the big dogs I disturbed as I entered the road at the "Dead End" sign. I would have to pass them on the way out and surely they would be waiting for me. I also had no alternative route worked out. THIS was my route, and it was going to work. If hunters were stupid enough to shoot at a neon-green-clad biker riding through the forest, that would be tantamount to shooting a fellow hunter dressed in neon, and that would just be dumb, and I could be mad at them. So, I pushed on. I found a less steep way up the bank, and once up on the bank, I dried my feet with a tee-shirt and re-shoed. I had to cross another streambed, a dry one, before I pushed up an even steeper bank.

And to reward my perseverence and determination, I found that at the top of that bank, the pavement reappeared! I surmised that a large surge had washed out the bridge that used to span these stream beds, and had never been replaced. Only a biker could ford the gap! And only an courageous one at that!

This road had no traffic on it since it was a closed-off road, but many of the country roads in this northwestern section of SC had virtually no cars as well! It was a very relaxed day through very beautiful territory.

One of the roads I turned onto today was a gravel path, with lots of ups and down. Quite a challenge even for my mountain-style touring bike with 26" x 1.75" tires. Took my speed down to 7-8 mph. Going uphill, the rear wheel often slips, and going downhill, the possibility of slipping laterally threatens.

I saw some ponies on the way to Newberry, and got an electric shock trying to lure them over to the fence holding out some snacks. Ouch!

I stopped at a Country Music, weekend beer and party joint entering Newberry county, and a couple from FL was there who were very impressed with my trip and snapped some photos. She took down the blog (Hi!--please send me the photos--pauljosephpark@gmail.com), and said she would probably sign the petition because she is all about stopping global warming.

All in all, a good day--60 miles, and stay at an excellent college (Newberry) with some excellent hosts. Thank you Pavle, Lucas, Felipe, Jessica, Felipe Castro, and everybody else I met!