Day 118, Nov 20. Mullins, SC to Lake City, SC

Riding on US76, a 55mph divided highway, is not my
idea of a fun time.

For the most part, we have used Google Bike Maps to route ourselves from city to city. Once Google has generated a map we look it over to see if it makes sense to us. Frequently, John will go on Google Earth to check out roads that we fear may not be a good choice.

We try to avoid highways and other heavily traveled roads on one end of the spectrum and unpaved roads on the other, but it is not always possible. Currently, we have the added complication of roads and bridges damaged by Hurricane Mathew.

Often we can get around road work. ...not so much today.

Today we got a bit of everything a route can throw at you. Highway 76 was unavoidable and unpleasant. Having cars and semi-trucks speed past us at 55+mph is at best an adrenaline producing event. Lucky, it was only 5 miles and most of the drivers gave us plenty on room.

Often we are able to ride or walk our bike around construction, not today. It was obvious from the start, that we were not getting around this one. Looking at the map, we found a way around, it would add a few miles but looked do-able, so we headed out.

Over the edge was a 10 foot drop to the water below. 

Without the ability to levitate, we had to reroute.

Our next challenge came in the form of  a five mile long unpaved road. Many unpaved roads are crushed rock that is pack down. Though it slows us down, they do not pose much of a problem. Not in the Carolinas. In general, roads in the Carolinas have been great. Even lightly traveled rural roads have been beautifully paved. The unpaved roads have been a different story. The soil here is very sandy, so the unpaved roads are a combination of packed sand, gravel and tire swallowing sand traps. It was a no go.

With only 14 miles to go, we made what we hoped would be our final reroute, crossed our fingers and headed in. Our 43 mile ride ended up being 50 miles. Tomorrow we go to Moncks Corner. One day closer to Charleston.