Missy and Shane's All Around US Tour.

We rolled into Savannah at the end of the weekend and have enjoyed a couple days walking and riding the trolley around the town. It's a really great town with some wonderful history and architecture. They have the largest National Historic Landmark District in the US and there are so many amazing buildings with so many stories behind them (from major cotton export to the founding of the Girl Scouts to the filming of Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil). The city was laid out and planned to have several small squares throughout the city (there are something like 25 of them). Sadly, in the 1950's some historic buildings and squares were torn down to build parking garages and the main shopping street was almost totally deserted by 1970 because of an exodus to the Mall area outside of town but luckily things have changed and the district is undergoing major changes. They even recently tore down a parking garage and are rebuilding the square that used to be there. Having seen so many dead downtown districts it is always nice to be in towns that are revitalizing theirs and where people are actually walking around, even if most of them seem to be tourists. With all the tourism and the revitalization there are a lot of really great restaurants and we've enjoyed a couple nights of wonderful food. There's also a major presence of art in the downtown district since the Savannah College of Arts & Design (SCAD) has started building its campus throughout the downtown area in old rebuilt buildings.

The weather has been really great the last few days, sunny and very warm. I even broke out the shorts and sandals for walking around the city. As the Northwest gets snow and the area that we cycled through in the summer is down into the single digits we are glad we're in the South.
On the first day in town I called around and found a shop that could weld up my broken Xtracycle frame. It only took them about 5 minutes to do the welding, most of the time it took was getting to the shop, stripping the bike, and then putting it back together. The welder said that it should be just as strong if not stronger than before, we'll see. It's so funny, I was just emailing someone about the kind of bikes to use on a tour and they had asked about their aluminum and carbon bikes. I wrote that I liked steel because of it's durability and that if something did go wrong that it could be welded on the road, whereas an aluminum or carbon bike would almost always just have to be tossed. Just a couple days after I emailed them my frame cracked. Interesting.

So now we roll out of Savannah and head down to Florida. It will be about 5 days of riding to Tom & Carolyn's in Fernandina Beach and then we will explore that area for a few days before flying home for the holidays to enjoy some of that wonderful snow that is falling now. It almost feels like we're already done with this Atlantic Route, even though we still have a couple hundred miles to go. We've rolled over 7,000 miles and are already in the South, the rest is just exploring and getting to the final stop.
We're still talking about the Southern Tier... we'll most likely do it. We'll know better after a long break from the road over Xmas.

We've posted some photos from mid-November to the present. Check them out HERE.

Rolling out of Charleston we went out to Magnolia Plantation to do a very interesting (and overpriced) tour. It's the first plantation we've visited here in the south. It was so interesting to see a house and land with so much history out of an urban setting. We saw an alligator and several great birds and really enjoyed the house tour that included a lot of original pieces including several great quilts including one from the early 1800's.
As we pulled into the grounds I felt something weird with my bike, like something was loose. We rode another 25 miles and it felt fine going straight but with any big bumps or turns I felt something strange, but familiar. It felt a lot like bikes that I have ridden where the load wasn't strapped on right, a spoke had broken, there was a flat, or the frame had broken. It felt most like the last one but I didn't want to think about that! We had a usual evening; setting up our home, making dinner, listening to NPR, doing map planning, and writing in our journals before making it an early night since it dipped down into the 30's. The next morning I took apart my Xtracycle and found the spot where yes indeed it had cracked. I pulled out my trusty 'gear bag' and thought that maybe with a c-clamp and a couple zip-ties I might be able to have it hold for a little while. I thought that was crazy and then when Missy got up she looked at it and said "can you zip-tie it?" I said, sure why not?!
So I put it together and it looked pretty good, certainly better than when it was hanging loose. I'm not sure how long it will hold up and it still felt a little squirrelly during the ride but I think it will hold until we can find a welder who will fix it (hopefully).
During the ride today we saw our first Armadillo snacking on the side of the road. We were able to stop and take a photo before he walked back into the bushes. Pretty cool to see.
Tonight we are at a campground about 40 miles outside of Savannah. The flora around here is so different. Like Missy said, there are palm bushes around like there are ferns in the other forests. Though the evenings are a little chilly the riding has been really great the last couple days; very sunny, a bit of traffic but not that bad (even a little shoulder today!), and even a bit of a tailwind. Looking forward to enjoying the sunshine and spending a couple days in Savannah.

Though we can't be with family this Thanksgiving we are Thankful that we are happy & healthy here in Charleston, SC. Today we are relaxing, exploring the quiet city, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV, and going out to a nice restaurant for our turkey dinner.
For those wondering and in honor of full disclosure, we did not ride our bikes here. With the cold, wind, and general storm conditions (it actually snowed in Charleston) that presented itself in Myrtle Beach we decided to take an offer of a ride from Wendi. We piled the bikes into the mini-van and she drove us the 100 miles here. It was a bit hard to accept at first and we talked about even trying to go back and "make up" the miles but that just seemed silly. It's all part of the journey. Yes, we would have liked to have biked but there are no rules to what we are doing and we said from the beginning that this journey was about being open to whatever presented itself and the time was right to just accept what the spirits have given us.

So now here we are, exploring this wonderful city and giving thanks to be on this journey and thankful for how blessed we are to have our family, friends, and even strangers supporting us on our path.
Thanks and bless you all.

Getting some more severe weather here in the southeast. Here's what the weather reports have to say:

A wet, windy storm is brewing for the Carolinas tonight and tomorrow. At least that's where the focus of the storm will be.....Although most of the Carolinas will be wet, the heaviest rain will target southeastern North Carolina where as much as five inches could fall through tomorrow night (with additional amounts likely Wednesday). Flooding may become a problem in some locations....Winds will pick up dramatically tonight and by tomorrow are expected to be howling at speeds of 25-35 mph along the Carolina beaches. Gusts reaching 50 or 60 mph are not out of question. Scattered power outages are possible.
We're trying to figure out our next plan of action.

We're in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina now. We're visiting Missy's friend from childhood, Wendi and her family (husband Ron & children Andrew, Christian, Micah, and Hannah). We're unfortunatly going to have to make it a quick visit so we can make it to Florida on time (and also to Charleston for Thanksgiving). They have been a great 'home' even for our short two day visit; doing laundry, getting mail, researching our route, sightseeing, having some home cooked meals in a real kitchen, and having people we know to talk to. We've also decided we want to have at least 4 kids... okay maybe not. But they are really sweet kids and Ron & Wendi are wonderful parents. They are both originally from Napa so it's fun to talk about the Southern & West Coast differences with some folks who have been here long enough to learn about them.

The weather has been better than the last entry- no tornados touching down anyway. The temperature has dropped and it got down into the 30's the other night with our tent frosting up for the first time. That was the first night we camped at a KOA campground and they overcharged us! Their tent sights were full with boy scouts but they had almost all the RV sights open so we camped there. The next morning we went to pay and they charged us the 'hook-up' rate instead of the tent rate ($10 more).... how ridiculous. We'll try and avoid them now for sure.
We fought some traffic along a highway with no shoulder to get here but we've scoped out a route for leaving Myrtle Beach that looks okay.
We're both really looking forward to spending a few days in Charleston and it should be interesting to see what Thanksgiving holds for us. At least a nice restaurant hopefully.

Read the last blog first to get the update...

We have all day sitting here weathering the storm so we've posted a PHOTO UPDATE HERE, there are photos up to two days ago.

We're still doing good, the heart of the storm just passed over us with a lot of rain, wind, thunder, and lightning but no tornado. We brought everything inside except our tent which is still holding up well outside, love that cozy Kelty! We didn't shop for an extra day here so hopefully we'll be able to get something delivered tonight. Still blowing but it's supposed to pass by late afternoon.

We've just come back to the mainland from the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It added a few miles to our route but it was worth it to ride a few days along the shoreline. On this Atlantic coast route we are near the coast a lot less than we were when we did the first part of the Pacific route so it's nice to be by the ocean again. We saw a lot of interesting spots out there, including Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, where the Wright Brothers first took to the air under a non-human-powered aircraft (though they did get started in the whole ordeal with human power by owning a bike shop and building their own bikes). We also rode through some great birding habitat on Pea Island Wildlife Refuge. We had some serious 20-30 mph winds that day so didn't spend a lot of time bird watching but more time fighting the side and head winds (the 3 mile bridge of the Oregon Inlet was particularly hair raising). The sand dunes, different flora,new house styles, lighthouses and nice flat & straight roads made it an interesting ride. Most of the houses out there were pretty large and built up on stilts an extra 20 feet or so for the flooding waters. It was pretty quiet out there and we could tell that in the summer it would be MUCH busier. A lot of businesses were closed which made the traffic pretty mellow too.
The camping has been much better recently with most places actually open (except for some State Parks). They have also been reasonably priced and pretty well taken care of too. Besides our one windy (and rainy) day on the outer banks the weather has been really great recently, with some days in the mid to upper 70's. Tonight's forecast is a little ominous for this area (Surf City in Pender County) though:

...SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS THE AREA LATE TONIGHT THROUGH LATE THURSDAY MORNING... FAIRLY INTENSE SQUALL LINE WILL PRECEDE A COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE THURSDAY MORNING. THE MAIN THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE STRONG DAMAGING WINDS THAT MAY ACCOMPANY THIS SQUALL LINE. VERY STRONG WINDS NOT FAR ABOVE THE SURFACE CAN POTENTIALLY BE BROUGHT DOWN TO THE SURFACE IN ANY OF THESE STRONGER STORMS. THERE IS ALSO A CHANCE FOR AN ISOLATED TORNADO THAT COULD FORM IN THE HIGHLY SHEARED AIR MASS THAT ACCOMPANIES THIS SYSTEM. THE MOST LIKELY TIME FOR DAMAGING WINDS TO AFFECT THE AREA IS JUST BEFORE DAYBREAK FOR AREAS WEST OF INTERSTATE 95...AND THROUGH NOON FOR THE COASTAL CAROLINAS. THIS IS A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SITUATION.

Well that's sounds nice doesn't it?! We've staked down the tent and will pack things up pretty tight tonight but it doesn't sound like it will hit hard until the morning... may be a short day of riding tomorrow or as Missy says... a short ride to the nearest motel- we are being cautious, don't worry Mom(s) (and Larry).
We have a couple more days of riding before reaching Myrtle Beach, SC where Missy's friend Wendy is. We'll stay there for a rest day and then keep heading South. We hope to spend Thanksgiving in Charleston where we will miss being with family but know that we will be home for a visit soon enough.

PS- Tried to publish this last night but couldn't. The storm is blowing through this area and we weathered it fine last night. Looks like we'll be sitting here for a little while as we see what the weather does. The neighboring county had a tornado touch down and our county has a tornado watch so we're going to be a little careful, most likely stay here at the campground and use their main building as our base (rather than go out into the weather to try and find a hotel). The storm is supposed to pass by this afternoon.

PPS We're okay, stay tuned.

Rolled out of Virginia yesterday and into North Carolina. The riding has been really great; beautiful back roads with very little traffic, great fall colors, and really interesting swamp land (though sadly, a lot more litter than anywhere else so far). It's also flattened out quite a bit, which has made Missy especially happy.
When we left Tommy & Helen's a few days ago our maps didn't show any camping or lodging for nearly 100 miles so we knew it was going to be time to start knocking on doors and asking if we could pitch our tent in someone's yard or field. I've heard stories for years of people doing this and just last week we talked to our friend Ormand who said he heard about a Canadian woman just a couple weeks ahead of us doing it exclusively. Also, our fellow Northern Tier touring friends, Andy & Tess, knocked on doors throughout the end of their trip with a lot of luck. But something about it always made us too shy to do it, relying instead on our campgrounds, hotels, friends, family, or the kindness of strangers offering us a space. We did try knocking once in Delaware but after two "No"s we ended up just camping at a Rails to Trails picnic spot, which was really nice. But we were in farmland this time so it was time to pitch it in some field. Around 4pm we finally worked up the nerve and started knocking to give us an hour before dark. The first No was pretty harsh, a hard-line guy with a stick in his hand beating it against his leg simply saying "No" to our nice little intro. & question. The next two "No"s were simply passing the buck; "I better not, you should ask the landlord down the road". So we found the landlord's house and they didn't want us camping in their field either. Being turned down four times we finally got too frustrated and gave up. We decided to ride into the next town on the map and see if we could find a church or someplace. We found a volunteer fire department that had a picnic table behind it. We called the local police number and they said they couldn't tell us if we could stay there or not since there was no one from the fire department around and they might have a late night fire training. We found a church down the road and I went to the library to find the phone number. The librarian was very helpful and called a parishioner who said the pastor was out of town but that she would give us the permission. Finally, something. The spot was pretty small, bright with lights, no services, and right off a busy road. But it was a place to sleep. It was a rough afternoon. Too bad because the day of riding was one of the best in a long time.

Since that rough night things have been much better, with more camping and still really great rides during the day. It's rained the last two nights but only a little bit during the day yesterday. It's warmed up a lot, our lows now are what our highs were last week (the lower 50's) and yesterday we got into the low 70's during the day (heat-wave for us). We're really looking forward to riding the Outer Banks of North Carolina starting tomorrow (assuming there are no hurricanes in the forecast).. The first night we are camping near Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers first flew their plane. I'm really excited to see that area, I've always found the Wright brothers an interesting part of history.

The cold weather continues, but we've managed to sleep indoors the last few nights. The other night there were freeze warnings and temperatures forecasted for the mid-20's. We had planned on staying at a KOA and decided to have the luxury of a little Kamping Kabin that had a little heater in it, we were living it up! I left a water bottle out that night and it did freeze.
The rides during the day have been really beautiful though, cold but sunny. The Virginia backroads have been really nice, very scenic, well paved, not too much traffic, and even a little wildlife (had a beautiful buck jump across the street right in front of us). We've also seen a lot of Civil War locations start to appear pretty frequently. We rode through Fredericksburg the other day, A LOT of history there. We did a little walking tour there and then spent a couple hours in a nice cafe defrosting with one the best latte's of the trip.

The last two nights we've stayed at Tommy & Helen's place (Richard's Cousin) here outside of Richmond. They gave us a great tour of the area, including a visit to the really nice downtown, a boat ride down the canal (with a great historical interpretation), and a tour of their business (Richmond Steel). It's a really great area and they have been such wonderful hosts, plus it's great to hear stories of when Richard was a kid.
We're rolling on down to North Carolina next. If the weather stays nice (like no hurricanes), which it looks like it will, we're going to do the Outer Banks of the Carolinas, a thin strip that will take us through Kitty Hawk.