Day 09 - How Lowcountry can you go ?

Blinds drawn, A/C blasting, covers pulled to our chins, Jamaal and I overslept. It was 7:40AM when I was finally aware of the time. I jumped out of bed and slid on my shorts, shirt, and shoes. Tossing a pillow at Jamaal, I attempted to wake him up, but nothing doing. He had formed a cocoon of comfortability out of the bed and its dressings. He rolled over and dribbled some inaudible words out of his mouth as I rushed to pack my bags. Jamaal soon sensed my urgency and jerked out of bed, bedsheets still wrapped around him. Hastily, we both packed our stuff into the van. Somehow, we managed to leave the hotel at 8:05AM.

This is how we began our day. Not long after, we were on the roads riding through beautiful South Carolina. The dense forestry of SC still captivates me and Jamaal. It almost looked as if you would need a flashlight to walk through it even at 10AM. We made excellent time today finishing 62 miles by 12:45PM arriving in Charleston. I could only attribute this to the scenery, the shade, and the relative flatness of the roads we were traveling on. All in all, a very good day.

Once again, we had to wait to check into our rooms, so we went to eat at a local restaurant. As usual, the food was delish. (Honestly though, after riding, you could feed me and Jamaal a boot and we would totally enjoy it and my family will attest to this. When they ask us what we would like to eat after we finish riding, our typical response is simply, "Food.") My mother carried on the tradition of making it aware to everyone in the restaurant that Jamaal and I are riding our bikes clear cross the country. That's what mothers are for though, right ? Embarrassment ?

3PM came around and we checked into our rooms. Retrieving our keys, Jamaal and I were looking forward getting into the A/C and taking our nap. Jamaal beat me to the door, but when I came around the corner he was still waiting outside. He then came out with some story that someone was in our room. I thought he was pulling a prank, so I disregarded it and attempted to open the door. Upon opening it, there was shaving cream on the table, a laptop on the bed, and luggage sitting on the floor. We took the all too familiar trek to the front desk. They apologized and gave us a new room; with a broken air conditioner ! Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Had an interview for the Charleston Post. I enjoyed this interview because the reporter actually allowed me and Jamaal to speak freely about everything, and not just in such a QandA blunt format. So thank you for that. Can't wait to read the article, Chase.

Interesting Road Sights in SC.
(Had to change the title because of copyright infringement)

• Most interesting roadkill award goes to SC hands down. We saw a horseshoe crab dead on the side of the road.
• A live deer took off into the woods after we road past. The first living animal that didn't chase us.
• This next one is kinda sad. A dog's leash was found in the road. Could only spell out a bad situation.
• A Semi with one large open roofed container that contained two of the largest tires I have ever seen. Larger than the van that we are traveling in.
  

Tonight, Jamaal and I restocked on Gatorade and got lost through Charleston. Tomorrow we have a 90 mile ride through the Francis Marion National Forest, finally ending in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Hopefully, the ride will be beautiful and the forest will keep us cool. Well, take care folks. Can't wait to hear from you,
John and Jamaal.

P.S. We have heard that some of you have expressed concerns over our attire. More specifically, our shorts. Do not worry. We are wearing the proper cycling shorts. They are just under our "normal" shorts. Jamaal and I still have issues over wearing cycling shorts in public. Thus, the shorts over our cycling shorts.