Day 36: Beaufort to Savannah, GA

After writing my previous post yesterday morning, I made myself a toasted bagel with strawberry cream cheese and a cup of coffee. I also had a yogurt. I was trying to fix an issue on my website when Bob woke up around 8:30 AM. He made me two fried eggs as the second part of my breakfast. Soon after that, I got ready. As a parting gift, Bob made a bag of walnuts, banana chips, and raisins for me. I really appreciated Bob’s generosity!

I left Bob’s house around 9:30 AM, the latest I’ve departed on this trip. I got on the Spanish Moss Trail, then turned off of it to go into downtown Beaufort. There were some pedestrians there, but it was still early and most shops weren’t open. I rode on Bay Street all the way through downtown then got on the Spanish Moss Trail again to catch up with the East Coast Greenway, which I would follow to Savannah.

Downtown Beaufort

The East Coast Greenway had me ride on highway 170. About 15 miles out of Beaufort I saw Parker’s Kitchen, a gas station convenience store. Bob had told me there were no restaurants between Beaufort and Savannah, so I decided to eat something here.

I ordered a pork sandwich and four fried chicken legs with Boom Boom sauce. With that name, I just had to try it. While resting there, I called my friend Ed to see if he needed any help for his wedding. It turned out that he’s going through some personal things so he might not need my help. If that’s the case then I’ll cycle to Orlando, then Tampa, then back to Gainesville for Ed’s wedding on May 13.

I left Parker’s at noon and continued on highway 170. I wasn’t on it for too long when I saw my life flash before my eyes. The road had a narrow shoulder to begin with. Then I saw a ditch coming up, but I was going too fast to stop and there were cars on the left of me. If I went right then I would have gone off the road and probably fallen, if I went left then I would miss the ditch, but I’ll be going into the road with the cars. I decided to go left to avoid the ditch. Then a box truck almost swiped me, followed by another car. I was within inches of getting hit. This shook me up a bit, to say the least.

It happened two more times on the road closer into Savannah. The road had either no shoulder or a very slim shoulder. Two 18 wheelers passed by me while giving me about a foot of space. I could have touched the truck itself. They had no choice since the road only had two lanes, with traffic coming from the opposite direction on the other lane. I should have used directions from Google Maps for this day’s ride and not the East Coast Greenway.

At a part of highway 170, there were also a bunch of nails and screws on the shoulder of the road. It was like going through a mine field. I certainly didn’t want to puncture my tires.

I also noticed something is wrong with my bike. The shifting is off. The shift lever sometimes clicked twice when I shifted, it should only click once every time I shift. This made me worry. I tried to see if the shifting cable was set wrong by the mechanic from Wilmington, NC, but it was set correctly. I just had to deal with the issue. It was not a big deal since I could still ride my bike.

Passed by an industrial site

I arrived in Savannah around 3:30 PM and had a banh mi panini and some chips at the Arts restaurant that’s run by the Savannah College of Arts and Design students. I was impressed by the students’ art work that were shown on the TV inside the restaurant. They were so professionally done.

Inside the Arts restaurant

After this early dinner, I rode another few miles to Misty’s place, my Airbnb host. I had ridden just shy of 60 miles that day.

At the Airbnb house, I noticed there were a lot of decorations with skulls. After inquiring about them, Mistry told me that it’s not the skin color that matters, underneath it all we are all the same, just some bones. I never thought about it that way. I always disliked skulls and bones because they looked scary, but Misty had a great point.

I also met Misty’s husband, Joe. Both of them ended up going to the grocery store together while I stayed in the house, working on the computer.

I heard a few loud shots outsides, I thought they might have been gunshots, but I didn’t investigate. Ten minutes later, I heard a knock on the door. It was the police. They asked me if I heard gunshots and were trying to see who fired it. I had no idea who it was since I was inside. This was the first time I heard gunshots in a neighborhood. When Misty and Joe came back, I told them what happened. Misty said it happens quite frequently around here.

I emailed Priority Bicycles about my shifter issue. Their customer service was very fast and replied with a step-by-step instruction. I tried to fix the shifting issue by following it, but I still couldn’t fix it. While inspecting my bike, I also found a broken spoke on the rear wheel. Not again! I decided that I’ll go to a bike shop while I’m in Savannah to have these two issues resolved.

Around 10 PM, Joe made some ramen with sausages and ham for dinner for the three of us. I was surprised that I had that much energy at night. Normally, I went to bed around sunset.

Joe and I then chatted until midnight about a lot of things. He told me about a minimalist Greek philosopher named Diogenes and told me about some signature southern foods, such as sweet tea. I never had sweet tea before and thought it might be similar iced tea. Joe had some in the fridge and gave me a cup of it. It tasted a lot better than iced tea.

This morning, I woke up at 5:30. I plan on taking a rest day here and go to the Savannah on Wheels bicycle shop to get my bike fixed. Then I will just hang around downtown for the day.