It's spitting, it's spitting. Everybody inside!

Day 20
From Georgetown SC
To Santee SC
Mileage estimated 94
Mileage actual 95
Top speed 33 mph
Riding time 6hrs 24 mins

Today we beat the weather. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite us.

For the past few days we have all been avid viewers of the Weather Channel on TV; Shane, Mike and Debbie more so than everyone else because they have the responsibility for the whole party and they have to make the decision if we ride or not. That decision is based purely on the safety of the whole group. If they say 'No' there will be a number of people who will be upset because we are all here to ride our bikes down the East Coast, but we will have to abide by that decision. It will be a decision not taken lightly. Last night at Route Rap we talked through the problems that were coming our way, possibly, probably or maybe not at all (that's weather forecasters for you!) courtesy of Hurricane Hanna. The forecast said (maybe) some light showers early morning then a cloudy day with the main rain kicking in about 3pm. We were given the go ahead to ride the route we should have been, but were told that, if necessary, we would be pulled off the road and taken by van to our destination. We all knew exactly where we stood with that and were happy to go along with it.

Last night's hotel could not provide breakfast for us so we loaded luggage then rode into 'Historic Georgetown' for breakfast at Thomas' cafe. Very good it was, too, with everything prepared to order and, I think for the first time since I arrived, served on plates and with utensils that were not just thrown away at the end of the meal. Every breakfast in hotels seems to feature that - all tools are plastic and everything else is either Styrofoam, paper or something else disposable which means at the end of breakfast time, there are huge bin bags full and nothing for the staff to do but throw away. The waste is incredible. We eventually rode out of a very pretty town centre at 8am and headed out the reverse of the way we had entered the town yesterday afternoon.

We soon turned off to pursue our new route and this took us past the 'other side' of Georgetown. It was another example of Town Planners 1, Common Sense and Preservation 0, as we rode alongside a massive paper processing plant that provided a blight on a beautiful town.

Today was windy and cloudy but still warm and I had decided that come what may weather-wise, I would not wear a raincoat but would just get soaked and ride on. I soon got to test whether that was the right decision or not when it started spitting, then drizzling and pretty soon, I was wet through. I wasn't cold, though and as quickly as the rain had started, it finished and I began to dry out. That was the last time I got wet externally all day, though there was plenty coming from the inside out!

We pushed on to the first SAG and were warned that the weather forecast looked to be correct and we were discouraged from hanging around too long. I took that literally and Anne and I were quickly setting off, to find ourselves at the front of the group. I got quite light headed with such a position in the scheme of things and we bowled along quite merrily at about 18mph. All got spoiled when Al came along and rode alongside us, then in front, then he started taking up the pace. 'Come on, Andrew' he urged as the speed went up to about 24 / 25mph. Too much for me for any considerable distance without either a downhill or following wind, so I backed off, but Anne kept up with him for a few miles before he decided he had had enough fun and disappeared into the distance leaving us puffing and panting in his wake.

Further on and we got onto Seaboard Road which turned out to be an 18 mile, arrow straight, flat road that brought back some disturbing memories of another place last year; a state whose name began with K and that I am still unable to speak or write but at least Seaboard Road had some trees and other traffic to break up the potential boredom.

We rode on and got to the second SAG where we again checked in quickly then took off again. We rode through the town of Summerton and turned down Liberty Hill Road, riding past the Liberty Hill church. We stopped to check our bearings with a man along the road and he told us a little about the significance of the church. I did a bit of research when I got into the hotel and found this:-

At a meeting in the Liberty Hill African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1950, parents signed a petition demanding integrated schools. Meetings were held at the church for the selection of petitioners in the complaint that would become Briggs vs. Elliott. The case became part of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education - the landmark case that struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine concerning the segregation of schools in 1954.

We must have passed well over 200 churches since we left Washington last week and this one did not seem any more important than any of the others, but as you can see, it was instrumental in making a massive change to American society over 50 years ago.

The road we were on changed into Interstate 95 for other traffic, but for us it continued as a bike path on the old road and bridge over Lake Marion on the outskirts of Santee. It was quite strange riding along a bike path alongside the speeding heavy traffic of an Interstate highway, even though the photo shows the road to be very quiet of traffic.

Approaching our final turn for the day at a traffic light I was nearly taken out by a pick-up driver. I was in the outside lane intending to make a left turn and approaching the line when he decided to come out from a shop forecourt into the lane. I waved at him then shouted and he stopped, then as I went to continue he moved again and I nearly put the front wheel into the cow bars of the pick-up. I stopped and asked him if he had seen me and he said, 'Yes. I was expecting you to stop.' I politely informed him that I was not going to stop until I got to the white line at the traffic light and then only if the light were on red. He muttered something, I don't know what it was, but certainly wasn't an apology, then drove on his way. I was left shaking my head at how cyclists are treated here.

We made the turn then looked for our hotel (it had been renamed which didn't help). On finding it we went into the lobby to check in at 3.10pm and as we did so, the heavens opened and it thrashed it down.

Weather forecasters. Pah!