Steel nerves needed for route 17

 Wide eyed at 5:30, my mind was on the ride today on route 17.  Zander laid out breakfast before he left for work at 6:00.  With everything packed  at 7:35, I weaved my way out of his neighbor and south I headed.  There were various roads that helped me avoid 17 but inevitably I had to face it.  Rush hours is not a good time to ride this road but that is where I found myself. Where the minuscule shoulder ridable I was able to reduce the stress but the barrage of cars kept up for a good two hours. Service roads and various back roads also helped but not enough. Just as I was to begin the final ten miles to Georgetown, a fellow rider on foot suddenly appeared out of nowhere.  It was Bruce Nisley who stayed with his wife Sonja at my house two weeks ago. Sonja spotted me, recognizing my Ortlieb panniers and the fact that I was riding solo. A mini reunion ensued over coffee and scones at a swish development with a restaurant just behind us.  They were back tracking from Georgetown to Myrtle Beach to catch a plane to the Bahamas to help with the recent explosion of Covid cases.  They are both nurses and work through a religious mission.  I lined them up with Zander Law who I stayed with last night.  Aside from them staying with Zander and Kai tomorrow night, they will be storing their bikes there for several weeks.  

After we headed off in opposite directions my ride was considerably more tolerable than earlier. Rush hour had ended.  I never thought I would be ecstatic over road work with one of the lanes closed but for three miles I had the cruise lane all to myself.  Finally after low gearing my bike over one long Inter Coastal Waterway bridge I arrived in Georgetown. Nice old houses were plentiful as I rode down a side street paralleling 17. After buying lunch at a Food Lion, I found my campground about a mile off a side road. I set my tent up with a great view of a river/inlet.  Cleaned up, talked with Betsy, had Domino’s pizza for dinner and climbed into  my tent for the duration.  Tomorrow I need to bike fifty-nine miles to reach Charleston.  The road will go through a coastal  preserved with no towns tor miles. The traffic is considerably less through this area.