We experienced a torrential downpour late yesterday afternoon and it was a blessing since we were at a primitive campsite with no shower facilities. We stripped down to just a pair of shorts and let the rain rinse our souls. Our bodies were successfully cleaned of all salt and foul smells. Next order of business was to dig small canals around our tents to allow the water to run away from our residences.

Early this morning I was reminded why wild pig hunters from all over the south come to this forest to hunt. We had a visitor outside snorting around looking for a prize early this morning. Luckily it did not stay long as I really did not want to go and try to run the wild pig off in the pitch dark.

The predawn riding was a wet one today and the rain jacket was put on for the first time as the temperatures were actually still cool from the thunderstorms early last night. The light rain was actually a nice distraction and before long the big orange ball ran off all rain despite being hidden from our site by the overcast skies.

Our short trip to Pawleys Island was pleasant as we remained on country roads and away from almost all traffic until coming into Georgetown. Folker needed some electrical tape and we made a quick detour to Harbor Freight Tools where I remained outside relaxing against a wall.

As I am about to close my eyes and study for a minute I see a man coming towards me riding a bike playing some music on a Bluetooth speaker from across the parking lot. He asked where have we came from and where are we going. I started chatting with him and he was explaining how he is 59 years old and rides his bike all over town and sometimes even does a nine mile out and back ride out of town.

Once Folker had returned and joined the conversation, we were about to say our goodbyes when Terry asked if we were hungry because he was going to his usual breakfast spot. Let’s go!

Terry took us around the corner to Lamar’s Fish and Chips for what would be the best breakfast of this trip by a long shot. The hardest part for me was deciding between the Frog Legs Breakfast or the Alligator Bites Breakfast. Folker and I decided on the Alligator so we can now say of course we saw on alligator on our trip, on our breakfast plates!

Terry Johnson will go down as one of my favorite trail angles. We hit it off from the get go and he treated us like we had been friends for a lifetime. He said he has no problems talking to just about anyone and he proved that true today when he struck up a conversation with a dirty cyclist hanging outside of a local hardware store. We had a great conversation and as we pulled away Folker and I fist bumped and Folker simply said “That was really nice!”

It was as if the trail angles were now flying over top of us because when we got to the dreaded no shoulder four lane bridge leaving Georgetown, the bridge was down to just one lane for vehicle traffic on our side of the road due to maintenance. That meant we had the lane getting worked on to ourselves and when we got to the top of the bridge where the concrete was being poored an angel stepped out with a “slow and stop” flip sign. He halted the traffic behind us to enable us to get around and soon we were happily back to our protected lane and bombing down the bridge.

A few miles on a busy road into the wind and we made it to our destination. A short and sweet day. If every day was like today, I would have a smile on my face all the time.