April 22, 2015
Georgetown to Myrtle Beach
We were up early as usual. A little cool out, but another beautiful day. And a short day as well; only to Myrtle Beach, a mere 42 miles or so. We doubled back to the Historic District for breakfast, stopping at Coffee Break Cafe. Not bad, but all they have as a side is Yankee Grits, no potatoes, so I made myself eat some of them. The ones last night were firmer and tastier. But it fueled the engine.
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So our first challenge was a bit of a ride on our favorite road, US-17. Usually in towns and cities it's not so bad, so we were fine as far as the two bridges we needed to cross, as there is always at least a four-foot shoulder in those cases. The first bridge crossed over the Great Pee Dee River, which sounds familiar, but I cannot tell you why. The second, much taller structure, crossed the Intracoastal Waterway. We were finally back in beach land!
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On the far side, US-17 assumed its usual attitude with rumble strips and an irregular shoulder width. Traffic was heavy, so I stayed to the right of the rumble strip. However, as we moved north and into areas with more development, bike trails became available, all very nice, all poorly maintained. Still, an improvement over US-17.
My complaint here, shared by Happy, is the quality of the trails. If they maintained roads as badly as they maintain some bike trails, there would be an uproar of Herculean proportions.
The other big plus as we moved north was the availability of Business US-17, a quieter road that was probably the original US-17 through these beach towns, all lined with local businesses, bars, and restaurants. And the through traffic was off on the mainline, not to be seen again until shortly before we arrived at our campground. Because we first had to go through Myrtle Beach!
Full disclosure here, I am not a big fan of places like Myrtle Beach. I like the beach but prefer more upscale, and Myrtle Beach is a bit too South Carolina for me lol. Especially the south approach. But we were on a mission as well. A good biking friend from Washington, Jerry Cowden, was down to visit his mom, so we pedaled as far north as 74th Avenue and relaxed there for a bit, only 4-1/2 miles from the Apache Campground, our home for tonight.
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Later, we had the pleasure of joining him and his mother and father for dinner at Bonefish, where I had my first Arctic char. I am learning to like seafood!
Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 1,254 miles (2,018 km)
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