28: restrooms, smallest church, signs, dolly rogers, ian and bill, best jersey ever, second key card

April 14, 2025

Townsend to Savannah suburb

I got off to a later start than I wanted because of the sign. I thought that it was bad in Miami Beach when I had to apologize to all the staff, but cleaning all the restrooms was worse! Between you and me, I didn't do that great of a job.

Wouldn't want to be anywhere near that beak.

This is the smallest church in America, the Memory Park Christ Chapel. Not the smallest church in Georgia, but in the entire country.

This picture makes it look about three feet tall, but it actually measures 10 feet by 15 feet and can seat about 12 people.

Agnes Harper built it in 1950, and intended the chapel to “serve anyone seeking a quiet place for reflection, prayer, or small religious gatherings.”

One such person was inside when I arrived, a young woman around twenty, writing in the book on the pulpit which was open and available for comments and reflections. She must have been doing a lot of reflecting, because she studiously scribbled away like a pope issuing papal indulgences. For fifteen minutes she stood there writing, while I reflected on how long she was taking, and wondering how much longer it would be before I could get a picture of the inside of the church without a person writing a personal letter to God. About as long, I suspect, for it to take God to judge my impatience and thus disallow me to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Which is okay, I guess, because it means I get to hang out with folks like Mark Twain. And Heather, and most of my friends, and Isaac Asimov, Seth McFarlane, George Carlin, Carl Reiner, Gene Wilder, Keanu Reeves, and Penn Jillette. We'll have a great time. Of course, if God happens to read anything I write, that's also liable to do it.

Every time I look at this picture, I always think that the large yellow bean-looking thing is the sole of Jesus' left foot.

In the back, next to the door, you can see where people have left notes.

Once alone, and having no one waiting for me to leave, the church was a quiet and reflective place.

The intersecting road isn't an interstate, and I hope it's not made of paper.

Surprisingly, not as busy as I would've expected. Especially here in Georgia, I thought everyone would want to go to Bacontown.

America's Sweetheart. I wish she and Mr. Rogers could've gotten together.

Shortly after leaving the church I passed a picnic table where a couple of other cyclists had stopped, so I pulled in. They were so engaged in something that neither one of them heard or saw me until I said hello.

Bill, from Connecticut, and Ian from Southend-on-Sea (even more difficult to write than Connecticut) are traveling from Key West to Canada as well, albeit much faster than me. Both are very personable, and we talked for a while about trips we’ve taken and the usual biker tidbits.

Ian, being from England, has not only heard of a Thorn bicycle (the first person ever outside of CycleBlaze) he even owns one. In fact, our bikes have a number of similarities: both are Nomads which have the Rohloff hub, the dynamo, and the Edelux light, to name a few. His has couplings, which allows it to come apart into two pieces for easier transport on airplanes.

Image not found :( — Bill on the left, Ian on the right.

My plan was originally to stay in Richmond Hills tonight (at a hotel because the Warm Showers host I messaged didn’t respond), then have a short 21-mile day to Savannah in the morning. However, after riding with Bill and Ian for a while I found that I felt much safer traveling as a trio than I did as a single, so I decided to continue on for another fifteen miles or so. Riding on Highway 17 going into Savannah was terrible, but having three of us made me feel much safer somehow.

We saw these guys while we were visiting. They're really beautiful.

These three pictures were taken after we got off Highway 17.

This is absolutely my all time favorite jersey in the entire world. I wish I could obtain one but, according to Ian, the company is no longer in business. Ian, who is originally from the Manchester area, sounds exactly like Wallace... it's fantastic. If you've never seen the movies, you're really missing out.

We separated a couple of miles from my hotel. This house looked pretty beaten, and tomorrow morning when I ride past it again about half of it will be gone.

When I arrived at the hotel's office, Tammy was barricaded behind the bulletproof glass. She assisted me in getting a room, and when she proffered two card keys I told her I only needed one. Oddly, she insisted that I take two.

“There’s a $20.00 lockout charge after 8:00 so you might need that other key,” she helpfully announced. I started to explain that if I locked myself out of the room, a second key will most certainly be sitting beside the first one. Was she suggesting I hide it somewhere outside? Maybe under a tree?

But, having pedaled a hair under fifty miles I just wasn’t up to explaining it. “You’ll be saving money that way,” she nodded knowingly, clearly believing that the blank expression on my face proved that I’ll be the guy who locks himself out tonight.

Because of the 84F/28.8C temperature and the traffic battles, by the time I stopped riding I was pretty tired when I finally opened the door to my room. A brief nap sounded like just the thing, so I laid down at 4:45 but couldn’t manage to doze off, and when I finally gave up and got out of bed thirty minutes later I found it was 7:30. I was still able to fall asleep at 9:00. I'm taking a couple of rest days, and it appears they're needed.

For the record, this is how I avoid locking myself out of a hotel room. As soon as I enter my room I close the door and place the keycard here. That way, I can't miss it when I leave.

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Today's ride: 50 miles (80 km)
Total: 793 miles (1,276 km)

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Mike AylingThorn bikes on CycleBlaze.
Graham Smith of Canberra rides a Nomad and I have two, a Mercury Single and a Twin Raven Tandem.
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5 days ago

Mike AylingJohn Saxby in Canada has a Mercury and possibly also a Nomad.
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5 days ago