Still in South Carolina and loving it!

Our last day in Charleston was informative and fun. After a lowcountry breakfast at our Inn we headed out on a tour of the city in an air conditioned (thank goodness!) bus. We rode through all the different neighborhoods and historic districts and learned of all the "firsts" that Charleston claims as it's own. The highlight of the morning, though, was seeing the Citadel campus and watching all the freshman in uniform march across the green. Some of them were women. Our guide told us all the statistics about graduation rates and drop out rates, and we were quite impressed with the fortitude of these young men and woman. We had a restful afternoon and a delicious dinner complete with red velvet cake for dessert before we called it a day.

Navigating our way out of Charleston the next morning was relatively easy but the day deteriorated as the temperature climbed. My Lord it is hard to function, much less cycle, in 100 degree heat! We again battled Route 17 with no shoulder and lots of traffic but did enjoy our stretches off road like this route with water on both sides...very pretty. We completed the 70 miles to Beaufort taking almost 8 hours to do so. Luckily our hotel had cold lemonade waiting at check in and Mom and Dad whisked us off to a waterfront restaurant for a nice dinner. We wrangled another rest day (2 so far within a week!)in Beaufort which is a picturesque historic city on the Beaufort River. This was actually a summer resort area for the wealthy people who lived on neighboring islands before the civil war. Not all of the families returned to their homes after "the Great Skedaddle," but some of the best examples of antebellum architecture can be seen throughout the city thanks to an active preservation association. We took a horse drawn buggy ride in the morning to get a better feel for the city and it's history then after lunch we drove over several bridges to Hunting Island State Park. There we walked the beach for a bit and came across this loggerhead turtle nest and this spectacular Lighthouse. We didn't climb up to the top due to the heat, but spent a good amount of time just enjoying it's splendor. Most of you know that Holly has an affinity for lighthouses and can't even count all the ones we have visited over the years!

Tomorrow we cross over into Georgia and will be treated to a visit from Joel Rhein who is flying down to Savannah with his bike to ride with us for a few days. His good buddy Stefan, an art student at SCAD, is going to ride as well. In addition, Ron and Fran, Fron as we affectionately refer to them, are meeting us in Savannah for a visit. These next several days are going to be a blast!