On the 14th and 15th I rode two 70+ mile days back-to-back from Shallotte, my last stop in North Carolina to Myrtle Beach, which turned out to be farther from my route than I expected and then Andrews, the first town featuring any accommodations 72 miles past Myrtle Beach.
Monday night I stayed with Staci Williams, Blue Trail Organizer for American Rivers, in Myrtle Beach, who had never met me and generously offered to host me for a night at her home. Although I was there a short time I was able to get in some tummy-scratching time with her adorable dog, Madison, throw clothes in the dryer and fill up on fresh fruit and much-needed home cooking.
Although I had completed a few 70+ mile days during Week 1 with few obvious effects, temperatures these two days were in the 90s and the wear on my body now seemed to be catching up to me. I was tired, cranky and in pain. To ward off exhaustion and the persistent pain I'd been having in my hands and feet, I tried everything I could think of to distract myself: counting butterflies, yelling obscenities into the wind, talking to myself out loud, singing Jackson 5 hits. Twice on the second day I veered, bleary-eyed, off the road to lie down in the shade, "just for a moment," and fantasize about pitching my tent there as the branches of an oak tree swirled dreamily against the sky above. And I might have done just that if not run off by a swarm of biting ants and pair of territorial dogs, respectively. It was with a great feeling of accomplishment that I arrived in Andrews, home of Chubby Checker, just as night fell.
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