Day 2, February 15th, started with a nice breakfast at the hotel and a fun interaction with a family driving to Orlando. The little boy, wearing his Elmo slippers, shared with us his excitement about heading to Disney. He made us all happy with his joy.

Day 2 was definitely less hectic from a logistics perspectives. We had studied the maps and as it turned out we were only on 3 roads for a 31 mile ride which landed us in Walterboro, SC. We thought it would be flat but the first road (16 miles), in particular, was a slow climb. Both Madeleine and I felt strong physically although it continued to be a little trying for me mentally. The first road had two gravel companies and one logging company on the road so the first 8 miles we had lots (!) of gravel and logging trucks passing us. I started off stressed but settled in when I realized that we were very visible in our flourescent yellow jackets and that the truckers gave us wide berth. The only other stress on the ride today was one very large dog who looked as though he wanted to jump off his fenced porch and get us but fortunately he was not able to. We had several lovely moments as well. We saw the lovely Edisto River which is one of the largest free-flowing blackwater rivers in North America, flowing over 250 meandering miles. We also went by the Bee City Zoo and petting farm and cafe. We were a little disappointed that it wasn't open. The road also was dotted with some farms with cows and horses. Marie met us at the 16 mile point and we had a relaxing few minutes with her. She let us know that towards the end of our ride was a gas station with a little store. Apparently, she noticed a line of people going in and coming out with fried chicken which we all eagerly agreed would be our lunch. And it was good! After leaving Marie and setting off on the second leg of the trip, we were encouraged to get our exercise and enjoy the day by an older gentleman in his yard. That made us smile for sure.

After showering, we spent the afternoon absorbing some vitamin D and reading in the sunshine. It was a very comfortable 64 degrees.