Days 32, 33 and 34 "The World According to Hutch"

In the beginning, Shorty and Brad went for a bike ride. I'm not going to re-hash the whole trip of these travelers, but I have been asked to be a guest blogger tonight and I would like to update everyone on how things are rolling.

Today, Saturday, (day 34) we just finished another big day of riding after putting in 108 miles in the saddle. I use the term saddle only because they do, but the seats on these bikes would more closely resemble sitting on a steel fence pole while two people hold it on each end and shake it for 7 hours. This activity repeated several days in a row can cause what are called "saddle sours". We now know how to treat saddle sores when they get really bad. First you need to find a nurse in your hotel lobby who is teaching a class to other nurses. Then you have to have her look at your area of concern and perform the necessary procedures. The viewing audience of this blog site is such that I cannot give any more details on this subject.

Anyways, we are now in Jesup, GA and just finished eating some gator tails at the Daily News Bar & Grill. We only have about 70 miles tomorrow to Savannah and then 40 to Hilton Head, so we are winding down. None of us want this long, strange trip to end, but tomorrow we will be very close to the Atlantic Ocean and unable to travel east on a bike anymore. This may be harder for Shorty and Brad because of all the days and miles they have put into this venture.

Lunches have presented us with the most interesting characters each day. One day, after eating, we were outside getting our bikes ready to ride when a "vertically challenged" man came outside shaking his finger at us and shouting: "We have already called the police and they are on their way!" He paused just long enough for me to look at Shorty and Brad and think about a half dozen things that day he may be referring to, when he continued with: " You should all be locked up in an insane asylum for riding on this road."

We had one lady get a hold of Brad's ear, yesterday, so that she could compare and contrast the northern blacks to the southern blacks.

We met a guy who was walking from Daytona Beach, Florida to Seattle, Washington. It was going to take him 8 months and all he had was a backpack and a walking stick.

We have also become quite the conisours of "rumble strips". In Florida they are convex, and above the ground, but very rough on bike riders when you hit them. Here in Georgia they prefer to make them concave or cut out of the pavement. Some are not so deep and very subtle, probably designed to alert the driver they are drifting off the road. Others are so deep and severe they must be designed to pull truck drivers out of a stouper.

Finally, I just want to say that Shorty and Brad have been great teachers. I have learned more about bike riding in one week, than I would have after years riding. They are anxious to complete this great accomplishment of riding coast to coast, yet they are already wondering how much they will miss these adventurous and healthy days and so am I.

See Y'all,

Hutch