Day 13..."the raindrops keep falling on my head"

Day 13…”the raindrops keep falling on my head”
Yes, it rained again today.  Thank God for my rain gear..... Raindrops...

I awoke the morning of my 13^th day on the road on Hilton Head Island in the home of Joan Newman, my good friend’s mom.  The sun came in the window early and woke me up so I decided to take some time before I hit the road to walk the beach and type up my day 12 blog entry.  As you may have noticed yesterday was photo intensive, but it was a great day.  It took a while to get it all written and the photos attached.  When I finished all the administrative queep I put on my running shorts and hit the beach.  I really can’t run yet, with the screw only recently removed from my foot, but I can walk…so I did.  I walked a mile up the beach and back.  Then I walked a mile down the beach and back.  I wasn’t power walking so it took me about an hour and I really enjoyed it.  The beach was hard packed sand and with the tide out it was between 100 and 150 yards of beach.  The beach-goers were starting to arrive with their chairs, umbrellas, shovels, pails, gallons of sunscreen when I finished to the timing was perfect.

 
After cleaning up, packing the bags and saying goodbye to Mrs. Newman I boarded the shuttle (the housing area has a free shuttle) back to my bike.  About noon I hit the road and found myself getting off I-95 to cruise Hwy 17.  It was a beautiful drive and took me to Charleston.  I went downtown to the Welcome Center, museum, and a drive down Market Street, where I drove down the street with horse drawn carriages.  Charleston is a beautiful old town.  I’d been there before and it brought back good memories.  Oddly enough, one of the prettiest things is the bridge across the bay.  What great architecture. 

Leaving town I was serenaded by thunder and spurred by lightning…but no rain.  The road in front of me, however was leading to the center of a huge towering cumulus that just looked rainy.

About half way between Charleston and Georgetown it began to blow and gust, then to sprinkle, then it began to rain, then it began to REALLY rain and I was working on getting soaked.  Luckily before I got too wet I came to a school and drove up under their portico to put on my rain gear.  By the time I got to Georgetown I was done.  My rain gear kept me dry, but my nerves were shot from driving amongst cars on a two lane road where the rain cut the visibility down to only a very small amount.  Of course as soon as I found a place to stay (dripping in their lobby) the rain stopped, the thunder went away, and the sky cleared.  But it was 6PM so I was glad to call it a day.

I took the opportunity to walk Georgetown and came across two places that really fascinated me.  The first was an old church and its associated cemetery.  There was a memorial to a doctor from the “Marion Men” of the area.  The Marion Men refer to those men who served under Francis Marion the “Swamp Fox” who led successful guerilla attacks against the British in the Revolution.  Another memorial was too a woman who lost 5 children, the oldest of whom only made it to age 3.  It was obviously a tough time for kids and their parents.

Just around the corner from my motel I saw a statue and went to investigate.  It was a memorial to the confederate soldiers from the area.  Around the memorial were many graves of confederate soldiers.  Some with proper tombstones, others with just a simple confederate marker.  Most sported small confederate flags.  I am pretty sure that the War of Northern Aggression is still a sore spot for many in South Carolina.