Day 22: Saturday, October 5, 2013

49 miles into The Oaks Campground, Point South, South Carolina.  Today was a really long day.  We had our first flat tire.  We were bicycling past the Tuskegee Airman Monument in Walterboro, SC and looking at the sign.  I glanced down and saw tons of glass and shouted out a warning to Donna.  Unfortunately, she was not able to avoid it.  We pulled over to a gas station and she removed glass from the tire, but alas, the tire went flat almost immediately.  She was able to remove the tire and start the repair process.  Her tires have a very high pressure, so she carries a cartridge, which the bicycle tech said was really easy to use.  When she put the regulator on the cartridge and tried to inflate the tube, it blew.  Fortunately, we had phone service so we called Bob, our knight in shining armor.  He hadn’t reached camp yet, so it took a while for him to reach us.  While we waited at the gas station, we saw a bevy of characters coming and going.  The place sells tons of lottery tickets so there was continuous traffic.  Lots of people asked if we were ok and wondered what we were doing.  One gentleman commented: Y’all are tough ole broads” when he heard we were bicycling to the Florida Keys.  Donna and I accepted it as a compliment and wholeheartedly agreed.  Bob was able to change the tire in a flash.  It’s amazing how easily he can do that.  We got back on the route and finished the last 30 miles with no further incidents. It was our hottest day to date and Bob said he took a quick swim when he got back to the camp and found it very refreshing.  Donna and I were honestly too tired to indulge.