Saturday, June 24, 2006

Day 5: A Vacation from Our Vacation :)

Hello All!
This is Alie. I thought I would give you my perspective on the road trip thusfar and give the webmaster the night off. We are currently still in Hilton Head enjoying our day of fun in the sun (and free lodging!). Today was a great day, even if it didn't turn out how we planned. After discovering the logistical inconveniences of going to Fort Sumpter, i.e the long drive and sparse ferry schedule to actually get to the fort, we decided to have a day of R and R, and what better place to relax on an island than the beach!?!?

We hopped on our bikes and rode downtown, after a few wrong turns and some frustration with traffic circles (plentiful and annoying down here!) we finally arrived downtown where we enjoyed a much deserved lunch at the deli and Italian ices (water ices if you like to be wrong and/or are from the New Jersey/ Pennsylvania area). We got to the beach around 3:00, and while I had visions of sunbathing and reading, Matt had other plans. I was coerced into getting into the ocean, which was mercifully warm (thank goodness) and I attempted to get my sea legs rather unsuccessfully. After a couple of nosefulls of water, I retreated to the beach to sleep while Matt contiued to swim and take some nice pictures.

At around 5:00 we rode home tired and sunburnt, but oddly refreshed. After picking up some provisions at the Piggly Wiggly we enjoyed a nice picnic in a gazebo near the pond and watch the turtles and TWO GATORS swim around. Now we are nursing our sunburns and resting up for another long haul drive tomorrow. New Orleans or bust!!



And now for the Stats:
Still 19% of the US
Miles traveled on bike: about 3
Miles traveled in car: about 2
Wrong turns: too many to be biking
Gas spent: negligable
Distance to go: only like a kabillion miles ;)
Next Stop: New Orleans hopefully via Savannah, GA and probably somewhere in Florida

Day 4: Happy Anniversary! UPDATED

Today was a purely driving day. Alie and I logged a total of 8 hours of driving! More information will come tonight! for now here is the map of where we've been so far:



PS Alie's and my Anniversary was Day 4 hence the lack of update. ;)


UPDATE:
This isn't tonight but plans change. So I'm updating now. As I said above, we spent yesterday driving 8 hours to Hilton Head Island. We got there about 20 minuets ahead of what our GPS said we would. Which was really great but odd since the GPS is usually right on the money. We figured it was due to a speed limit change the most recent maps did not take into account. We only stopped for about 40 minutes for lunch, refueling and frosties!

We got into Hilton Head around 8:30pm. We then unloaded our stuff at Howard's condo and then went to Big Bamboo. This really neat restaurant modeled after a place in South Pacific founded by a WWII Pilot. Overall I enjoyed the atmosphere and food. Both had a lot of potential but fell just an inch short of what I'd consider excellent.

Then Alie and I got ice cream at the Ice Cream Cone and walked to the beach. We laid down got all sandy and looked at the stars. A very nice way to end the night.

Here are the current totals:

Been to 19% of the US!
Overall Average: 59.8mph
Moving Average: 64.0mph
Moving Time: 8h and 48m
Stopped: 37m 18s
Total time: 9h 26m
Gas Spent: Not exactly sure but so far we've gone 330mi on a 1/2 a tank.
Distance Traveled Today: 563.7mi
Distance to go: I'll never tell
Wrong turns: 0 (It was really simple all the way through.)
Where we go next? Was Fort Sumpter but thats another 2-3 hours of driving so instead its THE BEACH!