On April 19, 2025, we packed the car, yet once again taking way too much stuff and proceeded to leave our Florida Condo, commencing our drive back to Canada. You would think that after 14 years, we might have figured out what to leave in Florida and what we needed to take back to Ottawa with us, but... we, or should I say I, never learn, and back and forth go way too many clothes, books, files, you name it. It amazes me, but there ARE people who actually have duplicate resources in both their northern residences and their southern vacation residences and simply take almost nothing when travelling to and fro.
Liz and I decided to break up our return drive to Ottawa, as we have done for the past several years, to combat what is truly a rather dull, boring road trip. On one occasion we went home via Nashville where we spent 3 fun-filled days; on another, we stopped in at Gettysburg to see the Civil War sights followed by a stop in Hershey to see, of course, the chocolate factory and this year, we decided to stop at Charleston, SC and join a 5 day cycling trip with 8 others that would take us from Charleston, where we would spend the first 2 nights, through Beaufort, where we would spend the next 2 nights, and finally ending up in Savannah for the last night… a great trip, friendly people, lots to see, but I am ahead of myself. What I CAN tell you is that this was our first experience with E-bikes (power-assisted), and while not really necessary for the relatively flat terrain encountered on this trip, it certainly opened our eyes to the possibility of using this type of bicycle on far more arduous, future cycling trips.
Our trip was to start in Charleston, the afternoon of April 20, where we would be met by our cycling guides and fitted for our bikes and ultimately share a welcome dinner with our cycling companions.
It is almost a full day’s drive from Delray Beach (our Florida winter home) to the Charleston area, and naturally we inquired from the Inn in Charleston, where we would be spending the first 2 nights of our cycling trip, if they had accommodation available for the night before and yes, they did, for about $750.00/night if we were interested… suffice to say, we were not interested. We decided to encamp that first night before our cycle trip began, at a Hampton Inn in a place called Yemassee… about an hour’s drive short of Charleston, and we arrived at about 5:30 in the afternoon, a bit tired and hungry from our nine-hour drive. I-95 had dropped from 3 lanes down to 2 once we left Georgia and headed into South Carolina, and the traffic backup was interminable.
