2009-02-14 I woke up and it was raining. A short bike ride (in the rain) found me at the Congaree Swamp visitor center where I walked the two-mile boardwalk trail in the rain. This swamp contains massive trees, actual deer (I had only seen dead ones until now) and the fastest squirrels I have ever almost caught out of the corner of my eye. After the short hike, I spent a little time talking to hikers while we waited for the rain to end. Once the rain seemed to let up I hit the road only to find it would rain for almost another hour. The rain did eventually stop, but nothing would dry out the entire day. I ate lunch at a small hardwaregrocery storecafe in Wedgefield. The southern motif was a bit overwhelming, but I found the stick of dynamite under a caption of "redneck fish finder" very cultural. A local informed me that a railroad just to the south had been converted to a trail and I could bike it all the way to the coast (paraphrase). It wasn't long before I realized I shouldn't trust people who drink 24 ounce cans of beer for lunch. To be fair he probably was thinking of the Palmetto Trail which is not hospitable to touring bikes. It never did get warm today, and a few hours later I realized that I was tired, hungry, still wet, and cold. So tonight I am camping in the Day's Inn of Summerton where the inn keeper declared, "of course you are checking in alone." P.S. I just realized yesterday's update got sent out twice. Sorry.

Congaree National Park Congaree board walk big trees bike lane let's camp here road kill ''sugar sand'' road Shealys Pond Columbia South Carolina Congaree Swamp National Monument