Update 4/13
Day #52
Today: Hartsville, SC to Pinebluff, NC (75 miles)
Total miles: 2841
Tomorrow (plan): Cary, NC
After breakfast at the motel, we started pedaling north under threatening skies. Someone at the motel informed us that it was already raining just to the south of Hartsville, so we expected that we might get wet during the day. By 11:30 AM we arrived at the town of Cheraw, SC, the last town before we would cross the border into North Carolina. We started a search for South Carolina post cards to send to our granddaughters and discovered that the type of card we wanted was not to be found. Cheraw is the home of jazz great Dizzy Gillespie, so we were able to find post cards heralding his accomplishments, but there were no cards giving a synopsis of the state's flower, bird, etc. We finally settled on what was available, wrote notes to the girls, and mailed the cards at the Cheraw Post Office. Then we were on our way, again under threatening skies. At about 3:00 PM the rain began falling, we stopped to put on our rain jackets, and we then resumed our pedaling in the fairly light rain.
As we passed through one section with wisteria growing in the trees on either side of the highway, we enjoyed the fragrant smell made even more intense by the moisture. Hugh O'Connor, a West Point classmate, and his wife Jackie live in Pinebluff, NC, and their home was our day's destination. We were again encountering roller coaster hills, and that, along with the light rain, slowed us down to a crawl. As we entered Pinebluff at about 6:00 PM, I called Hugh to get directions, and he drove out to meet us on US 1 and escort us for the final couple of miles. They operated their home as a B&B for a few years, and it is the lovely, quaint type home you might imagine as a B&B. We enjoyed talking with them, learning about the other classmates who live in the area around them, and discussing the upcoming Class Reunion. After enjoying the delicious dinner Jackie had prepared, I retired for the evening; but Susan stayed up, sitting around the fireplace, and talking with Jackie. By the time she came to bed I was dead to the world.