During our vacation on Jekyll, there were various activities undertaken. Some as a group, some not.
There was a SpaceX launch tonight- third time was the charm as the original launch window was Sunday night just before 10pm.
Clouds made the Falcon 9 rocket hard to pickup as it gained altitude, but we could see it as it went down range over the Atlantic.
Despite all the curve balls that 2020 threw at us, our long planned respite on Jekyll Island is upon us. Jean's parents have been coming here since the 1960's, make the annual trek in March for nearly 50 straight years. We tend to visit every couple of years, last being 2014. It is a lovely place, just outside of Brunswick, with 6 miles of beaches, shops, 63 holes of golf, restaurants, pubs and other touristy things as well. It's far enough from I-95 and costs $8 to enter, so the average day tripper tends to go to the free access on St Simons.
Part of our retirement plans, like most other couples, is to travel. Most folks have lists of exotic places located around the globe, but our list is more esoteric; giant coffee pots, old bridges, diners that are now plumbing supply stores, and places well off the beaten path. Interstates are great from getting you from point A to B, but rarely are interesting drives. The trip down was mostly uneventful other than the handful of lunatics who think the 70mph speed limit is a loose suggestion with our goal of trying to keep it under 80.
Bailing the early Saturday building insanity of I-95 near Santee, SC, we opted for US-301. 301 is one of the three main US north-south routes that I-95 replaced in the interstate system, with US-1 [301's parent road] and US-17 being the other two. US-1 end to end is on our travel list. 301 turns out to be a lovely option; little to no traffic apart from the small towns you pass through, lots of funky things to look at, great local non-chain restaurants, and mostly 4 lane county highway with good pavement it rolls through the western low country of South Carolina before crossing into the equally rolly hills of southeast Georgia. There is a very cool old swinging bridge over the Savannah River along the old 301 highway alignment; swinging bridges aren't that common for roadways in the Baltimore area as they are mostly used for railbeds to maintain the proper grade alignments.
The operative phrase is 'little to no traffic'. We had our lunch take out from a BBQ joint in Jessup where only the staff seemed to be wearing masks, mostly just covering their chins, despite the "Mask Up Georgia" sign in the front door. Taking our lunch to the nearby park, we enjoyed eating outdoors, with the doggies under feet adjacent to a play area and ballfield. It was truly relaxing and delightful accompanied by a good lunch without any of the typical fast food trappings although they were easily available.
Arriving on Jekyll roughly an hour later than we would have coming straight down 95, we concluded the inland routing was well worth the diversion.
Now, it's a solid week on the Island of beach walking, board games, food, family and some golf.
Time for the once a year ride with Wolfe and his demented twists on self guided rallies- this time, The RMS Titanic. Several years ago, the GLMC had a Titanic themed Grand Tour but this was different- compass roses, ship wrecks, Irish pubs, tour boats, Port named towns, ferries and a whole bunch of one offs. There were several pre-rally bonuses, including your paperwork and intended start time. The biggie was the "I'm King of the World pose" from the movie, which I have never seen. Why would I, we know what happens- the boat sinks, people die from hypothermia and James Cameron couldnt be bothered to get the night sky correct after spending several hundred million on recreating the RMS Titanic's glory. Here's my I'm King of the World.
I knew there were a bunch of free ferries on the Eastern Shore of Maryland as well as the northern neck of Virginia. I also knew the RMS Titanic Memorial was in downtown DC along the waterfront, so the northern neck ferries were just too far distant to pull of the DC stop. I did a lot of research trying to locate all of the items on the list as we had a 20 bonus maximum. In the process, I developed a cheatsheet spreadsheet and a color coded map to help in planning:
Whitehaven Ferry
This was at the OC inlet- some stupid bicycle event had everything clogged up. grrrr 
sigh
We wish all the riders to have a fun ride; the weather looks nearly perfect.
To Donate : https://www.longhaulpaul.com/ms5000/ms5000-donations/
Spotwalla is active [here]:
This week and part of next should have been where the Buttlite X was. I knew it was an easy pad to get to the 5000 miles as it was 1000 out, 1000 back and 7000 in between. But COVID, like a lot of other events, left us hanging. I hate this year. One of the funniest things I've seen posted recently was "Dear 2020: First off, I'm letting you know I'm typing this with my middle fingers."
So, with the leave approved from work and no rally, I decided to go visit my sister and her husband in Maine. They bought a winery this past winter; talk about awesome timing. I grabbed my Buttlite X rally flag and went riding.
The ride home was uneventful, cold start, but uneventful. Total mileage so far:
