Day #15: Folkston, Georgia- Brunswick, Georgia (50 miles)
When we left the Western Motel this morning and stopped at a
gas station across the street, we knew the next place to stop wouldn’t be for
over 20 miles. So we filled all our
waters, got some Gatorade, ate a little breakfast, and made sure we had enough
food. Then, we hit the open road. We passed the prison, which apparently people
break out of all the time.
 |
| D Ray James Prison |
Then we were
completely in the middle of nowhere. The
only sounds were the birds chirping, the snakes hissing, and our wheels
turning. We enjoyed the peace and quiet and
did 10 miles pretty fast.
Along this road, we passed maybe 3 or 4 houses, and about 7
churches 10 mile stretch. It seemed weird that there were more churches
than people.
After stopping to take a
picture of a church sign, we pulled over for some water and chips. After a few minutes, a dog started coming
towards us. I am really scared of dogs,
but this one didn’t look too bad. Then,
another bigger one also started approaching us.
The two of them started circling me and my bike, eating a few of the
chips we had dropped on the ground. One
of the dogs started trying to eat my handlebars, which I realize now looks kind
of like a chew toy.
Today we also passed a lot of road kill with vultures
gnawing on the bones of unidentifiable animals.
When we saw Reed’s grocery, we had to stop. On roads like this, you don’t know when the
next place to stop will be. We went
inside, expecting that usual burst of air conditioning that you get when you
walk into a Walgreens or Winn Dixie.
However, there was none.
Instead,
we were greeted by Mrs. Reed. She saw my
empty water bottle and immediately offered to fill it, and she told us where
the restrooms were. To get to the
bathrooms you had to walk through Club Ponderosa, which I guess is the local
party hotspot.
Mrs. Reed informed us
that there are about 1000 people in that town, they just all live in the woods,
not right on the road we were riding on.
Not to worry, all 15 churches in that town fill up every Sunday.
Mrs. Reed said something about a friend from New York, so I
said, “Oh, are you from New York?” (even though from her accent it was pretty
clear she wasn’t). “Naw I’m from right
where I’m standin!” she replied. Turns
out, she’s been sitting on that same stool in that same spot for the past 50
years. She’s getting a little tired of
that stool! We thanked her for her
hospitality, and kept going. As much as
we enjoyed our time there, I was definitely interested in finding a place with
some AC to cool down.
On the way, we randomly saw this sign. Good to know that people everywhere are standing with Israel!
About 5 miles later, we hit the Waverly Minimart. We went in, got some ice cream, and enjoyed
the air conditioning. It was about
11:30, and my dad had a conference call at 12, so we decided to just hang out
at this place for a while, since there was nowhere to stop for about 10 miles
after. I spotted a table towards the back
of the store, so we headed there to sit down.
A man was sitting there cleaning a gun (just like we typically
see in Connecticut) but he told us we could sit down too.
Turns out his name was Reggie, he was from
New Haven, CT, and he went to Hopkins Prep School, Colombia, NYU, and worked as
a Psychologist at Bellvue Hospital in NYC.
He had lots of good stories and life lessons. When we told him that we were headed to
Brunswick for the night but that we were originally going to sleep in Nahunta,
he laughed and told us the most recent thing to happen in Nahunta was a KKK
rally. Sounds like we really dodged a
bullet there.
While my dad was on his call, I continued talkin (not a
typo) to Reggie, and the local Sheriff and his Deputy who sat down to eat their
lunch with us.
As Reggie pointed out to
me, Jay’s store is the closest thing they have to a mall. It’s like their hangout spot. When Reggie’s wife called for him to come
home, Jay, the owner of the store/gas station, came and took his seat at the
table. It was nothing less than a
reality show.
Jay, the Sheriff and the Deputy talked to me about the trip,
warned me about the snakes, and asked me if there was anywhere I’d rather
be. “Well considering I could be outside
biking in the sun right now, I’m pretty happy to be in here with the air conditioning
on,” I said. One of the cops with an
extreme southern accent shook his head a little and said, “Man I wish I was
fishin right now.”
The two hours I spent sitting in that gas station were
definitely informative, and I got some great life lessons. Jay’s 3 tips for life: 1. Education,
education, education! 2. Always save money. 3.
Boys always lie and they are all buttholes.
I thanked everyone for the lessons, and got back on the
road. We did about 15 miles more, and
made it to Brunswick. As we approached
our hotel, La Quinta Inn and Suites, we saw a Waffle House, IHOP, and right
next to our hotel, a Cracker Barrel. I
had heard of Cracker Barrel, but I’ve never been in one. It was definitely a country store, from the
rocking chairs outside with the music playing, to the menu where the word
dumplings does not have the letter g on the end of it.
We checked into our hotel which cost 62 dollars, although it
seems like it’s worth a lot more than that after staying at the Western Motel
last night. We are still planning out
tomorrow. We might rent a car so we can
spend Shabbat in Savannah, Georgia, a place with actual civilization.
Thanks for coming along for the ride!
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