I do not mind riding in the rain. If I have a choice though I will work around the showers. It is a few hours from Myrtle Beach to Charleston only because traffic going to the box stores and strip malls on Highway 17 South. Black Friday added to the heavy volumes and I just went with the flow. After twenty minutes I pulled over and stripped off my riding suit and put on my sunglasses at a gas station. Humid and overcast, but no rain yet.

The malls start to thin out and gated communities begin. Golf courses, historic plantations and Huntington Beach State Park hide the Atlantic on your left. I pulled into Huntington Beach and opted to turn around. Five dollar admission to the park and I was thinking that I could see more ahead. I was wrong. Beautiful looking town of Litchfield allowed me to get off the highway and grab a coffee at Starbucks. However it was just off the highway. Golf courses and gates. The signs advertise beach front views but privacy prevents access. Perhaps the threat of the darking clouds was making me less adventurous.

The intercoastal waterway separates Georgetown from the golf courses and manicured towns earlier. There is also a familiar west coast smell that enters the nostrils. It was a very distinctive sulphur smell that I know well. Pulp Mill! That is the one. I do not know why, but it struck me as odd. I just did not expect to cross a large span bridge and enter a historic mill town. Two river mouths tuck this old industrial town between golf courses and national forests.

Continued on towards Charleston and the clouds darkened. I was five minutes outside of Mt Pleasant which is a suburb of the larger Charleston. The rain started and I pulled into a motel with just a little wetness starting on my leather jacket. Off to Hilton Head and Savannah today. Sunny and a little cooler today. I will be much more adventurous….