Jeykll Island, Georgia bike trail

We have arrived to the "main event" of the this road trip vacation: Jekyll Island, Georgia! When we found this hotel on Google (because it's one of the chains in our rewards program), I wasn't expecting it to be anything more than your run-of-the-mill, bare-bones Days Inns, albeit oceanfront with its own beach access. However, this was actually a resort that was built in 1969, originally called "The Corsair", as the pictures hanging on the wall in the breakfast room told us. They have done a pretty astounding job of upkeep on this 50-year-old motel.

Days Inn Jekyll Island

Here are vintage ads from 1969 they had hanging in the breakfast room. Very cool!

One of the reasons we chose Jekyll Island as our destination was because when Steve was very young, his family (parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and both grandmothers) rented a beach house on Jekyll for a week. While he was so young he doesn't have many memories of the trip, we do have old slides that his grandmothers took during the trip. It was fun to try to recreate some of their pictures. We guesstimate their trip was in 1970 or 1971-ish.

Of course we got a wonderful bike ride in as well.  Jekyll Island has about 22 miles of smooth, paved trail that loops the entire island and takes you right by all the scenic and historic spots the island has to offer! 

New bridge overhead, but we are standing on the original highway they would have driven on in 1971.

Great egret. Gorgeous plumage!

Standing on a portion of the old bridge

Interesting shell work

Concrete pilings remains of The Boathouse from the historic Jekyll Island Club

Remains of the capstan winch from The Boathouse

Jekyll Island Club clubhouse

Bridge connecting Jekyll Island to St. Simons Island in the background

I was fascinated by this abandoned swimming pool, once part of Chicota Cottage

One of two concrete lions flanking the steps leading into the abandoned swimming pool.
Chicota Cottage Corinthian Lions

Beautiful glass on this door!

If you could sit on this bench with someone for one hour, who would you choose?

Horton House ruins

Jekyll Island Pier - End of Clam Creek Rd

Wilson's Plovers are threatened shorebirds and their nesting sites are roped off

Tons of tiny crabs near the Wilson's plover nesting site

Driftwood Beach

This part of the trail features magnificent ocean views

We also got in some beach time and toured the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and the historical museum.

McMullen Creek Greenway -- Charlotte, North Carolina

 

Drove from Beckley, West Virginia to Charlotte, North Carolina to get our North Carolina ride in. Supped at TGIFridays while waiting out a thunderstorm. Wasn't really feeling like riding, as it had been a long day of driving and an already hot and sticky bike ride. However, we both really wanted tomorrow to be just a driving day so we didn't have to wear riding clothes and sit in them all sweaty and stinky in the car. So, we made the commitment to get this ride done, and as you'll see in the video, Heidi's heart wasn't really in it and her tongue was sharp and her attitude wasn't very pleasant.

 

Perhaps because of that mindset, or because I was tired, or because it had just rained and it was a sand surface trail so the bike got dirty and I got dirtier, or because it was hot and humid as balls, or perhaps all of those reasons combined: this ride and its environment just really creeped me out. The video doesn't show the extent of how swampy and how close to the trail in multiple places the nasty red water actually was. 

 

I kept having visions of alligators and any other various wildlife with sharp teeth and claws intent on doing bodily harm. So, when that deer was just 5 feet away from me as I rode over that boardwalk surrounded by water, and I didn't even see it until it jumped away, my heart might have skipped a beat or two. Once it decided to start beating again, I was properly thankful that my wildlife encounter was with one of the most gentle creatures possible who just wanted to get away from me and not attack me. 

 

Summary: I really didn't enjoy this ride at all.

 

But at the end of the day, I got a Stroopwaffle McFlurry.  OMG. These need to be a regular menu item.

 

McManus Trail - Beckley, West Virginia

Beckley, WV -- Got a 7.5 mile bike ride in on the McManus Trail and that means our West Virginia ride is in the books. It was the first time in my recollection that I'd ever been to West Virginia, and if I'm being completely honest, it can also be the last. They can keep their mountains and their Appalachia. It wasn't for me. I don't do well in the mountains.

There was quite a lot of art along this trail, though, painted by schoolkids, so that was cool.

 

Lawrence Levee Trail -- Lawrence, KS

The long and hot bike ride. Lawrence levee trail, 13-1/2 miles, zero shade. His bike is in the shop with a broken spoke, so he rented one of the Veoride bike share bikes here in town. This ride was a bit of struggle bus for him and we shouldn't have gone as far as we did, but we made it back safely.

After-ride, mid-afternoon lunch at Ramen Bowls

Down the hatch, every last drop! We were starving!!!