Wednesday, June 17th

I haven't been in areas that had cell phone service so I'm a little behind in the blog. Night before last I had a good night of camping at Sylvania, Georgia. No rattlesnakes got into my tent, no crocodiles tried to get in either, and I only got one additional mosquito bite. I headed west yesterday morning up the west side of South Carolina on Hwy. 25.

Rode 360 miles yesterday. I went through all South Carolina and through most of North Carolina. I rode in the Appalachian Mts. and the Smokey Mts. This was the windingest, curviest piece of road I have ever done. One section called the Dragon's Tail is 320 turns in 11 miles. These are turns that are marked at 20 mph. I rode on about 100 miles of road almost that winding. It took me four hours to ride that 100 miles. I never dragged a peg but I was getting pretty good at cornering at relatively high speeds, but I have to admit that when I came upon a slow car I was relieved that I had to slow down. Praise the Lord for "Grandma Drivers!" It was a very tiring day. The kind of riding I did today keeps your heart in your throat, and the amount of adrenaline I used up made me feel like a limp rag at the end of the day.

I camped last night at Fontana, North Carolina. There is a big dam making a big reservoir. I enjoyed eating my Oregon freeze dried dinner of beef stew. Really good. I had time to sit in my handy-dandy little folding chair while praying for my church family and watching the fire flies. There are zillions out tonight. They are everywhere. What a nice treat from God. Like sitting and watching "holy fireworks." :-)

Planning to ride through Tennessee today. I'm praying that God blesses your day. Please keep praying for me. Dee