Day 49: Real Rest Day

Since we rode twenty miles on the last rest day, we have been on our bike for 16 straight days. A true rest day was prescribed. I only bikes a quarter mile around camp to perform a cursory check on the installation of the new saddle. The rest of the day was spent reading, chatting, and napping.

Lisa hitched a ride to Valdosta, Georgia, the closest movie theater, with some fellow cyclists for a movie (42) and pizza. That means Lisa has been in 9 states this trip and Jeff has been in 8.

Tonight will be our last night sleeping in a tent Truly on the home stretch.




We had the honor of hearing from a special guest tonight, Ms Elesta Pritchard, 83 years young, and born and raised in Greenville, FL. She was a school teacher in Greenville for 38 years, and was mayor of her town for many, many years and is still active in her community government.

She is a proud but soft spoken black woman who shared with us many stories of the civil rights movement that she saw oftentimes too first hand. Her own life story is memorable enough, putting herself through college AFTER her 5 children were born, even though this meant long bus rides and switching buses daily. She even went on to get her master’s degree and retired after she was in her 70s.

 
To top this off, she was a childhood playmate to none other than Greenville’s famous son, Ray Charles, to her he will always be “RC.” She told us little known facts about him that only a childhood friend would know.

Thank you Ms Pritchard for sharing your time with us! You are a remarkable woman!