Escape to Winder

I suppose I was kidding myself when I said we would get going around 10 this morning. First it was raining, then we went to have breakfast at the Frasiers house, then we waited for a Fedex that never came, and we had to make one last run to the storage unit. After all that, we finally got going around 2. Everyone stood in the driveway to see us off, and we got lots of pictures, to be posted later. I started having issues with my chain, and found that one of the links was bent. Fortunately, Appalachee Cycles was on our route, so we stopped there and Bruce Ray fixed it for me. Then he noted that my crank was warped; so I had him replace it. We were at the shop for about an hour and a half, during which time we got a call from our friend Demetrios, who was at the Fort Yargo campground (our intended destination) and reported that it was full. Kind of surprising, given the heavy storms we had last night. A quick check of the Earthcomber maps Nancy had downloaded revealed some hotel options we could use if necessary. On the way out of Dacula, I hit a hole in the road and got a flat. Tim, who is riding with us for the first two days and who was right behind me, almsot hit it too. I found a nice shady spot where I changed the tire, while Tim took pictures. Thanks, Tim. After all that, we decided to just go ahead with a hotel, and everyone came out to Winder to have dinner with us at Ruby Tuesday. It was just great, seeing all our friends again after the few hours we had been away . One of our servers, it turned out, is from Portland. Jennifer said we should see her parents, who still live there (after their 10-year sailing expedition!). We exchanged information, and promised we would make contact when we got there. The goodbyes at the end of dinner were long and emotional, since this was really the last time we would see them for some time. MaryBeth & Kevin, Dan & Andrea, Pam, Becky, you are our dearest friends and we are fortunate to be your friends. Thanks for all your support and kind words. More tomorrow!