June 8, 2020
To Augusta covid-19: day 87 | US: GA | info | act
Odometer Start: 24316
For my last night away, I thought I’d pop in on an old friend. I had a little time this morning, so I hit Starbucks to plan the day. I decided to go to Clemson before heading south to Augusta, GA.
Todd needed a bit of time before I showed up in Augusta, so I tried to find something to do on the way down. I thought about the BMW Zentrum, but I had been there before. Most of what I found was where I had come from yesterday in the mountains or down on the coast by Charleston. I remembered that Thomas liked to ride around Clemson, so what the heck: I’ll go over there for a coffee and a look around before heading south.
About 10 mile outside of Clemson—near the end of a busy 6-lane road and through an industrial area—it started to sprinkle. Gray cloud had been looming my whole ride, and now they finally decided to make good on their threats. I was coming up on a church with a carport, so I ducked in there as the rain got harder. Perfect timing and a fairly comfortable place to wait it out.
I decided that Clemson was a bust, and reprogrammed Waze to take me to Augusta. I would be a bit early, but since the weather seemed capricious today, I might as well make my way. A few miles down the road, and the sun had already dried everything. I stripped off my rain gear trousers at a coffee stop—my only one of the day at a QT at an I-85 exit near Northlake and Centerville, SC. After that, there’s not much to report. The roads were OK—two-lanes the rest of the way—running through some rural and pretty impoverished parts of South Carolina. I gassed up in Modoc, SC, and was in Augusta by 13:30.
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