Advertisement
May 15, 2010
One thing I have noticed since I started the Titanic Grand Tour is the changes in the country side. On my first ride all the farmers were hard at work plowing their fields. Now just a little over a month later the corn is knee high and the fields look like an ocean of green.
After gassing up at Bunky’s in Eastover I headed out towards US-178 searching for the small town of Wolfton, SC which was just an hour away. From there it was a quick little 10 minute ride to get a photo of Orangeburg.
I stopped for a quick breakfast at Subway before heading out to get a great photo of my bike, the rally flag and the welcome sign to Bamberg, SC. After Bamberg I took a 35 minute ride over to Appleton. I am starting to wonder how cities and towns are named, because during this Tour I have seen some really strange names that people have named there towns.
Barton, SC was supposed to be a quick trip down US-321 from Appleton. But I had a really hard time locating it. My GPS sent me down 5 miles
of dirt roads and goat trails only to lead me to a dead end. Then I pulled out my Rand McNally map and I followed it to another dead end. I then checked my Map Quest maps but it was no help. After I ran out of options I rode into Fairfax and stopped by there police department to get directions. A really nice detective gave me directions and there was the sign, nowhere near where any of my maps had said. I had spent an hour circling the area before I finally got my photo and moved on.
By this time I had found Barton it was almost 2 pm and I was very hungry. I pulled over at a little country store and asked for directions to the closest Bar-b-que joint. I was given direction to Gator’s in Estill, SC. I learned a very important lesson when I got there. I should have asked for the closest GOOD Bar-b-que joint because the bar-b-que here was no good. On the bar-b-que scale of 1 - 10 this place was a .5. It tasted like frozen bar-b-que from the grocery store that was reheated and served and the banana
pudding had to be dumped out of a big can, no fresh ingredients here. I will say the fried chicken was good. So next time you are in Estill, SC just drive on by Gators!
My next stop is Brighton, SC. Once again I am circling my tail looking for this little place. There was nothing where the maps say it should be. The only thing I could find was an old liquor store. I stopped and asked one of the patrons that were sitting on a 5 gal. bucket drinking a King Cobra if I was in the right place. He told me that the only thing left of that town was the old hotel down the road and he confirmed that there was no sign. I thanked him and moved on.
I crossed over the Savannah River on Highway 119 and headed into Guyton, GA. Just before town my bike started to sputter so I switch on the reserve fuel tank and headed into Guyton. I pulled into a Parker’s Fuel Stop to fill the Shadow up with gas and down a bottle of water. Across the street from the station was the sign I needed.
Just up GA-21 I pulled into Newington, GA and got the last sign of the day.
The trip home was supposed to be a near straight shot up Hwy 301 just two and half hours. Well the one thing I have found while running an older outdated GPS is that roads change and the GPS goes crazy. For 30 minutes I had to listen to the GPS yell at me saying I was “Off Course” while I traveled on the newly relocated GA-21. Finally the GPS and road locate each other and the trip home was non stressful.
On the run up north on Hwy 301 just south of Bamberg I passed this garage that caught my eye and made me turn around. The garage had the front of a VW bug sticking out of it. There seemed to be some sort of RV park in the area. I took a couple of quick photos before I rode the rest of the way home.
To veiw my other Titanic Grand Tour entries check out the following links:
2010 Titanic Grand Tour Hunting for Icebergs TON’s Of Fun with My Son 5000 Miles - Coast to Coast to Coast Total miles ridden = 367.2
Titanic Points Scored = 7
Total Titanic
Rally Points = 32
Advertisement
Tot: 0.274s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 17; qc: 129; dbt: 0.1127s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
Jan
non-member comment
who knew?
I never knew there was an APPLETON, SC !!!