Day 16: Hollywood — Yemassee

Oct 16, 2014 • 40.6 miles

My original goal was 40 miles a day, which was feasible at the beginning, with cooler temperatures and better road surfaces. But I struggled today to hit 40, spending almost ten hours on the road and a lot of that walking.

I read an awesome article the other day about the author’s personal history and connection to skateboarding; there was a passage where he called out the people who walk up hills rather than rough it out on the board. I’ll own up to being quick to walk on this trip because I’m in it for distance and endurance, and when pushing on the board goes no quicker than walking at 2–3 times the effort, of course I’m gonna walk. Maybe my legs aren’t strong enough yet.

For the rest of SC, I’ll reduce my goal to 30 miles a day and see how that goes. Hopefully Georgia has better roads! I’ll be glad to get away from the 17 forever.

I stopped for a soda at Road Side Grocery in Yemassee before reaching my final destination. The friendly woman behind the counter said she’d seen a lot of bikes go by, but mine was the first skateboard. One customer kept coming into the store from the picnic benches out back to make sure he wasn’t seeing things: “That’s wild, man! Wild.” Four times in a row. Another guy pulled up, parked his car, gave me a once-over, and simply said “all right” before going inside.

Before I set out again, “wild!” man came by one more time. “You gotta be on drugs to be doing this, man!” I assured him I wasn’t, he asked if I ever did, I answered, and he offered to sell me weed on the spot. What a generous fella!