Apr 23, 2014

Days 45 & 46: April 18 & 19, Andalusia to Eufaula, AL

sophia Blog Post

We KNEW we should have stayed at Pam and Guy’s house in Andalusia when we woke up the morning of the 18th, both because of the smell of homemade biscuits but also because it was raining, and was scheduled to do so all day. But because we had plans to get to Atlanta, we reluctantly headed out. 2 hours and 25 miles later, in steady-to-hard rain that soaked through our clothes, stiff winds and 52 degree weather, we shivered our way into a Burger King in Elba, AL to get some warm beverages. We were planning to make it another 55 miles, to another warm showers host, but as we sat there chugging coffees and hot chocolates and growing significantly colder, we started to formulate other plans. Then, Madeleine went from cold to freezing and shivering so much that she nearly vibrated right off her BK bench, and we heard our mothers’ voices in our heads saying “you’re going to catch a cold! Or pneumonia!” So, unimpressively, we decided there was no way in hell we were going to bike 5 more hours in the freezing rain and checked into the local motel, and spent the day and evening with nothing to do in Elba, Alabama.

The next morning we had some moves to make to make up for the miles lost the day before, so up and out we went, happy to riding in the non-rain. We soon discovered that eastern Alabama has a hill country of its own! Who knew? Man, those rolling hills are no joke and made this day far harder than we expected. I think it was about 85 miles to Eufaula (we stayed in a state park just north of there), and it took us all day long with basically no breaks.

We finally made it to camp, ate some soup and got some serious sleep after the long day!