Louis & Jane's home in Donalds

View from Blue Ridge Parkway

Scene on the way to Aiken, SC

Picnic location in Edgefield, SC near statue of Strom Thurmond

Gang at John & Sandra's home at the lake

TOM:

Day 36 – The weather for today was clear with the starting temperature at 70 degrees and a high temperature of about 85 degrees.  This followed 4 inches of rain during the past week.  In addition to the weather, the terrain was also good being, mostly flat and the wind was out of the west helping to push me along.  Since I had not ridden my bike since May 29, I could feel the effort in my legs.  We passed through the towns of Hodges, Greenwood, Edgefield, Eureka and into Aiken.  There were logging trucks in this area mostly at the start.  There were also farms and lots of trees. The route had many churches both in the rural areas and the towns.  Edgefield is the home of ten governors and was founded in 1785.  One of the governors was Strom Thurmand from 1947 to 1951. 
We had a great time resting, relaxing and visiting family and friends in Donalds and the surrounding area. We stayed with my sister Jane Stone and her husband Louis in Donalds. My brother Bob and his wife Kitty live about a mile out of town. We also saw my niece Kaye and her husband Rhett and my nephew John and his wife Sandra. We were treated to dinner by Bob and Kitty, Jane and Louis, and my cousin Wilma and her husband Ray during our time in Donalds. On our last day, we had a dinner at John's home on the lake attended by: Bob, Kitty, Kaye, Rhett, John, Sandra,  Kaye's son Bob, his wife Kelly and their children Calaham and Anna Grace, Kaye's daughter Lisa, her husband Mike and their children Mikele and Andrew, Kaye's daughter Laurie, John's son Nathan and his friend Shawna, John's daughter Katie and her husband Robert. I saw Wayne Bishop a friend since I was 6 years old and Charlie and Cordie Christopher, friends we met in Monterey in the mid sixties.

Donalds, SC to Aiken, SC 74 miles in 5 hours for an average speed of 14.8 mph.  This was a fairly easy ride. The elevation started at 770 feet and ended at 530 feet.  There were ups and downs as low as 300 feet and as high as 650. These changes over the 74 mile ride make the changes seemed flat.

Mike & Lisa's sons Mikele & Andrew

Rhett cooking drunken chicken

A visit at Tom's cousin Wilma's home

Cordie & Charlie in Fletcher, NC

Wayne, Tom's friend since childhood

Day Thirty-Six - 6/09/2003

Lucille:

June 9 - Monday - We really enjoyed seeing and spending time with Tom's family in the Donalds area.  Tom has a very loving, generous family who always treat us like royalty when we visit.  We stayed in Jane and Louis's beautiful home and enjoyed so many delicious dinners. One of the things we always have to do when we visit is go out to see the houses that John, our contractor nephew, is building.  We left Donalds for 2 days to see some friends.  We started with lunch with Wayne and Pat Bishop in Spartanburg.  Wayne and Tom have been friends since they were 6 years old.  After lunch we drove to Fletcher, NC and spent a night with Charlie and Cordie Christopher, friends we haven't seen in 27 years. It was great seeing them again and exploring Asheville, NC and the Blue Ridge Parkway area.  I would love to spend more time in Asheville sometime.  This is a very beautiful area.  On our way back to Donalds, we stopped in Inman, SC for a visit with our grandniece Lisa and her husband Mike and 2 darling sons.  All of the family got together yesterday at John and Sandra's home on Lake Greenwood for a barbecue.  It was hard to say goodbye after such a good time.  We left Donalds this morning and are staying at a Days Inn in Aiken, SC.  The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too humid.  The hills are not as steep as they have been so it was a pretty easy ride for Tom, and we needed to negotiate only Highways 178, 25, 19, and 78 today, so I could manage that easily.  We met for lunch in the town square in Edgefield.  There was a bench near a statue of Strom Thurmond, a monument of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and a monument honoring Confederate soldiers who died.  Tonight we had a very good dinner at Westside Bowery in Aiken.  Aiken looks like an interesting town.  I'll have to look around before we leave tomorrow.

Total Trip Distance: 2944.56

Boating on Lake Greenwood