Cross Country USA: Lake City, SC

Rolling out of Columbia

You could feel a different type of energy this morning as we got ready (and it wasn't just the chocolate waffles at Hampton Inn) - second to last day and a shorter ride. Rolling hills out of Columbia until we dropped down onto the coastal plain and then FLAT - both my tire (1 today, two yesterday) and the terrain - pine trees and cotton and some swamps. Warmth and humidity felt good. As we started to see palm trees it really began to hit home... the last time we saw those was in California - several mountain ranges and about 50 gallons of Gatorade ago... We've been lucky - some of the wildfires are burning in the area we were riding :( - and we dodged snow in Oklahoma and serious storms in Nashville by days. Everyone on the full ride has stayed healthy and we're excited about our last day tomorrow - it's going to be joyful, sad, a relief, an emptiness, but for sure an end... Can't wait to dip my wheels in the Atlantic! (and then be done with bikes for awhile!)

Lake City, SC (population about 6000 - enough for a Sonic and McDonald's among other necessities) was settled by Scots-Irish about 1736 and was known as 'Graham' for the owner of the land around the crossroads. The community grew rapidly after 1856 when a main line of the railroad was built (shocker!) through town. In 1883 the town's name was changed to 'Lake City' for the swimming lakes nearby (including Lake Swamp - who's in for a swim??). It's primarily an agricultural community and for a time was the 'Bean Capital of the USA' though most of the crops these days are cotton and grain.