Saturday ride to Cedar Springs South Carolina...

[hubcapsc]

I set out to go for a ride to the middle of nowhere today with my buddy Dan...

When I went to get ready, I found that my rear tire was real low, but I couldn't
find anything wrong with it... I tightened the valve stem and hoped for the best...



We headed to Grits and Groceries for a good breakfast to get started... my tire was
still aired up right when we got there, woo-hoo!



Here's pretty much the route we took from Grits and Groceries to Cedar Springs...









There's two guard dogs in this picture, there were a bunch of them on this property,
they came out of the woodwork when we approached...



I don't know what kind of dogs they were, maybe mountain lions?



This fellow wasn't parked, he was moving on out 



I really want to see this house, I think you have to make arrangements with the
park ranger down on 81 to get in, no luck today...



http://www.historicmapworks.com/Buildings/index.php?state=SC&city=Lowndesville%20vicinity&id=29001



Eagle-eye Dan noticed a grass airstrip next to an old house with a couple of
old planes in a shed out back. Dan knew what kind of planes they were and
their approximate worth... I wish I had taken a picture of them, Dan got several,
I'll try to get them...





When we got to Cedar Springs, some ladies were at the Antebellum ARP Church
there getting ready for Easter, and they let us look around...



Lots of Confederate soldiers are buried at the church...



Cedar Springs is where the octagon house is...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Springs_Historic_District

Here's the octagon house from a google maps satellite zoom in...



We sat in the shade at the Loundesville gas station and gassed up for the
return trip...



We were out for about eight hours, moving most of the time, and never got
very far from home... a good day 

-Mike

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

A good day indeed    Thanks for taking the time to share the ride     

[fon1961]

Good day, great report 

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

Mike, Nice ride report. Thanks for sharing. Dave 

[Oss]

thanks for the ride report and pics

Would not like to have the dogs chasing me on a small road like that

[Jess from VA]

Thanks. 

[Gear Jammer]

Good pics  Mike    Thanks fer sharin'

[donaldcc]

  that looks like a good ride!  wouldn't want to tangle with the dogs though, or the truck going the wrong way. 

[HayHauler]

Thanks for taking us along for the ride.   Looks like a nice ride.  

Hay
Jimmyt

[Titan]

Dang! If I had known about this I would have done my best to meet up with you somewhere up there. I couldn't get in touch with anybody to ride yesterday so I wound up not riding anywhere. My brother lives up in Jonesville and would have been happy to joined in.

Glad y'all had a good trip and thanks for sharing. Maybe next time.

[hubcapsc]

Dang! If I had known about this I would have done my best to meet up with you somewhere up there. I couldn't get in touch with anybody to ride yesterday so I wound up not riding anywhere. My brother lives up in Jonesville and would have been happy to joined in.

Glad y'all had a good trip and thanks for sharing. Maybe next time.

I thought about you on the way to Charleston and on the way back from Charleston while I was
testing out these roads earlier this week. I came up 176 from Charleston to Columbia,
got off on Airport road, ate at the Lizard's Thicket, and headed towards Troy on 378 and 221...

Google sez you could make it all the way to Grits and Groceries in about two hours (I don't
know quite where you live in Lexington...)

http://g.co/maps/png6m         <----------- google route to Grits and Groceries from Lexington

You'd have to leave your house about 7:30 or 8:00 to meet us at Grits and Groceries
by 10:00.

It took me over eight hours to get from Charleston (Hollywood really) to Seneca last Tuesday 
I've made it from Clemson to where the Mark Clark hits 17 in Charleston in 3.5 hours in the Mini
using the Interstate.

If you're willing to leave home that early, I'd be way happy to do this ride again in a couple of weeks,
I don't want to forget how to navigate these roads without going off track... maybe Stanley
Steamer's back will be better by then... if we made plans, maybe I could arrange to
get onto the property where that dog-trot house  (Caldwell-Hutchison Farm) is, I sure would love
to get a close look at it...

On a ride like this, there's no "meeting up along the way somewhere"... if me and Dan
had gotten separated any at all while we were out there, I doubt we'd have been able to meet
up again, check out the grass growing in this road:



-Mike

[Titan]

Mike, the map link looks like its from your place to Wisconsin.
 I found a Grits and Groceries in Belton. Is that the right place?

I'm gonna start making some plans for the ride and I'll follow up with you in email or on the phone.

[Gary]

Looks like a great day and outing. Appreciate the post and pic's. 

[hubcapsc]

Mike, the map link looks like its from your place to Wisconsin.
 I found a Grits and Groceries in Belton. Is that the right place?

I'm gonna start making some plans for the ride and I'll follow up with you in email or on the phone.

Wisonsin? Really? Anyone else see that? I usually use "tinyurl.com" to turn those 900-character
google map URLs into something postable, but google maps has a "short url" button now, that's where
I got the url... it still works for me...

Grits and Groceries has a Belton address, but is at an off-the-beaten-path country crossroads...
the map link (if it worked) shows an easy route from Lexington through Saluda, Greenwood and
Hodges...

Anywho... I'll start trying to figure out how to contact the keeper of the dogtrot key... 

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

I've left a message with the park ranger about the key to the Caldwell-Hutchison farm, he'll get
back with me in a couple of days... family members still lived there until the 1970s or so...
Check out this picture, and the newspaper wallpaper 



-Mike