Tybee Island to Savannah

Already this is unlike any bicycle ride I’ve been on. In the past I’ve been on tours where you just show up, get briefed on the route, safety, and ride services- and off we’d go. Not so with the Fuller Center Bicycle Adventure. At dinner last night at Unity Methodist Church on Tybee Island we introduced ourselves and shared a bit of information, and then afterward was a documentary “Briars in the Cotton Patch” (http://briarsdocumentary.com/tag/millard-fuller/ ) to offer more background regarding Millard Fuller’s inspiration. This morning was a meeting at 7am starting with prayer and then into three hours of team building exercises and job assignments. It is important for this mission’s success to have everyone involved understanding it and how it is to be carried to fruition.

After loading our gear, “Oyee!” practice (that’s going to be another blog) and local television interviews the thirty riders headed to the beach for the wheel dipping ceremony photographs, some inspirational readings, and prayer. Spirits were high and faces were bright with innocence, but if life’s experiences have taught me anything we will look back on these photos with kind eyes the veteran offers the naïve. We will not be the same for the miles to be shared.

The ride was short and into the wind across the tidal lowlands with roadside offerings of peaches, peanuts, shrimp and something called “low country boil” ( it may sound like a bicyclist’s nightmare, but it’s a local seafood dish). When all were accounted for after arriving at the First Presbyterian Church of Savannah we unloaded our gear and riders were shuttled to a local YMCA for showers. Group riding is different than what I’m used to so the short ride with a debriefing afterward to discuss safety was useful. We then went on to discuss some of the philosophy of Simple Living http://fullercenter.org/sites/default/files/file/Ryan/Bike%20Adventure%202010/Simple%20Living.pdf

Tomorrow is breakfast, church services with our Host, and then a 57 mile ride to Claxton, Georgia. I wish I could write all my impressions of the day, but things are hectic, it’s late, and sleep awaits.