1 Dillon, SC to Cheraw State Park Cheraw, SC 44.5mi

Dillon, SC to Cheraw State Park Cheraw, SC 44.5mi

I'm working on embedding a map for today.

Bamboozled!

This toad was bigger than my knee. He stood sentinel on Bay Catfish Road. Probably the first (hopefully not the last) live animal I've seen actually on the road.

The shoulder on the Blenheim Highway was narrower than my hips so I decided to take this lane.

MacArthur's Farmstand! I'm so blessed to have found it after miles of cornfield after soybean field after tree farm... a pesticide free oasis in Marlboro County.

MM. What I got for $12. That loaf there is zucchini Bread.

I stopped at Bargain's on Broad Antique Store for there going out of business sale. Jim Jenkins, owner and lover of wuhmun (women) told me to hang tight while he ran over to the hardware store to buy me some mace. He also sharpened my previously dubbed "useless" knife and gave me a few old National Geographic magazines and a heavy discount on a big ole knife. 

Arcadian Americana.

I didn't see any crop signs designating what genetically modified seed this corn came from so I picked one. It wasn't delicious but I felt rather resourceful.

This picture doesn't capture it but imagine overgrown, rusty train tracks surrounding a virgin pond dotted with unreserved lily pads and guarded by tall cypress trees. 

All of the new additions to my gear list when I arrived at Cheraw State Park. Straw mat (found in the garbage can), Neck cooling cloth (donated by the owner of Hair Fetish Salon in Whiteville, NC), my mace, and my knife (with the sheath on attached to my belt, it is longer than my skirt!)

I decided to dip into the woods on a 4.5 mile trail to make a fire and eat some food. This spider managed to get on my bike and have this web built by the time I was two miles in.

When I got to the trail I sat and stared at this overly romantic vista (there was even a family of small ducks gliding across) for about thirty seconds until I was ravaged by mosquitoes. The beautiful moment ended abruptly by those buzzing bastards. 

This is where I set up to make dinner and wait out the rain..,

...and this is dinner on its way to being done. I bought that slab bacon (double what you see in the pan) at Breeden's Butcher Shop in Bentonsville for $1.90. That is one happy pan.

The lighting makes it look revolting but it was rather delicious. I lost my appetite after cooking it because I had no one to share it with and ended up eating most of it for breakfast. Along with the peach....and the zucchini bread.

And here is where I slept. Little did I know that sleeping in my perfectLY DRY hammocking spot could have permitted the sandlapper state lawmen to put me away for six months and fine me $1000. More on that tomorrow...