Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Bike Ride in Greenville, SC…

Falls Park

Well after a hectic Memorial Day weekend we moved one more time on Sunday to our final spot here along the Lake in Croft State Park. We will be here till Friday when we will finally leave Croft and head to Gaffney, SC for some repairs to the motorhome. You see, when we drove east from Texas about half way here our emergency flashers and cruise control quit working and our turn signals are not acting right either. The Freightliner shop in Gaffney said we could come over on the weekend for our 8 am Monday appointment, so it off to the shop we will go on Friday…

Spartanburg ChurchBefore leaving this area we wanted to return to Greenville, SC one more time so we could ride our bikes along the Reedy river in downtown Greenville. We also needed to visit Trader Joe’s there one more time to stock up on some “Two Buck Chuck” and other Trader Joe goodies. So on the last day of May we were headed over to Greenville. But, before we got there, we stopped at a local church that we had seen in the area but had not yet visited. The architectural style of this church first caught my eye a week or so ago and we said then that we needed to visit it. So when we were passing by it this day we stopped to take a closer look since we were in no real hurry…

sharon on the swamp rabbit trailNow I am a spiritual man but not a regular Sunday go-to-church worshiper but this church, if we had found it sooner, may have called for a visit on a Sunday just to see the inside and what messages were being delivered from such a gothic structure. The church, as with many I have seen here in the deep south, has people buried right on the property. We even found one grave marker with a person born in the late 1700’s… WOW!!! We found this church so fascinating I am going to write a blog for Road Treats to include more pictures… look for it soon…hitting the road

Then it was off to Greenville where we found some free “2 Hour” parking near Falls Park in the downtown area. We packed a lunch and our bikes and rode from the parking lot over to the “Swamp Rabbit Trail” to Falls Park for lunch. Right in the middle of the downtown area is a small river that flows through the heart of it and there is a fabulous waterfall right in the middle of downtown. The header picture is of this falls.

Furman Bell TowerFrom Falls Park we had a nice bike ride along the scenic river through Cleveland Park over past the Zoo. We rode around on the rather hilly trail for about 7-8 miles and then returned to the car.

But before returning to our home we wanted to visit Furman University since one of Sharon’s former bosses went to school there and said we should visit since it was such a beautiful campus. Boy, was he right as the campus sits in the foothills of the mountains and has a central lake that is surrounded by lush green vegetation that is the focal point of the campus. The bell tower reflects nicely if the lake. We even saw a swan building her nest alongside the lake. What a beautiful campus it is…

Swan on NestThen it was off to Trader Joes and the return back to our home. We had a great day and ended it with dinner at the Copper River Grill.This is a regional chain that I think has great potential to go nationwide. The food is excellent, the service is excellent, and the quantity of food and prices are perfect. If in the area you need to visit one of their establishments.

From Gaffney we will likely head north into Virginia and West Virginia but we have no plan yet as to where we will stay. Since we don’t know for sure when we will be able to leave Gaffney we will just play it by ear…

6 comments:

  1. Enjoy your visit in Gaffney. We found the Freightliner folks to be very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. At least the camping will be free!!!

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  2. nice shot of the handle bars and the tire!..good angle!

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  3. Love that "two buck chuck". Looks like a beautiful place for a ride.

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  4. Alas, we have had to give up the good old two buck chuck because of a medical conflict. It really irritates my arthritic knee and the med I take says NO Alcohol!

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  5. Love the falls and the bell tower. I envy you the ability to ride that far on a bike. Stay safe.

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  6. Great pictures here. I love the falls and Rails to Trails. Look for them both everywhere I go. You definitely had a FINE day. I'm a couple of days behind on my blog reading so I'll say congrats on a great parking job in that Lucky Site.

    Sherry
    www.directionofourdreams.blogspot.com

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