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My tires were a little low this morning, so I hooked up my portable pump and filled them up. My bike didn't come with a cigarette lighter socket, so, years back, I wired in an adapter that I can use to power either my GPS or a socket. I made the switch to the socket to plug in the pump, filled the tires, and switched back. When I switched back, one of the wires powering the GPS snapped. Oops.
I spent the morning tracking down things to fix the wire: a soldering iron that uses butane instead of electricity, solder, heat shrink tubing, and butane for the soldering iron. I soldered the wire back together in a strip mall parking lot, used a disposable cigarette lighter (that zippo I got at the Mall of America? All of the fuel in it evaporated long ago) to heat shrink the tubing, and was on my way.
My route out of Charleston was very pretty. The road ran past many of the restored plantations (now tourist attractions). There were arches of tree branches over the road, covered in spanish moss. As the swampy coastal land gave way to more solid ground, the oaks were replaced by large fir trees.
It was a crisp day to start with, and by the late afternoon, it was quite cold. I added another layer and experimented with my glove liners, but was happy to reach my destination. I'm staying with Matt and Jenny, friends of Bo and Heidi. They had a roaring fire going in their fireplace, and we ended up sitting in front of it and talking until after midnight.
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