Murrells Inlet, SC

We had a great ride on a beautiful sunny day into Andrews. The route was great with not much traffic. We rode through a National Forest with lots of pine trees. We stopped for a juice break about mid day for lunch. It was one of those perfect cycling days. We even had a tailwind! We arrived in Andrews with a storm on our heels. There were no campgrounds so we stayed at the Colonial Inn. The only hotel. We rode over to the grocery store for dinner supplies after checking in. We also checked out a few churches for church the next day.

Now the story of where we have been all this week really starts! As you can see everything was fine on Saturday's ride into Andrews. Sat. afternoon I thought I noticed alittle tightness in my left hamstring but nothing really unusual. Sunday morning when I woke up, my left buttock was extremely sore. It was so sore that it was difficult to walk. We decided to take the day off thinking that this was my typical back pain issue that I've had for quite awhile. We also noticed that I had three what looked like "bug bites" on my left gluteus maximus (look it up!!). Mmmm....maybe they are spider bites? So Hap spent some time "googling" spider bites. We had camped out a few nights before so maybe I got bit? All day long I spent in bed as the pain kept getting worse. We were in Andrews, SC which was about 20 miles from the closest hospital. We weren't sure what to do. I hated to call 911 to get a ride to the hospital because I kept thinking someone who is having a heart attack might need the ambulence at the same time. We decided to call one of the local churches to see if there was anything they could help us out. Rev. Stockton and another pastor came over to the motel. They prayed for me and annoited me with oil which was such a blessing to us. It's alittle scary sometime when you are just "out there" and aren't sure what to do. They also suggested that we call 911. After they left I just tried to go to sleep hoping the pain would somehow get better. Well it didn't and by about 4am, I just told Hap to call 911. The ambulence ride was about 30 minutes or so. It seemed like forever to me. When the doctor came in the first thing we talked about was my back problems. I know that I have several bulging discs and my first instinct is to consider the possiblity that I have "blown out a disc". Which would be a disaster. But when Hap mentioned the "bug bites", and the doctor looked at them for about 3 seconds and said, "You have the shingles". I couldn't believe it. On the one hand I was happy(I am not sure I should use the word HAPPY about anything this week!) he was sure it wasn't my back. But on the other hand shingles can be very painful. Ouch! The treatment for shingles? Steroids, Anti viral, and pain meds. Then we had another little problem We are in a hospital 30 miles from our hotel and our bike, no transportation, and no place to stay? Hap ended up renting a van, Enterprise car rental picked him up at the hospital, he came back, picked me up, dropped me at the hotel (that he had found sometime?), picked up prescriptions for me and then rushed back to Andrews to get our bike and gear. He was a very busy boy!

All this week we have been staying at the Jameson Inn in Georgetown, SC. The pain has gradually decreased all week. Yesterday we took a short ride in town just to see how I would feel riding. It wasn't too bad so we decided to move forward tomorrow.

Today we rode a short 20 mile ride to Murrells Inlet. It was a pretty day to ride. We rode alot on US 17 so there was alot of traffic. But the ride went well so I think we feel comfortable with continuing the ride. I wasn't so sure a couple of days ago.

Just in case you have never heard of shingles. Here is some info for you. Shingles is a virus that is caused by the chicken pox virus. It occurs in people who have had chicken pox. For some reason the virus "hibernates" in your nerves and comes out for various reasons. The symptoms? A blistering rash (sooo that's what those bug bites were), usually following a nerve tract, severe pain, tingling or tightness. There is a vaccine for shingles on the market now. I think I am going to do alittle more research on that when we get back home.