The Swamp Rabbit Trail

8/3/2013

B and I both love living in Greenville. Neither of us is a native (we've been here 8 and 7 years, respectively), but here is where we want to make a home. Sure, there are things that are annoying. For instance, QUIT BUILDING THINGS ON WOODRUFF ROAD! The only time you can get down that road without your brain imploding is between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m. The powers that be are running out of room. But I digress.

One of the greatest things about Greenville, in my opinion, is the Swamp Rabbit Trail. Basically, it's an old, abandoned rail line that they turned into a walking/cycling trail. If you're one of those people who wants to know what it's made of, exactly how long it is, and all that kind of jazz, you can check that out here. If, however, you just want to know why I'm writing about it in the first place, stick with me.

It's FUN. It's shaded, which is really all you can ask for any sort of trail in August. Furman University (B's alma mater) is on the trail, so we often stop by there. There are restaurants and stuff along it. And you meet a lot of nice people. We even had a little "pay it forward" experience today. We had already biked up to Travelers Rest (TR to the locals), gone around Furman and took pictures, and were on our way back to Greenville when we passed a man with a little girl on his shoulders, wheeling a bike with a very obviously flat tire.

My sweet engineer and apparently Bike Whisperer pulled out his repair kit and spare tire and proceeded to fix this guy's bike, no problem. We didn't even exchange names - the only name that was shared was that of the little girl: Isabelle, called Izzy. When B finished, the man asked us what we owed him, but my B just asked him to pay it forward. And then we all went on our way. I hope the bike held out until they could get home.

Right before we reached our "exit" on the trail, there was a new bike shop that had opened. We decided to stop and get a spare inner tube for the tire before we forgot about it and one of US had a problem. When the guy at the cash register asked B why he was buying a spare tube, B explained about helping this guy and his little girl. The guy at the counter was so impressed he gave B 30 percent off of his spare tube.

Nice people. Seriously, nice people all the way around. I think that's one of the reasons I love Greenville. Sure, you meet jerks. There's really no escaping them, unfortunately. But on the trail, and in our city in general, we have met an awful lot of incredibly wonderful people. We have also seen a lot of pretty views and gotten a LOT of exercise (21 miles biking today!). See pics below of our adventures.

One of the prettiest, shadiest portions of the trail.

Our lunch spot...super little cafe in TR.

The 9/11 Memorial at Furman from the class of 2005, whose first day of class at college was September 11, 2001. B's older brother was part of that class.