The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-10-11
A Memorable Motorcycle Trip
Mr. John T. Cromer Tells of Some Experiences
Along Some Terrible Roads in Part
of the State.
of the State.

AS soon as the warm sunshine OF
last spring had begun to dry up the
muddy roads l started in to tune up
my motorcycle for a spin of some lou
miles, to visit relatives living in the
lower part of the State near Walter
boro. My mount had been Gagged DUR
ing the winter months, with scarcely
enough exercise to keep it timber, but
it was apparently in good trim l
knew that fifty or sixty miles Of this
road would be through deep sand,
which is not very inducing to the
motorist, but was very anxious to
make the trip and was willing to trust
to the ability of my machine to get
through without serious trouble l
packed my wardrobe in small hand
bag and placed it in a rack (my own
make) in front Of the handle bars. I
was Joined by l. T. Zimmerman, who
had made a recent purchase OF SIN
gle cylinder. Though he had but lit
tie experience, he was an enthusiast.
On May 20, we set sail very early
in. the morning, leaving Newberry
about $50 a. m. The weather was
fine and we clipped off the first 20
miles in good time. Then we found
some very bad roads that at places 1T
seemed to take thirty minutes to nego-
tiate that many yards. Mud holes
nearly knee deep extended clear across
the road, and embankments on both
sides made it impossible to go around.
After a mile or two of this kind Of
road you could hardly tell my gray
Wagner from Timmerman's blue In
dian, and as for our own appearance
well it's too early to describe that
Fortunately, after mile or two condi-
tions improved. From Lexington the
road was excellent all the way to Co.
lumbia. Upon arriving there we re-
plenished our gasoline supply and set
about to inquire about the roads to
Orangeburg. We found there were
two routes by which one might travel,
one ON the west side of the Congaree
river, which is the most direct, but
was said to be very sandy and swampy.
The other on the eastern side, hard
clay road, we'll kept up, crossing to
the west side at Bates ferry. This
was much the longest route, but as it
was so much the best l chose to take
it. Zimmerman, wiser than /, desert
ed me here and 1 travelled all the bal
ance of the way alone. had no trou-
BILE in finding the right road, which I
did find to be in excellent condition 1
kept my motor buzzing near the limit
of its speed capacity. After I had
travelled % or 80 miles from Column
bia, l began to get into low land,
where the roads seemed to still i'm
prove, and began congratulating my
self for choosing this route. turned
on q little more juice and was just
squirting the blue smoke out to the
tune of about 40 miles an hour when
made a sudden turn in the road and
saw a pond of water at a short dis
tance (Which looked to me like a sea-
extending across the road. jammed
on the brakes and made frantic ef-
fort to check my momentum, and just
did stop in time to save me from a
plunge into this yawning pool. There
was a boggy swamp on both sides of
the road and only a foot log three
feet from the ground to cross on. |
was compelled to ford it, and as it
did not seem to be over eight inches
deep or thirty yards wide / decided
to ride through, so going back to get a
start l came up at a twenty mile gait.
The first splash completely drenched
me and before l reached half way my
motor stopped and I was compelled to
get down in the water and drag the
machine out, which proved to be no
small task. But l managed somehow
to do the stunt and after little coax
ing soon had her going again, sprint
ing towards the river, which was now
only few miles off, and in short
while I was at it's brink.
There are two spurs of the river,
divided by an island The first is
spanned by bridge, the other crossed
by ferry, but recent heavy rains had
completely washed the bridges away.
1t seemed my journey had come to a
sudden end. 1t was So miles back to
Columbia, the only other place where
| could cross back to the west side,
and that road was considered almost