Day 5 10/26/20 Don Carter State Park to Who Knows

 Last nights sleep was very peaceful.  First breakfast consisted of a piece of raisin bread with peanut butter and a couple of bananas. 2nd breakfast was a 2 egg breakfast at Waffle House.

It was an overcast, foggy morning when we broke camp and hit the road today.

We rode together for a couple of miles before splitting, with Bob heading back to Chattanooga and me continuing my route to Fripp Island.  

The small towns I went through today included Lula:

then Gillsville (home to several pottery shops):

then Maysville:

then Commerce:

And then Colbert:

As I Entered Commerce, a "Heeler" type dog came barking and running after me from his home. It came out in the street, and I stopped my bike and hollered at it and it then turned around and went back in his yard.  I continued pedalling on and an official looking black car immediately passed me.  The driver pulled over and rolled down her window and wanted to talk to me.  She said she was animal control and saw the dog come at me.  She asked if I had previous trouble with that dog and I of course said no.  She told me she was going back to talk to the dogs owner.  There have been many other dog incidents that I had rather animal control have seen than that one. :)

The terrain is definitely flattening out.  I rode in a lot of beautiful farm land as well as heavily forested areas today. The roads were much less busy than they were in the mountainous, touristy area.  Few pics of today's scenery below.

Above pic is the entrance of a home outside of Gillsville.  Pretty impressive.

The pic below pretty much describes where it felt like I was part of the day.

I also encountered my first dirt road on this trip (pic below).  I think I may be on a few dirt/gravel roads before this trip ends.

I camped in a wooded area beside a dirt road (pic below).

Total miles today:  79.0

Day 4 10/25/20 Ellijay to Don Carter State Park

 We had another rainy night last nite.  Woke up at about 6:30 a.m. and decided to take a much needed shower.  There was plenty of nice hot water in the shower.  I also decided to kill 2 birds with one stone.  I carried the biking clothes I have been wearing during this trip into the shower with me and also washed them with Irish Spring soap.  At least now the clothes and me smell a little better (at least for a few hours). 

We spent a majority of our day today on Georgia Highway 52.  The traffic was not as bad as it was yesterday afternoon.  Most of our scenery looked like the pic below.

During the morning, we ran through some misting rain, but nothing significant.

We went through Dahlonega, GA, and snapped a couple of pics of the area from North Georgia University.

While in Dahlonega, we decided to deviate from our route and go to Don Carter State Park to camp tonight.  This would make our trip today about 30 miles shorter and would give us more time to set up our tents to allow them to dry and air out.

Best made plans don't always work out.  A few miles from the park we ran into a soaking rain shower that again got all our gear wet.  By the time the rain stopped, there was not enough time to dry out our tents before dark, so we are again sleeping in damp, musty tents.  However, its not supposed to rain any more tonight.

Tidbit of information for everyone, when I was trying to find a place to camp near Commerce (I think), GA, I ran across a campground that was advertised as all natural.  I thought, that sounds good.  When I read more about it, their information indicated that clothing is optional.  We decided not to camp there.

I think we have made it away from the mountainous, touristy area of Georgia, and are more in the gentle hills part of the state.  I will keep heading toward the coast, and Bob will turn back and head back home to Chattanooga tomorrow.

Tonight's fine dining was brought to me by Hormel (pic below).  I ate it cold right out of the can and it was actually not bad.

Miles for today:  55.8

Day 3 10/24/20 Flintstone to Ellijay, GA

Last night I camped at Catherine's and Joey's house in Flintstone, GA, which is just outside Chattanooga.  I worked with Joey in Chattanooga and Lisa and I have become good friends with him and Catherine.  They offered several sleeping options to me, which included sleeping in their guest bedroom, on their screened-in porch, in their newly built shed, or pitching my tent under a lean to beside the shed.  They told me a storm was forecasted to hit at about 3 a.m.  Stubborn me opted for the sleep in the tent out in the open to truly experience the great outdoors. 

Well, I can tell you the forecasters were wrong.  It wasn't 3 a.m., it was 3:30 a.m. that the storm hit.  It began with fairly strong winds that woke me from a deep, REM dream, confused when you wake up wondering where you are, sleep.  Man, thinking back, I was in a good sleep.  Then came a downpour followed by steady rain.  So here I am at 4:15 a.m. writing this entry on my blog, enjoying the great outdoors. :)

I went to the Dinner Bell restaurant in Flintstone for breakfast and they fixed me up really nice. Grits, 2 eggs, a biscuit, and 2 pancakes (they gave me an extra pancake because I did not want a meat) and all for $4.99 (pic below).

A short distance from the restaurant was my first climb, Turner's Ridge.  I lost the calories from one of those pancakes on that ridge.

I then went into the Chickamauga Battlefield for a short distance.  I passed by the Wilder Monument and snapped a pic of it.  A lady there told me it is closed to the public and some pigeons have set up home there and they sound like ghosts (pics below).

The 2nd named ridge I went over today was Taylor's Ridge.  It was a rather tough climb that dropped me to under 4 mph.  Its quite challenging to keep your bike going in a straight line at that speed.  Pic below provides some info about that ridge.

My touring bubby, Bob, met me in Dalton, GA, and is going to ride with me a couple of days.  We rode together to Chatsworth, where we split up and I went across Fort Mountain and Bob went around it. Fort Mountain is in the background in the pics below.

It was about a 6 mile climb up Fort Mountain.  Below are some pics from the mountain.  About the time I started descending the mountain, a steady rain begun so I rode my brakes quite a bit to keep from going too fast on the wet roads.

The rain had stopped by the time I made it to Ellijay and Bob and I met up again there.  Below are some pics of the Ellijay town center.  It was a happening place.

We then had a nightmarish ride for about 10 miles to our campground, Diamond Lure Campground.  It was on GA Hwy 52, which was primarily a 2 lane road, very little shoulder, and a LOT of traffic going both ways - and steady rain. There was a bike lane on a few miles of it, but it was not even comfortable riding in the bike lane due to the amount of speeding traffic flying by us.

We made it to our campsite with the rain continuing, and even getting harder at times and pitched tents in the rain.  My tent was still soaked from the rain early this morning so I got some paper towels from the bathroom and dried my tent floor as good as possible.

I was looking forward to taking a hot shower at the campground, but I was so waterlogged and it was still raining I thought what's the point and bypassed the shower.  Maybe I can take one in the morning.

Total miles today:  85.2

Day 2 10/23/20 Hytop, AL to Flintstone, GA

On a previous trip camping at the Walls of Jericho, a very bold raccoon kept me up several hours trying to get food out of my bicycle panniers and scratching on my tent.  As a result, the last couple of times I have camped there, I have hung my food from a tree, and I did the same last night.

Right after I got into my tent and started finishing my blog, I heard a loud thump.  It sounded like what I would think a bag containing 3 sandwiches, some raisins and some trail mix would sound like if it fell from a tree limb.  My first thought was the raccoon returned and outsmarted me and knocked my food down.  I threw on some clothes, which takes a while in the dark, and crawled out of my tent with my light thinking I would find my bag on the ground with my food scattered everywhere.  To my surprise, my food was still in the tree, but was swaying a little. My hope is that the thump I heard was the raccoon falling out of the tree while trying to get my food.  No other distractions last night.

Slept well.  During my first bathroom break, I noticed the sky was clear, and there was very little light pollution to drown out the stars. I had to stick my head and arm back inside the tent to grab my glasses so I could better enjoy the stars.  They were amazing.

My first 13 miles were on top of Crow Mountain with a quick 3-mile descent to follow.  Below is a pic of Skyline Road on top of the mountain, which is one of the smoothest roads I have ever ridden on.

At the foot of the mountain there was cotton on one side and soybeans on the other backdropped by mountains (pics below).

For first breakfast on the mountain, I ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich that was made on pumpkin bread.  It was rather delicious.  It powered me for about 35 miles to my 2nd breakfast in Stevenson (pic below).

A couple of scenery pics Below on my way to Stevenson.

I have taken the route I have ridden the last couple of days numerous times going from my former home in Chattanooga to Huntsville, AL.  As a result, there was no need for cue sheets to help me stay on course.  From Flintstone forward, most of the route will be uncharted ground to me.  So it will be time to pull out my cue sheets to aid me in staying on course.  Of course the most important rule will be if in doubt, just follow the duck (pic below).

Pic of the Tennessee River from the Shelby A. Reinholt Memorial Bridge in South Pittsburg, TN.

Some pics around Nickajack Lake.

Made it to Chattanooga and got to have supper with Hannah and Cody, my daughter and son-in-law (pic below).  

Total miles today:  84.3

Day 1 10/22/20 Home to Hytop, AL

This is my first multiple-day bicycle tour from our new home in Athens.  Right off the bat, I noticed a big difference - I was not hit with an approximate 10% upward grade right out of my driveway.  I actually got to calmly pedal away from the house on an almost level road.

I usually get a song stuck in my head while riding that is applicable to the tour.  The song for this tour that was in my head for about the first 20 miles is James Taylor's "Carolina in My Mind."

Below is a pic of a sea of white in North Alabama.

Below are a couple of scenery pics from today's ride.

My route took me on the Curly Putman Highway in Jackson County, Alabama.  Putman wrote the song "Green, Green Grass of Home."  That road is very scenic with little traffic.  Below is a pic from this road.

At mile 74, I came upon Crow Mountain.  It is a 3 mile climb to get to the top of the mountain, during which my speed drops to between 4-5 mph.  If you do the math, you can tell it takes a while to get to the top.  Pic below is of the first half mile of the climb up Crow Mountain.

I made it to my campsite at the Walls of Jericho (pic below).

The weather today was pleasant with a slight wind not in my favor.  The leaves are beginning to change and riding below tree canopies with sun rays coming thru the gold and red leaves was very enjoyable.  Some trees are beginning to shed their leaves and it was fun occasionally riding through "leaf showers."

Total miles today:  89.4

2020's First Bicycle Trip

I will turn 60 years old in November of this year.  At the start of the year, a plan was hatched to do a 6000-mile bicycle tour (100 miles for each years of my life) to commemorate turning 60.  The plan was to ride to Seattle, WA, meet my wife, Lisa, there in late August, and go on an Alaska Cruise and spend time at Olympic National Park to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary.  I would then ride down the Pacific coast to somewhere in the middle of California, and then head back east toward home.

Well, a pandemic occurred beginning in about March that brought all those plans to a screeching halt.  This was just a small inconvenience in our lives compared to the very serious effects the pandemic has had on other families.

As you know, idle time can cause one to take drastic measures.  We have been talking about downsizing from our 2400 square foot home in Hixson for quite a while, and we figured this would be a good time to go for it since the housing market was good.  We listed our home for sale by owner, got a contract and closed on it on June 19.  Prior to closing on our home, Lisa's father decided to downsize from his 2600 square foot home in Huntsville, AL.  We moved him into an apartment in Huntsville, and then moved what was left of our items from Hixson to her dad's garage in Huntsville.  We set up a temporary residence at her father's house to help him get rid of items in order to get his house ready to sell.

We closed on a 1300 square feet townhome in Athens, AL (my hometown) on September 14 and painted the entire interior of it. Time to move our stuff again, this time from Huntsville to Athens.  We got her dad's house cleared out, and it was listed for sale in early October.  It was quickly under contract. 

I say all of that to say, "WHEW, 2020 has been strange and busy." It's definitely time for a break.  We rented a condo in Hilton Head Island for 1 week beginning in late October, but we are also going to spend a couple of days with Mike and Melanie, some Chattanooga friends, at their home on Fripp Island, SC.  I couldn't pass up an opportunity to turn this trip into my first bicycle tour of 2020.  I will be heading out about 1week ahead of Lisa, and will meet her in SC.  I plan on reporting, thru this blog, about some of my experiences and adventures during this trip.  I'm sure bicycle touring post-Covid will be quite different from pre-Covid, but I'm still certain it will be a quiet a memorable, positive experience.  I just have to REMEMBER MY MASK!!!

The bicycle is loaded for our departure in the morning.  

I have not used the "Marmot Marriott" since about September 2019.  As a precaution, I pulled it out of the closet and pitched it in my very small backyard and sprayed it with a water hose to make sure the rainfly didn't leak.  It passed the test with flying colors, so accommodations are set for the next few days.

8/13/19-8/14/19: Chattanooga TN to Huntsville AL

Lisa is headed to her dad's in Huntsville, so I decided to take this opportunity to bike to Huntsville and meet her there.  It is a route I regularly ride, and my riding buddy, Bob, frequently joins me for the first day, camps,  and then heads back to Chattanooga.

I contact Bob to see if he is interested in joining me, and as he does more times than not, he agreed to go.  Now get this, he agreed to go even knowing that our first day would be ridden on probably the hottest day of the year with a heat index above 110 degrees, now that's true friendship.

I'm down to just 2 bikes I am going to keep for myself.  On this overnight trip, I decided to ride my newest bike, a Rawland Sogn (pic below).  The Rawland has 27.5" wheels, and the frame has clearance for some really wide tires, which would have been nice to have when I was riding on gravel and dirt roads during my trip from Chattanooga to Canmore, Alberta, and back.  I seriously considered riding this bike on that trip, but decided that due to that trip's length and the lack of doing any tours on the Rawland, I would stick with my tried and true Heron bicycle.

I purchased both the Heron and Rawland used.  The previous owners of those bikes had both passed away.  From talking with their friends and/or family, it was obvious the previous owners of both bikes were avid cyclists who enjoyed and appreciated cycling.  They looked at their bikes as utility vehicles, means of exploration and travel.  It was explained to me that both of them would have appreciated knowing their bikes went to someone who would appreciate and enjoy them as much as they did.  It is for this reason that I am honored that these 2 bikes have been entrusted to me.

Tuesday-8/13/19

So I meet Bob for our trip at about 8:30 a.m., and we roll out shortly thereafter.  It did not take us long to realize that that day's ride in fact was going to be hot.  We went through the small towns/communities of Wildwood, GA; Whiteside, TN; New Hope, TN; South Pittsburg, TN; Stevenson, AL; and Fackler, AL.

We then stop at a local church located at the foot of Crow Mountain.  This church is a regular stop for us before we start our 2.5 mile climb up the mountain.  We typically just fill our water bottles at an outside faucet at the church, but this day, we looked like a couple of kids playing in the water.  We used our bottles to saturate our heads with water to cool us down.  Bob even took off his shirt and soaked it with water before we left to keep him cooler during the climb.  I personally believe he was prepping for a senior's (not referring to school classification) wet t-shirt contest in Myrtle Beach in a few months :)

We both survived the hot, humid climb and made it to the city park in Hytop, AL.  Since we still had several hours of daylight, and the park has running water, restrooms, and picnic tables, we decided to hang out there awhile before biking the last few miles to our campsite.  We left the park about 7 p.m. and made it to the Walls of Jericho Alabama trailhead, our campsite, at about 7:30.

When we arrived at the campsite, there was no sign of rain anywhere to be seen in the sky. Bob called his wife before setting up his tent, and very shortly afterwards, the wind picked up and the sky turned dark.  He told his wife he would call her back because he needed to try to get his tent set up before the rain set in.  We were both able to get our tents pitched and all our necessary items inside just prior to a storm hitting us.  I just laid in my tent listening to the rain and eventually fell asleep.  I have no idea when I went to sleep, but think it was fairly early.

Wednesday-8/14/19

We got up, broke camp, and rode back to the Hytop Park where we had a bite to eat, filled our water bottles, and then bid farewell to each other, Bob heading back to Chattanooga, and me heading to Huntsville.

I stopped at my favorite spot in Hytop (which also happens to be the only spot), Cumberland Mountain Outdoors, for breakfast.  I had my regular sausage, egg biscuit, and a pancake.

After breakfast, I rode a little way and then came to my reward (pic below) for all the hard work put in climbing yesterday.

I descended the mountain on TN Highway 146 which is a fun road to go down. Traffic is light, the pavement is smooth, and there are no hair-pin curves.  You can just "let 'er rip" all the way down the mountain.  No need to hit brakes at all.

A few pics below of some of the scenery after dropping off the mountain.

Remnants on the road from the storms last night pictured below.

The weather today was quite different from yesterday.  Even though it was warm today, the breeze was out of the north and I could feel a hint of a cooler temp in it.

I got a text from Bob after I made it to my father-in-law's.  He had unfortunately run into every cyclists' nightmare.  The interstate that runs parallel to the secondary road we use to get to Chattanooga was gridlocked, virtually a parking lot. This means a lot of traffic, including 18-wheelers, were getting off the interstate and taking the 2-lane secondary road Bob would be on.  He decided to wait at a business beside the interstate until the traffic eased some. He had already been waiting there 1 hour when he texted me.  I suggested he hop on the interstate and use the shoulder to pass all the gridlocked traffic on the interstate.  He stated he may have to be a "night rider" tonight.

I have not yet mounted a bike computer on the Rawland, but I know from previous trips that I ride about 165 miles total when I ride from Chattanooga to Huntsville.  It's been nice riding without a bike computer the last couple of days.  I had no idea, nor did I care, how fast (or slow) I was going or how far I had been.  I was just pedaling and enjoying the ride.