Day 6 10/27/20 Who Knows to Jackson, SC

 Last nights campsite has definitely been the quietest on this trip.  However, I heard animal sounds at times that I've never heard before.  They sounded like something right out of Jurassic Park.

Shortly after starting my ride this morning, I stopped my bike to check in something in my bags.  While I was standing there, I heard rushing water.  I thought, that's a pleasant sound, must be a creek close by.  When I turned the corner, the pic below is what I saw.

I had to take my bags off the bike and take them across the water so they wouldn't get wet.  While I was standing there, a guy in about a mid 1980s GMC 4 wheel drive SUV came up and asked if I was okay.  He was drinking what I think was coffee out of a mason jar and had a rifle beside his seat. We talked a little about my route and he said the next road I'm going to be on is worse than this one.  He then proceeded across the creek.  I walked back across the street and got the bike and pushed it thru the creek and continued on. 

On the next road, I came across the mud pit pictured below.  I had to walk through it also, but the bike stayed dry just to the right of the pit.

I finally made it to Tignall, GA, a town of about 500.  I went to the town's convenience store and got an egg biscuit.  I talked to a local while eating and he said Tignall used to be a bustling town and was even called "Little Atlanta" at one time.

Pic Below of Clarks Hill Lake near Leah, GA.  This pic I think has been my first this trip with the sun shining.

The rest of my ride today was pretty much rural, and very pleasant, until I got to the Augusta metro area.  I spent a lot of tense time in traffic in and around Augusta, but finally made it across the Savannah River into South Carolina. 

In SC, I went through Beech Island and then made it to Jackson, where I found a place to camp in some woods.

Total miles today:  94.5

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