Day Two saw me arise early and re-load the bike for our next leg of the journey. On Jeff's Harley-Davidson atlas he let me borrow, I noticed a pretty scenic road from South of Chattanooga that wound all the way down through Georgia that would allow me to sidetrack Atlanta, the Wicked Mother of all traffic miseries. I just had to get through Nashville, the Wicked Aunt of all Traffic Miseries. I was up just as the sun was starting to filter in the sky and since I was just a short jaunt to Nashville, I assumed that traffic would be light. I assumed somewhat wrongly. Who are all these people running around at 5:30 in the morning? Cars, trucks, campers, I guess they all had the same plan I did. It was somewhat harrowing, and my pit juice had failed to hold back the waters, but I survived and now headed down interstate 57 to Chattanooga and then, off to Route 23 over the Smokies.
Once again, it was travel day and I did precious little sightseeing. I was a man with a mission. Besides, I had learned that picture taking had to be of great necessity to stop the bike, finagle its return to the spot of interest, then get it turned around again to resume. I often simply decided the reward was not worth the risk.
Inside Chattanooga I felt sorry for travellers north bound on I-24. They were backed up for miles due to a semi accident. The truck slammed into a guardrail after his load of 47,000 pounds of rolled steel buckled the trailer.
When I went by it looked nasty, but was happy to learn no one was hurt.
Pictures compliments of News Channel 9, Chattanooga.
Route 27 through Georgia took me through Chickamauga battlefield which I visited last year. I went through Cedartown, Rome, Bremen and Carrollton. I probably should have swung over to Newnan at this point, but since the road was good adn I was racking up the miles I stayed on 27. Nice scenery, back roads and now through LaGrange. It was here I noticed an Interstate 185 through Columbus. My plan here was to stay South and eventually hit Interstate 10 north of Tallahassee. But I got lost in Columbus and ended up in Fort Benning. Holy Smokes. My destination then changed to Valdosta where I would end the day. However, I got sidetracked to Route 280 which, happily took me through some interesting places I hadn't counted on. One was Plains, home of President Jimmy Carter.
This peanut guy was at both ends of the Rt. 280 in Plains.
I went through Americus, Leslie, Cobb and my goal now was to get to Cordele, and then south on I-75 to Valdosta. Unfortunately, my ass ran out of pucker-power, my wrist was practically numb, my head hurt and my eyes were tired, so I made it as far as Tifton, and called it a day.
Typical Georgia back roads and view. I think this was near Cobb.
Although I ran out of figurative gas and didn't make it to my scheduled 2nd day stop, it was a good one anyway. Closer to my own bed, closer to Norah and closer to anything other than McDonald's, I stopped at another Days Inn (without a pool) and had but a scant 4 hours to go to St. Pete. In keeping with my usual schedule, I'd get to bed early and rise when it was dark to hit the road during the cool before the sun came up.
I would like to mention a tip Mr. Sutor gave me which will come in handy next trip. He said that when he takes long trips on his bike that he boxes up his dirty clothes and that makes travelling lighter and easier. Good tip. The amount I have to take off and re-attached in the morning is a bit cumbersome.
Anyway, the day is done. and I am thirsty, so I get a couple Diet Cokes and put on ice. There is a Chic-Fil-A across the parking lot, and political considerations aside, I decide to have a couple chicken strips. First time I've had anything there besides a shake and its pretty tasty. Sleep comes early and easy tonight.
DAY 2 - 527 MILES
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