Riding in Georgia and Boiled Peanuts
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
If you look at the dates on the posts, you will see there has been a few days since my last post, and it is because we have taken four days off of riding. Two of the afternoons were spent on the beach, enjoying the waves crashing on the sandy beach. Thursday afternoon, Kasey spent hanging around the pool at her parents house, while I was The Stadium Course of The Player's Championship at Sawgrass. For not playing golf in a couple of year, borrowed clubs, and new shoes, I played pretty well. The new shoes came from the fact that the box full of our clothes, including the shoes, never got picked up from the hotel.
We headed back out of Florida, and it felt kind of cool, as cool as Florida can get in July. After getting through Jacksonville, and over the big bridge that many a cruise ship passes under, we arrived on SR 1. We headed north out of Florida, and I swear, as soon as we crossed the border into Georgia, it got hotter!
It could be that the scenery was not distracting enough from heat like Florida. The palm trees gave way to scraggly pine trees. As the heat increased, and we made more miles through The Peach State, Kasey and I marveled at the lack of scenery. Every once in a while the tress gave way to a clearing, but even the vistas just weren't pretty. In fact, with a few hundred miles under my belt, I can say that Georgia is the most dreadful state I have ever ridden through. I saw a lot of motorcycles, but I honestly couldn't answer why they were riding anywhere, it couldn't be for leisure.
As we strolled into the town for lunch, we had to make a brief slow down for a group of dogs crossing the street. As I recall, most of them were bloodhounds. The place I had picked for lunch was closed once again, that is becoming a theme on this ride, in fact the building was not there anymore, I did spy a faded sign. We found another place in town, it didn't look like much, but it was busy.
The food was pretty good, yet basic, and it filled our tanks until the next meal. Speaking of tanks, The Pearl was ready for another feeding also.
Then it was back on the road, more boring scenery and more heat. As we continued through Georgia, we saw more and more sign for Boiled Peanuts. Never heard of, nor ever ate them, and not sure I really want to? Not sure what boiling does to them, or whether they just boil in the hot Georgia ground. Which the dirt was that red clay color, looked very sandy too.
One more rest stop to go, and it was out in the middle of nowhere, there was a gas station, and it was the local's hot spot. Everyone there seemed to know people working there but us. A cold bottle of water later, and we were ready to head out.
As we preceded closer to Kasey's Brother's House, she was texting on the back of the bike, and making arrangements for a meeting. A had the GPS tracking us all the way to his house, but he it sounded like he wanted to get his bike out to meet us somewhere.
We rolled into Athens, found a gas station, and as I fueled the bike, Kasey texted her brother our meeting spot. He arrived while Kasey was still searching for her sunglasses, that were discovered under a mini-van refueling at the depot.
We followed her brother back to his house, and were down for the night. Only a little bit of Georgia to go in the morning, and then onto North Carolina, Tennessee, and North Carolina and Tennessee again.
If you look at the dates on the posts, you will see there has been a few days since my last post, and it is because we have taken four days off of riding. Two of the afternoons were spent on the beach, enjoying the waves crashing on the sandy beach. Thursday afternoon, Kasey spent hanging around the pool at her parents house, while I was The Stadium Course of The Player's Championship at Sawgrass. For not playing golf in a couple of year, borrowed clubs, and new shoes, I played pretty well. The new shoes came from the fact that the box full of our clothes, including the shoes, never got picked up from the hotel.
We headed back out of Florida, and it felt kind of cool, as cool as Florida can get in July. After getting through Jacksonville, and over the big bridge that many a cruise ship passes under, we arrived on SR 1. We headed north out of Florida, and I swear, as soon as we crossed the border into Georgia, it got hotter!
It could be that the scenery was not distracting enough from heat like Florida. The palm trees gave way to scraggly pine trees. As the heat increased, and we made more miles through The Peach State, Kasey and I marveled at the lack of scenery. Every once in a while the tress gave way to a clearing, but even the vistas just weren't pretty. In fact, with a few hundred miles under my belt, I can say that Georgia is the most dreadful state I have ever ridden through. I saw a lot of motorcycles, but I honestly couldn't answer why they were riding anywhere, it couldn't be for leisure.
As we strolled into the town for lunch, we had to make a brief slow down for a group of dogs crossing the street. As I recall, most of them were bloodhounds. The place I had picked for lunch was closed once again, that is becoming a theme on this ride, in fact the building was not there anymore, I did spy a faded sign. We found another place in town, it didn't look like much, but it was busy.
The food was pretty good, yet basic, and it filled our tanks until the next meal. Speaking of tanks, The Pearl was ready for another feeding also.
Then it was back on the road, more boring scenery and more heat. As we continued through Georgia, we saw more and more sign for Boiled Peanuts. Never heard of, nor ever ate them, and not sure I really want to? Not sure what boiling does to them, or whether they just boil in the hot Georgia ground. Which the dirt was that red clay color, looked very sandy too.
One more rest stop to go, and it was out in the middle of nowhere, there was a gas station, and it was the local's hot spot. Everyone there seemed to know people working there but us. A cold bottle of water later, and we were ready to head out.
As we preceded closer to Kasey's Brother's House, she was texting on the back of the bike, and making arrangements for a meeting. A had the GPS tracking us all the way to his house, but he it sounded like he wanted to get his bike out to meet us somewhere.
We rolled into Athens, found a gas station, and as I fueled the bike, Kasey texted her brother our meeting spot. He arrived while Kasey was still searching for her sunglasses, that were discovered under a mini-van refueling at the depot.
We followed her brother back to his house, and were down for the night. Only a little bit of Georgia to go in the morning, and then onto North Carolina, Tennessee, and North Carolina and Tennessee again.
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