Did I mention it was hot and sticky today? I didn't make it out of Charlyn's subdivision before my jersey was soaked, and I went through 8 water bottles plus a 32 ounce sport drink on the ride today. I also had an ice cream cone, a sports gel, and a cliff bar. But that's not terribly interesting. The animals that I encountered today were interesting, however.
Let's see, two turtles were crossing the road in front of me early in the morning. If I hadn't been pedaling uphill in both instances, I would have taken a picture. Alas, my fear of not being able to restart up the hill was greater than my desire for the photo, so no cute picture here.
A couple of miles past the second turtle, I discovered a really good reason to interrupt a 30 mph descent....and they were also crossing the street. Since I was confident in my ability to restart going down hill, and since this group was taking up the whole road, I stopped to get the camera.
About an hour after I stopped to take pictures of the geese, I found a gas station and got the aforementioned sports drink. It was cold and full of great electrolytes, and it was good. I continued for another hour before reaching Jasper. There I got the ice cream cone and took a break from the heat. About two blocks after the ice cream cone, I found an interesting statue in from of the Pickens County Courthouse. When I saw the statue, I did a double-take to make sure I wasn't in front of a library.
Several miles up the road, a strange man parked his car on the side of the road, and stuck his thumb out for a ride. It was Tom, my host for the night. He had seen me ride by his chuch, then picked a good spot to meet me to tell me I was only a dozen miles away. That should have been about an hour's ride. If not for the wrong turn and the hills. I had to push the fully loaded bike up one hill on a small country road, then missed a turn right at the top of the hill. I rode about a mile past where I needed to be before calling to verify directions. After a little backtracking, I found the right subdivision, and a hill I couldn't even push the bike up! Tom came down the hill and took two of my panniers off the bike and then I could push the LHT up the hill to his house. After some great iced tea and water (and some cleaning up), we got to catching up with each other. He showed me pictures from his latest trip to the southern hemisphere, and I showed him the pictures I'd taken in the last few days. I wonderful dinner was shared, and I got to writing. It's of to bed now with a 6 am wakeup tomorrow. I'm camping tomorrow night, so there may not be an update till I get outside Knoxville.
Distance ridden/walked: 43.87 miles
Max Speed: 34.7 mph
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