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Beautiful day for a Monday
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Ah, the benefits of working retail hours. Sure, my schedule
changes weekly. Different days, different shifts. However, sometimes it falls
into place. While everybody else was griping and posting Facebook memes all
basically saying “I hate Mondays”, I slept in, leisurely cooked and ate
breakfast, and took my time sipping coffee while checking out Facebook and
Instagram.
Recently, a friend gave me a route he likes to ride on occasion. Normally, I
like to discover roads on my own, but then again, I’ve ridden a lot of poker
runs and enjoyed the hell out of those roads, so why not?
I set out during what is most people’s lunch hour. The temperature in the low
70s, and no chance of rain. Wearing a light flannel shirt, I was just a bit
cool at speed, and just a bit warm at a stop. So, you know, it balanced out
just fine.
As everyone knows, freeways are great for getting from Point A to Point B in a
hurry (except for I-85 in Atlanta at the moment, but I digress), but not for
much else. To really enjoy your ride, you have to take surface streets and back
roads. On a bike, you see things differently than in a car. You experience the
trip rather than endure it. You can feel the variations in temperature and
humidity, you can smell the surrounding countryside (for better or worse)
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Black Top and Red Clay
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Winding down rural highways and country backroads, I was struck again by the
contrast between Georgia and central Texas. I’ve been used to wide open skies,
and wide fields off to the side. Here there are a lot more tall trees right up
near the roadside, and if there’s a field it’s most likely planted as opposed
to just open country. Also, I’ve made numerous mention of kudzu on this blog,
but today I saw more of another regional marker: red clay dirt. Yup. Black top
roads, pine trees, kudzu, and red clay. That’s what Georgia is made of.
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Monticello, GA courthouse and Civil War veteran memorial
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I wound my way from Morrow/Rex through Stockbridge, switching to Hwy 138 after
42 turned off west. Turning onto 212, I continued down to Monticello, and
stopped for a pic of their courthouse and a pretty neat quote on a veteran’s
memorial in front of the courthouse. From there, I switched to Hwy 11 and
rolled north back up through Mansfield to 278 east to Covington. Turned onto
81, and back south. 81 crossed my earlier track at Hwy 212. Coming into
McDonough, I turned north onto 42 and headed back home.
Sleeping in, followed by a three hour, 122 mile ride on a Monday? Yes, please.
