Wherever I May Roam: 2018

Contrary to the forecast from last night, we awoke to sunny skies and warm weather. That was perfect, as I really wanted a chance to run the 6 Gap ride. After eating breakfast, packing up the bike, and getting fuel we were off. It was a beautiful morning, very little traffic and so many curves once again. I want to take a moment to thank my wife for allowing me to ride all of these roads as I know that it's made her nervous at times. Thanks for being brave Leona even though it was hard at times.

The entire figure eight loop was 139km the way we rode it, taking right around two and a half hours to ride. We stopped a few times to enjoy the last good mountain views we will have from this area, and it was sad to leave. The loop put us back in Helen, where we had a snack before carrying on.

Riding east to west in Georgia proved to be a bit of a navigational nightmare, the roads getting smaller and smaller as we followed the GPS on the bike. There was one time it routed me down a narrow gravel path that we didn't take, thankfully finding a better alternative. I finally figured out a path to get us west towards Alabama, but it was slow going all day long. The clouds kept building in the west and finally exploded down on us. There were heavy winds with it as well and we eventually pulled over for a little while to let it pass.

Crossing the state line into Alabama meant that we were back into the Central time zone, gaining one of the hours we lost on our way east, and it came at a good time. As we crossed the Tennessee River and made the turn onto highway 72 west we could see more clouds gathering. Once again we pulled over to don the rain gear, though it would prove to be no match for the downpour we rode through for the final 20 minutes or so.

The skies were dark and the rain was absolutely pouring down, making it really hard to see. Those last 10 miles felt like a long ride, and it felt great to get under the canopy at the hotel. We walked in to see if they had rooms available, but to no avail. It didn't take more than 10 minutes before the young lady came outside to say someone had just cancelled and the room was ours. That was a major answer to prayer because it just wasn't safe to be on the road.

Everything it wet and/or damp so hopefully it can dry out somewhat overnight. I'm really hoping that we don't have to deal with too much of these downpours on the road home. We've been fortunate so far with weather, but there are some crazy systems that come through a lot of the area we have to ride through. At least we have a nice dry place to stay in Huntsville, AL tonight!