Ride 33, 8/7/95
Walterboro, South Carolina.
Ride elevation 30 to 170 feet.
Cloudy and humid, hi about 80 with light and variable wind. I found a great map with all roads, marked for pavement or dirt and all mileages to one tenth. All road numbers were marked on signs at every intersection. The damnyankees in MA could learn from these guys. There are no paved shoulders in SC. The state primary(designated SC) and US roads are medium width asphalt 2 lanes. The state secondary roads are narrow to medium two lane, mostly tar and gravel. I started northwest on SC63, and after going across the freeway(the highest elevation of the day) turned east on 193. The terrain is flat. There are pine forests, tree farms and an occasional cattle farm. There is swamp with trees covered with hanging moss. From the map, it looks like most of the county of Colleton is swamp, but the roads stick mostly to dry land. Road 193 ends on 28. I turned southeast, across the freeway and south on 271, and west on 118. I turned south on 66 and arrived at US17ALT, 14 miles. I continued across US17 on 66 which makes a big semicircle out through the swamp. I saw a huge snake in the road. It raised its head and hissed at me as I passed in the other lane. I turned south on 119, east on 535, north on 436 and east on 41. Road 41 is almost as good as a primary, and there were a few log trucks. Most of the secondarys have very light traffic. Arrived at the area of Ritter, 34 miles. I turned north on 199. There are a lot of loose dogs about. A lot of tight ones also. I turned east on US17ALT for 0.2 miles and north on 821. Then east on 65 and east on 145. I turned north on 45 and at the corner of 117 I noticed that the rear tire is going flat, 54 miles. I decided to just pump it up and try to find some place out of the swamp to fix it. The gnats and mosquitoes are terrible out there. I turned west on 34 and went under the freeway and turned north on the frontage road to Cook's Country Store, 63 miles. I fixed my tire. A tiny sliver of metal had gone through Mr.Tuffy. Back on 34, I turned on 24, for a little and then northeast on 50, around a large area of swamp, north on SC61 and west on SC217 and then southwest on 232. Then north on 24 and west on 67. Road 67 ends in the minute town of Ruffin, 84 miles. I turned south on 44, which ends on 736 that winds over to 51. I turned north 64, west on 379, south on 346, west on 126, south on 300, and southeast on SC63. Over the freeway and back. Climbing 210.
Ride 34, 9/9/95
Statesboro, Georgia.
Ride elevation 40 to 280 feet.
Hot and humid, hi about 90 with light and variable wind. Foggy in the morning, partly cloudy the rest of the day. I got a map from the Chamber of commerce of Bulloch county. It has all the roads, but no indication of which are dirt. The dirt roads are actually sand, and impossible to ride on. Most roads in Bulloch county are sand. So, navigation is simple - ride to the next paved road and decide whether to take it or not. All the state roads are asphalt, but the county roads are made of tar and boulders. I took some back streets out of town. Tillman, College and Jones took me to Country Club rd, which ended on Cypress Lake rd. The terrain is rolling hills and flat areas. There are pine forests and cotton fields. There are huge mansions and tar paper shacks. I arrived at Register, a 1 store town, 10 miles. I took Kennedy Bridge rd. south to Adabell rd and headed east. The roads have both numbers and names, but either can change without warning. Most intersections are marked with both. The road changed to Union Church and I turned on to rd 577. There are armadillos here. It changed names twice and I went by the localitys of Nevils, 28 miles, and Denmark. I turned onto Mud rd, a very rough tar and boulder rd. There are large dumpsters sitting at intersections for residents to dump their garbage. I followed Mud for about 15 miles and then turned north on SR119 for a mile to Hubert, 48 miles. The gnats and mosquitos ate very bad all over the county. I took River rd north. It also has large boulders. It joined SR24 at 62 miles and I got some relief from the boulders for a couple of miles. I continued north on River road on a newly constructed section of tar and boulders that was so rough that I got a headache and had to stop and take a pill. The road smoothed out for a few miles As it crossed US301. A shower came by and it rained for a few miles. The big cold drops felt good. I turned south on Lakeview and forked onto Middleground rd. It took me to Hopeulikit where US25, US80, SR67, and SR26 all come together to make a 4 lane divided hi way. I turned west on Williams, which circles back to Statesboro. I skirted the west side of town on Stockyard, West Main, Pulaski, and Highpoint roads and came back in on Cypress Lake rd. I rode north on Johnson and College streets to finish. Climbing 1360 feet.
Ride 35, 9/11/95
Lake City, Florida.
Ride elevation 100 to 200 feet.
Hot and humid, hi about 90 with west wind 0 to 15. Foggy in the morning, partly cloudy the rest of the day. I started east on US90, a 5 to 7 lane city street with no shoulder. At the center of town I turned north on US441 and then followed a maze of streets northeast to SR101A, a narrow, busy 2 lane. I was looking for a road into the Osceola national forest. I went by it twice without seeing it until a log truck came out of it. It is just a sand trail. So I went out of the city to the east on Washington St. I went by a telephone pole factory. When Washington St ended I went a block south to US90 a 4 lane divided hi way with 3 ft, shoulders. I went east looking for A paved road into the forest. The terrain is flat with tall pines, on both sides and an occasional house or business. US90 turned to 2 lanes and at the county line the shoulder went away. Arrived at Olustee village, 20 miles. About a mile farther, I turned north on CR250A, a 2 lane. All the county roads had light traffic, and in the forest it was downrite lonely. It was 15 to 30 minutes between cars. The gnats and mosquitos are bad. There are also areas where there are millions of bugs about the size of flies floating across the road by the thousands. They are stuck all over the windows of cars. I entered the forest. I went through some burned areas. Only a few of the pine trees were killed by the fire. Almost all the under growth of Yucca like plants and hardwood trees was burned. 250A ended on 250. I turned east. I spooked wild turkeys out of the bushes several times. I passed the edge of the Big Gum swamp. All the NF roads are sand. I turned north on 229. I stopped at the Osceola east fire tower. The tower was locked, but the bathroom was open. I exited the forest and came to the community of Taylor, a few houses and a church, and the first dogs of the day, 45 miles. I turned east on CR125 for 5 miles, and south on 127. It is pretty much the same as in the forest except for a few houses and a cattle farm. I turned west on 124 and north on 229. I reentered the forest. Some wild pigs were strolling across the road. I turned west on 250, 65 miles. Near the junction of 250A, I noticed a column of smoke ahead. In a couple of miles I came upon a brush fire. It was on the north side of the road. I passed alternating burning and burned areas for a mile. The worst place had flames 20 ft high. Fortunately the smoke was mostly going up. A mile past the fire I went through an area of thin smoke and falling ash for a few hundred yards. After a few more miles I came to writing on the road: "SLOW SLOW SLOW DANGER BAD GRATE STOP WALK" . Then I came to a cattle guard. I went across I-10 then another warning and a cattle guard. CR250 ends at Five Points on US41. I went back up 250 to Still road and headed south. I arrived at US90 and I had ridden all the paved roads in Osceola National Forrest. I turned east and went back through town to finish. Climbing 220 feet.
Ride 36, 9/13/95
Troy, Alabama.
Ride elevation 150 to 500 feet.
Hot and humid, hi about 90 with south wind 0 to 10. Cloudy in the morning, partly cloudy the rest of the day. I started south on US231, a 4 lane divided with a rough shoulder and 9 million trucks a day. After a mile I turned south on CR21 a 4 lane and then 3 lane and then 2 lane as it goes out of town. It had moderate traffic that dwindled as I got away from Troy. At Henderson, 12 miles I turned east onto CR6. The county roads are all medium 2 lanes with tar and gravel surface. They are rough and broken in a few places, but mostly pretty good. They are asphalt in a few stretches They have very light traffic. I arrived at Spring Hill. I decided to put some air in my rear tire because it looked low. I noticed that air was leaking, so I changed the tube. It had developed a hole around the valve. While I fixed the tire, an army of tiny red ants were conquering my helmet. It took 5 minutes to get all the ants out. The gnats and flies are bad here, but I didn't see any mosquitos. I continued on CR41 which ended on CR 6 at a logging operation. I continued east. The county road numbers are marked about half the time, but the county map is good enough that I didn't have a problem. I went into the city of Brundage and came out on CR69 going north, 30 miles. The terrain is rolling hills that are mostly mixed pine and hardwood forest. There are a lot of residences, a few cattle farms, cotton fields peanut farms, and hay fields. I passed a boarded up country store. I've seen at least a dozen boarded up country stores since North Carolina I followed 69 to SR93, a wide two lane asphalt like all state roads that I saw. After a mile I continued on 69 over to SR130. Less than a mile and I turned east on CR38. It ended on CR91 and I headed north to US29, a wide 2 lane. I went west for a mile and then turned on CR44 and followed it back to CR69, 54 miles. There are large areas where everything is covered with Cudzu. I saw these all over Pike county. I took 69 north to CR7 and went east to CR49 which I took north to CR37. I took it south to the Lockheed Martin plant where it turned to a wide asphalt road. I turned south on CR105, which, away from the plant turned into a rough busted up concrete road, the worst of the day. After 5 miles of that, I turned west on CR52. At CR1 I wanted to turn north, but the sign said the bridge was out. I went down to view the bridge, and it was definitely gone. So I went south a ways and took an unnamed road over to CR25. I went out a ways on 25 and then turned around and took CR1 back to Troy. As I rode along 1, big black clouds came up from the south, and a small thunder storm passed by. I got a little wet, and it made lots of puddles in low spots in the road. I was waiting for the stoplight to change at US231. Just as the light changed, 2 guys in an old white car came sliding into the intersection on the wet road. They stopped crossways in the middle blocking traffic. They may be rednecks. Climbing 3640 feet.
Ride 37, 9/15/95
Forest, Mississippi.
Ride elevation 150 to 450 feet.
Hot and humid, hi about 90 with south wind 0 to 10. Cloudy in the morning, partly cloudy the rest of the day. I started east on Erle Johnston road. I turned north on SR501. All roads except US hiways are tar and gravel. Most are rough from lousy construction but in good repair. I turned east on some city streets and then on US80, a 3 lane with 2 ft shoulders. After a mile I turned onto Old US80, a very rough 2 lane. The traffic was moderate near the city, but light away from it. The roads are all marked with names. My map is marked with numbers. It has a list of names with numbers in alphabetical order. This means that to find a road, I have to stop at each road, look up the name to find if it is the rite number. This makes for slow going. The terrain is rolling hills and flat areas. There are residences, cotton fields, cattle farms, a lot of woodland, and some poultry houses. Most of Scott county is surrounded by the Bienville National forest, but the forest is broken into many small sections mixed in with private land. There are no mosquitos and few gnats here. I turned north on 321. Two big bucks ran across the road in front of me. I turned west on 291. An Armadillo wandered across the road. It was very slow and didn't notice me as I rode up. Then I said hi to it and it speeded up about 20% and went in the bushes. I went north on 281, but found 277 to be a dirt road so I came back to 291 on 280. I crossed SR21, 22 miles. The road was paved asphalt for the last 3 miles into Hillsboro, a store and a few houses. I turned northwest on 178. This road was even rougher than normal. I missed a turn but realized it after a few tenths and continued to Ludlow, house and store, 44 miles. I headed south on SR481. The state roads are a little wider than the county roads. There are a few log trucks around. I arrived at Morton, a real town on US80, 64 miles. I went south on SR13 to Roosevelt State Park. The activities were all closed so the park was almost empty. I rode around all the roads. I took SR13 across I-20 and turned onto 51 and went to Pulaski, a Post Office and a few houses, 79 miles. I went on 50 a ways, but road 46 that I wanted to take back to Forest was dirt. So I returned to Pulaski and took SR481 to road 51 instead. I went back across the interstate to US80, a wide 2 lane with 2 ft shoulder and heavy traffic. About a mile from town I turned on Fountain Dr. and passed most of the city to SR35, a 4 lane divided with 10 ft shoulders, and returned. There seems to be a lot of dogs in the south, so I did a dog count. Only loose dogs, penned and chained dogs don't count. Both rude and polite dogs are counted. I had 55 today, but they were almost all in the morning. I had 45 by noon. I think dog activity drops off at about 85 or 90 degrees. The heat has at least 1 good point. Climbing 1930 ft.
Ride 38, 9/17/95
West Monroe, Louisiana.
Ride elevation 100 to 250 feet.
Rainy, hi about 80 with light or no wind. The humidity here was the worst I have seen so far. The dewpoint was 74. I started south on Thomas street which becomes LA617, a rough broken concrete 4 lane with light traffic on Sunday morning. It became LA34 which turned to a wide asphalt 2 lane with 10 ft shoulders outside of the city. My county map doesn't list the name or numbers of the county roads making navigation difficult. The back roads have few hard surfaced routes that go through anyway. I followed LA34 east and the shoulder ended at 18 miles. I turned south on Joe Holton road, but it turned to dirt and I returned to LA34. I arrived at Eros, a few houses and a store, 25 miles. I continued to Chatham, where it started to rain. I took a nap on the porch of a bank while it poured for over an hour, 31 miles. When it let up I continued. I turned on LA4 for a few blocks and then headed northwest on LA146, a medium 2 lane with light traffic. I turned onto LA145. The rain quit for an hour and then it started to drizzle. Arrived at Choudrant, a few houses, 53 miles. I turned on LA820 and then LA821, and the rain increased. I had to stop and ring things out every few miles. The terrain is rolling hills covered by mixed forest. There are cattle farms, Ostrich farms, poultry houses, and clear cuts. There are hunting clubs and gun clubs everywhere. The lesser state roads are mostly tar and gravel and in pretty good shape. I turned on LA145 and then LA151. Arrived at Calhoun, a few stores and a bank, 77 miles. The last 6 miles of LA151 were brand new asphalt. I took backroads called Caples road, Winnfield road and Erving Cotton road to get to LA34, 88 miles. The rain stopped. LA34 was much busier in the afternoon. I followed it back to the city. The city was crawling with crickets. Thousands of them hopping, crawling squished, and dieing. All the country stores have cricket boxes and sell crickets. Those are brown, but the ones in town are black. Climbing 2520 feet.
Ride 39, 9/19/95
Monticello, Arkansas.
Ride elevation 100 to 350 feet.
Partly cloudy, hi about 80 with south wind 5 to 10. The humidity was low. I left town on Gaines and Hyatt and then went north on US425, a busy 2 lane with 8 ft shoulders. I had a map with the roads, but no numbers or names or indication of surface. The roads were marked with county numbers in a few places. At 14 miles I turned west on county road 97, a rough tar and gravel 1 lane. It turned to packed dirt for a mile and a half. The terrain is rolling hills covered with mixed forest. There are scattered residences and a few cattle farms, poultry houses and small industry. I turned on SR35, a medium 2 lane tar road and then south on SR133, similar but patched and cracked. I arrived at Wilmar, some stores and a bank, 32 miles. I continued south on 7th street a wide 1 lane that turned into a beatup tar and gravel. Most of the county roads are dirt. I turned east on 15 when 7th street turned to dirt. I turned south on unknown rd. After a couple of miles it turned to dirt and I returned to 15. I continued on 15 looking for any hard road to the south. 15 got better and better as I got close to Monticello. I didn't find any roads until a city street. I skirted town to the south on some streets and came out on SR83s, a busy 2 lane. I took it over to SR83, but it was covered with log trucks in both directions, 50 miles. So I took US425 south. It has very rough 8 foot shoulders. I took an unmarked road to the west, but it turned to dirt, so I continued south on 425. The shoulder got so bad that I decided to turn back. I arrived at Monticello, 73 miles and went north on 425 again. I found a road, but it turned to dirt. I followed 425 north to the next county and came back to Monticello. Climbing 1410 feet.
9/20/95 Drove 100 miles to Chickasha, Oklahoma.
9/21/95 It was 50 degrees, raining with a 30 mph wind, so I took the
day off.
9/22/95 & 9/23/95 I received news that Mom is sick and I am needed
to help, so I drove 1280 miles to Virginia. The trip is suspended until
further notice.
By early November Mom was almost back to normal, so I returned to Oregon.
It's too late to do any more states this year, but I hope to do the last
9 states next spring.
November 4, 1995, Drove 824 miles to Warrenton, Missouri in 14:03. Gas
in St. Louis is 84.9 cents a gallon, the lowest I have seen on the trip.
November 5, 1995, Drove 833 miles to Cheyenne, Wyoming in 14:24. It was
snowing for the first 2 hours in Missouri. I had to keep the speed under
60. There were a few cars in the ditches. It cleared and the sun came out
before I reached Kansas City.
November 6, 1995, Drove 791 miles to Ontario Oregon in 13:36. There was
snow on a few of the higher parts of Wyoming. The gas in Twin Falls
Idaho was 133.9, the highest I have seen on the trip.
November 7, 1995 Drove 384 miles to Beaverton, Oregon in 7:12 There was
snow in the Blue mountains.