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| Rambling down the back Roads Wednesday August 6, 2008. Day 1 Total miles 269.2 Awwwwwwww……………I had been waiting all week to take off on the bikes. Michel and I had planned this trip for weeks. Presidential Pathways, in western Georgia. The last two days before we left I had off from work, and it was just like waiting for Christmas. Unfortunately, we got off to a late start, we were suppose to started off at around 11pm, but we didn’t get off until about 2pm. We were worried that we wouldn’t get to Columbus until after dark. Wrong……..We made it well before dark, the roads were great and we made really good time. As usual, when we travel north to Georgia, we start off going up 441 - 27, up until after Mayo it was the same roads. We got just past Mayo and we took a right on SR 53, we traveled through Madison, and then into Georgia, on 133. The roads are beautiful. Lots of agriculture and small towns. Getting into Albany we got on 580/82. Most of its four lanes and starts getting hilly, and it also has long sweeping curves. We got into Columbus at about 730, found a hotel, got something to eat, had a couple of beers, and attempted a walk to the river front. Half way to the water, we turned around, we were just too tired. Tomorrow we will explore, go to the water front, ride down some of the historic roads in town, visit the Civil War Maritime Museum, and the Harley Shop. We will travel to the Callaway Gardens area, and stay there for 4 days, and explore that area. |
| Thursday, August 7, 2008 total miles 42 miles Today we explored Columbus, especially we wanted to see the Chattahoochee River front. You know the river that Alan Jackson made famous, him and a few others, and yes it was as hot as a hoocheechoochee. We walked the riverfront for about 3 miles, it is absolutely beautiful. You can look across to Alabama, and Phenix City. There must have been a turbine station at one time on the river because there was a dam built. The river is interesting in that it has massive rocks in the middle, which makes for careful navigating for boats and such. Several bridges connect Alabama to Georgia, and also there is a train track, that comes across from Alabama, straight into Columbus. After our walk, we made our way to the Cocoa Cola Science and Space Museum. It was okay; love the movie, but more for kids. After that we went to the National civil war naval museum. If you like history it’s a good stop, we like history so we spent some time here. Next stop was the Chattahoochee Harley Davidson Shop. Of course we bought the “shirt”, but more important they had a 2009 red Streetglide, but alas no ABS brakes. After that we headed north to Pine Mountain, and the Callaway Mountain Inn, which will be our home for 4 days. SR 27 going out of Columbus starts out being a little congested, but just out side town, it turns into a rolling curvy road that is a dream to ride. We had a little trouble finding the inn, but finally we found it, we checked in and then took off to Pine Mountain, and stopped at the grocery for some goodies. We were really hungry, so we stopped at a local eating establishment, and thoroughly enjoyed a home cooked buffet. Back at the inn we enjoyed some libations, a cooling swim, and started planning our ride for tomorrow. |
Friday August 8, 2008 Total Miles 160 or so We woke early……….. at 730am and went to the inn dining room and ate a BIG breakfast, some of the best bacon I have ever had. Oh by the way, the place we are staying, Mountain Creek Inn, is very nice, comfortable and will be a return trip for us. Our plans were to RIDE. We started by getting on 109, our destination was FDR’s Little White House, near Warm Springs GA. It was a beautiful ride, and the park and tour of the Little White House was very informative and interesting as I have said before, if you like history this is a good stop. There is also a state park, and the pool area, with the actual warm springs that brought Roosevelt to the area to treat his polio. One of his achievements even before becoming president, while still the Governor of New York, was turning the existing |
resort into a rehab hospital, and opening it for anyone all over the US that had contracted polio. The house was built for his
personal retreat, and the only house he personally owned. He came here often even when he became President, lots of
decisions, speeches written and fireside chats were made there. FDR died there in 1945, while having his portrait painted,
shortly before WW II ended and after 12 years of being president, and guiding us through the depression and WW II. I have
always admired FDR, and his achievements, and being at the Little White House, and learning more about him, reading his
speeches, seeing how he guided us through the depression, putting people to work, and then the struggle through of WW II,
his platform of the 4 freedoms, and most of all his last speech written, but never given, has had a profound affect on me. To
me he was one of our greatest Presidents. Okay, now back to the ride. After leaving the park, we headed to the actual town
of Warm Springs, cute little place, very “touristy”. Took a little walk and then discovered a small motorcycle museum, but
will have to tour it another time due to our time constraints. Heading out of town, we on our way to Newnan, made famous by
Alan Jackson, and Lewis Gizzard, and a few other folks. Michel, and I needed a little pick me up, so we took a stroll around
the courthouse square, and found a coffee shop. Newnan is beautiful and it has one of the most interesting cemeteries,
Oakview was the name, it seemed like it went on for miles and is deep with history. The courthouse there was one of the
many in the area used as hospitals in the civil war, so there we saw lots of military civil war graves there. Time passing and
daylight burning we had to head out again. Just outside of Newnan, we ran smack dab into a Harley shop well you know we
had to stop. Just opened a year ago, Great South Harley Davidson is a beautiful store, and the staff is very friendly. From
there we headed back to our home base.Some of the interesting places we pasted by were. Jones Grist Mill, built by John
Jones in 1928, the dam was built in 1950s. The buildings date back to the 20th century and were the hub of the surrounding
farming community. We also passed by Flat Shoals river right before the Pike County Line. The current bridge was built in
1955. I find the shoals interesting. The river is broad and slow moving, and the large flat rock outcropping make a natural
bridge, in fact, Flat Shoals river is part of the Okfuskee Trial, a major trade route for the Creek Indians. I am so amazed at the
riding in this area; it is beautiful, second to none as far as I am concerned. The roadside is so full of history. There are old
barns and big farm houses abandoned all along the way, what stories they must hold?
Finally getting back to the Inn, we enjoyed a swim, dinner and then sleep so we could be refreshed for our next days ride.
personal retreat, and the only house he personally owned. He came here often even when he became President, lots of
decisions, speeches written and fireside chats were made there. FDR died there in 1945, while having his portrait painted,
shortly before WW II ended and after 12 years of being president, and guiding us through the depression and WW II. I have
always admired FDR, and his achievements, and being at the Little White House, and learning more about him, reading his
speeches, seeing how he guided us through the depression, putting people to work, and then the struggle through of WW II,
his platform of the 4 freedoms, and most of all his last speech written, but never given, has had a profound affect on me. To
me he was one of our greatest Presidents. Okay, now back to the ride. After leaving the park, we headed to the actual town
of Warm Springs, cute little place, very “touristy”. Took a little walk and then discovered a small motorcycle museum, but
will have to tour it another time due to our time constraints. Heading out of town, we on our way to Newnan, made famous by
Alan Jackson, and Lewis Gizzard, and a few other folks. Michel, and I needed a little pick me up, so we took a stroll around
the courthouse square, and found a coffee shop. Newnan is beautiful and it has one of the most interesting cemeteries,
Oakview was the name, it seemed like it went on for miles and is deep with history. The courthouse there was one of the
many in the area used as hospitals in the civil war, so there we saw lots of military civil war graves there. Time passing and
daylight burning we had to head out again. Just outside of Newnan, we ran smack dab into a Harley shop well you know we
had to stop. Just opened a year ago, Great South Harley Davidson is a beautiful store, and the staff is very friendly. From
there we headed back to our home base.Some of the interesting places we pasted by were. Jones Grist Mill, built by John
Jones in 1928, the dam was built in 1950s. The buildings date back to the 20th century and were the hub of the surrounding
farming community. We also passed by Flat Shoals river right before the Pike County Line. The current bridge was built in
1955. I find the shoals interesting. The river is broad and slow moving, and the large flat rock outcropping make a natural
bridge, in fact, Flat Shoals river is part of the Okfuskee Trial, a major trade route for the Creek Indians. I am so amazed at the
riding in this area; it is beautiful, second to none as far as I am concerned. The roadside is so full of history. There are old
barns and big farm houses abandoned all along the way, what stories they must hold?
Finally getting back to the Inn, we enjoyed a swim, dinner and then sleep so we could be refreshed for our next days ride.
| Saturday August 9, 2008 100 or so miles. Today, we were at odds about where to ride. We were trying to save one of our planned rides, because we are meeting one the guys on the Harley forums tomorrow to ride in the La Grange area. So we started out going towards Griffin, Ga., again the roads are good riding and still I see the old barns, and farms houses abandoned. We did go back by the Jones Grist Mill to get some more pictures. Griffin is small town, named for General Lewis L Griffin. Incorporated in 1843 it is the county seat. Something I didn’t know is, John Doc Holliday was born here. It was only after he contracted tuberculosis did he move out west and became a “cowboy”. He was really a doctor of dentistry, interesting………… We visited the Stonewall cemetery, a Confederate cemetery, and then headed back out on the road, and found our way back to Warm Springs. We stopped and did the tour at the motorcycle museum. Boy, this guy has everything and it covers over a block, and is in many different buildings. One thing of interest is the AMF Harley still in the crate. He even has a motorcycle leather shop there. Today there were motorcycles everywhere. Hungry we went to one of the cafés on the main street had to wait for awhile but it was worth it, the steak sandwich was very good. Discussing what to do next we decided to go to Callaway Gardens, so we headed back to the Inn, thinking we would just pick up our flip flops and change into them when we got there, for comfort. In the room I picked up the gardens brochure, and found that motorcycles are not allowed in the park, pooh……….now what????? Getting on the phone we arrange to be picked up by the shuttle bus. There was one particular thing we did want to see, the birds of prey show. So now we are on our way. We are dropped off at the “discovery center”; there we found out that the shows were done for the day, now what???? We are not hikers, somehow we got on a tram to the butterfly Center, and it was nice but not our cup of tea. Walking out side, we had already decided to ride the tram back to the discovery center, called the shuttle and get back on the bikes and ride. But we spied a couple that looked like they rode bikes. Michel went over and ask them if they rode their bikes in, they said no, they stopped them at the gate, right after they bought their tickets, they rode the shuttle in too, and they were now waiting on it to pick them up. We had a great conversation with them, and hitched a ride on their shuttle, which took us back to the Inn, where we promptly put our boots on and got on the bikes. We headed out for West Point. Again good roads, small towns. Finally we got back to Pine Mountain and stopped in at a local restaurant for supper, had a good steak. After that we headed back to the room, and just hung out for the rest of the evening, ready for tomorrows adventure. |
| Sunday August 10, 2008 around 200 miles Today is our last day in this area. Michel and I took a ride over to La Grange, specifically the town square, where they have a beautiful fountain and statue of Marquis de LaFayette, who was an officer in the French Royal Army. La Fayette, came to America when he learned of the struggle of the Americans in their endeavor to secure their independence. He was welcomed by the congress and they commissioned him a major general. He played an important part in Americas successful fight for freedom. The statue is an exact replica of the one in LePuy France, and the town of LaGrange is named after LaFayette’s ancestral home. We left LaGrange and headed down some nice riding roads into Newnan, then it was time to meet up with Michel’s friend Lee from the Harley forum. Meeting just outside of Westpoint, we headed off to get some lunch at a restaurant just inside Alabama. When we finished, Lee suggested we ride to Westpoint lake. It is a lovely area and I enjoyed the scenery. West Point Lake is a 26,900 acre reservoir made from the Chattahoochee River, and the Westpoint Dam. The interesting thing is there is no development around the lake, only camp grounds, and marinas. The area around the lake is owned by Georgia Power Co. and the lake is about 40 years. It was getting late so we saddled up, said our goodbyes to Lee and his wife, and headed back to Pine Mountain. We ate dinner at the Inn, got showered up and began to pack up for the trip home. |
| Monday August 11, 2008 317 miles We had planned to get up at around 700am, but for some reason, we didn’t hear the alarm, so it was about 800am when we got up! Since we had packed most of our stuff up the night before, it didn’t take long to get ready, and we were soon on our way home. Traveling south on 27, we traveled through Hamilton and Cataula, so many roads so little time. At Cataula, we turned on 315 traveling southeast. At Ellaville we got on the Andersonville Trail or 228. Our plans were to tour Andersonville National Historic Site. This park has the National Prisoner of War Museum, the Andersonville National Cemetery and the prison site. Michel and I spent more than 2 hours here. The Prisoner of war museum covers the history of all POWs from the civil war all the way to Iraq freedom. It gave me a better understanding of the price of freedom. The movie, displays and artifacts that I experience there impounds that understanding. The national cemetery was established on July 1865, and serves as a final resting place of honor for deceased veterans. There are 13,800 civil war interments of this 500 are unknowns. At this time there are 18,000 interments in the cemetery. The Andersonville prison site, was also know as Ft Sumter. It was the largest military prisons and it was built in 1864. During the 14 months the prison existed 45,000 union soldiers were confined here, 13,000 died from disease, overcrowding, and exposure. Initially the prison covered about 16 acres but was expanded to 26 acres. In Sept 1864 most of the prisoners were moved to other locations. At the wars end Capt Henry Wirz the stockade commander was arrested, and was tried and hanged, although most of the charges, of war crimes were only a conspiracy. Folks this historical park is worth the visit. The grounds are beautiful, and so peaceful. The little town of Andersonville is interesting, as it has been restored to look like a civil war town. Andersonville was named for the superintendent for Georgia south west railroad John W Anderson, who came to the area in 1854. After we left the park, we traveled again south on 49 passing through Americus, then on 19 to Albany, and then on home. We arrived home at about 800pm. We had a great trip, and can’t wait until the next one. Until then JUST GET OUT AND RIDE Marcia |
River walk Columbus, Ga
River walk Columbus, Ga
River walk Columbus, Ga
| At first glance we thought this was a real person. |
| css Jackson at the museum |
| Pictures on the wall at the museum |
| Pictures on the wall at the museum |
| Pictures on the wall at the museum |
warm spings, ga
little white house
| andersonville national historic site |
chattahoocee Harley Davidson Columbus, Ga
little white house warm springs, Ga
marcia at the little white house warm springs, Ga
president roosevelt
| This is one of my favorite pictures. It is of Jones grist mill. It is just a few miles from gay, Ga. For a neat little trip click on the US Department of Transportation icon here |
| netnan court house |
| Downtown LaGrange |
| Oak hill cemetery Downtown LaGrange |
| Intersection Sr & sr-219 south of LaGrange west of pine mountain,Ga |
| Our last day we met up with Lee and his wife, and they took us to a great restaurant and then for a nice ride around West point lake |
| andersonville, Ga we are just in front of the museum looking in town looking across the street. |
| Above: Marcia inside the museum downtown andersonville. Left: up on the hill looking over the prison at the national historic park. Below view of the grave yard. |
| Above national historic site, andersonville, Ga below we seen this sign that said historic marker so we turned down the road to check it out, this is where Lindbergh's first solo flight. |
| Warm Springs motorcycle museum |