Four miles into the ride, I was pleased to see a sign for the Chattahoochee River (in part because of Alan Jackson's song, in part because it's darned purdy, and in part because it marked our entry into Georgia.) I did notice that the water wasn't that muddy, though. I also liked the sign saying "We're glad Georgia is on your mind."
This morning (and in fact all day) was a blast, flying through the Georgia countryside under overcast skies, cruising down and up huge rollers, and, for a while, hammering along with Alan Stokes and Greg Lester.
We had lunch on the grounds of the Andersonville Civil War Prison and Prisoner of War Museum. The beautiful forest and rolling lawns make it incredibly difficult to fathom the atrocities which occurred there.
Camp Sumter, commonly called Andersonville, was one of the largest military prisons established by the Confederacy during the Civil War. In existence for 14 months, over 45,000 Union soldiers were confined at the prison. Of these, almost 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, and exposure to the elements. The largest number held in the 26½-acre stockade at any one time was more than 32,000, during August of 1864. Today the beauty of the prison site belies the suffering that once took place inside the stockade.
John Lloyd managed to miss this prison and tried to meet us for lunch at the Macon State Prison up the road. Apparently, he couldn't make it past security to the "visitor center."
Melissa, who fell a few days ago and was given crutches, rode her bike just shy of 90 miles today, noting that she feels better on the bike than off it - a common sentiment among PacTour riders, I've found. It actually reminded me of the tough-as-nails and generally upbeat approach of the riders on our tour. A few days ago when we slogged for over 8 hours in complete tropical downpours, I honestly didn't hear a single complaint from anybody. If anything, I saw more smiles and heard more laughs than I had in a while. Nice.
The skies gradually cleared up, and Jason and I rolled into the town of Perry, Georgia. The 111 mile ride took 6 hours today.
Well, we're in the Eastern Time Zone, and about 204 miles from our destination - Tybee Island, Georgia.
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