Heading for Atlanta

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John's Journal

Day Twelve

Mileage- 353 miles

Route- I-65 North, I-85 North, I-285 East to Lilburn, GA

Another great night sleep. I love waking up then falling back to sleep, again. I was up until around midnight trying to help my cousin's computer, but to no avail. I only hope I didn't leave it more of a mess.

I was taken on a tour of Mobile this morning. It was really nice! Many, many trees all over the city and several parks in the neighborhoods. The downtown area is going through a re-birth. Actual families are moving back downtown into some old restored homes. Businesses, too, are coming back; there?s a brew pub, coffee shops, restaurants, etc... Really beautiful.

We drove around some of the great neighborhoods and saw some of the most amazing trees I have ever seen. These live oak trees are all over. The canopy over the street making it look wonderful. We saw one, I think it was called the McDuffy Oak, that was spectacular. It sprawled real low and wide just inviting one to walk up onto its branches. Most of my friends know that I love to climb trees, and this one would have been perfect. But, I had some roads to go travel.

The route along I-65 was really quite nice. Many, many trees lining the highway. The clouds looked ominous, but I have only had a small scattering of drops, nothing, really, at all. At a few points the road goes up an incline to go over some body of water (lakes and rivers) and the view is just wonderful. You can look out over several miles of trees and over the calm waters of the river or lake.

One of the great things about stopping to see relatives is that you get wonderful home-cooked meals. I even was sent away this morning with a packed lunch (with 3 cookies!). That made for a nice stop along the way.

I felt that I was almost back home upon approaching Atlanta. Well, it was the traffic that did it. Approach any big city around rush hour and if you have commuted to work for any length of time will understand. It actually wasn't that bad, my cousins had me bypass most of the ugly backup by coming around the city.

So, I had hoped to pull in around 6pm or so, but was around an hour and a half late, I think. I missed one of the turns, really the only time so far I had to call for directions. See, guys are proud of this stuff, because, as legend goes, they never ask for directions, so when they can find their way without asking, that's great.

Anyway, dinner was practically ready and waiting for me as soon as I stepped off the bike. My cousin Nancy and her husband Mike were happy to see me and Nancy snapped a photo just as I got off the bike. I elected to keep the helmet on, due to the proverbial Helmet Head that occurs. Those that ride and those who I have worked with after riding into work will understand why.

I cannot believe that I missed all the nasty weather once again! Mike said they had hail yesterday. Wow! That sure would have been fun. (Yes, Mom, I would have pulled over and not tried to ride during the hailstorm.) I know that I am going to encounter some bad weather at some point. I certainly have been through some bad stuff before on trips, right Jan?

After dinner, we sat around and talked about family and just caught each other up on news. I won't bore you with the details, don't worry. I did show them the web site, however. It was great to poke around again and see the great pictures and links for the New Orleans part! Man, that did capture some of the great people out there, sure wish we had heard more music. There was just so much.

Well, enough rambling. I know some of this cannot possibly be interesting to any of you, but what are you gonna do? I have control...hey, wait, no I don't...Patrick does, doesn't he. Uh, oh! I hope he doesn't censor me, I better work on making this better.

Tomorrow, I sleep in, look up my friend, Gary (the provider of the lovely picture of me), have dinner with my Aunt Jane and who knows what else. . .

G'night!