Stage 5: Georgia

Today, the goal is to ride GA Route 2 through Fort Mountain State Park, and then GA Route 60 through Cohutta National Forest.  Brendan really liked this area the last time he was out here, and he thinks I'll be impressed.

Yeah.  I think he's right.

Mountains!

 Now we're talking...

 No traffic, no law enforcement, no worries!

These roads are amazing.  Until today, the only twisty roads I'd been on were in Texas, and while they are great roads, they don't really compare to this.

After riding all day and working up an appetite, we stopped at a small crossroads gas station to see where we might be able to get some food.  Real food, not fast food crap, something local, not a chain.  According to the GPS, we weren't terribly far from a BBQ joint., so we headed down towards Dahlonega, Ga.

Now, before I left on this trip I went through the effort to update my Garmin's maps to a new 2013 version.  I knew that there would likely be plenty of places where I wouldn't have cell coverage, rendering my phone and Google Maps useless.  So when the POI said "BBQ nearby", I believed it.

You can imagine our frustration when 15 miles later we round the corner and instead of seeing a restaurant on the left side of the road, we see a public boat ramp and the Lake Zwerner beach.  Pull over....  strike 1.

Oh well, let's just backtrack to the motorcycle shop we passed on the way in, their sign said there was a cafe inside.  Uturn, backtrack about 8 miles, pull into the shop's parking lot.  The cafe's sign says they closed 30 minutes ago.  Strike 2.

It's rather warm outside, and we're tired, hot and hungry.  The cashier for the motorcycle shop says there's a bunch of stuff not too far away, and there's even a local BBQ place - go past the lake, turn right, turn left, and it's right there.

The gear goes back on.... and we go down the road, past the lake (again!), turn right, turn left, and it really is right there!

And, it's closed.  Strike 3.  Screw this, I'm done.  I'm going across the highway to the Subway.

I'm about to drop into gear and pull off when Brendan sees a greasy spoon with an older Harley Davidson parked outside.  We ride by to see if they're open, and if not, it's on the way to Subway.

This guy gets around, I bet he knows good food when he finds it

They are open!  We collapse into our seats and before we know what's happening, sweet iced tea, and a basket of rolls and cornbread muffins is placed in front of us.  Southern restaurant hospitality at its finest.

We go all in, and it's absolutely delicious.  Ribs, BBQ chicken, mac and cheese, and broccoli & cauliflower casserole.

Food coma in 3, 2, ...

Between the heat and the roads we'd ridden, we're both pretty tired, and it's getting late.  Vogel State Park isn't very far, so we decide to call it an early day.

We take US 19 North out of Dahlonega into the mountains. It's a glorious end to the day, climbing up the side of Blood Mountain on smooth, fast, 3 and 4 lane sweepers, and no traffic yet again.

Everything seems to come together.  The light is perfect, our motorbikes reverberate off the hills.  I drop down two gears into 3rd and play a bit, chasing Brendan up the highway.  We both carve wide lines across the northbound lanes, apexing late and aggressively leaning into the turns.  My Honda is in its element now, surefooted and revved up in the power band, linked brakes scrubbing off speed without complaint, the 1300cc V4 singing proudly through the Delkevic exhaust.

I was almost disappointed to arrive at the campsite.  Then I saw how amazing it was. Before this trip, I never would have believed I would be camping some where this beautiful for a whopping $6 a night.

The stream?  About 25 yards from our tents.  Ice cold, and it felt great on my tired feet.

The sun is fading fast, and the traffic on US 129 has picked up - we can hear it echoing off the mountain down into our campsite.  Inline 4 cylinder engines rocket past, no doubt the work of other riders on their way home after a day of playing in the mountains.  V-twins rumble by, and between all the bikes and the occasional car, I can still hear some birds singing their last songs for the evening.  The stream is the primary background noise, and I sit in my tent listening to it as the last light fades.

I turn off my LED light and fall asleep.

Life is good.