With 159 counties, Georgia has about 30 counties more than Alabama and Florida combined. In fact, it’s second only to Texas for the most counties in the entire US. This explains why instead of being the second or third state I finished, it ended up being the fourth state despite being the state I ride in the most (behind Alabama). It makes sense, though, because the southeastern parts of Georgia are farther away than almost the entire eastern half of Mississippi and much of the panhandle of Florida – the two states (besides Alabama) that I finished first.

With the start of classes only a few days away, and department meetings during the week, I did not have much time to squeeze this in. In fact, in a perfect world, I would have waited to ride through the remaining 22 counties I was missing in eastern and southeastern Georgia on the way to our Savannah summer vacation spot over the next few years. But, it’s not a perfect world. The hostility I face on the bike is increasing every day. The number of people driving cars is increasing every day. People drive faster and faster as the police’s ability to enforce traffic laws is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of traffic and the “will of the people” demanding higher speeds. You can see where all these paths are heading. There is no guarantee about tomorrow. And to be this close to finishing Georgia, I didn’t want to leave it to chance.

Back to the ride itself, I headed home after an afternoon meeting on Wednesday and went to bed by about 5pm with the goal of leaving the house by about 8pm to try to start riding by 2am (5 hour drive plus timezone change). It was in the low 40s when I pulled off the interstate crossed over to an empty right next to an onramp where a couple trucks were parked. I opted for the edge of the lot (instead of the on-ramp) after double checking to make sure I wasn’t blocking any entrances to a field or farm behind the lot. I got everything ready and headed out dressed for 40 degree weather.

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