The plan for the following day (3-18)
was to ride from Toccoa to Dahlonega – about 50 miles.
The 50 to 60 mile range will be about the best we can do across the rest of
Georgia as well. We got a good look at “why”
shortly after leaving Toccoa. First, there
was a climb of about three miles (elevation gain of maybe 700 feet), then a great look at
part of the southern Appalachians, which we will have to cross. I don’t know about Gene, but it did my heart
good to see mountains again after a couple of months of flatlands.
We had a couple of other climbs today
as well, but still managed to average over 11 mph, which I thought was very good. We pulled into Dahlonega about 4:00pm and found
another motel. It’s supposed to be cold
tonight, with some possibility of rain. Rain
is definitely in the forecast for tomorrow and Monday (also cold weather). After that, it’s back to springtime.
We passed through the town of
Cleveland today and unexpectedly found out that it is the home of BabyLand General
Hospital, the birthplace of the original (soft face) Cabbage Patch Kids. The “hospital” is actually the former
town hospital, and has some of the original hospital equipment including incubators
(complete with “premies”) on display. We
took the hospital tour, which ends at the gift shop, but resisted all temptation to adopt
one of the cute little kids.
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
