So this past weekend Savannah was the choice, approximately 290 miles from our house on "two lanes only", traveling through the South East corner of GA. So here is a bit about the ride, roads, places to eat, stay, bikes and gear. May I also say this was Jeannie's first time in Savannah.
We left our house and used the usual roads to get out of town heading eastward (141 South, Sharon Road, McGinnis Ferry, 317 and finally 316 towards Athens GA.
Before we reached Athens we headed southeast on GA 53 towards Watkinsville, the temps started around 39 degrees. I have been wearing my Bellstaff Jacket this winter since with the liner is a very warm jacket, my Frank Thomas pants came out of the closet and with the liner also its a great pair of pants. Jeannie is more of a layers rider, she likes her SIDI over pants over her Jeans and her Joe Rocket jacket over a long sleeve shirt. We were both warm, but within the first hour we were ready for a break and some coffee. Golden Arches it is, free WiFi and not so free hot coffee.
From Watkinsville we headed southeast on GA 15 which is a great road through the Oconee National Forest, once in Greensboro we got on US 278 East and headed towards towns like Union Point, Crawfordville and Warrenton. In Warrenton we got on GA 80 and headed southeast again towards towns like Wrens and Waynesboro.
We try to stop every hour when we are riding (1 hour 15 minutes the most) that way you don't get so tired and you can enjoy the stop, we also decided to stay away from bypasses always choosing the "Business" route into town, we want to see the town, granted we have had some disappointments, but we have had some really nice places as well, Waynesboro GA (pictured below) downtown was very nice.
From Waynesboro we headed south on US 25, here is the 4 lane example, US 25 is a 4 lane road but a very nice road, and its no interstate :) . Outside of Millen GA we took a left turn and headed east again on GA 21 towards Sylvania, and we were very glad that we took the Business route, as the downtown here was a delight. GA 21 at this point took us all the way down to Savannah approaching the City from the North East corner.
Now I would like to mention this for the fellow riders reading this blog, as you get down closer to Savannah there is a gas station (chain? franchise?) Enmark, these are great stations, new, clean, lots of options, every one of them has a sandwich deli place as well as fried chicken and fish, its freshly made when you order it, and there is room to sit and eat. At this point it was 14:30 in the afternoon and Jeannie and I had not stopped for lunch, so we snacked on some fish and chicken and it was quiet delicious, better than some larger franchise places out there.
We arrived in Savannah quite early, and GA 21 merges into US 80 which is also West/East Bay street, our hotel, Holiday Inn Express, was on the corner of East Bay St. and Abercorn St. it was an old building that had been re-done and the entire hotel was very nice. Because we arrived so early we decided to take a ride down to Tybee Island, the ride was nice the afternoon sun was just at the right height and the marsh land that is that area had great color, Jeannie was quite impressed with it and thought it was very interesting terrain. In Tybee we just actually did the obligatory photo of the Atlantic Ocean on US 80 and returned to our Hotel.
The hotel was on East Bay street so the block behind the Savannah River and the river walk area which was great, they were nice enough to let us park our bikes against the wall right in the load/unload area of the hotel, saved us some money for parking as you will be required if you drive your car. From this point we spend the next few hours exploring the parks and restaurants and places around our hotel, as well as the river walk area. The usual places were visited, Johnson Square, River Walk Candy store, Wet Willies for a nice cold beverage, and eventually dinner. I am not going to get into dinner, I think the Yelp review I left for the restaurant we went to was enough, terrible.
Here are the bikes on their sleeping quarters :)
The river and river walk is beyond the trees.
Reynolds Square behind our hotel
I bit of information I did not know this is the state capitol, because once Savannah was Georgia's Capital City.
The Savannah Convention Center across the river, we also discovered that the ferries that run from one side to the other are free.
River walk pointing south.
River walk pointing north, what you see in the distance is the Savannah Port.
We could not have asked for better weather as well as a better destination, Savannah has a lot to offer and we could stay an extra day and enjoy walking around, but after a nice dinner and a restful night it is time to head back home.
The way home was different, but just as exciting, I have to do a better job at taking pictures of our way back home, and stop worrying so much about getting back home, but we enjoyed the route as well, we left Savannah on US 80 and passed cities like Pooler, Bloomingdale, Statesboro, Swainsboro, and Dublin. In Dublin we headed north on US 441 to Milledgeville. From there GA 212 takes us through the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge and its a great road. In Monticello we catch GA 11 North, GA 11 from Monticello to Bethlehem is always a treat but this time around we took a different way into town, GA 142 to US 278 to GA 142 again until it dead ends on GA 81 through Covington, GA 81 takes us through Loganville and US 78 where we catch GA 20 and head into Grayson, Lawrenceville and eventually home.
Below is a snapshot of both of our routes;
The Way Down:
The Way Up:
This was a great week ride, we are already planning our next one. Jeannie is racking up the miles on her bike and I am very proud of her she is getting better and better. My R1200 GS Adventure performed flawlessly, love the bike.
Till next time!!. Thanks for keeping up with us.
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