MadMaps "Bridging the Past" ride, mostly

Last Saturday I rode most of the MadMaps Bridging the Past ride from their Get Outta Town - Atlanta, GA map. I've ridden three of the five "scenic rides" on this map now and this was my least favorite, more on that later.

The ride starts in Athens, GA, home of the UGA Bull Dogs. My planning was a little off as there was quite a bit of traffic from students moving back in after summer vacation.

Once I got away from the city though, I came to the two lanes I had been looking for:







The first stop, or side trip as MadMaps calls them, was to Watson Mill State Park home of the longest covered bridge in GA. Some of the pictures show the effects of the drought we've been having.










A little further down the road was the Mud Creek General Store.



Not long after this the ride turned into four-lane highway, not really what I was looking for. I decided to take a detour.

This area in North GA was the home of the United State's first gold rush.





At this point I was on my way towards "Alpine" Helen, GA. A great place to go for Oktoberfest, but I wasn't in the mood for a bratwurst so this is as close as I got.





Just outside of Helen is the Nacoochee Mound.





From here I headed south and back home, about 320 miles on the day.

Ride to Rock City

Here are some pictures I took today on my trip to Ruby Falls in Tennessee. I took the back roads, so all told it was about 250 miles round trip. It threatened rain a couple times but I never had more than a couple drops (good thing since I didn't take my rain gear).

You can click on the images to see the full size.

Somewhere on GA-136:



Somewhere on GA-157:



In a neighborhood where lots are being sold on GA-157 (I forgot the name!):



Ruby Falls:




Welcome home!