Three Days of AL and GA Bike Trail Rides

While camping at Ft. Pickens, Randy searched out this Chief Ladiga Rail to Trail in AL not far out of our way en route back home.  He found a campground right at the west end of the 33 mile long trail in Anniston where we camped after riding about 24 miles round trip.

It's not terribly scenic and is mostly flat and straight, but it has these city names over the trail when you pedal through.  We went through Anniston, Weaver, Jacksonville on the first ride, and then started in Piedmont and went to the GA/AL state line.

Where we camped alone in the campground during a very stormy night, just 60 miles east of Birmingham where a tornado hit and was on the ground for 3 miles.  I thank the Lord for His protection that long, almost sleepless night.

Putting our bikes back up on the rack after the ride

Starting our second day on the Chief Ladiga trail in Piedmont.  We missed about 5 miles in the middle of the trail since we couldn't find a place to park to get back on where we turned around the day before.

It was much more scenic like this and wooded on the last 10 miles at the east end and more remote.  We biked 34 miles round trip on Tuesday, Jan. 26.

Here at the state line we talked to a couple men who'd biked the Silver Comet trail for about 8 miles, from Cedartown, GA.  They told us how peaceful the trail was and convinced us to ride it the next day instead of going to some mountain bike trails in Little Canyon National Preserve near Centre, AL.  We figured the heavy rain would have turned mtn. bike trails into a muddy mess.  

The back side of the sign - GA side's 61.5 mile Silver Comet Trail that starts in Smyrna and ends here.

Lunch break - the only place to sit down for the several miles that we biked.

Scenery along the Silver Comet Trail that we biked on Wednesday after it quit raining.  We camped in Rockmart, GA at Beautiful Rock Campground across the road from the Silver Comet.  It was NOT picture worthy. . .

We biked from the 35 mile marker in Rockmart to almost 50 when we turned around so we could get back before it rained, and in time to shower, and head for home.

This part of the trail has a lot of hills, but no sweat with our e-bikes.  I wouldn't enjoy it so much on my old bike!

This wooden bridge was very wet on our way out, and we didn't even notice these signs.  The bridge curves and in the corner Randy's bike went boom - and so did he!  I watched it happen and was so thankful he jumped right up and got back on the bike after noting that his mirror was broken off.  His shoulder and ribs hit hard so are still reminding him of that hard fall.  

My speedometer at the end of our Silver Comet round-trip ride of 30 miles. We biked a total of about 300 miles on our 2-week trip, and the verdict is in - we LOVE our new Rad Rover e-bikes!  Can't wait to explore more trails on them when it gets a little warmer.

 

Jan 13-25 Camping/Biking Trip to Fort Pickens

the night before we left home, snugging up the cover on the bikes.

Gulf Islands National Seashore, Fort Pickens

We biked the road from our campground out to Pensacola Beach (9 miles) most every day.

Most evenings found me losing to Randy at one game or another. . .

Meals are simple when we camp - Spanish rice with avocado, red beans and tomatoes, peas, and fresh cauliflower. That's as complicated as they got.  More often it was Progresso soup and sandwiches with fresh veggies.

We even had smoothies thanks to our new Magic Bullet from Amy n Jeremy.

We hiked the trails around Ft. Pickens and saw lots of Great Blue Herons and even an armadillo, but he didn't hang around for a picture.

We only biked on the beach once. We decided it would be better for the bikes to stay out of the sand.

I loved the colorful houses across from the Gulf.

Backed up to the bay

This Life is Good shirt is perfect for Randy - it says "Play outdoors" - a Christmas gift I got him that just arrived the day before our trip.

Hiking over the dunes in the campgrounds to the bay.

We explored the fort that was used in the 1800 and 1900's

Biking along the beach real estate in Pens. Beach

The second day there we biked all the way through Pens. Beach down to the Santa Rosa area where the road was closed due to hurricane damage - which made a 34 mile return trip. 

We enjoyed the wide bike path in the Santa Rosa area of the National Seashore that went for 7 miles.

We bucked a headwind all 17 miles back to our campground.  These sand formations along the road were created during the time we were gone.

Sabbath afternoon Dorisann and Ray (cousins) came out to visit with us.  

See Jaggy cuddled up in Ray's scarf?

Trekking the National Parks winner - most every game

Smarty pants .  . . again

This is a statue I read about on this trip in a new book by Kathie Lee.  The guy was her first love.  He taught surfing in Pensacola Beach and was a world surfing champion.  He gave his heart to God in his 20's and then brought several surfers to Jesus over the years.  

We had temps in the 40s to 60s during our 12 days there.

Didn't need much sunscreen!

We played more Splendor than any other game.

See our rig just right of center, next to the little van?  It was a nice campsite, C-37.

A quick picture before heading out on a ride

Pensacola Beach was a favorite spot for a bike seat break and lunch.  Notice we were sitting on a blanket to soften the seat.  

These picnic shelters along the Gulf shore also provided a break from the saddle sores.

He's a good roaster.

Even though we made them over the stove our last night, they still were yummy. The mosquitoes were too hungry to fight we decided.

The last 5 nights were on E34.  The trailer to the left in the picture was a family with 6 very well-mannered kids, a home schooling family, who left their home in MI in October, and will get back in July.  He's been working remotely since October, and their mom was their teacher. We told them how impressed we were with their mannerly behavior and helpfulness, etc.  

We left before sunrise to head  north to AL on Mon., Jan. 25.  What a beautiful parting sunrise we enjoyed.