Slept quietly up at end of road. inside of Windshield had about 13″ ice which says it cold pretty cold last night. Morning warmed up & ice melted after bfast cleanup. Helps that windshield was pointed into warming sun.

Drove over to Interstate 75 to make tracks for Ocala ride @ 4:00. Saw cotton fields:

Allowed GPS to land me in the parking lot of santos Trailhead bicycles. The brake part is being mailed here. Weak store.

Shop mngr & I tried to spin the brake adjuster on both brakes but to no avail.

Grocery shopped @ Publix & drove back to TH for Santos. Decided to spring for a paid campsite for a secure city place to stay & a shower afterwards.

Rob showed up while I was completing the registration. His bud, Rich arrived.

Off to ride Santos, another IMBA epic. Rob lead & Rich get me up close. Trails all hand made, twisty w/ lots of turn berms so I could take outside line & rail the berm. sandy to hard limestone tread w/ roots in the trees. Rob has worked on the trails for like 14 years. A trail system utilizes a limestone pit for short tight up & downs. 13 miles in little more than 1 1/2 hours. Total elevation gain was 730′. Vortex around pit is technical. Limestone rock feels like slick rock but with a slightly slippery feel. Finished just before too dark. They left for home & I left for attached XG.

Cold again tonight. Shower is not heated very well. Shower was almost like the Jim Thorpe shower of hyperthermia in the shower. But this shower stayed on and had hot h20.

XG is alongside a major highway so I pick up distant traffic.

Tomorrow I will ride some more of the trails. Rob might have some time off and he would do a longer ride here.

I am told I need to drive further South to Alafia River because their trails are super.

Van got 29.1 mpg after sensor light problem resolved. Smoking good.

FL is cold. h2o spigots are cracked open in the xg.

Sometime during the night a tractor was maneuvering very close by that woke me up.

Fixed pancakes for bfast, cup of cold brewed coffee, & yogurt completed the table. Normal bfast chores completed off to dealership for sensor installation. Val said that Egolf did not go far enough in their repair or they would have discovered this sensor. She guaranteed the problem has been fixed.

Drove back highways to Macon. Zysk, I drove around Montecello per your suggestion. It was a mix of old w/ new. Old well taken care of big frame houses. Town square that routes traffic around the periphery w/ stop lights.

Saw this old house back a red dirt road. Venture property:

Used gps to pin point Macon’s Pig Trail. Got pretty close because there is no street address. Rode out just guessing the trail. Single track, hand built, serpentine over roots, some small ups & downs. Played thru planted rows of pine trees. Tried following a number sequence but  maybe several numbers were torn down that kept getting me on a loop. Ended up riding back out the same way. Not a flowey trail, demanded handling skills to remain upright. Enjoyed having to deal w/ rough tread. That would be the cat’s meoow if the machine built trails could have roots & rocks on the tread.

Sunny ride but windy & getting into 40s.

Listened to inauguration on XM. Obama is a eloquent motivating speaker. May America rise up.

Observation:

Former child of the 60s, white, traveling in Georgia, listening to a black man sworn in as president of US. Public protest got the troops out of Vietnam sooner than a black man elected president. But protest & realization that what we were doing was wrong and we changed. May Obama lead America to other heights.

Drove S on US 129 to Hawkinsville. Found a dead end paved road leading up hill between a motel & restaurant. Chilly again. It snowed in Thomson this AM.

Drove past The Allman Brothers Band Museum right on main drag. Also passed Carl Sandburg’ s memorial.

Macon is home of Thomson seat posts & stems. I ran out of time to visit this go.

Tomorrow I drive down to Santos, FL to meet up w/ Rob & Rick on Santos trails. A bit warmer would be enjoyed.

Comfortable night. Woke to alarm to make Sprinter service appointment.

Last night gambled w/ FS camping permit that was good till midnight last night. Had story to tell in case. No act had to be performed.

Short drive to dealership. Met w/ Val & she had her way w/ my van. Found ambient sensor needs to be replaced but has to be shipped from Atlanta, be installed tomorrow. Its all good.

Did wash. Found 2 bike shops in Augusta 30 miles away to go visit & tourist the day away. Augusta’s downtown is rotten. Big shops were small & lacking.

Checked yellow pages for shower. Found a health club. Called, explained my situation & asked if I could buy a shower. Guy said come on down, ask for Louis, & maybe he will give you a free guest pass. Drove downtown and Louis did just that.

Found UHaul dealer for propane. Gotta watch consumption to assure sufficient supply. Heater on high burns a bit.

Drove back to Thomson. Found large gravel parking lot just off main drag. And it is a transient tractor trailer parking lot. Hopefully no refers or idling engines.

Bill emailed Rob, his Santos contact who emailed me back. Setting up ride for later this week after red flag warning is hopefully expired. Rob sent me on to Wes for the Alafia River trails further south.

Lots of good things happening. Thanks all.

Bill turned me onto “Expertsgps.com” for mapping gps routes on topo maps which can then be shared via jpeg and you do not have to have an account to view them. The map quality is way better directly from NGS TOPO! maps.

New interview posting on:

http://www.mtbresource.com

Going to ride Macon, GA tomorrow for 34th state.

Off to clean bed & visions of quiet running 18 wheelers.