Yulee to Folkston

April 12, 2015

This was going to be an easy day, just 47 miles, so we took a leisurely breakfast at Missy's Kitchen, which was conveniently located adjacent to the motel, and pushed off around 9:15. The first two miles were through the same construction zone we had encountered coming into town, so we took the right lane and held a steady pace. No horn blowing or yelling at us on this quiet Sunday morning. And after getting west of the I-95 interchange, it got even quieter.

Today's ride to Folkston

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A1A, also known in these parts as FL-200, is lined for this length almost entirely by tall, straight pine trees, with the Nassau Wildlife Management Area to the north and the Four Creeks State Forest to the south. The very wide A1A — four lanes, six where they've added turn lanes, plus the shoulder width and future right-of-way — really cuts a swath through what would otherwise be very pleasant riding. Obviously we (as cyclists) are part of that swath, as we had a nice shoulder width to ride the whole way to Callahan, about 15 miles.

We rode pretty hard too, averaging about 13.5 mph till we got to Callahan, a somewhat sleepy former railroad town now dominated by a Winn-Dixie and a CVS. We took a break near what I think was the former town center adjacent to the railroad tracks.

West of Callahan, the roads we were on were narrower and quieter still. River Road starts out well shaded but eventually becomes fairly straight with a well-set-back tree line. That was a little disappointing after the shaded teaser. Fortunately, it was an overcast day (rain was predicted), so we were not exposed to much sun, but the humidity was high.

Pine trees along the way. These appear planted for harvesting.

We also started hitting some of our first "real" hills that weren't pretending to be causeway bridges.

Happy on a descent with a real hill up ahead (a baby hill, but a hill nonetheless). Note the wide berth given us by the SUVs! This was atypical and typical, as traffic was very light.

A real hill - a roller type, except it was the only one. But it felt good to get out of the flats.

We finally reached the Georgia state line late in the ride after crossing the St Marys River (the location of the actual state line).

From there, it was an easy four miles to Folkston; however, we were back on a busy road. Get this: US-1, US-23, and US-301, AND GA-4, and GA-15, all designated on the same road! That must be a record! It also had rumble strips built into the shoulder, so we had to carefully white line it all the way into town.

We grabbed eats at Jalen's Bar-B-Q and Grill, where we were served up pork barbecue sandwiches and grilled okra by Mr. Jalen himself. Yummy. He promised fried chicken for dinner tonight, so we'll be back.

And no rain! Not until we were ready to head the 1/2 mile to our hotel.

The proverbial "cats and dogs" does not do this storm justice.

So we returned to the grill and decided to have a beer . . . only to discover Folkston is a dry town on Sundays! Well, you can't have it all, I guess. We waited it out and rode to the Relax Inn in the dry — in more ways than one!

Today's ride: 46 miles (74 km)
Total: 826 miles (1,329 km)

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