Day 4 – Make-up Day

86 miles was the original plan for today but because of the shortened day yesterday we needed to put the pedal to the metal and go a good bit more than the original plan. We got off to our earliest start (7:30) which was great because it allowed us to get many miles out of the way before the heat really set in. We saw many orchards including peaches, which I expected to see, but this one of pecans was especially interesting (okay interesting may be a strong word for a bunch of trees in rows).

About 20 miles in we met our second opportunity to see if our pepper spray really worked. First let me give you a little background. When I first got into biking I had the idea, and told people many times, that “if a dog can run 20 mph he deserves to catch me. What an ignoramus I was. Dogs are fast. Territorial dogs are faster! Mean territorial dogs are fastest of all and will seemingly stop at nothing (not even 20 mph) to snack upon a tasty morsel of human leg. Okay enough background. I have still not trained myself to grab for my pepper spray first instead of pedaling like a mad man to get away (that probably makes them laugh inside while they sized me up to decide which part to eat first). We had just finished a moderate hill when the deep bark of a large dog came from behind this house. We both, a little out of breath, turned to see a large dog coming after us. I stepped on the gas to go while Dad wisely grabbed his pepper spray (we were not going to out this dog and as I had already gotten a head start on Dad he was not going to out run me). I turned back just in time to see the dog putting all four legs in front of him and stiff as boards to avoid a steady stream of pepper spray. Dad and I decided that he must have been sprayed before because we were not sure that Dad had actually gotten him with the spray.
LESSON LEARNED – It is much better to give than receive, meaning, it is better give spray than to be on the receiving end of a dogs teeth!!

We made a quick stop for an ice cream bar and were quickly back on the road. We both felt great and the sun was behind the clouds for much of the rest of the morning. We have not seen any effects of the fires except for smoke, as you can see in this hazy picture.

Lunch time was planned and the girls met us in Thomaston, GA at the, you guessed it, Dairy Queen (yes this makes 3 days out of 4) and had an ice cold lemonade, peanut butter sandwich, and ice cream (for the kids).

After a quick fill of the Camelbaks with ice and water we were back on the road. We thought about doing 85 more which would put us at 140 for the day. Maybe a little aggressive but off we went nonetheless. Greenville, GA provided us with these nice pictures of a court house and old plantation.


My brother Joseph and family are planning to join us tonight and stay for two nights. 85 miles after lunch ended up in deed being too much so we cut it back to 55, which brought the days total to 115. This only brought us about 20 miles short of our campsite so the girls again very graciously waited for us and drove us to the campsite. A fantastic day and we should be caught up by the end of the week!

There are many paradoxes in life that we use in our everyday speech like “Good grief” and others. Well, as we came through the town of Newnan, GA I saw maybe the most paradoxical bit of English I had ever seen in my life in the name of this restaurant. Enjoy!!