Day 5 -- on the road again
(I'm slowly getting my photos from the trip up on the Millennium Highway Facebook page and also my Flickr page.)
After an evening of being stuck at the Days Inn on Fair Road in Statesboro, Ga., I was taken back to the garage to find that my vehicle repairs were well underway. The lady at the counter, who had been so helpful, told me she had been after them to get me back on the road as soon as possible. And yea verily, about 23 hours after my breakdown, I was back behind the wheel. I made a short loop to ensure that everything was in working order, and to get some photos of a few old US 25/301 signs I'd seen when the garage courier brought me back to the garage from the motel, and off I went. I went back to I-16 and by the time I reached Exit 78, I was back on track, about a day later than anticipated.
My route took me to US 221, which I followed north to the point where GA 47 splits from it. GA 47 was closed, but a well-marked detour allowed me to get back on course.
The first sign of something that might resemble a hill came as I traveled on US 378 west toward its terminus. My route then involved US 78 west to GA 17 north, then US 29 south. From there I took GA 145 north and made my way to I-85, which I followed south almost to the metro Atlanta area.
I had a "doughnut hole" of four counties directly north of Atlanta, and had no desire to wander into that traffic mess, so I bailed off I-85 at Exit 126 and took GA 211 and GA 53 over to the southern edge of Gainesville. By this time it was getting dark and I knew my goal of reaching the Murphy, N.C. area that day was unreachable. So I stopped at a Quik Trip in the shadows of the I-985 interchange and made a room reservation at Dahlonega. I did not intend on going that far north on US 19, but it wasn't that far out of the way.
To get there, I took GA 369 west to US 19 (and GA 400) north, which I followed to the arbitrary endpoint of GA 400 where US 19 turns north to Dahlonega, and headed to my room for the night.
Accomplishments -- 16 new Georgia counties.
Day 6 -- closer to home
I could have made it all the way home on Day 6 (Wednesday), but wanted to do a little exploring in southwestern Virginia, so I set the Tri-Cities area of SW VA/NE Tenn as my goal, with the intent of re-clinching US 19E.
From Dahlonega, I headed back south on US 19 and then headed west on GA 53 to pick up Pickens County, the last of the counties I needed north of Atlanta. I was a bit surprised not to find tributes to Bill Elliott everywhere in Dawsonville.
From there, it was north on GA 515 and its various tag-along routes until I got past Blue Ridge, where I opted for a new (for me) crossing into North Carolina. I took GA 60 north to GA 60 Spur, which becomes five-lane NC 60 at the state line (see post in the Southeast board for my comments about that). Once I reached Murphy, this was fairly familiar territory. I got behind a terribly slow truck through the Nantahala Gorge which had about a dozen cars stacked up behind it, and the land rush was on once US 74 expanded to four lanes.
Along the way, I had a thought -- why not clinch the Blue Ridge Parkway? The last family vacation that I ever went on with my parents, we drove to Elkins, WV and then across into Virginia and then south on Skyline Drive/BRP to the Boone, NC area. The next morning, it was so foggy that my dad bailed off the BRP near Asheville and we took old US 19 (at the time, US 74 did not exist west of Asheville, and the four-lane was signed US 19A/US 23 to the point where 23 splits south, then just 19A back to where 19 merged back in) to Cherokee.
So I exited on US 441, went to Cherokee, and then headed out on the BRP. In North Carolina, armed with a V1, the 45 mph speed limit was just a suggestion for me, but a number of slow vehicles that would not pull over for faster ones behind them slowed my progress. Plus, I got into some rain and fog that limited the views. I lost more time than I expected, so when I achieved what I think would have clinched the BRP for me at US 70, I decided I didn't have time to exit at Mars Hill and take US 19E into Tennessee. So I used US 70 to I-240 to I-26 and crossed into Tennessee on a very familiar route, then north on I-81 into Bristol, Va., where I was lucky enough not to be gouged by Bristol race weekend motel rates.
Accomplishments -- one new Georgia county, clinched the Blue Ridge Parkway (I think.)
Day 7 -- home at last
I had expected to be home on Tuesday, but the air conditioner issues and the car trouble delayed that by two days. I was more than ready to be home, but I still had a little exploring I wanted to do.
I left Bristol via US 421 south to TN 44, which I followed north into Virginia, becoming VA 75 (not sure why VA doesn't change the number to match its neighbor since VA 44 is no longer on the VA Beach Expressway). From Abingdon, US 19 north to VA 80 west to Honaker, where I took VA 67 north through Richlands to its arbitrary endpoint at Jewell Ridge. I wanted to make my way back over to US 460 southeast of Grundy, and from what I discovered later there were a couple of options from the Jewell Ridge area that would have gotten me there, but I used my GPS. It eventually got me on that road (Dismal River Road) but it had me take SR 640 instead of staying on SR 638, which led me to VA 83 east of Grundy. No big deal, though. From Grundy, it's a road I know reasonably well -- US 460 and its hangers-on to Prestonsburg, then KY 114 to Salyersville, a short reunitement with US 460, then the Mountain Parkway (where construction continues on the widening project) to my home area.
Accomplishments -- clinched VA 75 and VA 67.