"They Need to Be Brought Out Back for a Shooting"

From Janie:

Wednesday, November 7, from Blakely GA to Tifton GA.  The day after Election Day, in a red state.

We spent this day driving and cycling through rural Georgia.  We stopped and talked to a number of people.  It's true what people say about the gracious manners of Southerners - at least those we met.

One of the soybean farmers that Jody and Nicole stopped to talk to a couple of days ago, had this to say about a pair of candidates he'd seen arguing . . . er . . . debating:  "They couldn't agree on anything!  They need to be brought out back for a shooting!"

The election is over.  Here's hoping that all the bickering - partisan and otherwise - is over as well.  Many of us know, love and respect people with differing views.  It's time for us to remember we all love this country.  We all want what's best for this country.  It's time for us to act like adults (instead of divorcing parents!), and put the country first.

OK.  Off my soapbox.  Back on the bike!

It was a long day - about 70 for Jody.  12 for me.  It was also cold for Georgia, cloudy and grey, not quite reaching 60 degrees.  I think we're both feeling all the miles we've put in - Jody more than me, because he's ridden so many more miles than I have. 

Rural Georgia.

 

We've heard from multiple people that Georgia and Alabama have had bumper crops of peanuts this year.  Soybeans have done well, too.  They are all also aware that corn was hit hard in the Midwest.  

 

Parts of Georgia seem so very depressed and distressed.

These abandoned building were in Leary, GA.

Many places we've been in the South have shown great prosperity - well kept properties, good-looking farmland.  But we've also seen lots of abandoned homes and farm buildings.  Pockets of depression.  I don't know what the unemployment rate is in Georgia, but I surely do hope it goes down - and sooner rather than later.

We've seen so much since we left California in August.  And we've learned so much about our country, ourselves and each other.  We're each more fit than we left California.  And better riders.  What a great adventure we're having!

 

Janie, all smiles.  So happy to be on the bike.

Jody, closing fast in the background.

Jody, riding away from the rest stop.

This is part of Georgia Bike Route 20.

This day, we rode the direct route along the highway.

 

After lunch at the Four Squares Diner in Sylvester, Georgia, we went across the street to a small pecan processing plant and gift shop.  The women in the gift shop were very gracious, and talked me into buying a bottle of pecan oil.  It's supposed to be good for cooking and great for use on the face as a moisturizer.  I'm looking forward to trying the cooking!

Pecans, pecans and more pecans.

Anthony, explaining the difference between pecans for eating

and seed pecans to be shipped to China.

A shoulder-high bag of pecans.

Seed pecans.  Slightly smaller.

 

Huge rip-stop nylon bags, that require a forklift.

Approximately 1400 pounds of pecans per bag.

 

Jody, Anthony, Janie and a bag of pecans.

We were looking at pecans in the

Peanut Capital of the World!

"Home of Peter Pan Peanut Butter"

 

Outside the pecan processing shop, we talked with two older women.  They wanted to know all about the bike ride, told us all about getting their pecans cracked (they were going to shell the pecans themselves), recommended a restaurant in Tifton that they weren't sure was open for dinner (we couldn't find it), wished us a safe ride to the coast.  They were absolutely lovely, gracious and warm.  They were clearly disappointed in the election results, but concurred - we all love this country and it's time to get to work to make it a better place.

 

Everywhere we've been for the last few days, we've seen cotton fields, bales of cotton - in the fields and in central gathering places, waiting to be shipped - and pieces of cotton fluff along the roadside.  Cotton, cotton, and more cotton.

 

More cotton fields.

 

We expect to be back home in Iowa City on Sunday, November 18.  Hard to believe that's 10 days from when I'm writing this post.  August to November.  A long time to be gone.

 

The last ten miles of any ride are the hardest, whether it's a 12 mile ride or a 112 mile ride.

     ~Peter Doran, both a wiseass and a wise man