This was a day for just riding the highway toward my next corner. I was up early and on the road as my host left for work. It was spitting rain, but the rain didn’t last. All of the Southeast is in a drought condition and everyone (except me) is hoping for rain. The drought has spawned fires, including some fires on the exposed bed of Lake Okeechobee.

The picture above is of the sign for McKinnon, GA. I took this picture because our younger son’s middle name is McKinnon.

In the morning I retraced my steps to Jacksonville and up the red roads, US-1, US-301, and US-321. Then I picked up I-77 south of Columbia, SC. It was pretty smooth sailing until the last 10 miles. There must have been an accident as the cars were stopped. I got off and took a parallel road, but that wasn’t much better as many other drivers had the same idea. Sitting on a Harley in stop and go traffic is no fun as any Harley rider will tell you. The rear cylinder cooked my right leg, which was “well done” when I go to the hotel.

At a rest stop I ran into a group of older riders who were headed to a private rally in South Carolina.. They were riding BMWs for the most part. They asked me about my bike since they thought it didn’t look like a Harley.

You can see in one of today’s pictures a tent set up at a service station in Georgia where I stopped for gas. The salesman at the tent was “demonstrating” smokeless tobacco. This is tobacco country, so why not? (yuk!)
This part of the trip is somewhat boring as I’ve been over these roads before. I’m looking forward to the trip west and less familiar surroundings.

I decided to stop for the night in Huntersville, NC and tomorrow I’ll ride toward Harrisburg, PA.

E. Palatka to Huntersville, NC – 487 miles

Today’s Photo Album

Typical interstate driving.

The Map.