I got off at a decent time to avoid basically all traffic before sunrise going through Newnan, and had no issues riding through Georgia to the Alabama line early in the morning. I had actually worn enough clothes to be comfortable at the 33 degree temperatures I experienced. Strangely although I had my warmest gloves on that are usually good to low twenties, my fingers got cold by the time I hit the gravel at the edge of Coweta. I actually had to stop and warm them up briefly. No idea what that was about, my heart rate was a bit low from easy effort but not that low. Anyways I warmed up not too long after and in any case the sun rose and the wind shifted and the temperature rose quickly. Bethel road in Heard county was notable as it was extremely muddy in places to the point where I had to actually go around off the right of way and follow a faint atv track which had to do the same thing. Almost as soon as I arrived in Alabama I encountered my first nonexistent road. I thought I double checked the route but I guess not because it's pretty obvious that it's not there from the satellite photos on Google. This was at a placename called Wehadkee where there was a strange small old run down church or school. Behind it was a gate leading to the road I was supposed to take. So I glanced at the map and decided to take the pavement down to the next road and head in the direction of the route. Only this road also ended at a gate with overgrown roadbed behind, but no signs whatsoever about no trespassing. There was a somewhat trampled deer track so I decided to proceed and see if I could join up with my route a bit further down. I did join up soon enough after some deadfall dodging(otherwise mostly rideable) beside a large pasture. The route line was just as overgrown. Only a little ways down further from this point the roadbed ended mysteriously at a large creek crossing, about 20 feet below, where there was probably a bridge at one time. Definitely didn't look like it had a ford there before. I couldn't even see if there was any sort of roadbed on the other side and in any case I wasn't about to wade across the creek even though it was only ankle to calf high. So I admitted defeat and reversed my tracks. When I almost had the gate in sight, I noticed a person next to a truck at the house that was at the end of the road perhaps 100 yards from my position. He was facing away and as I moved toward the gate I was occluded from him and the house by a small hill in between. A few seconds later I heard a really loud shot, like he was firing a gun. I figured there was no way he was actually shooting at me and that it was a coincidence. Still extremely scary. I waited out a minute or so and he fired a couple more times. I decided that the only course of action was to leave and in any case I couldn't be hit because of the hill. I hightailed it out of there to the gate, cyclocross dismounted and ran around it, and boogied down the rest of that dead end road back to the pavement. I breathed a sigh of relief when I got there. I wasn't tempted by the next road that went north across the same creek to join up with my route again, because somebody had indicated on OSM that it didn't go through(as indicated even on the out of date data on my Garmin). Google says it does connect through and upon examination of the satellite photos i'd say there's a very good chance it's open all the way through. In any case the shortest way to get back on track was the way I went, which was only a bit further down two paved roads. I cruised down fast pavement back roads into Roanoke where I got food and a soda at the little independent grocery store. I left town in great spirits and the temperature was already really nice. A couple of nice gravel roads with some very quiet paved roads followed, until I turned down a road that crossed the CSX rail line(Lineville Sub), over a nice wooden bridge. I stopped for a snack and looked down the way I was supposed to go, and saw another gate. another nonexistent road. Looking at the satellite it's pretty obvious too. Bad bridge is probably the reason for the closure. So I had to go around this as well although there was an nearby alternate that wasn't out of the way hardly. I heard a train coming and waited a few minutes and it didn't seem all that close. I decided i'd hate myself if I waited 15 minutes and it turned out they were just moving cars on a siding or something. So I left and then soon heard it going down the tracks beside me along the state road I had to take for the detour. Doh! The next miles were more pretty good hills and good gravel, I got to see the Tallapoosa river from an old boat ramp, and fought the increasing southwest wind the remaining miles into Lafayette. I felt a bit tired around miles 80-100 but after eating and drinking more I felt pretty good as I rolled into tiny Lafayette. Two young black guys jumped on two stroke dirt bikes and pulled out onto the street as I approached, then turned around and one did a wheelie. As I rolled up to the local independent grocery store they rode by again and gave no fucks about how much noise they made as they blared down the road. East Alabama(or all of it perhaps?) is like another world compared to the Atlanta area. I got some snacks and Powerade for liquids, then found the town park empty so i sat down for a few short minutes and used the porta potty there. I had already gone once in the woods and decided to use the facilities again for insurance and felt really good when I left and ready to tackle the rest of the way home now with a tailwind and mostly much easier roads once I got into Georgia. But only a few miles later on a nice gravel road far from anything, my stomach tightened up and I stopped for a sec to gauge the situation. I decided i'd feel a lot better if I went ahead and took care of it, and so I dashed off into the woods, dug a hole and filled it back up after I was done, and felt way better. It always pays to have a lightweight trowel and lots of toilet paper on hand on long rides. They weigh essentially nothing and take up no space. I decided I was probably taking in too many calories for my stomach to deal with them, so I backed off the nutrition and liquids for several more miles to let things settle. This worked great and I felt terrific for the remainder of the ride. This road was a really long uninterrupted gravel road that basically led right to the Alabama outskirts of West Point. It was an amazing change to see very expensive huge estate houses from the long string of country trash and run down houses everywhere else along the route in Alabama. I decided to shortcut the winding way through town I had planned to knock off a bit of the extra mileage I had run up on the route errors. Rode by the Kia plant and pretty much stayed within earshot of I-85 all the way until after Moreland. These parts through Troup county were very fast on pavement and traffic wasn't all that bad, but as always on pavement, way faster than I would have liked(everything is a highway as I mockingly say to myself when someone passes me at 70 on a back road). The temperature dropped as the sun went down below the trees pretty fast down to the low fifties and so I put clothes back on at a stop beside a recently logged field, which gave an expanding view of the sunset and opposing rising moon. Rode through Grantville and decided I could get by without a store stop, and rode the deserted back roads to Sharpsburg, where I decided to shortcut the route a bit and just take 54 through town, and traffic wasn't too bad here. Passed these stores as well because it's just too close to home to bother, even though I would have liked a little pick me up for the remaining miles. Was tired when I got in but not too bad, and was glad to make it in about 30 minutes before my latest time estimate.