When I rolled over to look at the clock and saw that it was already 3:51 am my heart sank. I realized that I set my alarm for Saturday, not Friday. Still it wasn't the end of the world, only an hour or so after I wanted to wake up. So I tried to get out the door quickly and I managed to get going around 4:30. I had planned a mostly highway route in the first hours. I adjusted slightly to get off the busiest roads. This wasn't too much of an issue but when I turned on Massengale Mill road there was a road closed sign and I decided I didn't want to deal with that so I continued on 85 till Imlac. I rejoined at 85 Alt in Woodbury. Highway 41 south of Manchester wasn't too busy but there was a high percentage of trucks. Thankfully there was a small but useful shoulder. Once I got to Talbotton the traffic really died going south on 41/80. After Geneva on GA 240 it was really pretty quiet. I still felt pretty good so I skipped a stop till Ellaville at 103 miles. Although I was glad when I got there. It was a Dollar General that was like a full grocery store and attached gas station. It looked pretty new but there weren't self checkouts. I rolled through Americus around noon and the downtown was actually bustling on a Friday. I even saw another cyclist out for a ride. I was glad for a few more dirt roads finally on the way to Leslie. I didn't really need to stop but it was 40 more miles to Warwick so I grabbed a quick soda and snack. I rode some recently regraded dirt roads in Lee county through a huge plantation that were fairly slow going and at length I finally found an unfenced section of woods and took a nature break. Crossed the Flint River at GA 32 which is the next bridge south of Lake Blackshear. River looked really high. Traffic was fairly high as well but it was mid-afternoon on Friday. I had to ride 5 miles of this but for over a mile I had a really good wide shoulder across the bridge and approaches. It is newer than last time I was here around 15 years ago. The remaining miles had an acceptable shoulder so it wasn't too bad. The really great dirt roads started after turning off the highway. I went past a logging operation in the woods on one and had a loaded truck following me for 2.5 miles so I rode a bit harder than usual. He stayed way, way back, don't know if that was normal or he was going slow because of me. It was a fairly narrow road with some uneven spots so perhaps the former. After my last stop in Warwick I felt really good(not that I felt bad before, I felt good the whole ride), and enjoyed a cross tailwind. The roads were really great and I hardly saw a car the rest of the way to Rochelle. Honestly felt like I could have done much more no problem.