The trip through Griffin in the dark hours before sunrise went by without issue. The highway 16 section was busier than I would have liked but it was fine since I had a 6-8 foot shoulder protected by rumble strips. Still I was glad to cross the interstate and head south on normal roads around sunrise. There were several gravel road subdivisions that had dead ends that were indeterminate and narrow so I was a bit apprehensive as always about clearing these before there began to be much traffic. But I knocked all these out without issue. As is almost always the case there is almost nothing going on early in the morning on a weekend. The only real concern is free roaming dogs but I find that's pretty rare. Rode all the roads in a fairly large subdivision including a new phase that is just getting the roads finished. I was a tad worried that the road workers would be there as when I pulled in and looked down the new way, there were some workers milling about next to two trucks. But by the time I got back to where the new part branched off they and the trucks were gone. I rode through Indian Springs state park on the gravel road heading into it from the north with a truck following me the whole length, albeit far back. Finished riding the couple of extra ways in the park to finish it including a new parking lot for a new event center. I guess that's trendy now for state parks to have big event centers that you rent out. I was definitely ready for a store stop and break by the time I finally rolled to the Dollar General in Flovilla. I went ahead and filled up my bottles completely and bought lots of snacks since the next stop was a gas station and it's so much more expensive there. Plus the middle of these long rides I do is usually the hardest. Typically because it's the furthest parts from home and i'm trying to do some difficult stuff to complete everything. This ride wasn't really dead end road heavy but instead featured a lot of gravel. Since it's been bone dry for the last 5 weeks the roads are loose and dusty. Thankfully most of the time they weren't too washboarded(except Johnathon Roost road in Pike county, just terrible). After Flovilla I rode some gravel roads very near the west bank of the Ocmulgee river. These were deserted and fun to ride. One dead end old ferry road I figured stopped pretty short with presumably a gate somewhere but to my surprise it kept going and going and going. I figured what the hell and decided to follow it till I got to a gate or some obvious signs of private property. But instead the road was freshly graded although it was still in a very rocky and lumpy state that you wouldn't want to take a car down. Eventually it forded a very small creek in a very sandy spot(definitely couldn't do that with a car) and then right after that ended right at the Ocmulgee river. It was obviously an old redneck waterpark complete with lots of beaten down parking areas near the river and an old rope swing tied to a tree. The river was slow moving and looked fairly deep right at that spot just above some shoals that I could barely see downriver. The former redneck parking areas had been closed off with big old logs and private property signs. I was just surprised that the road was open to that point. So I stopped for a tiny break and then got back going. This added a couple miles so the already somewhat long route would be extended further. But I was making great pace and the day was pretty much perfect for riding. It was very warm but never really hot and there was almost no wind at all. A very light east wind in the afternoon. I made it to the gas station by I-75 on Johnstonville road and I was ready again for a break. I got my snacks and then made it down Higgins Mill road beside the interstate and followed it to the dead end at the Towaliga river. It was unfortunately all marked off with private property signs everywhere including cameras. Kinda silly. All I wanted to do was see the river but I settled for a little break spot there at the end which was nice enough as it was very well shaded with large trees. I got back going again and then zig zagged my way west towards Barnesville. This section was pretty fun as included more new gravel and traffic wasn't too bad. Ingram road was a standout as it was a dead east-west road that in the middle part was an unmaintained very rough road. Fun but definitely an unusual find. In Barnesville I rode a few subdivisions and decided to wait till Williamson for my final store stop. Fun familiar gravel sections followed till Williamson and I stopped at the Dollar General there. Took forever to checkout despite there being three registers open including a self checkout. The patrons were just not very fast at payment or checking out. It was almost funny if I weren't so tired of standing still with my stuff in my hand. At length I rolled away into a really pretty sunset and as always am in zen mode when I'm rolling on Bethany road in the dark. It's just so much fun. I felt pretty good by the end and actually the speed of the ride was pretty respectable considering lots of gravel, fairly hilly and a good amount of dead end roads. And it included a bushwack and creek ford to connect Mount Pleasant church road with two roads that had a washed out bridge. I removed my shoes for the walk across not because I really needed to keep my feet dry but to keep sand out of my shoes. This was a good idea because the best way across featured very deep sand past my ankles. I really wasn't hurting too much anywhere when I rolled up Hip Pocket and honestly the miles through town up from the south didn't drag on like they usually do and before I knew it I was home at a reasonable hour amid summertime temperatures at 8:40pm.