‍I didn't really intend upon leaving so early but I woke well before my alarm and felt pretty fresh with only 6 hours of sleep so I decided to just get going because leaving earlier always pays off in summer especially. So I did much of the Pike county exploring in the dark and then in the early dawn and after sunrise in the light fog and thick clouds that kept the sun away for most of the morning. It was a thick humid soupy air that was suprisingly pleasant as perhaps i'm getting a bit more used to it than last week. There was a hard rain on Friday which left all the roads fairly wet. So once again I took my commuter bike with fenders in anticipation of rain later in the afternoon and evening. This has less water carrying capacity but I managed to take enough to allow me to survive till around mile 94 for the first stop at the north Dollar General in Thomaston. I had done the route as intended for the most part except a subdivision off of 2nd District road just outside of Williamson that was gated. Some of the little dead ends that I had planned had ends that were murky from the satellite view but on the ground were no problem. Most interesting among these was Gooden road that had a very interesting little village of several houses centered on a swiftly moving creek with little cascades that perhaps powered a mill at some point. There was a wooden bridge that led only a few tens of feet to the end of the road, and inside one of the curves of the road was a large house that was abandoned and had clearly been added on to and built and expanded over several stages throughout its life. Several other of the nearby houses were also abandoned and the others looked like they'd seen better days. The bit by the big abandoned house marked the end of the paved road(unusual for Upson county) and the road was in terrible shape with big puddles and mud and very uneven surface. Very unusual road for the area. Nobody was around early in the morning and there weren't any dogs so I was in and out no problem. Soon after my first stop the sun found its way from behind the clouds and it began to warm up fast. I did a few more town streets and then headed out east for a little loop around the perimeter of Thomaston. It's pretty neat how the residential areas stop so quickly upon leaving town and change to rural fast. Large pastures, dense forest and few houses. Almost every road is paved in Upson county but a little gravel connector I was supposed to take along here turned out to have been gated and closed many years ago so I diverted back to where I had been and cut over to my route a different way. This part of the county is hilly and so I spent a lot of time grinding up hills in the tall gears on my commuter bike. There was one horseshoe subdivision that went directly up and down a completely ridiculous hill. It was super duper steep but thankfully on each side I was able to build enough momentum going down that I breezed up the really steep parts and could grind out the rest. I got to well over 40mph here despite the bottom not being all that smooth. I headed back north into town again and despite having only gone another 30 miles or so I was in need of more fluids and was really looking forward to a cold soda to cool off again. I was in and out of the second store stop quickly and got back moving although I attempted to ride all the bits near the new roundabout next to the store and mostly succeded. Soon after as I was heading north I kinda made a boo boo with my route but decided to roll with it and approach my route via a different way around and in the process since the roads were fairly quiet I decided to add on a bit of 74 alt and Emmaus Church road and then yet again made a bit of a boo boo and went off course since I wasn't paying full attention to my garmin. In areas where i'm familiar sometimes I just veer off onto the ways i'm used to without consulting the map. Anyway I decided rather than turn around to do the same thing and head back a different way. Eventually I worked my way to Hannahs Mill road where it crosses Jeff Davis road and right by a creek that had the mill on it at one time. I completely forgot that Jeff Davis road is closed while they are replacing the bridge completely. Since it was Saturday they weren't working and so I just walked across the creek and was thrilled by this unexpected diversion because it was so hot out. The creek felt amazing, even cooler than I expected and I took a few minutes to sit in the creek on the large bedrock at the bottom(the spot for this bridge would have made an excellent ford as the area was all one big rock all around). In the process I forgot that I had a half eaten bag of chips in my jersey pocket and ruined them by laying the creek. I took everything else out of my pockets but that. Oh well. I clambered up the other side on the muddy clay and back up to the road. I decided to seize the opportunity presented by the closed road and just go ahead and ride Jeff Davis road(which is normally an icky busy road) while it's very low traffic and alter my route accordingly. So on the fly I did the little dead ends off of here and then peeled off for a little shortcut through the hamlet of Crest and back on route up Lawrence road. I had also forgotten that I had planned another Dollar General as it was right by the route. So I was pleased I could get another cold soda and more water to help with the heat(always worth it to get more so I can pour it on myself to cool off when it's hot) and make this my last stop. In addition I decided since the day still had no rain in sight that I would go home the gravel way through Pike and cross the river at the Line Creek road bridge rather than divert through Senoia as planned. This is a bit shorter than planned so I also did a little diversion on Redwine and Robinson. There was another closure here for the new path underneath being constructed and so I enjoyed no traffic through here and was able to get through no problem. However I ran out of water and really began to lose energy quickly(should have gotten water at Starrs Mill or somewhere but I didn't). So I diverted on Windgate and decided to try my luck at the water fountain at Huddleston pond. Thankfully it was working and nice and cool too. There was a gathering storm just to the north of my location here and I was surprised that I wasn't getting rained on yet and it looked like I would make it home without any rain. I drank lots and ate a bunch and felt better almost instantly and rode the remaining few miles home. It did eventually rain but it was brief and slacked off even before I arrived. Still was nice to have fenders even for only a few minutes. 👍 60.31 new miles 🏘 Completed Williamson -- From Wandrer