Got going this morning rather a bit lazily although I felt good, I knew I would have a relatively short day. Rode on into Greensboro and swung by Ingles and grabbed a few things, then went to the city cemetery to find my relatives. I knew in theory what part of the cemetery they were located in but when I tried, the location I had was useless because there were no markings on anything. Except there was a dense grid of gravel tracks that criss crossed the cemetery and each one had a name but that didn't help me because it didn't correspond with what I had. So I wandered around on the bike once through, then started wandering around on foot. After 30 unsuccessful minutes I had to look at the pictures my cousin took of the surrounding graves, finally noticed a distinctive wall and found them pretty easily after that. My Great Great Grandparents. The Original William Rossman (I am the fourth). I sat and ate a little breakfast right there and soon got going. I was feeling great and Greensboro is such a lovely little town I wandered around, looking at all the pretty houses and buildings. Eventually I had to go though and soon I crossed I-20 for the second and final time of the trip. Another milestone down.
On to Rock Hawk. As this was an out and back I could have skipped it but I was feeling great and it was early. So I had been missing singletrack so I decided to do at least a bit of the trail. Anyways... So I ended up doing most of it save a couple side loops. It wasn't super challenging but on a loaded gravel bike it made it fun. Then I finally went up to the little tower they have built to see the Rock Hawk and it was great. Bathrooms were locked and the water was off though, boo. Otherwise wonderful and well worth the visit.
It was getting late so I used my newfound local knowledge to use the trail to bypass the highway, which I had to ride for several miles east to my next turn. The GDOT was actively paving the road which explains why I had so little traffic. I rode by a huge and beautiful old mill building on Shoulderbone creek so I stopped for a photo. Got back going again and was stopped behind a semi and a car by the flagger. He looked over and saw me and waved me to go ahead. So glad he didn't make me race amongst the cars. I have so many bad memories of just that scenario down in south ga way back when I used to ride highways all the time. In any case I took the next turn which happened to be right where they were working. I finally breathed a sigh of relief. A few undulating miles of gravel and pavement, a couple of wooden bridges over an abandoned railroad and I arrived at an extremely isolated little cemetery out of the way, my campsite for the night. So much for it being a short day.