6/29/00
Fort Valley, GA
Mileage 62.2 miles
Max. 30.2 mph
Avg. 13.05 mph

It's raining for the second time this afternoon. Good thing I decided to end the day's ride early after an interview with a TV station in Macon. There's now a pond of good size in front of my motel door.

The morning began with smooth road and a shoulder on US 80. Even though I was on the road by 7 am, I was surprised at the lack of rush hour traffic in Columbus. A massive construction project was underway on Rt 80. I would learn later that two lanes were being added to US 80 north to Macon and to Route 96 directly east as well.

I did ride aggressively all day and the incidence of cars or trucks pushing me off the road dropped almost to zero. That and riding on the closed sections of the new road helped since I was out of the traffic altogether.

Route 96 is the so-called fall line route. It borders the Cumberland Plateau and marks the edge of the ancient ocean that washed over the coastal plain. This from the owner of the Cracker Store in Howard, GA.

I've always known the term, Cracker, as a slur, meaning racist. I had heard it was what the slave driver was called who carried a whip and cracked it. The storeowner didn't think it was a negative term and said it came from drivers of horse teams who cracked the whip. I didn't see any African Americans come into his store.

Several miles later, just west of Reynolds, I stopped at Taylor Orchards because I was in Peach County. To my surprise I learned the season was nearly over. They gave me two nicely ripe ones, and I wolfed them down. In Selma a fruit vender offered to give me several when it became clear I could not take more along.

This is not the first instance of kindness that I attribute to my biker status. There have been many instances of kindness: Motel clerks have "found" a non-smoker room; repeatedly, convenience store clerks offer ice when all I ask for is water; telephone operators have listed the motels in a town rather than demanding a specific listing. Perhaps a biker is so nonthreatening that people are unafraid to be gracious. In addition by offering a kindness, they participate in the trek in some concrete way.