First Time Gravel

Hopped on the bike and headed towards Franklin, NC. The temps were wonderful at 65 degrees, but there was a foul, chilly wind blowing that sliced through the clothing. I hadn't anticipated the chill, so hadn't dressed warmly enough. I intended on taking the main highways up and the scenic mountain passes back.

I stopped in Toccoa for some water. But the chicken smelled wonderful. I settled into my little chunk of sidewalk and enjoyed small conversations with the passers-by. After I warmed up I decided to take a shorter route home that didn't involve higher elevations. Looked at the GPS and headed for the interestingly named town of Erastus.

The roads were scenic and wonderfully empty. Happy things cannot be said for the GPS. The algorithm seems to be a little flawed in route calculation when it sets non-highway to have higher priority over unpaved roads. So the route kept trying to take me down dirt and gravel roads instead of over the a highway. Go figure...

However, I swallowed my fear and ventured down one of those gravel roads. It was only going to be a mile. It was wide, well paved and populated with many houses. So I felt confident that if I dropped the bike and needed help, there would be plenty of help to get. I kept the speed to a safe a cautious 15 mph.

About half way down the road was a concrete overpass for the interstate. I stopped and had to take a picture to prove to C that I had indeed ridden on gravel.

I was disappointed reaching Erastus to see there wasn't any town or community sign. Just a house and a crossroad...

Continued home and took it easy. BTW, no bad bike smells and no gravel incidents. Yay me!