Update #26 - September 10, 2006
Cordele, GA
6968.4 miles ( 11,149.4 kms) since March 27th,
7459.6 miles ( 11,935.4 kms) since Jan 01st

Tomorrow, I'll be back in Americus, Georgia. I've gone pretty around a big circle. In the five months, that I left Americus back on March 27th I had ridden almost 7000 miles. I'm not sure whether this will be the end of this year's travels or just a short respite to be off the road.

I had to stay an extra day in the Jacksonville, NC because of Tropical Storm Ernesto. I moved over to another motel that was a little bit cheaper. I wouldn't have been able to travel that day anyway since the wind was really strong. This was the first real day off since Rochester, New York.

The ride from Jacksonville to Cordele went okay except for my time in S,C. along U.S. 17 between Myrtle Beach and Jacksonboro. Traffic was high since this was around Labor Day when I went through the Myrtle Beach area and it was especially hard between Charleston and Jacksonboro because of the high amount of truck traffic between the Ports of Charleston and I-80. There was no shoulder to speak of even though this was a 4-lane divided highway. I spent more time looking out of my rear view mirror than looking at what was in front of me. I had to take advantage of every cut-off and driveway to get out of harm's way and wait for all of the traffic to go passed before I ventured back onto the roadway.

At Jacksonboro, I had enough of the U.S. 17 traffic and I took a more Inland route to Cordele. Anyway, the road became two-lanes between Jacksonboro and Garden City. There was no way that I was going to attempt that to try and get to Savannah, GA. I made stops in Jacksonboro and Abbeville, SC and Swainsboro and Eastman, GA on my way to Cordele. The First Baptist Church in Jacksonboro; the Episcopal Church in Abbeville; Christ-Centered Ministries in Swainsboro, and the Minesterial Association in Eastman were my hosts. Along the way, I was also able to speak to a group of people at Christ-Centered Ministries and the United Methodist Church in Abbeville, GA. I was quite surprised when the pastor before his sermon told the small congregation that he would like if a love offering would be collected at the end of the service for me. This love offering helped me get a motel room here in Cordele.

I am thinking quite strongly in heading back down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to see how the rebuilding effort has been going on. It has been a little over a year since Hurricane Katrina came ashore. I have already made three trips through the area. The last one was just in January. Tomorrow, I will be getting back on the road in a round-a-bout fashion to the Gulf Coast.

I'll try and post and update as often as I can if my plans change. The next update should be posted between October 17 and Oct. 24th.