My daughters made plans to take my wife on a picnic while I met my brother to visit my own mother in Thomasville (Clarke County). Since it would be a solo trip for me, I deemed it a perfect opportunity to enjoy a motorcycle ride and collect a few county courthouses for the Dixie ABATE Courthouse Challenge.
Although I normally avoid Interstate travel to enjoy smaller highways and county roads, I had a lot of ground to cover and wanted to utilize my time. Besides, my VTX1800 does very well with that type of travel. It also gave me a rare opportunity to utilize my throttle lock, albeit only for a few brief periods.
So, I hopped on I-85 and then I-65 South in Montgomery and made my way to Greenville. Once again, even though I had directions taped to my fuel tank, I still missed a road or two and got turned around once I was in town. Fortunately, that only happened in Greenville and not other parts of the trip. It's nice to have a phone to pull up a map when that happens.
I got my pic of the courthouse
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and after a few back and forths, got back on the Interstate and down south to Evergreen. No Conecuh sausage stop (besides, it was still early) but I did visit that courthouse also.
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The ride from Evergreen to Monroeville was especially nice. Oh, there weren't exciting curves or particularly beautiful scenery, but there was no traffic, small country roads, and a peaceful easy feeling in solo travel.
Before long I was in Alabama's Literary Capital (home of both Truman Capote and Harper Lee) The old courthouse (and setting of "To Kill a Mockingbird") is now a museum
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So I took a pic of the newer courthouse also
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I spotted a few murals in town which seemed to be Mockingbird related and added them to the mural section of our site
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Alas, I did have to travel Highway 84 the rest of the way to Grove Hill. If you are going there from I-65 it can be a very long trip if you get caught in traffic because there are few places to pass. However, I was able to scoot around the one pocket of trucks I got behind and enjoyed the ride more than expected.
As I went through Perdue Hill and Claiborne, I fondly recalled the write up I did for our ghost town section back in 2015. It was one of the few reports I have saved to a computer and could repost after the server crash. I think it may have been the most research I have done before a ride.
http://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?topic=127.msg809#msg809 (http://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?topic=127.msg809#msg809) (Link to report)
I crossed the Alabama River, entered Clarke County and took a pic of the courthouse along with a mural in the courthouse square.
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My brother was driving up from his home in Washington County, so I called while I was stopped and he was on Highway 43 going through Grove Hill at just that minute. I jumped on the bike and caught up with him then had the fun of following his car through Thomasville. We stopped and I parked my bike in a car lot where I removed Mother's Day gifts from the saddlebags and joined him in his car.
The long dirt driveway where my mother is staying is very rutted with a sharp hill that makes the car tires spin. It was more than I wanted to attempt on a very heavy cruiser.
We enjoyed a visit and said our goodbyes.
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When he dropped me off I went to a nearby Mexican restaurant and had an enjoyable lunch while watching all the families dining.
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Now rested and well-fed, it was time to go home. I took Highway 5 and stopped briefly in Pine Hill to take another mural pic
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I crossed the Alabama River again going towards Camden. Normally, I would take the business road around the town but this time I went through to get a pic of the courthouse (now a library) that pre-dates the Civil War.
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I took a pic with the "new" one also
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Since I do not usually go through this section, I spotted a colorful mural and took a pic of it also
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52060346535_df27cce586_c.jpg)
I saw another on my way out. Like many murals, it highlights features of my community within the letters.
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And just like that, it was back to very familiar roads going into Lowndes County where I made one final stop for a courthouse picture.
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I had not been here since it was renamed for "Big John" Williams, the sheriff so senselessly killed in the line of duty by some 19 year old punk.
I finally reached Highway 80 and then back to the Interstate and home.
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I didn't even attempt to explore National Register of Historic Places sites since that is a lot of backtracking and time consuming, but I did get 6 county courthouses for the Dixie Abate Challenge and added them all to the County Challenge Site here also.
http://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?board=71.0 (http://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?board=71.0) Link to County Section
We still have some counties with no Motorcycle Alabama visits; y'all get a pic!
More importantly, I visited Mama and got to see my brother also. I was able to get around the few pockets of traffic I encountered and had another enjoyable solo ride in perfect weather.
It was a great day to be out.
Looks like a great day on the bike. And now your over half way done with the list of counties. Guess I need to plan a ride to catch up with you.
Thanks for the report!!
Chuck