Some people on the beach. They think it's all over.

It is now!
62 miles today in pleasant sunshine in 3 hrs 33 minutes to end our journey on the Atlantic Beach on Jekyll Island, Georgia. We were able to ride on the beach into the surf and Keith poured his little sample of the Pacific into the Atlantic to confuse the local micoflora.
Time to take stock maybe.
1 Big journey
2 Oceans
4 Time zones
9 States
31 Days of cycling
85 Miles average per cycling day
2652 miles travelled.

Starting the last day as Keith started the first. With a puncture! This time it is a little bit of wire from a shredded tyre which litter the shoulder of most roads. 

Entering Jekyll Island. 

Chris enjoys the last few yards of the trip. 

Standing in the Atlantic. 

The Pacific and Atlantic meet. 

The final score. 2652.4 miles. 

Job done!

Penultimate day - Personal best day.

Only sixty eight miles today and all in a straight line on good old highway 84. How to liven it up? Well as Chris is probably as fit as he'll ever be after so much cycling this year he thought he'd have a go at a target he'd had in mind since he started cycling in 2010. He'd try to do 50 miles at an average of 20 mph or more. Previously his best was 19.6 mph with a strong group in this year's 50 in four. Keith wasn't interested but set off first from the outskirts of Valdosta while Chris stopped to look for a train. The tarmac was smooth and the road largely flat so I could maintain 22mph but it took 8 miles to catch my first sight of Keith and another 8 miles to catch up with him!

As Keith was slowly passed he did not stay on the wheel so it was back to a personal time trial which went well apart from getting stopped briefly by a flag man on roadworks. As 40 miles passed a headwind began to build and it got harder to hold speed but I passed 50 miles at 21.3 mph and to make sure, carried on to 51 miles before stopping with the average showing as 21.2 mph. Ye ha! 

After this it was only another 6 miles to the motel in the large town of Waycross which is dominated by a large spiders web of railroad tracks owned by CSX which sadly has a boring colour scheme. 

After a shower Mandy and I looked around the rail tracks and saw some trains clog up the town on the many level crossings. 

Chris after 51 miles at an average of 21.2 mph.

For more than 10 miles into Waycross they are making a new carriageway which starts with clearing and burning the vegetation. 

Two CSX locomotives wait near one of Waycross's large water towers. 

An American Post Office van delivering to our motel for tonight. 

Like school busses, post office vans are a specialist and rather antiquated looking design. 

Some more pictures from the day before our penultimate day.

We aren't going to get work from Wigham City Coucil if our rep dresses like a scarecrow. 

Typically friendly local in Georgia.

If you go down to the gas station today you're sure of a big surprise - three old men in shorts. 

With our cool new friend, Michael. 

A business providing for those that love their cars a bit too much. 

A fast 80 miles in the morning and a spot of aircraft and wildlife watching in the afternoon.

Bainbridge to Valadosta was 80 miles of brisk cycling along our old friend, highway 84. We stopped for a pint of something sweet and hot at a gas station and met Michael, a retired Ford engineer who'd returned to the south for his retirement. He had the time and inclination to tell us a bit about his life and to express admiration at our efforts. He asked that we took his picture with us and send it on to him. Friendly bunch these southerners even if we can only understand about half of what each other says!
We arrived at our motel early enough to go out in the afternoon to see some aircraft flying at Moody Air Force Base and to have a walk on a boardwalk through a Cypress swamp where Keith found and saw his first 'gator. It was not on the menu for dinner but instead he got to try out catfish, another denizen of the swamps.

Blimey, have gone too far east?

This location was a no brainer for a comfort break. 

Fairchild A10 tank buster landing at Moody AFB, home of the Flying Tigers. 

Looking down on the Cypress swamp from a tower hide. 

Gray Catbird, so called as it makes a sound like a domestic cat. 

Northern Cardinal. A common but attractive bird. Just how I like 'em!

A day of leisure around Lake Seminole.

As we had a day off we had a late start and a slightly disappointing breakfast at the motel. With another warm sunny day in store we headed off to the nearby large Lake Seminole which was created by damming the River Flint which is the river on which Bainbridge's prosperity is based. It was not as full of visible wildlife as we'd hoped and Keith did not get to see his first alligator which surprised us.    By the end of the day the temperature had reached 87 degrees F but we've been here so long it did not  seem that hot any more. It's going to be hard getting back to England in late October!
Lunch was slow and disappointing by our evening meal was a return to the Chinese restaurant on the main square where we'd enjoyed eating last night too. Their buffet is varied, delicious and very good value and acted as an introduction to two young lady compliance officers for Georgia's Student Finance Comission. Hello to Janice and Kim who were impressed to hear the story as to why two old English men had ended up in this town in their State of Georgia.

Lake Seminole is very quiet and relaxing. 

Looking for 'gators that ain't there!

Don't know what they are but big reds, chicken livers and a side order of crappie shiners have got to be better than what I actually had for lunch. 

One bird that did show was this obliging juvenile Pregrine Falcon.  

Fox Squirrel 

Bainbridge's finest outside our favourite downtown eating house. 

Georgia and Geoff on my mind........

Today we are destined to enter Georgia, the last State on our trip. But how to get there? A short diversion to the south of highway 84 adds just ten miles to the route but means entering an extra State -Florida. It is the mention of this that brings out Keith's secret. He's actually fed up with cycling! He therefore sticks to the highway leaving Chris to loop south through more peanut processing territory to cross two state lines within the same couple of hours. Shame we don't spend longer in Florida as the roads were smooth, flat and quiet.
First town in Georgia, where our routes rejoin each other, is a bit disappointing but our destination for the day is in a very smart, large town called Bainbridge. The same as the surname of a good friend  who died too soon a couple of years ago - Geoff. He was an imposing man and his namesake is the most imposing town on our trip. Fine southern houses and Spannish moss on trees lining the streets.
We will have a day off the bikes here before the final couple of hundred miles split over three days.

The weather looked ominous as we started but by afternoon it was sunny and warm. 

The first householders in Florida were out in the garden and took my photo session in their stride. 

Within a short distance it was into the last State of the trip. 

A fine sign for a fine town -Bainbridge, Ga

Bainbridge has many streets full of large old southern houses with trees dripping Spanish Moss

Peanuts and Boll Weevils

Today would have been an ideal day to return to ride the stage from Monticello to Waynesboro that Keith missed due to illness but he did not want to do so. We therefore left Monroeville heading east for 102 miles initially along the single carriageway highway 84 but thankfully it was quieter as it is a Saurday. It then got very busy with traffic heading to the north to the large towns of Montgomery and the other Birmingham. Then we skirted the oddly named town of Opp and headed across quiet countryside of  the county of Coffee, named after a General Coffee rather than being a coffee growing area. Our destination is the bustling town of Enterprise where the locals are very proud of the fact that following a huge loss of their cotton crop in 1915 turned to peanut growing and processing that brought the town great prosperity. They are so proud in fact that they have a statue of the boll weevil, the pest that caused the loss, and have named their ring road after it. They've then gone the next step and named a church after the ring road. Perhaps they'd benefit from mixing with people from outside the area more!
Had a good meal at a restaurant near the motel that must remain nameless Keith's card was rejected (regularly a problem as Americans don't use PINs on credit cards.) when preparing to pay cash the manageress asked if it was ok and he just commented he'd rather not have used up his cash and she took the bill away and she said she'd settle it and just to tip the waiter well, which we did.  Most odd but very nice of her.

Coffee County - double espresso?

The sign is more impressive than the monument!

Maybe this Pastor needs to talk to his marketing team!

We were tempted to extend our stay to catch this big event 

As the Presidential election approaches this juxtaposition is rather appropriate. 

We're Alabamy bound.

Eighty nine miles today, all on highway 84 leaving Mississipi after about 10 miles and passing into our last but one State of the trip -Alabama. One immediate change was going from a dual carriageway (four lane blacktop as they say round here) to a single carriageway with no hard shoulder. This is unfortunate as the road is well use by large trucks, especially logging trucks from the Alabama timber belt. All but a couple move over to go passed but when there is one each way it gets a wee bit tight. No accidents though and no dog incidents so all is well with the world.
We pass through a place called Coffeeville at just about the right time for a big cup of coffee. Much better than yesterday!
After that it's rolling roads to Monroeville which is where we have a nice motel booked and which is the birth place of the authors Truman Kapote and Harper Lee of To Kill a Mockingbird fame. The town contains the setting of the town in tkamb and in particular the courthouse where the trial takes place. Luckily we are there in time to get inside and to be given a short tour of the old town by an enthusiastic volunteer guide.

Our home for a couple of days at least. 

Just in time for elevensies. Well OK tensies really. 

Atticus Farman presents the case for the defence in the County Courthouse of "To Kill a Mockingbird" fame. 

I hope he lands with as much precision as he parks!

They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil but not a lot east of Monticello, MS.

Keith didn't get much sleep at the Pleasure Point but sadly that was due to the return of the Louisiana lurgi. Refusing attempts to reorganise the schedule he took a day off in the car while Chris rode east into the fog alone. It was a simple route today, all on the gently undulating highway 84. Surface was smooth but no hard shoulder so I was glad that the truck drivers all gave me a wide berth. Apart from one town called Laurels it was like 98 miles of the A46 from Alcester to Evesham but without the excitement of traffic islands.
I'd got in my mind I'd have a coffee (well a flavoured cappuccino hopefully) after 20 miles but there was nowhere until nearly halfway. After about 40 miles I thought I might be having hallucinations, seeing coffee in place names. I had to take a picture to show I wasn't imagining it.
At least the lack of coffee stops let me concentrate on the fastest stage yet. 98.5 miles in just 5 hours 16 minutes in the saddle at an average of 18.7 mph.

Alas it's just the name of a settlement. No drinks on offer for a while yet. 

20fl oz of cake flavoured cappuccino for about a quid. Perfect cycling fuel. 

If you aren't at retirement age when you enter you will be before you find your way out!

A large and confusingly laid out town astride the route. 

Chickasawhay River just before Waynesboro, MS where the ride ends today. 

Mississippi has 2 K's in it now, too.

You remember the rhyme about the number of the letter I, S and P in Mississippi? Well we need a new one as we added two Ks today. That's 2000 miles and four fifths done.
A simple, smooth, fast run half across the small state of Mississippi on highway 84 between Natchez and Monticello, MS.  There are many towns called Monticello but Google searches always leaves the one in Mississippi to last. Even the road signs ignored it until 20 miles away and it was the next place on the highway. On arrival it is perhaps easy to see why. Our motel is the Pleasure Point Inn which does sound vaguely as if it may be a house of ill repute but the room is really nice as is the proprietor.
As we covered the 83 miles to here before lunch and check in time we were able to avail ourselves of the all you can eat pizza and salad buffet in town. Keith still slightly below par but Chris manage to eat an extra portion for him too.

Cycling early morning it is hard to realise how little the drivers may be able to see of us. 

Luckily it is two lane highway and the big trucks mostly give us a wide berth. 

That second millennial moment occurred next to the legendary lost graveyard of the school bus:-

A day off in Jerry Lee Lewis's home patch.

We had a day off the bikes today, staying on in Natchez, Mississippi where Jerry Lee Lewis performed his first professional gig, having been brought up over the river in Ferriday, Louisiana.
Keith had a recovery day around the motel and Chris and Mandy went to a nature reserve nearby and onto another in Louisiana. Nice to be away from the road and traffic noise.

Down in the Bald Cypress Swamp, St Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge. 

Great Egret waiting for fish to swim by. 

Scissor Tailed Flycatcher has been very common in Texas and was seen again today. An attractive bird with a long tail that it opens like a pair of scissors on landing or in display. 

Another sunset over the Mississippi but this time with a visiting "paddlesteamer" tied up just below the venue fly Jerry Lee's professional debut.