A rural cycle hike around Lexington, Georgia in Oglethorpe County led to some interesting encounters.  During last weekend’s algorithmic rambling, I met a man on a camouflaged golf cart named Chuck Brooks.  Obviously out of place on a touring bike, I asked if the dusty, orange road was private.  After he said it was his driveway, I started to turn around, when he burst out laughing.  “Naw, this is a county road!”  He welcomed me to Lexington, and said, “We’re beer drinkin’, cigar smokin’ folk.”

Old Stephens Road winds around a small, private pond and a stretch of floodplain with tall grass and a variety of tiny wildflowers making the most of the area after one of the driest summers in recent history.

Gun Site Hills is a 700 yard rifle range off 78.  With requisite eagles, stars, stripes, odd punctuation, and a famous gift from France, their website states that One of the things that make this match so exciting  is, let’s say you just squeezed off a round at the 650 yard steel, but before the gun stops recoiling a popup comes up at 250 yards. Remember its only up for 20 seconds, You’ve got to bolt another round into your gun,decide how far out the target is, dial the dope, find that same mug and shoot it in the head before it goes down.)

Most cars on the road that day were trucks pulling trailers and all terrain vehicles coming and going from deer hunts.  Luckily, I didn’t see any successful hunters.