TLDR…14 hours, 630 miles, 18 courthouses, two-up
Yesterday, my daughter joined me on our longest courthouse run to date. We set off at 7:30AM with the intention of visiting 20 courthouses. Temperatures started out in the low 50’s F. I was glad for having my heated grips.
We headed south of Atlanta, with a 90 minute ride before our first stop, Pike County. After that, the stops were 25 to 35 minutes apart. I selected counties that run down the Alabama state line all the way to Florida, and then running back north with the adjacent counties. That had us visiting the following additional counties… Upson, Talbot, Harris, Muscogee, Chattahoochee, Stewart, Quitman, Clay, Early, Seminole on the way south (with a half mile detour into Alabama) and Decatur, Miller, Baker, Calhoun, Randolph, Webster, and Marion on the way north.
“But wait a minute, Gerry, that doesn’t add up to 20 counties” you say. We stopped at our last county, Marion County #18, at 7:00pm. We decided that we better make a direct path home. That ended up being 2-1/2 hours of mainly interstate riding, with traffic getting progressively more intense as we hit the gravitational pull of Atlanta. My daughter was a shivering mess by the time we made it home at 9:30pm as temperatures went back down to the low 50s F.
All told, we rode for 14 hours, covered 630 miles, and visited 18 courthouses. That last push was grueling! Observations…
This trip takes us to 66/159 counties visited.
Yesterday, my daughter joined me on our longest courthouse run to date. We set off at 7:30AM with the intention of visiting 20 courthouses. Temperatures started out in the low 50’s F. I was glad for having my heated grips.
We headed south of Atlanta, with a 90 minute ride before our first stop, Pike County. After that, the stops were 25 to 35 minutes apart. I selected counties that run down the Alabama state line all the way to Florida, and then running back north with the adjacent counties. That had us visiting the following additional counties… Upson, Talbot, Harris, Muscogee, Chattahoochee, Stewart, Quitman, Clay, Early, Seminole on the way south (with a half mile detour into Alabama) and Decatur, Miller, Baker, Calhoun, Randolph, Webster, and Marion on the way north.
“But wait a minute, Gerry, that doesn’t add up to 20 counties” you say. We stopped at our last county, Marion County #18, at 7:00pm. We decided that we better make a direct path home. That ended up being 2-1/2 hours of mainly interstate riding, with traffic getting progressively more intense as we hit the gravitational pull of Atlanta. My daughter was a shivering mess by the time we made it home at 9:30pm as temperatures went back down to the low 50s F.
All told, we rode for 14 hours, covered 630 miles, and visited 18 courthouses. That last push was grueling! Observations…
- the roads are not nearly as twisty as those in the north Georgia mountains, but we still had some sweeping curves. And then we had roads that were arrow-straight for miles!
- The vegetation thinned out quite a bit, even encountering palm trees in Seminole county
- The historic architecture is really beautiful. It’s a shame when it turns out the original courthouse was gone (or my quick search took us to the newer one).
- Temps did rise to the low 80s as the day progressed and we reached our southern terminus.
- A few pictures from our trip are posted.
- My two-up rider advises all who would try something like this to anticipate pain. And yes, she will do it again.
