Finally, A Bike Ride!–Wednesday, July 11, 2012

It rained from 6pm last night until the wee hours of this morning.  We had planned to bike the Augusta Canal Tow Path today.  However, that path is clay, dirt and crushed stone, so it probably is muck and mud this morning! 
So on to Plan B.

There is another Rails to Trails,
The North Augusta Greenway,
 that is about 6 miles long one way. 

(Red-Blue line on the map) 

(click on any photo to enlarge)

The Greenway is paved,
so we decided that would be the trail for today:o)) 

It’s the first morning since we’ve been at MODOC

that the temperature has been below 75 degrees!

We drove 15 miles to the parking area

at the northern end of the Greenway. 

I-20 is right next to the parking area. 

We were on our bikes and riding by 8am. 

One thing we were pleasantly surprised to see was lots of people using the Greenway…walking, jogging, cycling!!!  The other really nice thing…the entire path is tree lined so you are riding in the shade:o))

The road crossings are well marked!

Several Overpasses

At one point, the trail splits into two lanes.

About the 4 mile mark, we found Riverview Park.

It's a huge park,

with an activities center,

ball fields and tennis courts.

The bike trail runs right through it. 

Just past Riverview Park,

we went through an underpass.

Then came the North Augusta Soccer Complex!!

One more overpass,

 passing by the North Augusta Municipal Office,

another underpass and....

we were at the southern end of the Greenway!!

We could have just turned around here, but we decided to cross the road to ride through a beautiful golf course development, The River Club, with million dollar homes all along the Savannah River. (Blue Trail on the map) Actually, these were the homes we saw across the river when we walked the Augusta Riverwalk.

Bill riding real slow by the golf course ;o))

There's that unique highrise in downtown Augusta again!

Front of the homes along the Savannah River

  

 Another view of the weighted railroad bridge.

When we finished this little added adventure,

we returned to the greenway and head north.

We had passed this sign on our way south.

The Riverfront Greenway

We decided to extended the ride a a few miles further:o))

(Green trail on the Map) 

Crossing the bridge to the Riverfront Greenway

View along the river

A split in the trail

View of the Augusta Canal locks at the southern end.

When we finished this loop,

we headed back north on the N. Augusta Greenway.

About halfway,

we were stopped for a few minutes while they cleared

some damage from the storms that have hit this area.

Almost to the trailhead...approaching I-20!!

We had leisurely pedaled 17 miles and when we finished the temperature was still only 80 degrees.  What a GREAT ride!! Hope we can do this again.  Maybe later this week—Maybe!!

We got back to the motorhome by lunchtime and enjoyed our packed lunch.  Nancy worked on pictures after lunch and I did a load of wash at the campground Laundromat (1 washer & 1 dryer).  This is the cheapest yet – $1/wash and $.75/45minutes of dry time.  The big plus is that the appliances were fairly new and worked well.  It’s amazing the little things that please me these days;o)) 

Another good day in retirement :o))