Miles: 266
There was an IHOP next door to the hotel so we just walked over and had our breakfast served by just a few minutes after 7:00. We started with the temperature in the high 40s which would seem rather balmy in the coming days. I wanted to ride by Camp Toccoa which was just 40 miles away. This is where the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment trained before jumping on D-Day. The 506th PIR had a famous company called Easy Company which may be remembered from their story told by Stephen Ambrose entitled Band of Brothers. I wasn't sure what we would see there but I felt it would be worth a stop. What a stop it was. They were restoring a barracks tp its original condition which we found interesting but as we rode in further we saw museum that was opened and we went in. The host showed us around and shared a number of details about the camp that were truly interesting. We were there for a fair amount of time listening to our guide and reading all of the material. I would highly recommend this museum for anyone interested in WWII. We got back to riding and had planned to stop at Toccoa Falls which was nearby but when we arrived we learned it was not open due to the pandemic. How silly! We took in stride and just continued riding. US123 took us into South Carolina where we made our next stop. We called the place Lake Hartwell at Broken Bridges but a sign also referred to it as Highway 123 fishing pier. Actually it is the Old Tugaloo River Bridge built in 1949, and carried US123 across the Tugaloo River on the GA/SC border until the 1960s when a new bridge was built. The Corps of Engineers built the Hartwell Dam, forming Lake Hartwell from 1955 to 1962 necessitating a new US123 bridge, and once complete the Tugaloo River Bridge became obsolete. The center span was removed to create some recreational areas and reassembled due north to span the Chauga River on Cobb Bridge Road. The park created is very nice and we enjoyed the view from the pier as we soaked in the morning sunshine. Next we fished our way over to RT28 crossed the Chattooga River back into Georgia and in the blink of an eye we were over Satulah Mountain and into Highlands NC. The next leg was US64 to Cashiers where we stopped at Whiteside Brewing Co for lunch. This was another good place and the wings here were very good. The setting was also very nice with some outdoor seating in a wooded setting. We went back south and back into South Carolina and rode through the Table Rock area along SC11. We climbed up Caesars Head area stopping at Bald Rock. There was a fairly large crowd here with people walking around. The setting is a very large rock formation that one can walk on and it reminded me of the slickrouk areas in Utah. However, the monolithic rock is nearly covered in paint which I would called graffiti. I really don't know what possess people to do this but if you didn't focus on the graffiti it was a very nice view. We caught up with NC215 after progressing through Caesars Head and this is one of my favorite roads. We stopped at Sunburst Falls which we have been to countless times, but it is always worth a stop as far as I am concerned. It was all too short of a ride to Canton where we jumped on I-40 and bypassed Asheville to stay in Black Mountain. We figured the situation in Black Mountain relative to the measures taken around the virus would be far less impactful than those in Asheville so we booked a room there. We had the time to make one stop in Asheville and we contemplated what it should be, but we landed on Hillman Beer. The place was pretty busy for it being before 5:00. We sat outside and enjoyed a Hazy IPA. We arrived in Black Mountain fairly hungry and walked to Que Sera for dinner. It was expensive but it was also very good as we enjoyed a variety of Oysters and some other small plate items. Before dinner we had walked to Lookout Brewing Company and also stopped at Black Mountain Brewing. After dinner we walked back to Black Mountain Brewing for a nightcap. Another solid day of riding and a great night out as well. We would both highly recommend Black Mountain as a destination.