Mother's Day 2022 - adding county courthouses

[Guidedawg]

My daughters made plans to take my wife on a picnic while I met my brother to visit my own mother in Thomasville (Clarke County).  Since it would be a solo trip for me, I deemed it a perfect opportunity to enjoy a motorcycle ride and collect a few county courthouses for the Dixie ABATE Courthouse Challenge.

Although I normally avoid Interstate travel to enjoy smaller highways and county roads, I had a lot of ground to cover and wanted to utilize my time.  Besides, my VTX1800 does very well with that type of travel.  It also gave me a rare opportunity to utilize my throttle lock, albeit only for a few brief periods.

So, I hopped on I-85 and then I-65 South in Montgomery and made my way to Greenville.  Once again, even though I had directions taped to my fuel tank, I still missed a road or two and got turned around once I was in town.  Fortunately, that only happened in Greenville and not other parts of the trip.  It's nice to have a phone to pull up a map when that happens.

I got my pic of the courthouse



and after a few back and forths, got back on the Interstate and down south to Evergreen.  No Conecuh sausage stop (besides, it was still early) but I did visit that courthouse also.





The ride from Evergreen to Monroeville was especially nice.  Oh, there weren't exciting curves or particularly beautiful scenery, but there was no traffic, small country roads, and a peaceful easy feeling in solo travel.

Before long I was in Alabama's Literary Capital (home of both Truman Capote and Harper Lee)  The old courthouse (and setting of "To Kill a Mockingbird") is now a museum



So I took a pic of the newer courthouse also



I spotted a few murals in town which seemed to be Mockingbird related and added them to the mural section of our site









Alas, I did have to travel Highway 84 the rest of the way to Grove Hill.  If you are going there from I-65 it can be a very long trip if you get caught in traffic because there are few places to pass.  However, I was able to scoot around the one pocket of trucks I got behind and enjoyed the ride more than expected.

As I went through Perdue Hill and Claiborne, I fondly recalled the write up I did for our ghost town section back in 2015.  It was one of the few reports I have saved to a computer and could repost after the server crash.  I think it may have been the most research I have done before a ride.

http://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?topic=127.msg809#msg809 (Link to report)



I crossed the Alabama River, entered Clarke County and took a pic of the courthouse along with a mural in the courthouse square.









My brother was driving up from his home in Washington County, so I called while I was stopped and he was on Highway 43 going through Grove Hill at just that minute.  I jumped on the bike and caught up with him then had the fun of following his car through Thomasville.  We stopped and I parked my bike in a car lot where I removed Mother's Day gifts from the saddlebags and joined him in his car.

The long dirt driveway where my mother is staying is very rutted with a sharp hill that makes the car tires spin.  It was more than I wanted to attempt on a very heavy cruiser.

We enjoyed a visit and said our goodbyes. 



When he dropped me off I went to a nearby Mexican restaurant and had an enjoyable lunch while watching all the families dining.





Now rested and well-fed, it was time to go home.  I took Highway 5 and stopped briefly in Pine Hill to take another mural pic



I crossed the Alabama River again going towards Camden.  Normally, I would take the business road around the town but this time I went through to get a pic of the courthouse (now a library) that pre-dates the Civil War.



I took a pic with the "new" one also



Since I do not usually go through this section, I spotted a colorful mural and took a pic of it also





I saw another on my way out. Like many murals, it highlights features of my community within the letters.





And just like that, it was back to very familiar roads going into Lowndes County where I made one final stop for a courthouse picture.



I had not been here since it was renamed for "Big John" Williams, the sheriff so senselessly killed in the line of duty by some 19 year old punk.

I finally reached Highway 80 and then back to the Interstate and home.






I didn't even attempt to explore National Register of Historic Places sites since that is a lot of backtracking and time consuming, but I did get 6 county courthouses for the Dixie Abate Challenge and added them all to the County Challenge Site here also.
http://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?board=71.0 Link to County Section

We still have some counties with no Motorcycle Alabama visits; y'all get a pic!

More importantly, I visited Mama and got to see my brother also.  I was able to get around the few pockets of traffic I encountered and had another enjoyable solo ride in perfect weather.

It was a great day to be out.

[Chuck & Susan]

Looks like a great day on the bike. And now your over half way done with the list of counties. Guess I need to plan a ride to catch up with you.

Thanks for the report!!

Chuck