A Ride To New Echota--February 11, 2017

Well we didn't get the high 60's Mellish promised but we settled for what could be considered a very mild February day. Six of us headed out from Ball Ground at 10:20 taking little used backroads. The back road sights, sounds and smells make a ride interesting and at least to some riders much preferred over the much faster, and boring Interstates. Damascus Road and Henderson Mountain get a thumbs up, as does Jerusalem Church Road.

Soon however we had to make time going west so we hopped on Ga 136 for a fast ride over to Ga 225, aka Chieftains Trail, purported to be the route of part of the Trail Of Tears. There's nothing much to see on Ga 136 west of US 411 but lots of chicken houses, sometimes whole villages of them.

Ga 225 took us south toward Calhoun but soon after crossing the Coosawattee we turned into the grounds of the New Echota Historic Site, the capital of the Cherokee Nation abandoned as part of the Indian Removal of the 1830's.

This was not the peak tourist time for New Echota. There were few visitors and only two rangers on duty, one of whom was on lunch break when we arrived. Only a few of the less interesting buildings were open but one of the rangers caught up with us on the grounds and opened up the print shop. The ranger spent a good deal of time with us, not only describing the printing history but also filling us in on a wide range of subjects relative to the Cherokees of yesterday and today.

From New Echota we headed into Calhoun for lunch following a simple route.. 225 to 3 to Ga 53. What should have been a fifteen minute ride turned into a lengthy, and comical tour of the hills of Calhoun, as road signs marking the way were either confusing or nonexistent. It took two GPS' and some dumb luck to finally get on track.

We stopped for lunch at the "Classic Kitchen", a place none of us had been to before, but had good reviews. We worried a bit when we sat down in an empty room, but when the food was served all was well.

After lunch we rode Ga 53 over to Fairmount then got back on backroads to Ball Ground. In spite of the overcast coolish day all riders seemed to enjoy the ride.