Cross-Country Segment 9

Americus, GA to Savannah, GA

Our final segment is the shortest of the summer: a 240 mile “sprint to the sea,” from Americus to Tybee Island on the Atlantic coast. These last, bittersweet days of the journey will include our final build days in Americus and Albany, a relaxing roll through gorgeous and historic Savannah, and an evening spent in fellowship with our FCBA comrades from the Atlantic Coast route.

The segment starts off with an exciting FCBA first: back-to-back Build Days! Old friends at the Americus-Sumter Fuller Center will keep us busy on Monday, and we’ll load up the van on Tuesday to work with the Albany, GA Fuller Center. Albany was devastated by two rounds of tornadoes in January, and there is still a great deal of recovery work to be done. We’ll do out best to help the decent folks of Albany fix their roofs and homes while living out the mission of the Fuller Center for one last time on a Bike Adventure Build.

The mileage trends steadily downward over the first 3 ride days of this segment: 87 from Americus to McRae, 73 from McRae to Claxton, and 55 from Claxton to Savannah. McRae is a classic South Georgia small town: think historic one-story downtown buildings, sprawling Antebellum homes, and quiet tree-filled neighborhoods that dissolve into farmland. From McRae, we head east across the Oconee River valley to Vidalia, then on to the tiny railroad town of Claxton. Vidalia is known far and wide for its sweet onions, but plenty of other crops (like pecans, tobacco and cotton) are still grown in large quantities around here. From Claxton, we’ll enjoy the peaceful, rural scenes of southeast Georgia as we slowly descend in elevation toward the Atlantic.

Savannah is a gem of a city, with diverse neighborhoods, beautiful parks and gardens, and loads of unique architecture. This colonial capital and strategic port city will serve as the rendezvous point for our group and another group of FCBA riders, who will be heading southbound down the Atlantic Coast to Key West. Friends new and old will enjoy all that historic Savannah has to offer on the eve of our final ride day.

The cross-country summer ride concludes with a triumphant 20 mile ride to the sea. Our final destination is Tybee Island, a scenic barrier island and the easternmost point in Georgia. The whole journey will come full circle when we dip our front wheels in the Atlantic…signifying our official completion of the coast-to-coast ride in 2017!

Build Days: 2                 Bike Days: 4               Total Miles: 235              Average: 59

(Note: This mileage is an estimate and could change depending on church host locations, and the major cities are listed although we may stay in a suburb.)