As I had previously mentioned, I am having to stray pretty far from Jacksonville in order to find some decent roads, and this one fits the bill rather perfectly. Whenever I would look at the map of Florida, I always wondered what was in the little nook in the northeast corner. Well, this entire ride pretty much encompasses that entire sector, and let me tell you, there is nothing out there. If for any reason that you need to get away from the world and have it be just you and your machine, this is the ride to take.
Heading west from Jacksonville, take the super exciting I-10 and take the first exit for Macclenny that you see. Follow this until you reach 121, then make a right and prepare yourself for a whole lot of nothing. This Okefenokee parkway is about as desolate a road as I have ever been on. As you can tell from the map, it is nothing but a straight shot ALL the way down to our next road. I thought that I may get lucky with a side road or something, but the most exciting thing that seemed to be along this road was a gigantic recreational mud pit as soon as you cross into Georgia. Other than that, be prepared to spend a lot of time contemplating the meaning of life along this stretch. Don't worry about missing 94, which you're going to take a left on to, because it just so happens to be the only legitimate paved road that you will come across. Take your left, and head down this nicely paced road with lush woods lining either side. The only breaks in the trees were by the occasional house and a giant timber harvesting factory that will be to the left. 94 has some gradual sweeping curves to save you from the monotony of Okefenokee as well. The next paved road that you will reach is 185, where we take another left. This road was great, as there were finally signs of civilization, since I was soon to be low on gas and there were some great views along the way. It's mostly farmland, but for some reason I found it quite nice to look at. Decent curves and some menial grades grace 185 making for a nice finish to quite a long ride. Follow this all the way down until 185 dead ends back into Okefenokee and head right, to come back home. This will lead you all the way back to the highway where you can grab a well needed bite to eat and gas up before the trek back to Jacksonville.
Not including the time it will take you to reach the starting point, this ride is a hefty 52 miles and will take roughly over an hour to complete.
Starting out, I was not going to give this ride a very high rating since Okefenokee parkway almost lulled me to sleep. After a while though i found myself enjoying it more and more because of the nearly complete solitude that this ride offers. I think I may have seen a whopping 10 cars total when I wasn't in or near a town. This gave me time to think about things that I haven't had time to think about lately and become a little more intimate with my motorcycle. I would highly recommend doing a good service or looking over of your ride before heading out on this one (as I had done), since the desolation that is so nice on this ride can also be your undoing if you were to break down.
A solid 4 out of 5 for this one. Definitely recommended.
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