The 67 County Grind

[STUFF2C]

I may have never enjoyed the awesome BBQ here if not for the Grind.

[George Brown]

That's neat. I'm doing the same thing up here in PA. First of all I didn't know Florida had 67 counties. Pennsylvania also has 67.

 

I started on July 18 and gave myself a 12-month deadline. So far, I've completed 26, my sub-goal is to complete 34 by the year end, then pick up the other half next spring. With the exception of Philadelphia which is about 35 minutes from my house, I've visited just about all the counties in the eastern third of the state. That means that just about anything I attempt in the future will be at least a 200 mile round trip. I'm planning to do Phila some Saturday morning rather than fight weekday traffic.

 

It's done for me what I've wanted it to do: it got me riding more near home. I've ridden almost 2100 miles visiting the first 26 county seats. Most of these I have been to before but now I am documenting the visit with a photo or two and taking the time to read a one or more historical markers at each one. All my visits so far have been day-trips. Before I am done, I will need to do a few overnight trips or one multiday trip. I'm finding that locating the courthouse and taking the photos adds on average about 30 minutes for each CH visited. Hence, the most I've done in one day has been four.

 

The other thing that it has done is give me a little more historical knowledge about my home state. Lastly, I've met a few interesting people.

 

In this month's BMW-ON, Jim Ford commented on the importance of setting riding goals to keep from getting bored with just riding around. He right on. I was finding myself not riding very much unless it was to a far off destination.

 

"The 67 County Grind" - has a nice ring to it!

[Bob Palin]

I like this idea, at one time I set out to visit each of California's historical markers, over 1000. Fortunately I found a girlfriend and forgot about that idea...

 

No girlfriend now, Utah has 29 counties...

 

The fabulous Utah.gov site has a searchable guide to historical markers but not a count that I can find.

[STUFF2C]

That was the exact reason behind the Grind. To give riders a reason to explore the great state of Florida. I think it would be a great idea for a group in each state to organize a county Grind for that same reason.

I would be more than happy to post it on our site www.sidestandup.com and the participants could call in and let us know how it's going. I heard from a Ga. rider and he told me they have had one going for a few years now. We put a time limit for the Florida riding season that stars in October, just to make it a bit more interesting.

I'm glad to hear there are more folks out there using the counties for a reason to get out and ride.

We have other suggestions for future Grinds, like pictures of you and your bike in front of all the major league baseball stadiums or the NFL teams stadiums.

I guess the possibilities are endless.