Callaway Gardens butterflies, trails, and e-bikes

E-bikes are so popular now and we wanted to try them to get a feel for how they ride and to prepare to use them for our European vacation. But we didn't want to rent them to ride the city streets so we found a bike shop on a trail that rents them. John and Dawn at Chipley Cycle in Pine Mountain, GA stock e-bikes, gravel bikes, hybrids, and more for all ages. They lead community rides daily it seems and are really connecting the cycling and trail community in the area. And they rent bicycles too, since they are located downtown in the town that hosts Callaway Gardens, Wild Animal Safari, RVC yurt campground, and Butts Mill Farm. Connecting most of these sites is the newly opened Man O'War Rail Trail currently offering 8 miles of beautiful shaded trail with more miles planned to take you all the way past Callaway to Hamilton! Diamond Back class 3 e-bikes were loads of fun for the 16 mile roundtrip on the trail and we tested all the modes (speeds): Eco, Tour, Sport, and Turbo. They were a joy to use with the pedal assist button on the left for selecting modes of assistance and a Bosch monitor in the center of the handlebar for viewing. Now we are stoked for our Croatia Bike & Boat island hopping tour via e-bike next month!

All-day explorers that we are, we never want the adventure to end, so we made it a staycation and booked a night at the Callaway Lodge & Spa which has a pool, and sits trailside along the gardens' impressive 10-mile network of shady paved trails. We jumped in the pool after testing e-bikes and enjoyed our own happy hour since the cabana had closed. Always bring your own, just in case. ;-) Later, we grabbed dinner on the pub patio, attached to the lodge and less crowded than the formal dining room. For dessert, we enjoyed fireworks over the beach at Robin Lake with chocolate bars from the vending machine...all viewed from the lodge property which overlooks the lake.

We usually like to abandon the vehicle once we arrive and only use the bikes to explore. Thus, we brought our own bikes along and explored the garden trails the next day after a massive sleep in. From the lodge we biked the trails by the golf course to the Butterfly Center and mural of our state butterfly, the Swallowtail, on over to the Discovery Center for lunch, around the azalea bowl, and popped inside the chapel to hear the organist. Just behind the chapel we dipped our toes in the small waterfall which is surely downstream from the blue spring, which Montane Water is derived from. https://www.montanespring.com/

At an hour and a half from home, Harris County is a great outdoor destination offering even more than we touched on if you include FDR State Park. Consider it for bikes, trails, and outdoor adventures. Adventurers always, Tracie and Jeff.