Trailace
10-10-2007, 12:40 AM
Back on the Road Again Ride
I called this ride back on the road again because I broke my foot back in May and had the toe joint replaced in July. So it had been four months of no riding for me and boy that sucked.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206230163-M.jpg
Day 1
The bike was packed and just sitting in the garage waiting to do it?s part again and I?m lying in bed watching the minuets slowly tick pass on the clock. Around 3:00 A.M. I cannot take it anymore so I get up. By 3:30 I?m on the road and stop for gas 5 min from home. After filling up the tank I notice that the GPS could not acquire satellites. I gave it more time, then turned it off and on but still no luck. After going back home and reading how to reset the unit, I was now back on the road for real, however it was now 5:00a.m.
Today would just be a long mind-numbing ride east on I-10 and north on 59 for about 840 miles. I was making great time until I ran into a 45-minuet back up on I-10. I heard on the CB it was a 5-car wreck on the bridge. I will never run I-10 again unless it?s after 9 p.m.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/197889083-M.jpg
The rest of the day was uneventful and I made it to Cloudland Canyon State Park in Georgia before 7:00 p.m. and had the tent up before dark.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206212935-M.jpg
Day 2
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206209506-M.jpg
Today would be a lot better ride because I only had about 500 miles of riding to do and 50% of that would be back roads. I still had lots of ground to cover so I was up early and ready to go when the gates at the park opened at 7:00 a.m.
I have been in this area many times but today I would ride up and over Lookout Mountain. The sun was just rising as I reached the top.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206211346-M.jpg
After doing back roads around Chattanooga it was back on the slab for a while till I took Hwy 99 N off I81 north near McAdam. Than it was US-11 to Hwy100 to US-219 to Hwy39 then Hwy 28 to the 21 miles of dirt road to the Laurel Forks Campground, West VA. When I pulled into camp, Micky and Ross were there and had all their stuff set up and had been to town and back.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206215758-M.jpg
A little later Jeff pulled in.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206215236-M.jpg
Micky was out gathering wood or should I say trees for a fire. He needs a new nickname to go with his love or infatuation with fire. We ate, drank a few beers and had some pleasant discussion on religion, war and politics. Man what great fun.
Day 3
We were up early and everything was covered with heavy dew. Jeff offered to lead the 3 of us on a ride so off we went.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206210649-M.jpg
Was this home build by John Dillinger? If the story this nice older gentleman told us was true than it was.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206213040-S.jpg http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206211436-S.jpg
We had a great time riding and when we made it back to camp the place was packed. I?m not sure how they did it but Brain and Kevin brought steaks and huge potatoes for twenty of us and man they were great!!!!!
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206209745-M.jpg
Day 4 (Saturday)
The whole camp was up and moving before 7:00 AM because no one wanted to be left out of the great riding that would be taking place on this day.
Tibi and Son cleaning up
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206213597-S.jpg
I?m not sure what the total was but I know it was more than 30 riders. There were way too many to go out in one group so we all just picked a group and went. Neal is from the area so I decided to follow him and Jeff road sweep all day. We had a group of thirteen riders, which is big but everyone kept up and it worked out real well. Here are a few pictures of the ride but there will be no road info because I had no idea where the hell I was all day.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206218297-Ti.jpg (http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206218297-M.jpg)http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206219128-Ti.jpg (http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206219128-M.jpg)http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206221715-Ti.jpg (http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206221715-M.jpg)http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206221666-Ti.jpg (http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206221666-M.jpg)
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206223294-M.jpg
Back at camp we ate, drank and ate some more. Mika even brought some clams from Cap Cod. After the hard day of riding most were asleep before midnight.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206222504-S.jpg
Kevin & Brain
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206213739-S.jpg
Day 5
What a great weekend of riding and meeting some great people. I was in no hurry to get home so I went by Neal?s house to check out the photo he took and to charge up my phone.
He wanted to take Jeff and me on some harder more technical trails but we would pass this time. He told me since I was headed to Seneca Rock I should take some road that I cannot remember the name off and that it was just an easy dirt road over the Mountain. But if you know Neal then you know he lies!!!!!!
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206209625-M.jpg
The rest of the day was spent riding back roads across WV and VA till I made it to Willville campground just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. I told Swashplate (Kurt) I planned on camping there Sunday night and he was there when I arrived. This campground was real nice and I had my first shower of the trip and boy it felt goooooood. You cannot have a fire at your site but the owner, Will, starts one in the middle of the campground and everyone gathers around it. This is cool because you get to hear lots of stories.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206213349-M.jpg
Day 6
Kurt and I decided to ride together today for a little while then he would head to Hot Spring and I to Ashville. It was funny but after parting ways we ran into each other again a couple hours later.
Lots of Christmas Trees just off the BRP
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206217797-S.jpg
Since I have never been to Hot Springs NC I decided to follow him the rest of the day. We covered lots of cool back roads and were at camp before dark. We went to the local Pub for a beer and then had a nice little fire back at camp.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206218392-S.jpg http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206220331-S.jpg
Day 7
I was packed and on the road in 15 min this morning heading to see a friend in Tennessee via more back roads. I crossed Bluff Mountain on Hwy 209 and followed it to Hwy 276. I also did a few smaller roads that cut through Pisgah Mountain/Forest.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206210008-S.jpg http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206214828-S.jpg
I made it to my friend?s house for the night. A big thanks to TNT for letting me do laundry and feeding me a great steak dinner.
Day 8
I spent half the day trying to keep up with TNT on some great roads in the area. She had things to do and I was going to visit Rainman in Atlanta so we said our goodbyes and it was back on the road.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206210110-M.jpg
Now the next few roads are some of the best riding you can do. I started on Hwy 68 south, which turns into Hwy 60, there is a warning sign that said next 30 miles would be steep and curvy. Where Hwy 60 intersects 180(Wolf Pen Gape Rd) I took 180 to Hwy 129 and than Hwy 129 back to Hwy60. I did this loop twice with 3 guys on sports bikes. Man did I have fun. I was having so much fun I called Rainman and told him I would not be riding over. I camped out in Vogel SP. The campground was real nice and there were not too many people there.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206212712-S.jpg
However sometime early in the morning I heard something trying to get inside the bags on the bike. I?m not sure what it was but I think it might have been a bear. It made deep grunting noises and was sniffing. I did not get up to look because if it was a bear I did not want to draw attention to myself. I left while it was still dark out so I did not notice any tracks.
Day 9
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206211154-M.jpg
Today would be another day of looking for new roads to explore. I wanted to end up at Meatheads place on the Tennessee River but did not care how I got there. It?s a good thing I did not care because I ended up north of where I was the day before. What I did was set the GPS to avoid all highways, U-turns, tolls roads but set dirt roads as ok. I do this all the time and today it worked just as well that it had in the past. Lots of small paved and dirt roads with very little traffic on them. There were a few times I missed some turns because I was having too much fun or they were not there. I crossed two state lines on dirt, one was posted the other was not. http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206216359-S.jpg
When I made it to Meathead?s there was no one there so I went and grabbed an early dinner but when I return there were 3 ugly guys there. Pat and Keith took off to grab dinner while David and I sat around BS-in. It rained real hard for about 30 min but after the storm passed the temperature dropped and it felt great. Tim, Scott and Allen also showed up right after the rain. Tim had to go back home but the rest of us had a few drinks and talked to I don?t know what time.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206215629-S.jpg http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206210352-S.jpg
Day 10 Friday
Time to head home! I planed on staying till Sunday but my daughter called and left me a message stating she would be coming into town Saturday, so I decided to cut the trip short and be there when she showed up. Family comes first and I?m sure there will be other parties. I?m not sure what time it was when I left but I was back in Houston by 9:30 PM. Man it felt good to sleep in my own bed with my wonderful wife. Till next ride be safe and have fun.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206214058-Ti.jpg
All Pic's (http://blink.smugmug.com/gallery/3507131)
Total Miles 3,740
I called this ride back on the road again because I broke my foot back in May and had the toe joint replaced in July. So it had been four months of no riding for me and boy that sucked.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206230163-M.jpg
Day 1
The bike was packed and just sitting in the garage waiting to do it?s part again and I?m lying in bed watching the minuets slowly tick pass on the clock. Around 3:00 A.M. I cannot take it anymore so I get up. By 3:30 I?m on the road and stop for gas 5 min from home. After filling up the tank I notice that the GPS could not acquire satellites. I gave it more time, then turned it off and on but still no luck. After going back home and reading how to reset the unit, I was now back on the road for real, however it was now 5:00a.m.
Today would just be a long mind-numbing ride east on I-10 and north on 59 for about 840 miles. I was making great time until I ran into a 45-minuet back up on I-10. I heard on the CB it was a 5-car wreck on the bridge. I will never run I-10 again unless it?s after 9 p.m.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/197889083-M.jpg
The rest of the day was uneventful and I made it to Cloudland Canyon State Park in Georgia before 7:00 p.m. and had the tent up before dark.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206212935-M.jpg
Day 2
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206209506-M.jpg
Today would be a lot better ride because I only had about 500 miles of riding to do and 50% of that would be back roads. I still had lots of ground to cover so I was up early and ready to go when the gates at the park opened at 7:00 a.m.
I have been in this area many times but today I would ride up and over Lookout Mountain. The sun was just rising as I reached the top.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206211346-M.jpg
After doing back roads around Chattanooga it was back on the slab for a while till I took Hwy 99 N off I81 north near McAdam. Than it was US-11 to Hwy100 to US-219 to Hwy39 then Hwy 28 to the 21 miles of dirt road to the Laurel Forks Campground, West VA. When I pulled into camp, Micky and Ross were there and had all their stuff set up and had been to town and back.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206215758-M.jpg
A little later Jeff pulled in.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206215236-M.jpg
Micky was out gathering wood or should I say trees for a fire. He needs a new nickname to go with his love or infatuation with fire. We ate, drank a few beers and had some pleasant discussion on religion, war and politics. Man what great fun.
Day 3
We were up early and everything was covered with heavy dew. Jeff offered to lead the 3 of us on a ride so off we went.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206210649-M.jpg
Was this home build by John Dillinger? If the story this nice older gentleman told us was true than it was.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206213040-S.jpg http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206211436-S.jpg
We had a great time riding and when we made it back to camp the place was packed. I?m not sure how they did it but Brain and Kevin brought steaks and huge potatoes for twenty of us and man they were great!!!!!
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206209745-M.jpg
Day 4 (Saturday)
The whole camp was up and moving before 7:00 AM because no one wanted to be left out of the great riding that would be taking place on this day.
Tibi and Son cleaning up
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206213597-S.jpg
I?m not sure what the total was but I know it was more than 30 riders. There were way too many to go out in one group so we all just picked a group and went. Neal is from the area so I decided to follow him and Jeff road sweep all day. We had a group of thirteen riders, which is big but everyone kept up and it worked out real well. Here are a few pictures of the ride but there will be no road info because I had no idea where the hell I was all day.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206218297-Ti.jpg (http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206218297-M.jpg)http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206219128-Ti.jpg (http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206219128-M.jpg)http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206221715-Ti.jpg (http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206221715-M.jpg)http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206221666-Ti.jpg (http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206221666-M.jpg)
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206223294-M.jpg
Back at camp we ate, drank and ate some more. Mika even brought some clams from Cap Cod. After the hard day of riding most were asleep before midnight.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206222504-S.jpg
Kevin & Brain
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206213739-S.jpg
Day 5
What a great weekend of riding and meeting some great people. I was in no hurry to get home so I went by Neal?s house to check out the photo he took and to charge up my phone.
He wanted to take Jeff and me on some harder more technical trails but we would pass this time. He told me since I was headed to Seneca Rock I should take some road that I cannot remember the name off and that it was just an easy dirt road over the Mountain. But if you know Neal then you know he lies!!!!!!
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206209625-M.jpg
The rest of the day was spent riding back roads across WV and VA till I made it to Willville campground just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. I told Swashplate (Kurt) I planned on camping there Sunday night and he was there when I arrived. This campground was real nice and I had my first shower of the trip and boy it felt goooooood. You cannot have a fire at your site but the owner, Will, starts one in the middle of the campground and everyone gathers around it. This is cool because you get to hear lots of stories.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206213349-M.jpg
Day 6
Kurt and I decided to ride together today for a little while then he would head to Hot Spring and I to Ashville. It was funny but after parting ways we ran into each other again a couple hours later.
Lots of Christmas Trees just off the BRP
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206217797-S.jpg
Since I have never been to Hot Springs NC I decided to follow him the rest of the day. We covered lots of cool back roads and were at camp before dark. We went to the local Pub for a beer and then had a nice little fire back at camp.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206218392-S.jpg http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206220331-S.jpg
Day 7
I was packed and on the road in 15 min this morning heading to see a friend in Tennessee via more back roads. I crossed Bluff Mountain on Hwy 209 and followed it to Hwy 276. I also did a few smaller roads that cut through Pisgah Mountain/Forest.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206210008-S.jpg http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206214828-S.jpg
I made it to my friend?s house for the night. A big thanks to TNT for letting me do laundry and feeding me a great steak dinner.
Day 8
I spent half the day trying to keep up with TNT on some great roads in the area. She had things to do and I was going to visit Rainman in Atlanta so we said our goodbyes and it was back on the road.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206210110-M.jpg
Now the next few roads are some of the best riding you can do. I started on Hwy 68 south, which turns into Hwy 60, there is a warning sign that said next 30 miles would be steep and curvy. Where Hwy 60 intersects 180(Wolf Pen Gape Rd) I took 180 to Hwy 129 and than Hwy 129 back to Hwy60. I did this loop twice with 3 guys on sports bikes. Man did I have fun. I was having so much fun I called Rainman and told him I would not be riding over. I camped out in Vogel SP. The campground was real nice and there were not too many people there.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206212712-S.jpg
However sometime early in the morning I heard something trying to get inside the bags on the bike. I?m not sure what it was but I think it might have been a bear. It made deep grunting noises and was sniffing. I did not get up to look because if it was a bear I did not want to draw attention to myself. I left while it was still dark out so I did not notice any tracks.
Day 9
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206211154-M.jpg
Today would be another day of looking for new roads to explore. I wanted to end up at Meatheads place on the Tennessee River but did not care how I got there. It?s a good thing I did not care because I ended up north of where I was the day before. What I did was set the GPS to avoid all highways, U-turns, tolls roads but set dirt roads as ok. I do this all the time and today it worked just as well that it had in the past. Lots of small paved and dirt roads with very little traffic on them. There were a few times I missed some turns because I was having too much fun or they were not there. I crossed two state lines on dirt, one was posted the other was not. http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206216359-S.jpg
When I made it to Meathead?s there was no one there so I went and grabbed an early dinner but when I return there were 3 ugly guys there. Pat and Keith took off to grab dinner while David and I sat around BS-in. It rained real hard for about 30 min but after the storm passed the temperature dropped and it felt great. Tim, Scott and Allen also showed up right after the rain. Tim had to go back home but the rest of us had a few drinks and talked to I don?t know what time.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206215629-S.jpg http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206210352-S.jpg
Day 10 Friday
Time to head home! I planed on staying till Sunday but my daughter called and left me a message stating she would be coming into town Saturday, so I decided to cut the trip short and be there when she showed up. Family comes first and I?m sure there will be other parties. I?m not sure what time it was when I left but I was back in Houston by 9:30 PM. Man it felt good to sleep in my own bed with my wonderful wife. Till next ride be safe and have fun.
http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/206214058-Ti.jpg
All Pic's (http://blink.smugmug.com/gallery/3507131)
Total Miles 3,740