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- Week Alabama, it's not like they said!

It is amazing what your own state can offer in views even if they are perceived as "boring"...

Sunrise in Islamorada FL.
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It is amazing what your own state can offer in views even if they are perceived as "boring"...

Sunrise in Islamorada FL.
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While the roads in Florida may be boring all that coastline makes for some great views. I didn't like the riding in Florida when I lived there but I think today I would enjoy it more because I'd be out trying to get interesting pics.
 
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I set up a local Street ride a couple of weekends ago. The plan was to ride paved roads in N. Alabama and a little into TN. Sometimes things don't go according to plan. One of the guys on the ride made a video. I'll start out with that video and add pics and comments later.

 
The story behind the video.

5 of us met in Gurley, Al for a street ride.

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We rode bunch of twisty roads in N. Alabama including one road that is so steep and twisty it makes the dragon seem like a highway in Kansas.

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Some typical Alabama County roads and scenery.

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The road surface wasn't always the best.

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After lunch Dave led the ride because he knew the area better than any of us.

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We rode through a couple of rain showers but didn't bother to stop and put on rainsuits.....maybe because some of us didn't have rain suits
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We stopped in Monteagle and gassed up while waiting for another rain shower to pass through. Then Dave led us off in another direction. We rode some back roads.

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This was supposed to be a street ride but....

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I think Dave forgot he was riding a Harley and thought he was on his Ulysses because he didn't even slow down. He had not been on this road before. We stopped at a scenic spot where we could see down into the valley below. Someone was building a house right there.

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After that point the road disappeared around a bend but it looked like it would be dropping down the edge of the mountain. There was some discussion on whether to continue or turn around. Dave wanted to continue and I made a comment about not wanting it to be known that we chickened out following a Harley
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So off we went. I figured the road would get steeper and have some curves.

It did.

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What we didn't expect was for the road condition to really deteriorate. It was rough, had really loose gravel and some big ruts. I didn't get any pics that really show the road condition because I had my hands full not falling down.

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At one point I stopped to assess the situation and figure out where and how to cross a rut.

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Of course it doesn't look like much in the pic. I eventually crossed the rut without dropping my bike. Dave and his Harley just blasted down the hill. He probably had time to take a nap by the time we showed up at the bottom.

The problem was that there was a gate at the bottom of the road
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So I parked my bike and we waited for Stephen and Natalee to show up.

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We were not happy about the gate, especially Natalee
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who had dropped her bike twice on the way down.

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We discussed the situation.

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No one liked the idea of riding back up the steep, rutted hill. We decided we could get around the gate. First Stephen rode Natalee's Z400 around. Dave was next with his Harley.

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Then Greg, Randy and I rode around the gate. Stephen went last and I took some pics. He made it look easy.

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After we all got around the gate we took off our helmets and took a break. This now officially qualified as a dual sport ride even if we were on street bikes. It would have been fun on dual sport bikes. On street bikes it wore us out. Natalee but a big dent in her Catalytic converter when she bashed it going through a rut. Randy grounded out too but didn't appear to do any damage. The Harley made it through just fine but then it had been previously owned by Travis Pastrana and had probably been back flipped going over jumps
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If nothing else we figured we would have a good story to tell in the fututre and it would keep getting more epic every tome it was re-told:lol3

From there we split up With Dave heading back towards home. We rode a very nice paved road that took us to 72 in South Pittsburg.

We just blasted on 72 for a while before getting off just before Stevenson and then getting on some back roads.

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I made a wrong turn and we rode around in a big circle!

We stopped for a break in downtown Fackler.

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Stephen spotted a rusted out old car mostly hidden by bushes that he thought he could get some parts from
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After the break Greg split off and the rest of us went back up CR39.
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It was much more fun going up. If you have never ridden this road it makes the dragon look like a Kansas highway. We also rode 65 through Paint Rock Valley. Natalee thought that was the best road of the day. We took a break at the end of 65 then headed for home.

Stephan and Natallee breaking off just before Huntsville.

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Randy heading for home as I exited the highway.

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I ended up riding around 270 miles and was worn out when I got home.

It was a great day to get out and ride with friends
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Twenty percent grade loose gravel and blown out plateau clay ruts, AL 39, I-65??:clap:clap
 
Alabama. The Deep South. Cotton fields, trailer parks and Rednecks!

That's what a lot of people think of when they think of Alabama. I know better. I took a ride around town today and took some pics. I started with what made Huntsville, Alabama famous and put it on the map.

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Huntsville is where the American space program got it's start. Those Rockets that put our astronauts into orbit and beyond were designed here.

Not quite as high flying as the Saturn V was this jet.

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It was a little faster than my scooter but not nearly as fuel efficient!

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A view of Huntsville. It might not look like it in the pic withing the last year Huntsville became the largest city in Alabama. They can't build houses fast enough for all the people moving here.

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On the way home I stopped for gas. Last time I filled up I got 99 MPG. On this tank I rode a lot faster including a couple of top speed runs and turned my new bike into a gas hog.

Only 91 MPG this time.

I took a different route home and got some pics of the Space and Rocket Center from across the interstate.

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The Space and Rocket Center shows the history of the space program. This recently built building in the research park shows that Huntsville will play a big part of the future of the space program.

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Overall I like the weather in Alabama but it can get a little hot in the summer. Yesterday was the hottest day so far this year with a high of 98 and a heat index in triple digits. If I need to ride to the store or something I try to do it in the morning before it gets too hot. Well a friend posted a short notice sunset ride in the nearby Wheeler Wildlife refuge on a FaceBook Dual sport group page. At least by that time it would have cooled to below 95 degrees so I decided to go. I put on my mesh gear and cooling vest and headed to the meeting spot just a few miles from my house. When I got there there was my friend on his Africa Twin and a gal new to the area on her Tiger. We headed down a paved road towards Wheeler which is all unpaved.

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The Gal was new to the area and had never ridden this area before. I stopped at a spot on the Tennessee river with a view. This was not the view I expected:

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I'd have helped pick up the bike but I was busy taking pics:D

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The view we stopped for:

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We recently decided to go back to the Bridges to Nowhere and do some exploring. 10 of us met at Allsports Powersports in Decatur, Alabama.

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We had a mix of bikes but all were dual sport or adventure bikes.

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One of the riders was on his new Aprilia Taureg.

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The rider has only been riding a little over a year. His first and previous bike was an XT225. So far he loves the Taureg.

We went to a gas station just down the road so those who needed gas could get it. One of the Himalayans was leaking gas but it was fixed fairly quickly. There were three Himalayans on this ride. It has become the most popular bike on our local rides.

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It is a fairly long ride to get to the Bridges to Nowhere so we took a fairly direct route. We passed through the town of Moulton.

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Eventually we got to some curves.

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The colors were starting to change. Normally this happens early November in Alabama. It's been much colder than normal this fall.

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So what are the bridges to Nowhere? We first went there back in the spring. The details are here: https://advbikes.com/threads/alabama-its-not-like-they-said.980/page-8#post-24663

We met a couple more riders including another Himalayan bringing the totals to 12 riders and 4 Himalayans.

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There was talk about heading for lunch but I did a little exploring while everyone was standing around talking. I rode down a trail and found a big motorcycle playground.

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A couple of riders followed me.

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One of them got a pic of me.

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