+ Week Rocket Science and other Riding Tales

[ZoomerP]

I'm not sure the Whale Snot Trail was ever officially a trail. It started as a National Forest road which kept deteriorating as it went along. They only closed that part that was deteriorating. Unfortunately that was the fun part.

My guess is that they didn't have the budget to maintain the road, and there may have been a messy recovery of truck from that section that tore things up bad enough that they closed it.

Death Valley has considered a different approach to their growing problems related to morons bombing down rough roads. Instead of scrambling to keep the roads in relatively good shape and responding to more and more accidents, they were trying to leave some sections alone so the degradation prevented high speeds and discouraged morons from driving on them at all. I like the idea, and I think other areas will do more planned degradation. Some high traffic trails in Colorado come to mind.

 

[klaviator]

My guess is that they didn't have the budget to maintain the road, and there may have been a messy recovery of truck from that section that tore things up bad enough that they closed it.

Death Valley has considered a different approach to their growing problems related to morons bombing down rough roads. Instead of scrambling to keep the roads in relatively good shape and responding to more and more accidents, they were trying to leave some sections alone so the degradation prevented high speeds and discouraged morons from driving on them at all. I like the idea, and I think other areas will do more planned degradation. Some high traffic trails in Colorado come to mind.

There had been no maintenance for years. You needed a serious 4wd or a motorcycle to get down it. Until I "discovered" it a few years ago no one I knew even knew the trail existed. My friends who had been riding the area for many years had no idea it was there. The trail dead ended at a beautiful spot on the Sipsey river. Across the river we could see signs that there used to be access there but we could never find it. The trail/road on the other side had probably been closed off earlier. It is possible the issue was that the trail was on private land but there weren't any sign of that. I have seen the many trails and roads being closed in Georgia and North Carolina as well. Eventually we will become like some western European countries where there is little or no off road riding left.

 

[ZoomerP]

As I view your trail photos, I think about how remote some of those areas are and the history they've seen, especially during the Civil War era. When those areas are closed to vehicular traffic, I have to wonder if anyone will bother (or be allowed) to hike in there again, and what justification is used to support their closure. We need wild places, but that doesn't have to mean removing human activity from all of them.

 

[klaviator]

It was a beautiful day today so I headed for pulaski, TN to grab the tag in a local tag game. As I rode along I stopped to take pics of potential new tags.

I took some new to me roads.

This old store has seen better days.

 

[klaviator]

I had to stop and document my epic water crossing

I saw the sign for a historical monument so I U turned and went to check it out.

California happy cows? Maybe not.

 

[klaviator]

I found the tag in Pulaski.

Then I wandered around town for a while and took some pics.

 

[klaviator]

I had a light lunch then headed towards home. I kept looking for potential new tags.

I can't use this since my bike isn't in the pic but I thought it was an interesting house so i did a drive by shooting.

 

[klaviator]

I have taken pics of this bridge with some of my other bikes.

Looking the other way.

This would make a good tag:

So would this but I have used it before.

This next pic has no identifying marks but is on our regular route when we start our rides in Ardmore.

Same spot but I wanted to get the barn in the pic.

That was my last pic. I think I rode around 150 miles to get and set the tag.

What was the new tag? The Waterfalls.

 

[klaviator]

I went for a street ride yesterday with a couple of friends. They had both just bought new bikes.

The bike on the left is a Suzuki GSX8s and on the right a BMW Option 719.

We headed out riding some North Alabama twisties.

 

[klaviator]

We stopped at the famous Rock Zoo.

Then we continued on. I had some buzzards take flight in front of me and managed to get some pics.

Some rural Alabama countryside.

 

[klaviator]

We rode AL 117 into Tennessee 56 and has some of the best curves in the area. Our next stop was the Sewanee Natural bridge.

 

[klaviator]

We headed towards Winchester, TN for lunch stopping at this cool old gas station in Cowan.

We ate at Jefferson's in Winchester and were joined by another friend from TN. After lunch we stopped for gas.

I had to be home around 3 so we headed back but took the slightly longer and more fun route of 16/79, 146 and 65. On last pic of my friend on his BMW.

I finished up with around 200 miles on my Odo.

 

[ZoomerP]

NIce day out. How do they like their bikes?

 

[klaviator]

NIce day out. How do they like their bikes?

They both like them. The guy on the GSX8s is a young guy who traded in a Japanese cruiser so this is a big step up for him. The guy on the BMW traded in a BMW F850GS. He said he fell out of love with the 850 and likes the new bike. I think he made a step backwards in overall capability and practicality. It will be interesting to see how long he stays satisfied with the 719. Both guys also own more dirt oriented bikes as well.

While we were at lunch another of our regular riding group posted that he wasn't on the ride because he was in Nashville picking up a new bike as well so a lot of our regular riding group has bought new bikes this year and I wouldn't be surprised to see more before the year is out.

This was the bike being picked up in Nashville:

 

[klaviator]

Yesterday was the first day in a while with a really nice forecast so it was time for a ride. My plan was to grab the Middle TN and Usual Suspects tags and set new ones. The US tag was closer so I headed for that keeping my eye open for potential new tags. I also kept my eye open for the Southeast theme tag which was a topiary as well as the ADVr scooter tag which was "dead end".

Maybe a new tag?

I grabbed the US tag:

And set a new scooter tag:

 

[klaviator]

The Middle Tennessee tag was still a long ways off. I took some pics along the way and explored some new roads.

 

[klaviator]

Another picture stop.

Next stop was the Middle Tenn. tag.

 

[klaviator]

The tag was in the town of Howenwald, TN. I rode through town to take a different route home. I saw something that seemed out of place in middle Tennessee

I rode East and got on to the Natchez Trace Parkway and headed South. It didn't take long to get to one of the many historic sites along the Trace.

There was the sign and a trail going into the woods. Not much to see. I got back on the parkway and headed North until I came to another "attraction".

I did a short hike to check it out.

 

[klaviator]

After the falls I rode back to the parkway exit and started heading for home. I didn't take the shortest or fastest route as I wanted to explore some new roads and stay off the main roads as much as possible.

I stopped in Pulaski for lunch and saw that someone had already grabbed the scooter tag I had set and posted a new one. The new tag was "unpaved". I was planning on riding a certain gravel road anyway so I could use that to grab the tag.

It doesn't look like much but a few of my friends had dropped their bikes climbing up the hill behind my scooter. It is fairly steep with lots of ruts, rocks and loose gravel. It was no problem on my AV150 even with a street tire on the back.

Another good photo opportunity:

 

[klaviator]

My next stop was to set the new scooter tag which was a road named after a vegetable.

Then I set the new Middle Tenn tag. I like to set tags that force people to ride some interesting roads to grab it.

Anyone looking for a lightly used car?

I finished up with a bridge pic.

My total for the day was around 250 miles with 4 tags grabbed and four set.