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+ Week Those Were the Days My friend.

After a few days in Tahoe it was time for the best part of this trip, at least for me. The plan for the ride back was to cross the Sierras three times going over three different mountain passes.

First up was route 4, the Ebbets Pass. The Ebbets pass was an awesome ride. It was a narrow road with a lot of hairpins curves as it climbed up the rugged mountains. It was a real wilderness road with no signs of civilization.

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Somewhere after getting to the top we came by these beautiful lakes and had to stop and enjoy the view.

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There was also this biker gang there. These guys really looked like serious bikers, black leathers, tattoes, long hair, beards, and most of them were pretty big. I'm sure that people would hide the women and children when these guys rolled into town. But we talked to them. They seemed like really nice folks. Look can be deceiving.

We followed 4 to 49, went south on 49 and then picked up 108 to go over the Sonora pass. Somewhere High in the mountains we came across this little resort in the middle of nowhere. It was such a beautiful spot that we decided to spend the night there. They had a room available in a small log cabin motel. I think that dinner that night was served outside behind the small restaurant. The name of this place was the Dardanelle resort. I just did a google search and it's still there. I wonder if you could go there today and just get a room in the middle of the summer without a reservation.

This place ran off of generator power and if I remember correctly after a certain time of night they shut off the generator.

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I'm coming VERY late to this thread but I thought I'd chime in with these pics from a 2010 trip to the Sierra Nevada's:

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So I was out of work again. The big advantage of having retired from the Navy was that I still had some income and health insurance. I considered and explored various options but eventually decided to do something I actually knew how to do. That would be flying. Back in Flight school I had spent 90 bucks to take a class and test which resulted in getting my Commercial single engine land, Helicopter and instrument ratings. Then in Detroit four of us spent 400 bucks each to get our written ATP exams. We did the flights in the Navy C-12. So for $490 I got all the ratings I would need to get a flying job. My only problem was that I had never done any civilian flying......
It's the same thing as military flying only without guns and bombs. (sorry, I HAD to post that...)
 
Time to continue this ride report with a look back to 2010, nearly 13 years ago. That October I did a three part vacation. The first part didn't involve riding. The second was a few days of Dual Sport Riding out of Maggie Valley. The area around Maggie Valley is one of my favorite areas to ride, both on and off road. Back in 2010 is was still fairly new to me. Here's some pics from that ride.

I was riding with Sean and Steve. I haven't seen Sean in years but still ride regularly with Steve.

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One of our favorite roads was Hurricane Creek. I haven't ridden that road in years now as I heard it has become badly rutted out by numerous 4x4 vehicles that dig deep trenches that will swallow a bike. I need to go check it out sometime but here some pics from back in 2010.

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We were riding it in the opposite direction from the previous times we rode it. Since we were going up the creek it was easy to take a wrong fork and end up at a dead end. In one of those forks we found this old abandoned school bus we had never seen before.

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I really wondered how they got this bus up this very rugged trail:hmmmmm

Continuing on.

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We came out of Hurricane Creek on a road we had never ridden before.

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We rode some other nearby roads.

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We saw Elk in Cataloochie Valley.


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Some fall colors which my primitive camera of the day did a poor job of capturing.


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Part three would be attending the Bat Out Of Helen (BOOH) KLR rally. It wasn't easy for me to leave the Maggie Valley area which I could only ride on vacation and head down to North Georgia which i could ride on most weekends. But Motorcycling is not just about the riding but also all the great people involved. I ended up having no regrets about this choice.

I got to TWO in the evening and set up my tent.

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The next morning the other riders who weren't staying at TWO showed up.

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We split into more than one group and I volunteered to lead one of the groups.

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We had a great day of riding. We rode about 110 miles, mostly off the pavement. One of the guys riding with me was a bit of a celebrity. Some of you older guys may recognize him.

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The next day was another beautiful day but unfortunately the last day of my vacation.

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Long time TWO customers may also recognize Mimi who was out taking pictures that morning.

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A pic of some of the TWO staff with the same celebrity I posed with earlier.

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Talking 2010, I can't believe it's been that long since I rode the Rally Mongolia!
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I'm sure that was a very memorable event for you!

2010 seems like a long time ago. I was so much younger back then:gerg 2010 was also one of those years when my life changed its trajectory.

For about three years I had been living in Marietta but commuting down to Columbus for work. It was a 2 hour and 10 minute drive with no traffic. During Atlanta rush hour it would have easily been twice that. So I just spent the weekdays in Columbus. This gave me plenty of time to read ADV and work on my ride reports but I really wasn't riding very much as I didn't keep a bike in Columbus after crashing my GS. So why didn't we just move to Columbus? First I really had no plans to stick with this job. Once pilot hiring resumed I planned on moving on to something else but the recession lasted far longer than expected. Second, I had no desire to live in Columbus. Among other things it was just too far from good riding. Third, my job in Columbus was a good job the first two years and then turned into a crappy job.
So when the Company I worked for had an opening in Huntsville, Alabama I asked for a transfer. It would be an even longer commute but Huntsville was a city I would consider actually moving too. So they approved my transfer and even gave me 2 weeks off to move. It wouldn't take me two weeks since I wasn't moving my house, at least not at this time. So what could I do with those 2 weeks off?
Anyone want to guess?
 
Before going on this trip I found a couple of inmates planning on riding the same area and time as me. One was local and one from out of town. So I was able to hook up with them for some riding. I got up early on a chilly morning, this was late October, and met them at a gas station a few miles out of Maggie Valley. I didn't get a real good pic at the time but:

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Those 2 inmates would be Carmen (Fancyindigo) and Laura(Laura0107). Carmen was on a KTM with Super Moto wheels while Laura was on a DR650. Laura didn't want to do anything real rough because she had broken her leg on Flatland Rd in N. GA a year or so earlier.

So we headed of with me leading the way for today.

It was a beautiful day and the leaves were colorful.

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We took Shelton laurel rd to I-40 and exited at Hurricane Creek Rd. The plan was to just go up a little ways and turn around when it got rough. The first part of Hurricane Creek isn't too rough and was very scenic.

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I rode to the first creek crossing were I planned on turning around but the others weren't behind me so I headed back.

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Laura's bike had decided to take a little nap. So we headed back from there.

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Then we headed to FS 288 and Buzzard's Roost.

It's a steep climb down to the overlook.

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I was by no means a professional photographer but every once in a while I get a really good picture.

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When we climbed back up there were a couple of other riders there.

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