Pensacola area riders

I,d like to get in a ride tomorrow am from bronson landind if anyone want to join me
FBM

Will this work? That may get you a ride in the back of the popo's car

This one looks like more fun though.
Retirement in 73 days What will both wheels in the air get you?

Glad you guys had fun. Great time to be in the mountains.

Gonna be hot hot hot from now on.

Morris has been after me for many years to squeeze in a week to go riding with him at his cabin in Morganton, Georgia. At long last time and work allows me to take advantage of his generosity.
Brad, Melvin and Roy join in and we leave early the monday after Mothers day.



He has a beautiful 3 story cabin near the top of a mountain.



Also a two car garage with loft.





We arrive in time for a little afternoon ride near the Toccoa River.





Morris plan was for us to gather enough supplies for two nights away from the cabin. Roughly the route would appear on a map as a triangle first heading toward the northeast into North Carolina then east into Tennessee then back southeast into Georgia to his cabin by way of forest service roads with as little pavement as possible.
I didnt sleep very well Monday night thinking about the days to come.
Don't think any of us did.
Tuesday morning, the temperature is in the highs
The sun is shining,,,,,the birds are singing and we're riding our scooters in a beautiful place.









At one place, we're stopped for a few seconds where the forest service is cutting down trees that have been killed by some kind of beatle. They were felling the trees toward the road so they could be recovered easier.



About then, Brad notices that his luggage pack is coming apart at the base and we apply some ties to keep it together.
Not a problem.







Too bad I don't have a Go Pro camera. Making photos of the challenging places is entirely impossible with my setup simply because you have to keep moving until your out of such places to regroup, laugh and re-hash the blow by blows of the section you just went through.
That's when I can snap a picture.



At one pee stop, we spot a bee hive hanging high in a tree. Guess is was to protect it from the bears and other varmints.



Sure could have asked Spertz a bunch of questions about the plant life along the way. Spotted hundreds of these mushrooms in one location and wondered if it was those expensive Morrels I've heard about:





One section near Franklin had a Forest Service study place that measured stream flow with a series of Weirs. I thought that was cool because in my line of work we run into that kind of thing. (measuring/controlling flow, temperature,pressure.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir



A little video of us crossing one of many steams.

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Sometimes we'd hit clouds of little bugs and I snapped a shot of Morris's useless headlight with baked-on bug goo.
Melvin commented about a recent world news report regarding the use of bugs as a human food source.
I cracked up when he said that perhaps General Bug with red sauce would be available at the Chinese buffet one day.



Next morning, we're up and at it doing a bit of bike prep. Roy is knocking off a few pounds of mud off his DRZ.





Morris route would take us deep into the forest with no signs of anybody anywhere. At just one of these places I spotted this bunch of freshly picked flowers just laying right where we had stopped.



Brad had the only flat of the trip and was lucky not to crash because of it. Only took a little while to fix and we're off again.



Morris studying his maps.





Gosh, this is taking too long.........

That night we make it to Andrews, North Carolina. Grab some pizza at a sports bar and talk about the ride so far and how much fun its been. Next morning, we continue west through the forest towards Tellico Plains and head south from there. More pictures:

Ever dream of owning a place in the mountains with a waterfall and a lake? Here you go:






This was probably the most challenging day. Morris' route took us to just before the entrance to the Cheraholla Skyway road. Just past where the Last Chance Gas Station is,,,we turn left and begin a climb up a torn up mountain road.
Then it got bad and soon got worse.
At the top, Melvin and Roy were estatic!

I guess I was smiling too because Morris asked what I thought of it too and I said I hated a challenge.

He told me from the look of my expression that I was lying.

Brad was bringing up the rear and when he arrived on top of the mountain, he asked me for my pistol......
I asked him what for,,,,,,,, and he told me so he could shoot himself.
Seriously though, everybody stayed together and looked after one another.

This is where I spotted this little fella with its butt sticking out of the ground:



I touched it with a swig and his stinger came stickin out. It couldnt back up out of the hole and it could not go in deeper for some reason. I guess its wings acted like a barb and prevented the backing up part so I dug him out and he flew away. It was a big wasp of some kind after whatever was in the hole.

Saw this nice piece of stump up there too. Wish I could have brought it home:



This is where it got real hard. Only picture I got is this one exiting the closed gate at the Cherahola road. We picked our bikes up over those boulders and around the side of the gate.
No gate going in.
Gate coming out.
It was a pitiful trap.



Roy showed us how to do it the easy way.

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Roy is in his mid 60's and what a talented enthusiastic rider he is! I'll be 60 years old in a few months and get increased mental strength and inspiration hanging with Roy, Brad and Melvin.
A joy to be around these fine men!


We pass Bald River Falls on the way to Tellico Plains:
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A couple hours later, we make it to Tellico Plains and eat at the Bakery. A great place and I've been there before and know what to order. The Pecan Chicken salad on sourdough bread.





I gobble down my sandwich and go across the street to the Tellico Outfitter shop to check out the neat stuff there. In the meantime, Melvin and Roy are finishing up and about to make their way over when a fella rolls up to the Bakery on a big Harley Trike with a electric wheelchair on the back. This fella hasn't any legs and appears to struggle a bit to get situated from the trike to the electric wheelchair. Melvin needs to be telling you this story,,,,,,,anyway, Melvin ask the fella can he lend him a hand and the fella replies "No,,,but I sure could use a couple legs" and everyone bust out laughing.

On we go. Butterflies are everywhere up here this week.

We smush dozens.



And Morris captures one on his helmet.


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Saw plenty of wildlife of all kinds. Some encounters I remember worth mentioning was a hawk flying by me holding a squirrel he had just captured. Morris showed us a mother bear with her cub climbing a tree.


We were getting close to the end of the ride the last day and following Roy, I noticed only one bolt was holding his tag on. A couple beeps of my horn and we were stopped figuring out the quickest way to make a temporary fix to get home. I offered up a long tie strap and before you know it we're off again,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,down some really rough stuff.

At the end, I look to see how well the strap did and it was gone and spotted it in his spokes along with his left blinker. Cord in one hand, the blinker in the other. Sorry about that Roy!



My thanks to Morris for his excellent efforts. Will never ever forget this week till the day I leave this earth.

We're all very fortunate to have so many quality friends to ride with and I'm forever grateful for you all.

:fyyff

I will never be able to see the Pickens Nose sign again without thinking of Barney and I arriving there last fall on our trek! And of course the photo of him ......

T. Great ride report, and beautiful pics! Livin the life Sir. One day I'll get to actually put some miles on again. Life happens.

Hatch,

Swallowed that hook!

My scroll wheel is hot:eek1 Thanx Hatch

ahh im sure weldin man waysherr is used to hot buttons..

and yes, the lil old wore out girls bike rode row 01 all the way to 2nd place in B200

aaaand needs a suspension rebuild.. there's more fork oil on the forks than in them..

Seasoned pro

I'm looking for some solid dudes to do some fast trail riding with around Eglin. I've been riding in Blackwater by myself (which is unwise), but I would be thrilled to join a group of fellow orange monsters for some offroad adventure time. Let me know what's happening!

Careful what ye ask for

I'm just trying to play in the woods. ha Gotta get them sweet hookups.

haha sounds like the fastburners have a challenger!

Jennifer got me a GPSMap 78S for my birthday and I'm wondering if you guys can give me a little advice. I have a Zumo 550 for my street bike and it's fairly idiot proof. But the 78 comes preloaded with only a base map. I do have a 4GB microsd card for storage.

Any suggestions about what map(s) I need to get so this will help for numbered trails and regular roads? Or rather, what would you do if it was new to you and you dual sported a lot.

Good one! and you also know never judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes, then you'r a mile away and you'v got his shoes.

Wheelies did someone say wheelie?

"I tink you want me to leeeeeeeeeeeave!"

BTW PW,

I saw our arch nemesis from our MPS days in Navarre recently!

I have a picture too......lol!