Opa Rides

Since the Signature Line has been disabled as far as new links go, I will add new ride reports here.



The adventures of Opa and Augie (2017)


The adventures of Augie and Opa (2016)
and 2019 trip to Hyder AK


Two old men on two 1200s go west (2015)







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A bunch of my photos have gone missing. PhotoBucket shut down third party hosting unless you pay them. Yeah, hold your breath for that.

Luckily I pretty much quit using PB a long time ago.








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Here's the gist of the thread. I ride around and sometimes take a picture or two. I like sharing (mostly the pics) with family and friends. I don't promise to record every ride, but I will try to update every now and again. We live in Spartanburg, SC; where this trip starts and ends. Furthest point is 'Mile High Campground', off Heintooga Rd, off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Yes, I got wet on this ride, ain't it great!

Map of ride



First stop on the unpaved end of Pinnacle Mtn Rd. I was beginning to think I had erred coming this way, what with all the rain we've been having. I did (err), but I also made it




First stop on BRP, to have a cracker and a look around. Also to notice it is trying to rain.... again.







Taken from WaterRock Knob, after I had visited 'Mile High Campground'. It's raining, here.








The clouds just enraptured me at Cowee Mtns Overlook... and the rain nearly got me real good.








Time to go




That's it for this ride......rode, got wet, got almost dry, got wet, got not quite so dry, put on rain gear, just in time to keep from getting WET.

Photographic techniques!

They are 3 shots at 1 step +/- HDR. My camera doesn't have 2 step difference as an option, although it will make 5 and 7 shot brackets, I just don't want that much on my computer. Or to do that much deleting

Processed with Photomatix.

Got to go back up to the mountains for a bit yesterday. A short photo essay. I really enjoy the Blue Ridge Parkway, and started by going up to the Visitor Center. They had a sign on the door to the effect the Parkway was closed from 10 miles above the Visitor Center to the Mt Mitchell entrance. The rains have undermined a goodly stretch of road, with some areas of pavement split right up the center line, 6" wide and up to 6' deep. No true estimate on re-opening time frame.

All the photos were made between the 191 and the 215 entrances. These were just below 191.








Mt Pisgah area





Looking Glass Rock







Graveyard Fields area










Devil's Courthouse
I don't believe I could make that hike to the top in 20 minutes! 50 years ago, maybe.





One of the two or three folks I spotted at the top



On Explorer Rd off 215, past Pinhook






That's all for this ride.
And no rain this time!

Beautiful country! Sure would like to go there sometime. It is on my list for sure. Thanks for the great pic’s and narrative.

cool to see pictures of my stomping ground! I live about 9 miles down 151 from the parkway. If you see a guy on an orange 950, or occasionally a KONA cyclecross pedal bike, it might be me!

Thanks Mcgee, been a while since I've been in your area, it is beautiful there, too.

Thanks 35xj, stay tuned, more in the area to come, I hope......

Went on a little tag ride yesterday, didn't stop much, but here are some views from Bad Creek, near the SC/NC border in far west SC.

Some shots from today's ride.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPf7WnRibjo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

Enjoy again, from the top!

Went out and did a little tagging today. Had a great ride, but didn't do much in the way of sightseeing/photo-ing. But here's what I've got.

Managed to see a few leaves yesterday........


Most of 'em been fiddled with in HDR.........

Nice pictures opa. I shot these up around fontana dam and rt 129, and 28 over the weekend. the leaves were really falling with all the wind. fontana lake was in full draw down.

Thanks Augie. Good stuff up there in Robbinsville area. We'll have to go when it gets too cold for the ..............crowd!

A few more shots in the Lake Adger, Saluda area.

Here are some I took back in May ('13). I am testing to see if I can figure how to use my Nikon Image Space for photos.

Great images! I always wondered where elves learned to be elves, now I know.

So any way.......... Augiedog & Opa went tagging in NC today. Above Forest City, then just above the BRP. So here are some views from the ride.

<img src="http://blg.nikonsrc.com/image/HcD9ZCpk0-CSPtrWTuNyIgYEMRC5Tpj0PAAtlGXpMgGgy_R7icDfRU-cZqK6FRuk9sBfSbdJtSM/item.JPG?rot=1" width="1024" height="768" >

<img src="http://blg.nikonsrc.com/image/HcD9ZCpk0-CSPtrWTuNyIgYEMRC5Tpj0PAAtlGXpMgEGBr-syoPN90-cZqK6FRuk9sBfSbdJtSM/item.JPG?rot=1" width="1024" height="768" >

<img src="http://blg.nikonsrc.com/image/HcD9ZCpk0-CSPtrWTuNyIgYEMRC5Tpj0PAAtlGXpMgH2FI4A1fnsM0-cZqK6FRuk9sBfSbdJtSM/item.JPG?rot=1" width="1024" height="768" >

<img src="http://blg.nikonsrc.com/image/HcD9ZCpk0-CSPtrWTuNyIgYEMRC5Tpj0PAAtlGXpMgHyqXlP6eC0H0-cZqK6FRuk9sBfSbdJtSM/item.JPG?rot=1" width="1024" height="768" >

<img src="http://blg.nikonsrc.com/image/HcD9ZCpk0-CSPtrWTuNyIgYEMRC5Tpj0PAAtlGXpMgEGwbE6ZefrfAmtoKug6n4_vWgJX930eKw/item.JPG?rot=1" width="640" height="480" >

<img src="http://blg.nikonsrc.com/image/HcD9ZCpk0-CSPtrWTuNyIgYEMRC5Tpj0PAAtlGXpMgEFfd8LxumrpU-cZqK6FRuk9sBfSbdJtSM/item.JPG?rot=1" width="1024" height="768" >

<img src="http://blg.nikonsrc.com/image/HcD9ZCpk0-CSPtrWTuNyIgYEMRC5Tpj0PAAtlGXpMgFfQInKLHpQYu97ksGSfQw8_eAT_60jDC4/item.JPG?rot=1" width="1440" height="1080" >

<img src="http://blg.nikonsrc.com/image/HcD9ZCpk0-CSPtrWTuNyIgYEMRC5Tpj0PAAtlGXpMgEO_jaTg30Fh0-cZqK6FRuk9sBfSbdJtSM/item.JPG?rot=1" width="1024" height="768" >

<img src="http://blg.nikonsrc.com/image/HcD9ZCpk0-CSPtrWTuNyIgYEMRC5Tpj0PAAtlGXpMgG8irJ5HM42Dk-cZqK6FRuk9sBfSbdJtSM/item.JPG?rot=1" width="1024" height="768" >

<img src="http://blg.nikonsrc.com/image/HcD9ZCpk0-CSPtrWTuNyIgYEMRC5Tpj0PAAtlGXpMgFb7HUv7zeqlE-cZqK6FRuk9sBfSbdJtSM/item.JPG?rot=1" width="1024" height="768" >

<img src="http://blg.nikonsrc.com/image/HcD9ZCpk0-CSPtrWTuNyIgYEMRC5Tpj0PAAtlGXpMgGqV62jDNRZwe97ksGSfQw8_eAT_60jDC4/item.JPG?rot=1" width="1440" height="1080" >