Admirals Voyages (w/photo's & Video's)

Edit: 24 October 2017. Many of my early photo's were/are hosted by Photobucket. This year Photobucket decided users started to pay for the service instead of being a free photo host. To enforce this Photobucket then disabled the links so you or I could no longer see the photos.

However, some smart tech people found a fix if you use Chrome or FireFox browsers. Here is the link to their thread if you are interested in seeing Photobucket pictures: http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/photobucket-fixer-see-all-photobucket-images-again.1256340/

As of the time of this edit, there wasn't a fix for I.E. users as far as I know.

So many here post their day trips in the same thread (mostly in SW Idaho), so I'll copy the idea for some of my own day trips instead of posting separate threads. Not that anybody cares!

Anyway, I'll post some catchup material I started in February.

Railroad Depot's and other stuff. There will be lots of other "stuff", just so you know!

Last Wednesday (02/22/2012), I had a hard decision to make, take a ride on a very, very windy and warm day, or not . . . So I did!

Due to some muddy off road conditions, and the fact my dementia hasn't kicked in (i.e. I can still remember my crash in the sand wash from a week ago), I decided this was gonna be one of my very rare pavement only rides.

Well, as the title states, I decided to ride to some old railroad depot's here in the "crazyhood", and capture some "other stuff" when the opprotunity arose.

Note: I'm not a railroad buff my any means, nor a history professor, so most of the historical stuff is what I found after quick www searching of a particular place and may not be 100% accurate.

ATTACK WEEDS . . . not long after I began my ride, I came up over a rise in the road and had to quickly dodge this stuff. Only after successfully avoiding this suff and stopping, did I realize they were weeds trying to cross the road, with the help of the wind.


What's for Dinner Ma . . . We all have strange street signs . . . 'round here's no exception.


Abandoned Farm . . . Just imagine what once was (between Notus and Greenleaf, ID)


Huston, we have a problem . . . Old Huston, Id school. School District #30.



Tried to find a photo of the school when it was in use with no luck. Did find this photo when it had tree's out front. There are no signs tree's ever exsisted nowdays. But the roof is already gone.


First Stop . . . Caldwell, ID RR Depot.


I believe the city perserved it and rents it out for weddings and chicken dinners!



Here's what it use to look like back in the day. Photo is from the opposite side from my photo's.



Still in Caldwell, Id.

The Hat . . . Currently a bus stop, which once was a trolley stop for the Boise Valley Interurban Loop in the front of the College of Idaho in Caldwell, ID. I'd been by this bus stop hundreds of times without realizing there was a history behind the stop. Local newspaper article brought it to my attention several years ago when the stop was restored. At some point this stop was nicknamed "The Hat" because similarity to a hat, I guess.


What it looked like back in the early 1900's. Boise Valley Interurban was a electric street car system in the Boise Valley, now called Treasure Valley. The interurban was shutdown in 1928.


You can't park here . . . said the nice gentleman as I parked in front of the Nampa, ID RR Depot. "I'll be just a miniute" as he leaves me alone seeing I was just taking a picture and wasn't planning on setting up a road block!


Yesteryear . . . I love the architecture of these old railroad depot's. I'm glad some communities were able to save them from the wrecking ball. This one is now a musuem.


All aboard . . . next stop, Star, Id.

Coffee anyone? . . . this old passenger and freight building served Star, ID on the Boise Valley Interurban trolley loop, and has been converted into a Moxie Java coffee house.


You can see the owners have kept the buildings roots tied to the rail system. Also if you look closely, you can still see the freight door roller wheels above the door.


While doing some quick research, an old article mentioned the building had been moved to the east end of Star. It is now located on the west end of town, so I'm guessing it's been moved at least twice.


Old photo's of the Star Boise Valley Interurban stop



Surprised and confused in Middleton . . . started to rain while I was in Star, so I decided to head home. On my way home I rode through the town of Middleton, ID and something caught my eye. Like Caldwell, I've been through Middleton hundreds of times and never noticed this building before. So I was surprised to find a train related building, so I turned around to investigate. It is very near an old abandoned rail line to the left (out of sight) so it makes some sense. However, the abondoned rail line generally goes north and south, thus does not appear that it was related to the Boise Valley Interurban Loop, which rails ran east and west on the other side of this building.


But now some confusion sets in. While doing some research, I discovered that the building to the right in this photo is noted as the first Trolley Substation on the Interurban. So it looks like the brick building on the right is related to the Interurban, but I've not found anything mentioned of what is now the Civic Center. However, the civic center building looks train related, so I better buy the book on the Interurban so I'll know for sure.




Well, this ends the first installment of my RR Depot's and other Suff Ride. I'll be doing some similar rides in the future, so stayed tuned as I will add these upcoming rides to this thread.

The scenic route to my daughter's track meet 5/1/2012

Thought I would update this series with a little railroad depot and other stuff. Had too (wanted too), go to my daughters track meet and decided I would ride my TW there. Well, looking out the window (actually I was pulling weeds and stuff), I thought to myself - self, why don't you take a scenic cruise on the way to the track meet. I generally agree with myself, so off I went.

My route would take me on some tar roads N.E. to Emmett, ID. Then some tar and dirt roads to Squaw Butte Fire Lookout (been wanting to visit the lookout for years). I would then head west back to New Plymouth, ID to the track meet via mostly dirt road with some tar at the end (not counting the ride home which is also tar based).

I may have gone a skosh out of my way to get to the track meet. New Plymouth is 12 miles N.W. from my house, I put on 100 and sumpin miles altogether. It was a fine day for a ride!

First stop in Emmett is the mostly abandoned Boise-Cascade sawmill. Looks eerie with nothing around but weeds and stuff.


Some old power plant info for the sawmill. Wouldn't have seen this if I hadn't pulled into the old parking lot



And here's the Emmett train depot, as far as I know



What it looked like before color photo's


I can't verify this, but the below photo is suppose to be the depot, err before trains. This according to the Gem County website I found the photo's on. Looks similar, but if this was the same building as the depot, some modifications were done in later years.


I now head north out of Emmett toward the lookout


The last few miles to the lookout were very steep and washboardy (hope washboardy is a word). Regardless, the sure footed mule took me to my destination just fine.

Here's the lookout, all buttoned up for winter. The lookout is normally staffed during the fire season


View looking east sorta overlooking the Sweet/Montour, ID valley. Of course more scenic in person


View looking north with some other alien communication detection buildings in the distance



Well, thats all for now. Until my next trip, enjoy, ride and above all else, have fun!

Awesome TA. Love the coffee shop.

very neat write up, thanks

...keep em coming, great job

Nice history lesson.
Thanks

+1 thanks.

Truly enjoy your posts, keep it coming

+1 thanks!

Let me add my compliments. This is lookin' good!

This ride is short on any historical value, but it was fun riding...well, for most of us!


The Bender Creek Experience - Part I

"this is a ride not a race, so it's suppose to be fun" Ron

Here is my first installment of the ride a bunch of us from all over the United States took 5/8/2012 in the Danskin OHV recreation area east of Boise, ID. And by "all over the United States" I mean Stubby traveled all the way from Union, Oregon to go on this ride. I hope you enjoyed it Stubby. It was also enjoyable for us to see Larry, first time riding trails come along. Larry would have to deal with a few minor falls and an ailing XT, but he made it without going over the edge! Way to go Larry.

Now before I begin our ride, I want to flash back to November 2010 when I rode some of these same trails. It wasn't as friendly as it was today due to some snow covering the trail in spots. Snow was not my friend this day!

Resized to 82% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge


Anyway, here's the crew L-R. A-1 Dan -TW; Dan' brother Larry - XT250; Ron -TW; Stubby -TW; my son Kyle -KX250; and Georgie. Yep, she got to go on this trip


Oh, and me -TW. In my admiralty uniform


Here's Kyle on the "Green Machine mosquito sprayer at humor corner. You'll know what I mean when you watch the video. Ron's a hoot!


Another break on the trail


Here's Part I video. Enjoy! Oh, and the video presented here is from both Ron and myself.



Part II - The Bender Creek Experience - Willow Creek:


Admiral - "I pulled that tree off the trail"

Ron - "the bunny huggers probably came back up here and drug it back on the trail"

In this segment, we have a discussion during a break about the trail clearing crew we saw. We then crossed Willow Creek, stopped at a pass to take a break and then start our descent into Fiddler Flat. Larry played catch up with Stubby and "rested" his XT a couple of times before we reached the pass. Dispite this, he (we) pressed on. Too late to turn back now!

Here's Kyle speeding through Willow Creek on the Green Machine


The crew at the pass


View from the pass




Ron before we depart the pass- "Some of the panorama's are really impressive...save one eye for the trail"

Part II video





Final Chapter - The Bender Creek Experience (Fiddler Flat...and beyond)


Admiral - "if I fall here, that'll leave a mark"


Kyle - "I just took out that sagebrush"

Admiral - "ha ha ha ha ha", he fell

Well, we finally make it to Fiddler Flat. We have an awesome cliff top view of the South Fork Boise River and the surrounding canyon rim. As we head out, we take a short break at an old steam boiler which was apparently used at a long gone sawmill in the area. Kinda cool. Not long after we depart Fiddler Flat, both Ron's and my photo/video recovery devices batteries run out. At this point, because Larry's XT is running poorly, Ron leads Larry and Dan back to the trailhead via some local roads. Longer, but easier, especially if Larry's XT decides to quit running. The safe route! Stubby, Kyle and myself head back to the trailhead via the Danskin trails. Still a long haul, but fun none-the-less. In the end, Stubby, Kyle and myself get back only minutes before Ron, Larry and Dan. Everyone one is safe, and I think I can speak for the whole crew, we had a great day of adventure trail riding!!!


Couple views of Fiddler Flat before we get there




Ron retrieves Larry's helmet which rolled ALL the way down the trail


Kyle at the cliff edge...yikes


South Fork Boise River


And for you Dan. Proof the cache is near the boiler (Photo courtesy of geocache.com)


Remember . . . save one eye for the trail.



Till the next ride

Nice scenery! Like the open views near the end of video 2 with all the yellow flowers. Springtime in the mountains.

Trails look really fun. One eye for the view, one eye for the bike / road. Way to go Georgie on the swim!

Ride 3 of us took in the Danskins just before Memorial Weekend.



Our route
Resized to 69% (was 1023 x 734) - Click image to enlarge


Up ahead is what I'm calling "The Rock". You can see a path goes right up. No way could we do that on the TW.
Had me concerned until Ron said there was an easier route around it!


Up close of "The Rock" and the easy way left. Of course this is where I had my first fall. Oops!
And may I add, the rock path is much, much steeper than what it appears. As are all of the slopes.


Larry TW came down and helped push me up after I fell by "The Rock"


Plenty steep and rocky here. We went down with engines off, in first gear with rear tire acting as anchor drag. Worked!
Not to scary, just slow.


Here's a few misc shot's along the way








I don't want to embarrass anyone, but Larry TW had probably the most eventful "off-course" incident.
He ended up in a roadside ditch!

That sawmill power plant sure is something else!

Thanks as always for sharing all the pictures

Yesterday, I had to run an errand into town to get some irrigation parts. Nice day out so why not take the TW. Bonus, I get to test my "go to town windscreen" with homemade added windscreen extension I made from an old motorcycle helmet faceshield.


While I was out and about, I added a stop for the photo tag game for the TW200 Forum. ...and since your going to town, one might as well add toilet paper to the errand list.


Here you will notice the TW wearing an elegant blue evening gown. Complete with toilet paper on the rear. . .rack that is!

Looks like good TW territory . . .

Plenty steep and rocky here. We went down with engines off, in first gear with rear tire acting as anchor drag. Worked!
Not to scary, just slow.

One good thing about the TW on these trails...it's low and I (we) could put both our feet down to help balance in the rough stuff.

One bad thing about the TW on these trails...It's sometimes too low and our feet (footpegs) didn't always clear objects along the rough stuff!

It was definitely an adventure and I learned alot about trail riding!

Funny, the more I read RedRockRider's thread, the more I want at WR250R. Mainly for better highway speed/comfort. ...but I'll never sell the TW unless under tremendous duress...or old age!

Thanks for reading the stuff I cobble together and post!

Hey Admiral --

Yeah, the WR250R and TW200 are both great. The WR is definitely much, much better for banging out a few highway miles in route to the dirt. On my WR250R I can essentially keep up on pavement with a buddy who rides a KLR650. Once we get to the dirt, the WR shines.

TW and WR are both good on dirt/rocks, just different. TW has the low seat height; WR much better suspension. TW's fat tire is better on sand, but woefully underpowered.

As you say, don't ever sell your TW. Makes a great family and friends bike if you are ever inclined that way.

Keep ridin'

How 'bout a pic?

More importantly -- time get the TW back out. Gerogie is stir crazy. Let's see it!