Aarrffin' around Appalachia

[Aarrff]

Originally Posted by FishHunt

Thanks for sharing your pics and your ride. It looks like you had a fine time. I enjoyed seeing old familiar places from a different perspective. I really enjoyed seeing new places that I now want to ride to so I can see them for myself. Thank you for taking us along!

<>< Fish

Howdy Travis. Good to hear from you and glad you followed along with us. We were in some great areas and had an awesome vacation! I have a new ( well almost..demo with 2k on it) GS Adventure. I really like it so far and with my long legs, the extra height of one inch seems to be fine for now. I really like the extra fuel and the lower gearing and the radial valve engine is really perky! Hope to see you up this way soon!

[Aarrff]

Originally Posted by CharlestonRider

Wow, great trip! Thanks for sharing all of the great photos of Charleston (I recognized most of them ). Did you make it over to the College of Charleston campus? It is a beautiful campus with great architecture.

Cheers.
CharlestonRider

We did not but I will go there next time as we always enjoy that sort of thing. mtngal loves to take photos of good architecture and I am always amazed at how skillful people are and have been in their building trades. I have been in Charleston a number of times and never spent a bad day there. I love to eat good food and your town is hard to beat! We will check out the college next time and thanks for the lead.

[Aarrff]

It was Sunday, the 2nd of December, and mtngal and I decided to give the new Adventure a little preview of it's miles to come. We were mid-day getting gone so we stayed fairly close to home but did venture into a neat little area that I have not seen other local adv folks posting up anything. I think I will let everyone do a little guessing about where we were and I'll give a few clues along the way. We headed about 5 minutes up the hill to Max Patch Road and you can guess the rest. Here is always a nice view...

















I guess we like old barns. They bring back memories from our childhood....mine close by here and mtngal is a Missouri farm girl.







Now this old school is just FINE. How's that for a clue?







Old houses, old barns, old sheds, old trucks or tractors...relics from back in th' day.







Sheep in the pasture.







Hmmm....this could end up in a tag game some day. Oh, here is the new bike too...and the mountain behind that sign is named for a type of silver.

[Aarrff]

Ha! I accidentally hit the submit button before I got it all up so continuing

There is no shortage of old barns and such.






Gettin' tired of barns yet? Just one more






It's been cool at night but the road seems to be thawing out some but I had to be careful as it was slick in the shade under that little layer of wet mud







Anybody recognize this lake?







Ok, this ain't a barn...heck it ain't even a house







Oh yeah...log barns!!!






Ok, you guessed it..this is Barnville

I bet you can't even see this in the summer.










Somebody has decorated their private drive really nice.







End of state maintenance when you seen the boxes huddled up.





Is this about a '56 Ford or that vintage I guess.





Nother view of the lake.







In the following pic: Wonder how this got it's name? If you look at the mountain ahead of me, I plan to go up that road you see up there or at least I am looking for one that may turnoff just before where you see that road. I have been here before, about 40 years ago, several times actually, to get down to a creek that feeds that lake to do some fly fishing. The Smoky Mtn Park boundary is on the top of that ridge.....WAY up there. I was on a little dirt bike back then but I am wondering if the old road is open now...probably posted...

Hmmm...nother possible tag shot ain't it?






View from up at that road







Well, as it turns out, this is a fairly new road and is private I think and I saw the one I wanted but it's posted. i have some ideas so I may make a few phone calls another day. Ok, headed out of this little community...






Now this barn has been built totally si-gogglin' ( thats local fer crooked 'er sideways) and the curves around here are so severe that they are right angles..look at that sign!






Can you believe...another barn







My mother always asked me if I was raised in a barn.....right after I tracked up her nice clean wood floors!


Dang, guess ya'll are gettin' barned out





I am going to have to send mtngal to a barn-therapist..she took all these...not me!







OMG!





Well, this is the end of our Barnventure! Sorry! Til next time...

[Aarrff]

Not much chance to ride lately but we had some nice weather here in the NC mountains today so I managed to grab a few hours of sunlight on the bike. Only one barn this time Mtngal was at work So I thought I would share one of my favorite sucky roads with you and a few winter icy spots.

The water pours clear and cold off the Middle Prong Wilderness






I decide to head south, over the mountain range and into a more southern sunny valley where maybe the temps are a little warmer. This may not work out as I have to climb about 3000 feet from where I am now to the pass( 'er gap) and I know the road may be icy in the shaded areas.






Climbing toward the sun, things get interesting but very pretty ( or ugly depending on what you want).







The glare of the sun makes it tough to keep an eye on the surface as I dodge the ice.







The mountains look cold and harsh in a way....







Some roads are closed but I don't ride this popular route much anyway...







Here is that sucky little road I mentioned... No this is not the Dragon. Seems like that is all some people know is Dragon this and Dragon that. Our area is full of roads just as much fun and NOBODY on them But me. This one is 7 miles of perfect surface, well lined twisties with few connections through farm lands and the last several miles follow a fly fisherman's dream. There is almost no elevation change, slight rollers, and you can see several curves ahead on most of it. So here it is and don't come ride it.




































What a pretty ( ugly ) little valley! I think its about time to check out a few new pig paths and maybe find a barn photo for mtngal.






Wow! Here is a barn now!







A narrow little road but maybe I can stay parked a few minutes to get a few shots of this unique little structure as it crumbles to earth. I'll take out my earplugs in case somebody is headed over the hill on a big Massey....







Well, its only one barn but I like it.....











I think the cows have moved in the old house.....







Well, I am gettin' hungry and was too lazy to pack any grub. I got to git back to the office before 5 anyway and I ain't crossing that mountain again today so I'll take the civilized long but fast route home and spare you the misery of such photos....later

[RevBill]

.. always a just barely bearable adventure with you .. I can't believe you have to suffer through such horrific riding conditions .. thanks for sharing your burden with us .. lol ..

[KingJarhead]

Awesome.... You got me intrigued with,,"Fly Fisherman's" dream.... Might need to take a ride

[kitesurfer]

good stuff i tell ya!

[Aarrff]

Hey RevBill and KingJarhead. Good to hear from you guys! Yes we blessed with some great streams. I bet you can fit a fly rod and some waders on those bikes and head this way! I would say that a lot of these little streams would be good fishing with a 7-7.5 foot rod. I have not been fly fishing like I used to years ago so I am not sure of the stream designation on this one now. It was single hook water back then but I can check next time over that way or you can find out online I guess. My personal favorite was always the South Mills and that is 14 miles of remote hoofing it in or horseback or mountain bike. It's known as the Wolf Ford area. A few other locals have PM'd me to find out where this stream in my post is so let me know if you want a direction klew

And thanks for following along Kitesurfer! I have seen some people doing kite surfing...looks like a hoot to me. I saw some thing similar going on up in New Brunswick a few months ago but they were on these little wheeled carts instead of a surf board....crazy looking thing

Take care all!

[LJHrider]

Nice thanks Now more barns

[_anatic]

Originally Posted by Aarrff

Here is that sucky little road I mentioned... No this is not the Dragon. Seems like that is all some people know is Dragon this and Dragon that. Our area is full of roads just as much fun and NOBODY on them But me. This one is 7 miles of perfect surface, well lined twisties with few connections through farm lands and the last several miles follow a fly fisherman's dream. There is almost no elevation change, slight rollers, and you can see several curves ahead on most of it. So here it is and don't come ride it.

I used to like to ride the dragon...
back before it was called that.

[KingJarhead]

Thanks Aarrff, I will hit you up for ore details if I head that way. This year I have a few backpacking trips scheduled for some fly fishing. All this years trips are in WV. I am an avid fly fisher. I just got back into tying flies. My last job, I traveled Monday thru Friday, so I used to sit in my hotel room and tie flies. I am now running low and it's been a few years now since I changed jobs.
Hope to make to some of the places I see in your travels.
I really enjoy following your adventures and following your travels. Plus the pictures are first rate.

[Aarrff]

Originally Posted by LJHrider

Nice thanks Now more barns

Glad you like barns, seems like I always end up in one for something er other

Originally Posted by _anatic

I used to like to ride the dragon...
back before it was called that.

I bet you recognize that road. Just had to get out and charge my batteries doing something. I heard thru the grapevine a few weeks ago that you had the flu...how are you now?

Originally Posted by KingJarhead

Thanks Aarrff, I will hit you up for ore details if I head that way. This year I have a few backpacking trips scheduled for some fly fishing. All this years trips are in WV. I am an avid fly fisher. I just got back into tying flies. My last job, I traveled Monday thru Friday, so I used to sit in my hotel room and tie flies. I am now running low and it's been a few years now since I changed jobs.
Hope to make to some of the places I see in your travels.
I really enjoy following your adventures and following your travels. Plus the pictures are first rate.

I used to tie mine as well. Had several patterns that I tied for shops at one time. I was going through my old stock of necks a couple years ago and had to toss them as the bugs or something had destroyed them even though they were in sealed containers with moth balls...oh well. Now you cant afford to buy feathers cause the young girls wear them in ear jewelry and that has run the price up from what I understand. I had some chickens here fer a while...they did Ok until the crows started hanging out with them and they started to pick up too much "foul" language soz I got rid of them

Yall take care and thanks fer lookin' in !

[_anatic]

Originally Posted by Aarrff

I bet you recognize that road. Just had to get out and charge my batteries doing something.
I understand completely.
I heard thru the grapevine a few weeks ago that you had the flu...how are you now?
All better, thanks.

Yall take care and thanks fer lookin' in !

Always a pleasure!

Any thoughts on the new bike? Assuming it's heaver but do you notice it? 'specially in the gravel?

[Aarrff]

Originally Posted by _anatic

Always a pleasure!

Any thoughts on the new bike? Assuming it's heaver but do you notice it? 'specially in the gravel?

I like the suspension better for some reason. It seems to soak up bumps and rough rocky stuff a lot better than the 09 GS did. If loaded with fuel, it is heavier and will be a real pig to pick up so the key is to keep moving. I actually like the feel of the bike better when I have some load in the side cases when climbing cause the fuel load keeps some weight on the front so I don't feel like I need to get as far over the windscreen standing up. So far, I have been wearing out the metzelers that came on it and will be glad to get some knobs on there. I like the lower gear enduro tranny much better and the engine is more torquey and runs a little higher rpm and I like all that. It takes a little more counter steer input in the curves when loaded with fuel but I got used to that after a coupe rides. Inertia of weight I guess wants to keep going straight more so but its not a big deal really.

I guess overall, its a better bike for me and what I do with more range and there is more room for 2-up which we do a lot of. It came with the cases on there or I would have gone for soft luggage so that could get changed at some point except mtngal needs the top case for back support. I am long legged with a 37 inch inseam ( all legs ) and I reversed the bar clamps to move the bars an inch forward and rotated the bars up some and put fastway lowered pegs on there, got the sargent saddle in the high position, so I am very comfortable standing now and even more so than on the GS. A lot of good riders can handle this type machine even if hey have short legs but in real off road conditions, it could be a real pig so I'll go for my KTM if into that. I should be able to do about anything I did on the GS like horseshoe rock and stuff but not much more than that. It will be better for staying on the road a week or two at a time and exploring gravel and farm & fire roads and such. OK, enough of my rambling, think that covers it.

Oh, I still have a somewhat sore thumb from the day I crashed the KTM a little over on Davidson with you and the guys about Thanksgiving. It seemed Ok as we kept riding but got real sore by the next day. Apparently cracked a scaphoid bone in the base of my thumb but its doing a lot better now That opposing thumb is important I realize

You can ride it some day if we are out and see what you think but be prepared to drop off the seat a bit to hold it up Its at least an inch taller than the GS was