Alien Space Creature discovered in Bankhead Forest

[klaviator]

No, I did not accidentally post my National Inquirer article on Bamarides.  This really happened at this years Dual Sporting the Free State ride. :o

I have proof:




 

[klaviator]

Let me start this story at the beginning.

Every year for a number of years now. Al and Melony Goodwin put on this great event called Dual Sporting the Free State.  I went last year and really enjoyed it.  I had also attended other events put on by the Goodwins and those were great as well.  This year I had to work Friday Night so I missed the Friday night festivities.  I'll start my report on Saturday morning.

I got up early and headed over to the Brushy Lake recreation area campground.  There were a number of riders and bikes already there when I arrived around 8 or so.  The Al and Melony hhad cooked up some bacon, eggs and biscuits so I had a second breakfast before unloading my bike and setting up my tent.   

More riders showed up.  Some were Bamarides regulars who I knew and a few riders I didn't know.  I didn't count the bikes but I think around a dozen? 

We headed out led by our fearless leader.  Al was riding his KLR650 which has over 80,000 miles on it and was being used as a race bike just last weekend.  Melony was on the back.  Yankee Dog was also riding along two up.  I have enough trouble staying upright riding off road solo so my hats off to these guys AND their passengers.

We started off on some narrow, poorly paved, hilly and winding back roads.  These roads might be paved but they are much more suited for dual sport or adventure bikes than they are for sportbikes or other street bikes.  Al had forgotten his GPS at home and warned us we would be getting lost.  It didn't take long.

Stopped at an intersection trying to figure out which way to turn.



Then we practiced our gymkhana skills by making a few U turns.  We ended up on a fun trail leading to the Sipsey River where we took a break.



I headed out before the rest of the group to get some action pics.



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We took another fun trail to the river.  It would have been more fun on something lighter and more nimble than the big KLR but I still enjoyed it. 

[klaviator]

Lunch was at Chef Troy's Talk of the Town restaurant.  This isn't exactly the most upscale place out there but the food is great.  I particularly liked the Mexican Cheescake ala mode for desert.   



Then it was off for more riding.  It didn't take long to get lost again.  Our fearless leader trying to figure out where we needed to go. 



Personally, I had no idea where we were and didn't really care.  I was having a good ride and figured we would eventually find our way back to the camp ;D

No one else seemed too concerned either.



So what was the riding like?  It was mix of paved and unpaved roads.  They were all fun.  A few of the roads were dusty but most weren't bad.  I took a few pics but should have taken more. 



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We ended up stopping at what looked like a small abandoned gas station but it was open.  Good thing because we had some people out of water and other low on gas.



It turns out this place had some history to it.  I walked across the road to check out the sign.



It turns out were weren't that far from the campground, at least according to Google Maps.  So we split up and headed off.  Some took the dirt route and some the paved route. 

I didn't get any more pics of the ride.  We all eventually made it back to camp although a few got soaked by a heavy thunderstorm.  I managed to avoid that.

That's it for the ride.  That's not it for the ride report.  This event is about more than just going dual sport riding.  To be honest, there are plenty of places with better riding out there.  That's not what makes this event so great.  Stay tuned and I'll try to explain.

Oh yeah, I still have to explain the space creature as well.

Stay tuned.........

[klaviator]

Continuing on with the story....

The ride was now over.  Like I said, there are better places to ride dual sport but this was fun.  It was a mix of paved roads, unpaved roads and a couple of dead end trails.  The unpaved roads varied from wide and easy to some narrow and a little rougher to some sand that caused me a few pucker moments.  The total mileage for the day was around 150 miles.

So the ride was over but the fun wasn't.  One of the things that make this event som much funis the camping.  Al brought a giant grill and supplied a bunch of food.  Bacon, eggs and biscuits for breakfast.  Sausage, onions and peppers and even some pies for dinner.  My wife showed up Sat evening with some cake and hung out for a while.  I got to show her what luxury we Bamariders stay in during these events ::)

Al had brought an EZ up for shelter and we needed as there was off and on rain.  We needed more shelter so someone had a tarp and with varies pieces of rope, tiedown straps, twine and some redneck engineering we soon had another shelter up. 

So what makes these events is the people.  There are just some really great people in Bamarides and hanging out with them was just a real pleasure.  If I remember right last year we solved all the worlds political problems.  These year one of the top topics was balancing work and riding and when to retire.  I guess we are just a bunch of old farts ;D 

And of course there was music.  I have absolutely zero musical talent but luckily some of the others do although I doubt any of them will be quitting their day jobs to pursue a career in music.  Being on a weird sleep schedule I went to bed pretty early and missed some of the partying.  Maybe someone else will fill us in on that..........or maybe what happens at Free State stays at Free State

The next morning the hanging out continued.  Most of us were in no hurry to get home.  It was just a peaceful and relaxing place.  Slowly the crowd dwindled until just Al, Melony, Glenn and I were left.......or so we thought.  We didn't realize there was an alien space creature in our midst

[Fencejumper09]

Thanks for taking us along!

[klaviator]

Ok. The story of the space creature.  We were sitting around talking when Melony noticed this thing on Al's sandal.  It was the size of a caterpillar but looked really weird.  I took some pics.

This one came out the best and I was able to blow it way up.



a couple more.



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So what was it???

It was an alien space creature.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it 

[klaviator]

A few comments to wrap this up. 

First and most important, a big thanks to Al and Melony for organizing this and supplying the great food.

Second, it was great seeing everyone, and meeting a few new folks.

I also have to give a big to Melony and Paula.  While there are many women who ride as passengers, there aren't that many who do it on dual sport rides.

I hope to make this event again next year.  Hopefully it will be a weekend that I have Friday night off......or maybe I'll just have to be sick ;)

[TFancher]

I must've left too soon. I didn't get to see the alien. It might have been a strangled frog from the storm Glenn and I rode through Saturday evening! This ride was the most fun I've had in a long time! Thanks Al and Melony for putting together such a great event. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

[Al Goodwin]

The creature, after it matures.....

.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_glaucus

[Nice Goat]

So what was it???

Yep, Al beat me to it.  This is a fifth instar Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar, just before pupating into a beautiful butterfly.

[Nice Goat]

I had a great time also.  Maybe too good of a time.  I'm blaming it on the honey mead that John brought...

I had 17.4GB of video to sift through ... it took about four hours, but I got it down to 4-1/2 minutes.  I'll upload it to Vimeo when I get home from work.  Hope you all like it.

Attached are the GPS tracks, in case anybody is interested.  We road 148 miles total, and I enjoyed every one of them, even the seven miles in pouring rain after Tony and I went to find beer.

[PWillie]

Great riding, great companionship. I enjoyed meeting everyone and hope to be involved in more outings.

[Nice Goat]

[klaviator]

Great job on the video Glenn!

[klaviator]

Somehow it seems there should have been more dead ends on those tracks given all the U turns we made ;)

Thanks for posting this.  While we were out there I had no idea where we were most of the time.