Wedowee to below Ariton, mostly on dirt

[Gam]

Some of the people on the old board will remember that monster dual sport route I posted. I've ridden about 850 miles of it which is about half. This is part of it.

The start was familiar, red clay through the pines.


The dirt changed as we moved south, it never turned to just sand but in a couple of spots, most of roads had good tree canopies with dense shade so overheating never turned into a problem, You had to keep your eyes peeled though, that shade hide sand patches and dried ruts, relax to much and your front wheel would be in a rut and your rear wheel in another, or slaloming through a sand patch with legs akimbo.





There were high bridges


Low bridges


Busted bridges



And no bridges



Interesting sights..I would have made the trip just for this one



Bart says this guy's wife told him she was going give him  a whiskey bottle for a tombstone if he didn't stop drinking, apparently he didn't. I guess the coins are so he can buy a bottle.




Old mill, had to take the pic from the bridge, lots of no trespassing signs


So we are rolling down the road and we see smoke, I'm thinking controlled burn, no big deal. Well we get in there and you cannot see a thing for the smoke, there are flames taller than us lining both sides of the road, it was like we rode into an oven. I start to turn around, not wanting to bake to death on a motorcycle, but I saw a clear gap and headed for that, got a breath and just hauled straight ahead until we popped out. There was guy who looked like the landowner and another guy who looked to be overseeing, we asked if it was a controlled burn, the overseer said "sorta". After getting through that Bart wanted a cigarette. :o


Churches were always a good place to take a break, you think you are in the middle of nowhere and a church pops up



Spent the first night at Blue Springs State Park. The original plan was to make it to Blue Pond campground in the Conecuh NF the second day, we weren't even close, so we jumped on pavement and headed north for the familiar surroundings of Cheaha State Park, taking a break at Horseshoe Bend.


Bart's bike just quit, dead as hammer on the little one way road to the upper campsites at Cheaha. No power..period. We found a blown fuse, replaced it, and blew that fuse when he turned the switch. So it was take the seat off, loosen the fairings, take the gas tank off..the whole drill. We wiggled wires and cussed at them until the power came on, and slapped it back together with several parts left over,. (I told him not to pinch those vent lines putting the tank back on). Next morning his bike wouldn't crank, gas coming out of places it shouldn't. So it was to do all over again, the vent lines were pinched.

Great trip, never knew what was around the next corner.

[Nice Goat]

Great report, Gam.  The photos are awesome.  That fire looked wicked!

[Fencejumper09]

Awesome adventure! Any chance for a gpx file of this monster ds route?

Sent from my SM-N910T3 using Tapatalk

[Gam]

Awesome adventure! Any chance for a gpx file of this monster ds route?

Sent from my SM-N910T3 using Tapatalk

Yes, it was posted on the old site, I will post it again, I need to do some reroutes from this ride, there were a couple of roads which are no longer public and one that was a dead end.

[springer]

 Awesome Gam! 

[bartab]

It's like I told TT in the Dual Sports section, don't ya'll be encouraging him. He's just an addled minded old man and I have it on good authority this route, his choice of riding companions as well as his navigational skills suck.

[catang5oh]

Great report, and superb pictures!
We all need to do another ride and camp at Pine Glen again!

[lazeebum]

I had the same problem with my klr.  The problem was a wire that had all the insulation rubbed off on the right hand side. I scattered my bike all over the yard. I used liquid tape,about four coats, and let it cure overnight. So far no problems. Great ride report.

[kdtrull]

Man, that looks like a great ride.  WTG!

[Fencejumper09]

Awesome adventure! Any chance for a gpx file of this monster ds route?

Sent from my SM-N910T3 using Tapatalk

Yes, it was posted on the old site, I will post it again, I need to do some reroutes from this ride, there were a couple of roads which are no longer public and one that was a dead end.

I look forward to that post! I just can't get enough of dirt road action!

[kdtrull]

Awesome adventure! Any chance for a gpx file of this monster ds route?

Sent from my SM-N910T3 using Tapatalk

Yes, it was posted on the old site, I will post it again, I need to do some reroutes from this ride, there were a couple of roads which are no longer public and one that was a dead end.

I look forward to that post! I just can't get enough of dirt road action!

I'd like to get my hands back on this file too...I think I may have the original on an old laptop.  Did it ever get re-posted?

[Gam]

No. Computer crash, I got all the stuff off the old hard drive but haven't transferred to my new computer yet. There are some refinements and route changes made after actually riding the sections. The old one still has several of those dead end stubs you get sometimes using basecamp. I''ll try to put it up one day this week.

[griff]

I think I have it but I have no way to look at it on the computer. It's titled 'Al dualsport route(rev 1).gpx'.  Mike let me know if that's it if you want it.

[Nice Goat]

I think I have it but I have no way to look at it on the computer. It's titled 'Al dualsport route(rev 1).gpx'.  Mike let me know if that's it if you want it.

You can upload and view it at GPSVisualizer.com

[Fencejumper09]

You can also upload and edit it on plotaroute.com

I would like to get my hands on this as well!