Peach Park and back - the long way around

[Guidedawg]

I attended a charity ride for the (blood) brother of one of my (masonic) brothers.  Money was needed for funeral expenses so I went up to contribute and enjoy a nice day for riding.

No one is ever going to accuse me of being a mechanic so I was working well into the night before to grease some shifter linkage points on my bike unsure if I would even have it ready to ride, but I did and left Montgomery before 7AM to make the 8AM meeting time at Roses Department Store in Alexander City.

It was a nice ride with almost no traffic.  I had gone up Highway 9 just the week before on a trip to Guntersville, so I was glad to deviate to something different by going up 63.  As I crossed over the lake near Children's Harbor there were only one or two boats of fisherman and a beautiful morning.




I needn't have hurried because they were waiting for a police escort to lead them out of the city at 9AM.

There were only a few bikes when I arrived but more came in as time progressed



By the time we left there were multiple Harleys, at least one Yamaha, Suzuki, a Spyder, Honda Goldwing and (surprisingly) three Honda VTXs which was a high percentage for a small crowd.

I met up with two other members of my lodge



The gentleman in the center is the one who lost his brother and helped organize the ride.  As you can see, I am in the process of transforming my normally dark hair into Santa for the upcoming season.  One more bleaching should have me there.

I didn't take many pictures, so I'm stringing along what I have and adding some maps to tell the story.

Once our escort arrived, we rode along Highway 22 to Clanton for a stop at Peach Park



Highway 22 is mentioned occasionally as a good motorcycle road in Alabama.  I had ridden it from Roanoke to Rockford in the past when I wrote up a ghost town report for Roanoke on our old site, but this was my first time to ride the stretch to Clanton, and my first sight of Mitchell dam.  It was a nice unhurried ride with little traffic.

We took a rest at Peach Park and filled up ourselves and bikes at the gas station before taking the Interstate north for a few exits and heading back west on County Road 55.

I've ridden this stretch a time or two and enjoyed seeing Lay Dam as we crossed the Coosa River a second time.  I no longer saw the bikes behind me, and although I was not riding sweeper, I turned around and waited until the last two came.  Unfortunately, one of our riders developed a serious mechanical issue with his bike.  He was able to continue riding, but it was at a slower pace.    He was riding with the one car in our group behind him.  The Goldwing and I fell in behind and made a quite leisurely ride back towards Weogufka.  I never did see any of the other riders again, but the plan was for everyone to split apart on 280 anyway.

When the others turned onto County Road 56, and a straight shot to Weogufka, I continued onto County Road 55 and rode down 29 into the town instead.



I did this because
a)   Everyone else had gone ahead other than the slow bike, car, and my friend on the Goldwing who was being supportive, so it was my chance to exit
b)   I had never ridden 29 north of Weogufka, so it was a chance to see something new and
c)   I had no map and remembered that 55 would take me straight into 29 and Weogufka so I stuck with it even though 56 would have been a much straighter route
I'll let you guess which was the real reason.

This approach also gave me the opportunity to grab a photo tag for a riding game on one of the VTX forums - I needed a war memorial



As always, I stopped in the busy (well, I did see a few cars drive by while there) intersection of downtown or uptown Weogufka – I'm not sure which





This is at least my third time coming through here on a Saturday and this local landmark has never been opened



I suspect it is filled with as much character on the inside as it is on the outside.

I had enjoyed several good roads already filled with sweeping curves, almost tunnel-like tree coverage, and even a bit of fall color, but the stretch of 29 from Weogufka south to Kelly's Crossroads is always a fun ride.

However, I experienced something surprising along this stretch of road....rain!  As puddles began to fill, I slowed down wondering how long the steady shower would last.

When I pulled in at Kelly's Crossroads (the intersection with Highway 22 again) it appeared to have stopped for the most part.







Sure, the bottom of my pants were wet by that point



But I didn't think it warranted taking the time to pull the rain gear out of the saddlebags, so I continued my way south toward Titus.



It wasn't long before the rain started falling again, so I decided it would be silly to get more and more wet with rain gear so close.  I pulled off along a small group of trees where a fat man could lean against one to put on and fasten the pants, etc.



As the rain became more steady, I decided that it was worth it and didn't feel so foolish.

By the time I reached 231, the rain was gone and the skies were blue.  As the road turned into a 4 lane north of Wetumpka, I began questioning whether or not to pull over and shed the gear in case I started getting too hot.  I decided I was close enough to home not to take the time or trouble to do so.

I was just south of the town of Wetumpka when the bottom fell out.  I wear eyeglasses, so I always have another pair of either sunglasses or orange tinted glasses over them when I ride.  The rain came down hard enough that it was difficult to see.  I only knew the path of the road by the brake lights of cars in front of me.  Once I got down the hill, I pulled into a gas station where some other bikes were taking shelter beneath the pumps.

All of the riders were inside except for one young  lady on back of a bike who graciously offered to wipe my glasses off on her dry shirt when I discovered there were no paper towels available by the pump.  The nose ring wearing, tattooed angel referred to me as "sir" which must have been because of the beard and hair bleaching.  Surely I am not old enough to be "Sir'd" by a lady on back of a motorcycle *sigh*  The other riders came out and circled me and my bike while pointing out it was about time for me to replace the front tire.  Although that is true, it's the back tire that leaks air, and was the same one that was sliding around as I left the station and headed to Montgomery.

After another slip or two on the wet surface, I chose to travel home through the industrial park where I work rather than along the busier highways.  It was a good decision because the rain started coming down hard again and visibility was limited.  I pulled over at my workplace and stood beneath some cover until it lightened up enough to go home and change out of wet gear.

Fortunately, that was only at the end of the trip and the weather was perfect for most of it.



This was typical of some of the county roads along with rural highways traveled which is always a good time.

My overall route may have been a bit meandering when you put it all together, but isn't that the whole point of a Saturday and a motorcycle?

[kdtrull]

I wonder if they have an ATM at Capertons???   :D

[Nice Goat]

Awesome ride report!  I miss having the time to just go wander around on back roads.  Someday...

[klaviator]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up.  Glad you had a good ride!