Pre-quarantine Ride

[Guidedawg]

   I was working from home all week and looking forward to getting out on Saturday for some solo riding.  Then the stay at home order came out, but since it said starting at 5:00PM, I decided to do so anyway.  Of course, they also said you could still enjoy outside activities including hunting, fishing, etc. provide you employ proper social distancing so I guess it didn't matter, but I digress...

   When planning a ride, I normally either consult the National Register of Historic Places section of MotorcycleAlabama and choose a county or use David Hayne's book of 50 ride loops through Alabama to choose some roads.  I couldn't find my copy and didn't want to make all the stops for photos of homes because I just wanted to ride some new roads.

   I knew that Highway 22 was recommended as a nice road to just escape in Central Alabama.  I had ridden it from Roanoke to Rockford when I rode to Louina for a Ghost Town report on the old site, and ridden it from Clanton to Selma following one of the aforementioned loops, but I didn't really want to make the 1.5 to 2 hour trip towards the AL/GA border for the whole thing.  Besides, I wanted to avoid Interstate and while it would be fun to take the back roads to the starting point, that would make it a much longer ride time wise than I wanted to take.  Instead, I pulled up Google Maps and began looking at county roads or smaller highways in the area.

   I remembered Bluesman telling me that he enjoyed a particular road near Electic.  I've traveled Highway 9 that way many times, but chose a more meandering path along less traveled roads that would take me there and then to Highway 22 so I could combine both in one trip.



I selected my route, updated my errr...GPS as you can see, and off I went.



I took 231 north towards Wetumpka, but turned off and followed smaller roads towards Tallassee.  I crossed Highway 14 and found myself at the intersection of S. Fleahop Rd and Claud Fleahop Rd.  This is the sort of metropolis you might miss without careful planning.



I continued on to Electic where I saw a group of people sitting in their camp chairs hanging around the outside of a Main Street restaurant.  I assume the usual Saturday morning crowd was not going to give up their fellowship time.







It serves as a good example of small town America

Although I was close to the lake, which always provides some nice views, I was only on the Kowliga Highway long enough to cross and head towards Central where I made a horseshoe loop off Highway 9 on the road mentioned by Bluesman.







I returned to Hwy 9 and almost immediately veered off onto 259 where I was able to pick up Highway 22 just west of Alexander City.  I took the road back across Hwy 9 and into Rockford where I stopped to fill up and buy a Coke since the gas station is open to a few customers at a time.





As I had planned my route, I was thinking I had never ridden the stretch of 22 from Roanoke to Clanton, but once I began riding I recalled I had done it just last October ( www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/indes.php?topic=3683.0 )  Of course, it was still a nice ride and I enjoyed seeing Lay Dam as I crossed the river.

Once I reached Hwy 31, I did not go toward Clanton and the continuation of 22, but went south toward home. I turned to a county road that was typical of the roads I traveled.





Normally I would have taken Hwy 143 down to 111, but chose 23 so that I could go through the community of Lightwood.  As I neared Lake Jordan, I had to stop when I noticed this road





So my journey took me from Fleahop to Possum Trot!

From there it was all familiar roads going back into beautiful Wetumpka, Alabama



and then onward to Montgomery and quarantine.