The plan was to pick up a section of my giant dual sport route in Goodwater and ride it to Paul Grist State Park. We left my house in Rome, rode a little dirt (Treat Mountain) but bypassed most to get to where we wanted to go. Took back roads to Heflin, then down hw 9 a little and cut off to Nubbin Creek and then back roads to Ashland, then HW 9 to Goodwater where the dirt would actually start.
The creeks were dry
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Clay-and-al-dual-sport-route/i-T73BQkg/0/X2/dry%20creeks-X2.jpg)
Lots of talcum powder dust
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Clay-and-al-dual-sport-route/i-5vnTskF/0/X2/talcum%20powder-X2.jpg)
But still plenty of riding where the dust was not so bad
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Clay-and-al-dual-sport-route/i-rNPJKC3/0/X2/good%20road3-X2.jpg)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Clay-and-al-dual-sport-route/i-Kq938F3/0/X2/red%20road-X2.jpg)
My kind of riding.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Clay-and-al-dual-sport-route/i-T8PTWGV/0/X2/cotton-X2.jpg)
By the time we crossed Lay Lake it was dark and Clay's TW was running on fumes. We found gas and by then it was completely dark, so we jumped off the route and headed directly for Paul Grist. 40 miles of Hw 22 in dark is very ugly on small bikes. The odometer seemed to stand still, I didn't think we would ever get off that road. So we get to Paul Grist and the gate to campground is closed and nobody around, there was house on the hill but nothing to indicate we should go up there. We were down at the gate looking at the GPS trying figure where we were going to crawl into the woods and throw down for night. Then we saw a guy waving a flashlight up on the hill, turned out he was the campground guy, so we got in.
Set up in the dark. There was no time to stop for food, but we had jerky, cheese, and peanut butter crackers which tasted pretty good.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Clay-and-al-dual-sport-route/i-WLnPzVX/0/X2/night%20camp-X2.jpg)
Things looked brighter in the morning, hw 22 wasn't so bad. Every time I have ridden part of that monster route, it has never gone as planned but it always seems to work out.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Clay-and-al-dual-sport-route/i-RVBTcCs/0/X2/lake-X2.jpg)
Looks like a lot of fun. Would love to get some turn by turn directions on that route. Especially around lay lake and if you have a good dirt route from there down into Selma.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nice looking ride!