My Tallapoosa River Ride

[Guidedawg]

I had been scheduled to ride with 3 other Widows Sons members to a rally on the LA/TX border; it would have been a 4-day trip.  Unfortunately, COVID hit our household.  My case was light being primarily fever and coughing but my wife was hospitalized with COVID-Pneumonia.  Although I was feeling better by the time of the trip, I knew I wasn't strong enough for that much riding and was needed at home.

Nevertheless, I did have a 3-day weekend and she was better, so I wanted to test my own recovery by getting out for a few hours.  My one concession was that I would ride with others instead of my normal solo exploring.  I called a friend who was off, and he and his brother joined me.

Since they both live in Elmore County, I wanted to start in that area and chose one of the loops from David Hayne's Motorcycling Alabama that I had not yet ridden.  As is often the case, I modified it to my convenience and avoided the actual start/stop Interstate location.  This particular route focused on Highways 77 and 49 and I was able to ride those as described in his book.




So, I planned the route, taped my directions and off we went




We took some backroads to Tallassee and crossed the Tallapoosa River crossing by the Thurlow Dam and ruins of the Civil War era textile mill and soon picked up Highway 50.  It was along this stretch of road that an oncoming pickup truck came so far across the line just as he met my friend that I thought it was intentional.  However, my friend assumes the diver was on his cell phone but it was dang close and took evasive maneuvering to avoid an accident.  Tell your friends to put down the @#%$! phones when they drive!

We crossed Hwy 280 and picked up 50 again at Camp Hill where the former Lyman Ward Military Academy is now named Southern Preparatory Academy. It was the first time I've ridden by since the sign was changed.

We turned on 431 and went north into La Fayette.  In Louisiana that would be Lah-Fay-ette but I usually hear La-FAY-et for Alabama.  I've even heard La-fit for this particular town.  In any event we stopped at the courthouse so I could get a county pic and I was surprised to learn that the "Brown Bomber" Joe Louis was born in the area.



It's nice that the town acknowledged him but since his family moved after a KKK incident when he was young and when he was coming through Alabama on military duty as an adult he was told to move to the back of the bus, I'm not sure how fond he was of it.  Still, he was considered an American hero and a great morale boost for our county and the statue inspired me to at least read the Wikipedia entry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Louis

It was here that the path forked, and we got on Highway 77 for the northwest portion of our loop.  We crossed the Tallapoosa River again just before the stop in Wadley where I took a photo for Randolph County.  I noticed the historical marker for Louina just before we crossed the river and it reminded me of the trip report I made for the old BamaRides site when we had the ghost town section. I enjoyed learning of the history and had a photo with my last bike in the cemetery which is all that remains of the old town.

I was surprised when I saw the sign for Clay County as I had completely missed that in my planning.  Since I was with others, I did not turn around to go back to the county sign and mentally kicked myself for not stopping at the intersection of the only road I saw that had a Clay County sign.  I was resigned to have to come back this way later if I wanted to add the county photo but pulled off at a Volunteer Fire Department south of Mellow Valley just in case.


Here is a rare photo of me in the background with RnineT in the white helmet. Yes, he registered for our site when I invited him for the ride!

I was pleasantly surprised when I later saw the sign saying we were entering Tallapoosa County and knew my fire department gamble had paid off.

By this time we were on Highway 49 south and made our way through Goldville and New Site before riding the loop through Horseshoe Bend National Military Park.





There is no charge to ride through and the road goes along the bend in the Tallapoosa so it is easy enough to imagine the famous battle that effectively ended the Creek War (over 800 died that day) resulting in much land ceded to Alabama, and helped make a hero of Andrew Jackson.  I hope to go back and take more time to explore the signage and battlefield but the experience is both somber and sobering.

We crossed the Tallapoosa again as we went south to Dadeville where we stopped for lunch at Bob's Fine Foods (burger/BBQ joint).  Since I had not specifically taken a photo of all 3 bikes together I did so and was able to get RnineT's brother as well.





I have a Honda VTX and since they are both on their BMW's I have resorted to calling them the Beemer Brothers.  This is quite possibly the only (albeit small) "group" ride I have ever attended without a single Harley.

The lobby was still closed to guests but when the owner (or possibly employee) saw us and that we were passing through, he invited us to come in.  We each enjoyed a Cheeseburger combo and enjoyed a bit of down time.

The ride on 49 south of Dadeville may have been my favorite section of road on the entire trip though it was all enjoyable with very little traffic.

We picked up Highway 50 again but it was not any of the sections we had ridden previously and crossed the Tallapoosa once more, this time at Martin Dam.  We continued through Eclectic which was typical of so many small-town main streets we saw today and eventually reached Highway 14.  I was glad that we did not stop here for lunch as I originally planned because Bush's Grocery was closed.  This establishment is a general store where they grill a mean cheeseburger and was introduced to me by David "Bluesman" Fail.  His loss is still felt here on this site, I know.

I said goodbye to the Beemer Brothers as they would be turning toward their homes soon and I continued into downtown Wetumpka and took a few photos for the Elmore County section of this site.  It is truly a beautiful downtown and soon to be featured on HGTV.

As I went home to Montgomery, I crossed the Tallapoosa for the final time, so if you count my two crossings going to and from Wetumpka that means I went over that river 6 times on this trip and was able to ride in Montgomery, Elmore, Tallapoosa, Chambers, Randolph, and Clay counties. I was able to successfully add a photo or two to each of those sections of our site and encourage you to play along

https://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?board=71.0

Most importantly, although the bike felt a little bit heavier I had no trouble breathing or tiring out so it looks like I am recovered enough to return to motorcycle riding and that's a good thing!

[Chuck & Susan]

Good to see your out riding. May your entire household get better soon. Tell the wife Susan and I say Hello and wish her well.

Good read... thanks for sharing.

Chuck

[jrobinson]

I left N Ala yesterday about 8:30 taking Sandy back to Troy on the bike. I went through Wetumpka twice, first around 2pm and around 4:30 heading home. It was a nice ride back north. I'll be using some of these roads in my travels to visit when I have the time.

Thanks for the post and a great write up.

[RnineT]

Was a great day for a ride.  Another great write up.  Horseshoe bend was a somber reminder for sure.  We should stop at the Confederate Memorial park on another ride.  I love our small downtowns in Alabama and enjoy the old forgotten homesteads in the country and even spotting vintage vehicles stored away and rusting in yards for decades. Thankful the Lord gave me reflexes (or the help of a guardian angel) to dive around that dodge ram in our lane in the apex of that left hand sweeper- wasn't my appointed time PTL.  Just another reminder that drivers won't see an 18 wheeler if texting on their phones.  Keep me updated on future rides.

[Nice Goat]

Another great read!  Thanks, Guidedawg!

[klaviator]

Great writeup!  Glad you are feeling good enough to ride and I hope your wife fully recovers as well.

[lazeebum]

Thanks for sharing. Great write up.

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