NomadGal's Year on the Road

Since I'm finding myself about as tuckered as can be just reading about your tire repairs, I think I have a new plan. My future rides will be in areas where cell phones will work and tow trucks will be available! I'm too dang old to do any of this myself anymore! I still wanna ride though.....

Gary "Oldone"

Grampa’s Lake Superior Ride
Grampa’s National Monument Ride

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After reading all of the 35 pages last night I must say that this is one of the best RR in here.

Loving your words, you have the talent for writing.
Loving your pictures and the way you are managing your live on the road.
This seems to be a perfect ride!

Thank you for sharing.

The valves were perfect, smack dab in the middle of the numbers. It would have been better on the lower side, but I'm fine with the way they are.

Updated January 18 finally found a memory card reader!

Well................
I wasn't being very smart when I went into Starbucks on my day of leaving!
I had left the keys in the ignition and the bike on :huh
Sure was glad I only stayed half a hour, and that I had previously used my battery charger to fully charge it before I left.
Spirit started right up again, I held my breath!
After sending off my package to Mountain Alps (logo of my old mat) I headed north via a nice and quiet road.
It was heaven!!
After two months of interstate noise from the house, people and radio noise form the store, and the usual noise that comes from living with people, I was longing for some quiet time.

First thing I run into once I got a ways on Corkscrew Road

Three guys on their bikes, well, one on a trike!
Zigzagging my way north took me a while, but I didn't mind the extra miles, it was beautiful and I took lots of pics.

(Well............, where are they you may ask?
Yeah......, on my new camera I got from Jim that he bought for me on ebay.
I love it! it takes absolutely wonderful photos, and is ready fast. The only bummer is that the guy he bought it from did not include the cord to attach it to my laptop. At first I though no prob, I will just insert the memory card into my laptop.
That plan kinda backfired on me seeing as the olympus uses a one of a kind memory card that won't fit into the card slot.
Big bummer! Oh well, Guess I'm going to visit wallymart again and see if by chance they sell them there, if not I'm going to have to figure out where to sent one to if I order one.)

So here are the pics finally!


What Florida is famous for!


I would hate to be the orange on the bottom!

I found a great state park on Hwy 471, unfortunately I would have had to hike in three miles to camp there, and it was close to sunset. I asked the park ranger if he knew one nearby, and other than a noise right on Hwy 98 RV park, he didn't know of one. Then I asked him about the youth group campsite, if I could maybe stay there... (I was crossing my fingers behind my back). He said okay, meet me at the office in 10 minutes.
He wrote me up a camping stub and drove ahead of me to show me where the campsite was.




The sunset made the colors amazing!

It was beautiful and I was the only one there! The wonderful place only cost me $5.60! Yay, what more could a girl want?




Had Indian food, and humus & chips for diner

I had a fairly quiet night (except for some owls hooting and some pigs, or boars grunting near my tent) and slept from 8PM to 8AM. Guess I was tired!


Yet another picture of my tent! Awesome campsite though


The way back the next day to Hwy 471, a little sandy here and there but not too bad

I rode North-West to the golf coast toward Econfina state park on the bay off of Hwy 98 on hwy14.


Brand new and quiet Hwy 98


Who says that roll of fact tape on my bungee cord was useless?


Hmmmm, must have missed a turn somewhere!


Found a safety gadget for my camera, it's retractable too, so I have lots of room to maneuver


Northern part of the golf

According to my little state park booklet there was a campsite at Econfina river....... I could not find it, again! There was a little store that was closed for the day where I could have paid the fee for a campsite, but the campsite itself I couldn't find.
I finally rode down a little dirt road near the water and found a beautiful secluded area with a small building that looked like it might have been bathrooms at some point. The whole area looked like it could have been a campground but was severely overgrown. I didn't mind! Away from the public and quiet! I pitched my tent, made dinner, took some awesome photos of the sunset, and went to sleep.




I am so digging this Olympus stylus camera!!

The next morning as I was eating me oatmeal, a couple of volunteer park rangers walked by. They told me that the campground had been shut down due to flooding during bad weather. Guess I was lucky the weather was god that night!
Seeing as I was leaving anyway they said nobody would mind me having stayed there. The couple stayed at the state park in exchange for volunteering to maintain the premises and clean up etc. It sounded like a great thing to do.
I hit the road shortly after and headed toward Apalachicola national forest.


I didn't know that the trees lost their leaves here too, didn't think it got cold enough.


Hats off for this dude!

I found a forest ranger building and got a map with all the free campsites, and the cheap $3 ones. The library was on the way, so I decided to quickly check in and say hi.
As soon as I have found a cord to plug in my camera I will post the pictures!

There is an awesome State Park at the end of Cape San blas... did you go out there?

What's up with you Fey? My phone didn't beep any of your posts.
I'll go and look, see what you are up to

Haha, didn't make it there yet, still near Apalachicola. I will head out there though, it looks awesome!

It is definately worth the trip, be wary of gators near any landlocked water!

Your Olympus camera probably takes a micro SD card, if it's not the normal SD. Walmart carries a card reader that reads all of the popular cards, and it's cheap too. Here's a link: http://www.walmart.com/ip/20565357?...1=g&wl2=&wl3=18154969270&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem

Walmart should also have the cord you are looking for cheap!!
Regards....justjeff

Nope, my olympus (Stylus shockproof and water proof) only take an Olympus XD card, or micro xd with adapter.
I have the olympus specific XD card, but my Mac doesn't have the slot for it.

Yeah, looked there, no usb cable, but found a card reader at Radio Shack. Unfortunately it doesn't work, I just got it a few minutes ago, gonna return it.

Thank you kahlgryndiger, glad you are enjoying the ride!
More pics coming soon!

Just a quick update!
Back at the library where I planned on downloading the pics, only to find out the card reader doesn't work. bummer!
I returned it and now I have one that does work!

I found an awesome spot a few hundred yard from a camping, in the Apalachicola Forest. The camping was cheap, but too many RVs and people with dogs. Where I am now it's nice and quiet and remote!


The road there, pretty hard packed sand most of the time


This hidden little road caught my eyes, I turned around to get a better look


It seemed to beckon me!


A perfect spot!

If you thought Florida was forever warm, you're mistaken! It was down to a nippy 29 degrees last night! Yikes. I stayed nice and warm however, so my friend Robert was definitely on my mind (the sleeping bag was a gift from him)
I'm hoping my tent is still there when I get back, been gone now for 5 hours, darn......

I am still camped near White Head campground. I've been loving it, quiet for most of the day, except when the hunters get back with their barking dogs.
Today I rode miles and miles of sand and dirt to take a shower at another camp site, aaahhhhh the luxury of hot water.
Spongebaths are a must occasionally, but no fun! Brrrrrrr
More pics when the library opens.

Quote: "This hidden little road caught my eyes, I turned around to get a better look. It seemed to beckon me! "

That's it exactly! You perfectly captured the essence of why I bought My KLR and what its about.
Regards....just jeff

Ahhhh, I needed this relaxing stuff!
Today the library was open, and I ran almost out of food, so it warranted a trip to civilization for a few hours.
here are some pics of the roads in the National forest.


I've been hitting sandy patches and starting to feel just an iota's worth less nervous.
What gets me is trying to take my weight off the front and leaning back, but doing this is hard because then I can't barely hold onto the handlebars. Think my arms are too short!


Splurged on a fantastic greek salad at the Bistro in Sopchoppy


Sunset at the campsite


Sunday morning was heaven! Sat in the sun warming up, had a nice cup of coffee, listening to Debussy on my phone, and knitting a cowl for my friend Carol who keeps asking me to knit stuff for her, and pays me too
I know it seems rather incongruous, a motorcycle riding, camping in the wild and knitting woman, but I consider myself well-rounded!


My new vice! yeah..........


There is something about tree bark, it's just beautiful!


Yep, still me! Just thought I should show my goofy face once in a while.

Tomorrow I am planning on riding to Jacksonville. I know it's the other way, but I have a friend whom I met on the road near Yosemite, Sharon, she was riding on her own too across the country.
I knew she lived somewhere in Florida, but just found out today where. Luckily it's only about 4 hours from here, so it's worth backtracking a little to say hi.

No Jacksonville!
My friend didn't have time till the 30th.
I have a tendency to forget that most folk are timebound becauseofwork and such.
Had a realy late start because of the cold weather, my seat was covered in frost!
The ride along the coast was gorgeous, more tomorrow!
San Blas was way too expensive! So now I am illegally camped at a statepark north of Panama city, turns out it is not meant for camping. The ranger was nice and gave me a warning citation, got to pack up first thing in the morning though. Had I gone 4 more miles I would have bumped into a campground.
Eventhough he woke me up, I am glad to see it is still a bit warmer here!

Sitting comfortably at a fancy laundromat with internet! Awesome!
The road along the coast yesterday was pretty spectacular in places, not so nice in other places.......
After spending a week in the forest I need to get desensitized again, if there is such a thing. I can't help but imagine what some of the places looked like years ago, before all the buildings along the coastline. Not sure what good it will do me seeing as we can't go back or undo any of it, at least not on a massive scale. Hmmmm, mother nature can though!






This reminded me of the ride to the Keys, I do love riding over bridges that span water. These are the bridges leading to St George island


Once I got to St George's island, this pretty lighthouse greeted me.

The island itself is totally built full. One house after the other, hugging the coastline, so that I barely saw the ocean.


On my way back, now toward Cape San Blas.

It looked like the state park at the end of the peninsula was gorgeous, but the ranger wouldn't let me go and take a look without paying $6. I thought it way to steep to just make a loop around the area.
The camping was going to be $26 plus tax, and I decided to just wing it and see if I could find a cheaper or free place.


Heading up to Pine Log state forest, where I thought a campsite should be.

Well, what happened you read in my previous post.
I had a hard time falling asleep again afterward, but I finally succumbed. I tossed and turned and had some crazy weird dreams! The coyotes where howling, and the fact that there was a bear crossing sign not too far away made me a bit edgy.
I woke up at 6 , made a cup of coffee and hit the road by 8. Wow, another record!
It was not nearly as cold as before, in the low forties. She sun rose unrestricted and warmed up the campsite and dried my tent fairly fast.


Now, doesn't this look like a campsite?

I diligently went to the booth and paid my $2 for day use, (hmmm, they need to rephrase that one, according to me a day is 24 hours


Hugging the coast line to Destin. There were places like Santa Monica, Laguna Beach, Hollywood Beach, Riviera Beach etc. Hmmmm, very original!




A gated community


Awesome little place


I had to stop and turn around to take a picture of this!


Not all the buildings looked like this, but I think this is the feel they were aiming for


Mural at a sunny sport building in Destin.

As soon as the laundry is done I will grab a bite to eat, and head for a free campsite near the army base.
Before I do however I will visit Ford Pickens state park at the end of golf boulevard.