Okay, probably overstated it a bit. Took the bike out for about an hour and took few shots. Hoping to add to this thread as time goes on. Not often that we get to ride the Hoosier state on Christmas. When it hit the mid-40's on a bright and sunny Christmas I decided to try out my new Icon Hooligan pants. First ride with new Tourmaster jacket as well. The jacket was the right choice, the pants will be better in the summer. A lot of airflow mesh in the pants. First stop was a little country church about five miles from home. Seemed appropriate since it was Christmas. This is a pretty stop in the summer, but not a lot of beauty this time of year...at least without snow. The town recently built this in a local park. I have no idea what happens here, but it looks nice. Thought I'd get a shot of myself in this report. Pretty sure you'd be able to pick me out of a crowd after seeing this one. Last shot on my first report--the local "haunted bridge." Not sure why or when it became haunted, but that's the rumor. Looks like it's mostly haunted by "wanna be's."
Avon has a pretty big CSX train yard and that bridge is used multiple times a day by multi-engine freight trains. http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.754592,-86.361506&z=15&t=h&hl=en
Been a while since posted. I've been working on the bike a lot of the time since the Christmas pictures I posted earlier. This was last month. Small town just west of Indy--Danville town square It's the county seat, so the courthouse dominates: Across from the square is restaurant called The Mayberry Cafe. In light of Andy's passing I offer this shot of the Mayberry Sheriff's car: I took a shot at Christmas in this same location. Have to admit...it does look better in the summer. We've been having a drought here--driest June on record and there has been no relief so far in July. Many days over 100 degrees with no rain, so the water level is down a lot from the time of this shot. Back to the church first shown at Christmas.
I spotted this old tractor for sale just west of Avon. An old Ferguson. My dad always loved old tractors, so I find it hard to ride by without stopping to acknowledge him. You can see the effects of the drought in this picture. Typically Indiana is really green at this time of year, but the grass gave it up a few weeks ago. Not supposed to be any relief until at least October--that according to the news this a.m. It was well into the '90's today, but overcast. I rode to Heritage Lake west of Danville. Using the a point and shoot that I haven't used in a while, so the color balance appears to be off a bit. I have a GoPro now and plan to post some videos, but I needed a mount for it. I looked at the official mount, but thought I could come up with one on my own. Here's the "not-so-pretty" version. Just wanted to see if it would work before investing the effort to make it look good. Unfortunately, I forgot to charge the GoPro, but the mount seemed very steady. Just noticed that some of the shots taken above show the bike with Superbike bars on it. I really didn't like them, so I went back to the dirtbike bars I had on it last summer. Works out well for the GoPro mount and they are way more comfortable.
Things don't seem to be any better in the southern part of the state. I was in Tennessee a couple of weeks ago and the foliage was plenty green, but it all started turning brown about halfway through my return trip to Louisville. It'll be nice to see some rain! What year is your Suzuki? Looks to be in really good condition. I had a GS-450 back in the late-90's and it proved to be a stellar ride, never wanting anything but oil changes and the occasional shot of chain lube.
The bike is an '83 GR650. Didn't sell well in the states...so only available here in'83 and '84. Sold overseas for nine years...but pretty rare here. I had never heard of them until a buddy offered to sell this one to me. A lot of deferred maintenance was needed, I think I've got that sorted now. Not as fast as my Radian was...but I'm glad to have a bike again. Cosmetic stuff left to do at this point...but that will wait until the riding season is over.
I was out running around the area the other day and using the GoPro. I had to compress it pretty heavily to get it to upload in a reasonable amount of time, so the quality of the video suffered. These shots are west of Avon, IN. Avon is a small town west of Indy about 10-15 miles. No real town here. It used to be a series of crossroads with a few stores. Now it is a series of intersections with strip malls. Doesn't take long to return to the Indiana of days gone by. Five minutes will put you back into farmland. These roads are some of the more entertaining ones around here. Different story if you head south. Things get pretty twisty and hilly fairly quickly. I've got more time on those roads in the Miata and not so much on the bike. Hope to get more video from that part of the state as time goes on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqE9jk_CFB0
https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/w/wvrefugee_2006_040.jpg http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k251/wvrefugee_2006/?action=view¤t=040.jpg
Cool stuff! Keep it coming I like seeing the local rides we all take. Slick bike looks like in #4 you added a small fairing.
Thanks! Haven't got the funds or time to do extended rides just yet, but I enjoy reading other riders' threads about where they live and ride. Thought I'd give it a try. I have been thinking about adding flyscreen, but no fairing added yet. I changed the bars to Superbike bars and they make the speedo and tach more prominent. Decided on comfort over style and went back to dirtbike bars for now.
Hey Liked your report and photos! That bike is SICK ! I live in Putnam County - there is a LOT of fun riding to do form here and further Southwest.
Thanks, jdfog2! I'll get to Putnam County at some point. Just started this thread after getting the old GR running reliably. Well, as reliably as a 27-year old bike will ever run.
So, one of the perks of being in higher ed is the time available to ride in the summer. Our youngest is still in high school, but Avon, in its wisdom, has decided to go to a "balanced" schedule. School started yesterday--August 1st. His cross country practice didn't end until 5:45, so I was footloose and fancy free. He gets his license this week, so I won't be on dad-taxi duty anymore. More time to ride! Put about 100 miles on the bike...took almost no pictures. I was riding a ridge line that extends south and west out of Mooresville, IN. The roads are very twisty and very narrow. No shoulders to speak of, so stopping to take pix can get a bit tricky. I did get this one of the courthouse in Martinsville, IN. Just missed the perp walk that occurred just after I put the camera away. Turns out that the white van is a prisoner transport vehicle. Did grab some lunch Hit a vintage rider meet up on Tuesday in Brownsburg. Got a few shots: Familiar view for XS650 riders Some are works in progress Naked GL1000 Suzuki GT380 Went riding after the meet up and got this one. Seems to perfectly illustrate why photogs call late afternoon "the golden hours." No editing done on the shot to change the color of the light.
I had some time to kill today, so I decided to ride with no particular destination. I aimed west and south, mostly because I haven't spent much time in that area. Not real sure where I was--when I got done I just aimed north and east and ended up at home. Got about 60 miles of wandering in. Not a bad way to spend the day. I always find it interesting how quickly the area becomes rural. Scenes like this aren't far from a pretty suburban area. Of course, civilization intrudes even out here. I walked around the bike and took this shot of I-70 loaded with people driving with a destination in mind. Poor saps. This type of scenery is pretty common in this part of the state. If you keep going west it just gets more flat and more rural. I can now say I've been to Horse Barn Rd. Did see a few horses, but not the barn. Found one, but not on Horse Barn Rd. This one was on U.S. 40--the old National Road. Good day for riding with no particular goal in mind.
The semester starts on the 27th of August this year. Normally I'd have another week of time to ride, but new responsibilities at work this year mean that I have to attend meetings a good chunk of the next week. It is always bittersweet to see the lazy days of summer come to an end. One of the better parts of teaching is the long summer break, but it is always exciting and interesting to see those college kids come tearing back into the classroom. A lot of faces change over each year...seniors that spent four years with you are out in "the real world" and a bunch of freshmen are nervously trying to figure out what they gotten themselves into. It really is fun to be a part of that process, but it is stressful as well. I just accept a new set of courses after 27 years spent teaching broadcast journalism. I needed a change, but what a challenge. The bike, and the riding, have been a necessary thing for me this summer. Something to get my mind off the pressures associated with all the changes. Worse than any of that pressure has been the process of saying goodbye to my mother-in-law. She is the best I could have hoped for, but it will be a miracle if she is still with us at the end of the month. Leukemia is winning the battle in spite of a courageous fight. My wife has been a trooper through all of this, but it is hard to let go. My wife is working today, the kids are in school or at work and I wanted to take a longer ride to let things go. Mother Nature had other plans. We, along with a huge chunk of the country, have been experiencing a drought...all summer...so it rained today. Well, not all of it. But the weather forecast called for thunderstorms, some severe, beginning this afternoon. Okay, knowing that, I planned to hit the road about 8:00 and head west to Cataract Falls--about 40 miles or so-- and then explore some of the gravel roads in that area. The fact that I bothered to develop a plan meant that it wouldn't happen. At 10:15 I pulled out of the garage. Planned to hit IN-42 west out of Mooresville and head for the Falls. Wind was fairly gusty and the skies were pretty overcast--and a lot darker off to the northwest. The conversation in my helmet was, "Do I change my plans since I don't have any rain gear and I don't know where I can find shelter?" v. "Come on! Suck it up! Riders on ADV laugh at rain! Better yet, they strip down and call it bath time! You gonna' be a wimp?" Turns out, I was a wimp. Of course, I would just be getting back about the time I am writing this and it is pouring outside. Thunder and lighting are the order of the hour. Made the better decision. The photos that follow were shot south of Mooresville, IN--while I was being a wimp. Cataract Falls will have to wait. Google Earth it if you can't. Just west of those two shots I passed a house with one of those giant satellite dishes in the front yard. The owner had painted, "13 Miles from Nowhere" on the face it. I was reassured. Up to that point I had thought I was in the middle of nowhere. Decided y'all needed a little "artsy" in your life and took these two. Makes you feel all fuzzy, doesn't it? I am really learning to appreciate this old '83 650 parallel twin. It is really a lightweight bike, fairly small and pretty torquey. Drop down to about 2k rpm and just dial it up around corners. Tractors out without any of the frenetic drama that my old Yamaha I4 had. This one is starting to run out of steam at the point where the I4 was just waking up. Ran it up to about 70 on a short stretch between Martinsville and Mooresville today and it ran comfortably at just under 5k rpm. That is enough for me right now. Ten years is a long time to be off a bike. You'll see a lot of work needs to be done to the engine cases and valve cover. That's an over-the-winter project. Spent the last year getting it running correctly and reliably. Mentioned my father a few posts ago in connection with the tractor shot. He was also a Nazarene pastor, so I decided to take a shot of this little country church when I happened upon it. Lost him ten years ago this year. Hard to believe I am now the same age he was when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Pretty sure I wouldn't handle that diagnosis as well as he did. I thought he was old when the disease hit him, but now I see that he probably didn't feel that he was. I sure don't feel old. Makes me appreciate his courage in the face of that horrible disease all the more Headed back toward home and the threatened front was just becoming visible. It can be difficult to get the camera straight with a helmet on. The flag poles are vertical--Photobucket isn't playing nicely today...so crooked shot it is. I hit the front about 6 miles from home. Temperatures dropped by about 10 degrees and it got pretty windy, so I was just as happy I had saved Cataract Falls for another time. Got sort of pensive with this ride. Glad I had the chance to do this before the semester gets crazy. Thanks for riding along.
Hello Radianrider, I have enjoyed reading your thread and viewing your photos. That old Suzuki is awesome. You don't see too many of those on the road these days. Very cool... I'm located here on the west-side of Indy and have been out your direction many times over the last several months. It's a wonder we haven't bumped into each other on our travels as I have been to many of the places you have shown. I'd say you made the right decision by not going on out to Cataract yesterday. It looked as though that whole area got hit pretty hard by the storms later in the day. My Ol'lady, myself, and a buddy of ours went out to see the falls back in early June and ended up staying much later than we had anticipated. We weren't prepared for any type of night riding but once we got into the area we simply didn't want to ever leave. And just a heads up, if your not aware of it, it cost us $5 to get two bikes into the area around the falls but, if you haven't ever seen them, it is well worth it. Also, be sure take the road down to the lower falls to check them out. The scenery down in there is absolutely awesome. The old Cataract General Store just south of the falls is a pretty nice stop as well. The old building is neat and they have quite a display of old antiques inside. You can also get a an old fashion coke, (small 7Oz.?) out of their old fashion cooler and a homemade bologna sandwich if you like. They were both pretty good... I could probably go on forever but I'll just post up one more bit of info. If your heading east on "Cataract Falls Rd" at (231) you can cross on over (231) and continue east on "Cataract Falls Rd." and it will curve to the north turning into "Millgrove Rd.". Once your heading north on "Milllgrove Rd." you can take the first right turn, ( Tower Rd. ), and there is an old iron bridge about .35 miles down. ( 39°26'29.12" N 86°45'21.81" W ) After leaving the bridge you can then zigzag your way up, & over, to the small town of Quincy or most any of the roads running north/south will lead you back up north running into IN42... Some of the roads out in that area are a bit bumpy in spots but we didn't run into anything too bad... I look forward to seeing your next installment for the thread and will more than likely be "stealing" some of your locations to go and checkout for myself. I also hope we can cross paths sometime or possibly even take a little ride together. There seems to be quite a few of us around this area that enjoy the same type of riding so maybe sometime in the future we can all hook up for a nice ride together. Until next time, Ride safe, & Have a great day, Jeff...
radianrider, From one Hoosier to another I'm digging your thread. I live north of you in Hartford-tucky(Hartford City). I've traveled Indiana for the short trips all my life. I've taken many visiting friends on the local backroads and surprised them with all the hidden gems in our backyards. If you're ever riding north look me up. JB2
Thanks, JB2 and Fullcyc. I appreciate that you took time to respond. Great information about the Falls, Fullcyc. I'd been out there looking for good Miata roads during my "no bike" days, but haven't explored the area extensively. I will follow up on your ideas as soon as I get the chance--probably going to be a while now that my semester is getting started. That iron bridge sounds exactly like the kind of thing I go looking for. Might even be getting hungry for bologna. JB2, I like the idea of hidden gems in our backyard. It isn't likely that I'll get any big adventure rides in for some time...too many life things in the way, but looking more closely at where we live seems like a reasonable alternative. I look forward to meeting up with you both and getting some riding done.