TET-S Georgia Section

[John65]

I don't have anything else compiled right now so I'm gonna Profile my ridin partner (an myself a little bit)

I met him when I was 14 (he was a lot older, I think). I had just got a H-D Hummer (you younguns probably don't know what that is), and a few days later,
Larry and Ted (another friend) came over to my house. larry told me later that Ted had come to his house and said
" Hey, I heard there's a boy over in Jakin with a motorcycle, Let's go over and race him"
and so we did.
After highschool, I went into the Navy and didn't see much of him 'til one day coming back from the lake, I saw a couple of guys riding in a borrow pit side the road, It was Larry & Ted, so, now I gotta have another bike. Got a yamaha 125mx.
we met every Sunday at the clay pit and before long we had a trail laid out up and down those banks, and sho-nuff, it was a race every Sunday. It had grown to about 10-12 riders then.
It eventually got to where we had cars parked for 1/4 mile side of the road watching us race. We were riding motocross and didn't even know it.
that evolved into racing mx and several more bikes 'til we got too old (30+).
My work began to consume all my time and I didn't get another bike 'til I retired.

After I retired, Larry first convinced me I needed a couple 4 wheelers so Glenda and I could ride with him an Margo (his wife)
Then he said I needed a DS bike to ride with him on, so (KLR650)
then I needed a big bike so we could take our wives with us sometime (VTX1300)
$20,000 + later, we're where we are now.
He has a stable full of bikes and 4 wheelers
and I have 3 bikes and 2 four wheelers
All our trips revolve around his work (he's greedy, you know)
He always says something like "I don't have anything to do for X days startin tomorrow, build us a route to 'somewhere'"
Then he says "You need to write a ride report" (I can't even get him to post a comment)

But he's good with the camera,,,, every time I drop the bike,,,, next day a picture of it is posted on his refrigerator for the whole world to see.
That's my best friend "Larry" [LJHrider]
With all he's talked me into, I can't afford any more.


soon as I get some photos uploaded and comments written, I'll post some more....

[John65]

Originally Posted by ADVCoot

Enjoyed perusing your report and viewing the accompanying photos. Got to get down there myself very soon.

Thanks.
I know you got good roads and hills up there, but I promise you, these are worth the trip...

[Fireman1000]

Very cool.I'd like to ride some sections of that eventually.

[John65]

Originally Posted by Fireman1000

Very cool.I'd like to ride some sections of that eventually.

Be a good ride on that KLR

[John65]

We came off Flatland rd onto pavement into Suches, where we had lunch and talked with several other bikers. Most were riding cruisers, but some had DS bikes as well.
One guy was really glad to meet us. He is about 60 yrs old and said he was worried he couldn't ride for many more yrs, but if we could still ride, he should be good for at least another 20 yrs.

Left Suches on Coopers Gap rd. A good mountain road, but does not meet my “Really Good Road” standards.






This road is just a good mountain road, but with the leaves off the trees, the view was spectacular.














Next road is FR 42 or maybe Appalachian Blue Ridge or both
All I know for certain is it was up on top of a long mountain and followed the ridge line for a long way










This must be a hikers trailhead. There's at least 30 cars here and the people we see are doing stretches & squats & stuff
an most of em look fit,,, like they may walk or do some kind of exercise












There's some nice people in Georgia too. Soon as this one saw us (thru the dust), he pulled over and let us pass




This one is not so nice. Took at least a mile to get around him/her, but to be fair, he/she was puttin up so much dust,
he/she may not have seen us

[John65]

Owltown rd,, if it was in south Georgia, it would be a great road, but up here, just mediocre.






Never did see Owltown unless that's it in the above photo We stopped for gas at the junction of Owltown &Turniptown rds

[John65]

This is another road that does make the grade for “Really Good Road”
It's Harpers Creek Road










We have been following the Creek, but the creek ain't no more.. I think at this point the road is the creek. Glad it ain't the wet season..




Larry asked me several times “Are you sure there's no BBB around this road”
I may have accidentally mentioned that there wasn't one,,,, can't be sure.
Larry only tells me the truth when he's caught offguard or can't think of a good lie
so sometimes I may reciprocate


















you can tell by the picture quality that the lense is dusty...






OK, now we got a creek again...

[John65]

A famous man [Treeman] once said "Quit typing and Ride", so....
Can't post anything else today....

[andy29847]

I remember meeting you along the trial on the west side of the Tallulah River.




You asked if we had crossed the river. I said yes, but we had to get someone to tell us where. I asked how was the road behind you. You said it was easy, just a bump or 2. I said the road ahead was the same. We looked at each other and both knew there was some BS going on.

[John65]

Originally Posted by andy29847

I remember meeting you along the trial on the west side of the Tallulah River.




You asked if we had crossed the river. I said yes, but we had to get someone to tell us where. I asked how was the road behind you. You said it was easy, just a bump or 2. I said the road ahead was the same. We looked at each other and both knew there was some BS going on.

You're right about the BS, Andy
You were talking to Larry, and he ain't told the truth about anything since his mama explained to him what a lie is.

How far did your group go?

[andy29847]

John,

We did a big circle ride. Stating in Tellico Plains, TN, through Andrews, NC, over to Dillard, GA, then across GA to Ellijay, GA, then north again to Tellico Plains. We saw some snow and ice where FS 81 intersects with the Cherohala Skyway, spent the night in Helen, and stopped for BBQ at Poole's in Elijay. My guys thought we were going to be stuck forever in the Cohutta Wilderness Area of North Georgia - the dirt roads there go on and on. It was so cold the first day that my camera wouldn't work. I got a few pics of our ride on GA. Here is the link - you will probably recognize most of the roads.

http://andy29847.smugmug.com/Other/N...6277544_FWJwgJ

[John65]

Originally Posted by andy29847

John,

We did a big circle ride. Stating in Tellico Plains, TN, through Andrews, NC, over to Dillard, GA, then across GA to Ellijay, GA, then north again to Tellico Plains. We saw some snow and ice where FS 81 intersects with the Cherohala Skyway, spent the night in Helen, and stopped for BBQ at Poole's in Elijay. My guys thought we were going to be stuck forever in the Cohutta Wilderness Area of North Georgia - the dirt roads there go on and on. It was so cold the first day that my camera wouldn't work. I got a few pics of our ride on GA. Here is the link - you will probably recognize most of the roads.

http://andy29847.smugmug.com/Other/N...6277544_FWJwgJ

That was a good ride and I do recognize most of them.
Larry and I spent 3 days around Tellico in Oct 2011 and then this trip covered a lot of them
We rode over 400 miles around Tellico and didn't cover 10% of that area.

Edit: recognized most of the photos too,,,,, you just had a better camera than mine..

[John65]

My memory of the roads covered the rest of this day are kind of a blur, but I remember one that I video'd was the Old CC Camp road. The reason I don't know exactly what roads we're on is that somewhere between the camera, my netbook and the win7 desktop, today's video timestamps were all changed. All other days are correct.

Movin on
It' s beginning to get late, as you can see by the shadows
all the rest of todays shots are between FR 42 and LaFayette Ga.




Camera lense is dusty from all the traffic a while back, so most shots are not real clear









We did run across a hay ride, but they didn't invite us aboard, so we moved on










I do remember this was Lake Marvin rd
The fall colors really shined in the late afternoon sun














Glenda just called and reminded us to “Get our Dumasses to a motel, so we're hotfooting
(or would you call it “hothanding”) it to LaFayette








Oops, Larry lost the back end for a second there,, ,,, ,, ,, I usually manage to drop the bike (and me) at least 1 time on our trips and I had none on this one, I thought he might be trying to help me reach my quota






and we made it

[DirtRoadPassion]

Wow guys,
Nice ride route and great job with the ride report. I live in NW Atlanta and ride the North GA stuff all the time. A few buddies and I were just up around the FS42 and Cooper Creek area this weekend, and with all the rain we've had it was great....on a small bike (DRZ400). LOTS of side roads/trails and dead-ends up there.

I just sold the KLR and now have a Super Tenere, so I LOVE your route as I have been wanting to put something like this together for the big bike. I will INTENTIONALLY remove a few of your sections that I know I do not want to do with the ST - for instance Charlies Creek - I too took a swim in the river - from the direction you guys came, the left side is the deepest, and it appears you both found that out. Also Flatland, especially if it's a rainy day - note if you enter Flatland from the asphalt side there IS a no trespassing sign, but this is not true. The local home owners try to keep the bikes out, but the road is public to the dead-end, where you then enter the FS road - so it IS legal).

There are a bunch more roads in N Ga, TN, NC and AL that I'm sure you would put into your "great" category - we typically make one or maybe two trips up into the Maggie Valley area of NC for tremendous riding (again, small bikes - check out threads for Hurricane Creek - yahoo!!) You guys are close by....ever interested in riding, drop a PM and maybe we can put a ride together.

Again, thanks for the ride report. Great job. Motivating me to sit down with the route and tweak it a bit to better fit my ST desires (I really have no desire to do major off-roading with the ST, though I do have all the required/recommended goodies).

Will keep watching for updates.

[John65]

Originally Posted by DirtRoadPassion

Wow guys,
Nice ride route and great job with the ride report. I live in NW Atlanta and ride the North GA stuff all the time. A few buddies and I were just up around the FS42 and Cooper Creek area this weekend, and with all the rain we've had it was great....on a small bike (DRZ400). LOTS of side roads/trails and dead-ends up there.

I just sold the KLR and now have a Super Tenere, so I LOVE your route as I have been wanting to put something like this together for the big bike. I will INTENTIONALLY remove a few of your sections that I know I do not want to do with the ST - for instance Charlies Creek - I too took a swim in the river - from the direction you guys came, the left side is the deepest, and it appears you both found that out. Also Flatland, especially if it's a rainy day - note if you enter Flatland from the asphalt side there IS a no trespassing sign, but this is not true. The local home owners try to keep the bikes out, but the road is public to the dead-end, where you then enter the FS road - so it IS legal).

There are a bunch more roads in N Ga, TN, NC and AL that I'm sure you would put into your "great" category - we typically make one or maybe two trips up into the Maggie Valley area of NC for tremendous riding (again, small bikes - check out threads for Hurricane Creek - yahoo!!) You guys are close by....ever interested in riding, drop a PM and maybe we can put a ride together.

Again, thanks for the ride report. Great job. Motivating me to sit down with the route and tweak it a bit to better fit my ST desires (I really have no desire to do major off-roading with the ST, though I do have all the required/recommended goodies).

Will keep watching for updates.

Thanks for the comments, I'd love to get back up there again.
It's gettin' more and more difficult to build a good route, with all the locked gates and no trespassing signs.
I use mapsource, google earth, paper maps and online county road maps, and still have trouble.

Sharing our tracks seems to be the best way for all of us to ride the "Really Good Roads"

We didn't go swimming in Tallulah river, but I came close enough, (both feet down) and water was a good bit deeper than my boots.