Full Throttle Touring - 150 through the Rocket City

We have been having some nice fall weather here in Alabama and the leaves are starting to turn. I took the KLR out to Wheeler on Sunday.



Trying to capture the color.



It looked better in person.



Got out on the scooter today.



Halloween is almost here.



Finally got a pic of some colors.



I'm hoping to get out this weekend on a longer ride.

I just got cleared hot by the Docs today and planning on getting out finally... also got my Spot X activated while I had PMS so I'll be testing that out for the longer rides...

I tried to ride my S8 to work last night but it wouldn't start. CRAP!!! I just replaced the battery a few months ago

So I rode the Majesty. This morning I put the charger on the battery and tried starting it again. No Go. So I tried it with a battery booster. Still No Go So I took the battery out and headed to Midway Cycles on my Versys. I needed a new rear tire on the Versys anyway so I figured on killing two birds with one stone. They load tested the battery and it was fine. So I figured it was the Starter, solonoid or maybe a short?

While is was there I got a pic of all the KTMs on the floor. Someone had mentioned that Max had the best selection of KTMs in the state but I think Midway has more.



After I got home I decided to try turning the crank on the S8 and then tried starting it again.

It cranked right over

So I had to take it for a ride.



It's another beautiful fall day. Still waiting for the leaves to turn color.



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It looks like it will be a beautiful day for a ride tomorrow Forecast is sunny and 66. The leaves are also really starting to change colors. Now I just have to decide where to ride and which bike

North Georgia, Versys.

That would be nice but I hadn't planned on an overnight trip.

I was pretty lazy this morning and didn't want to deal with the cold so it was late morning before I figured out where I wanted to go and got on the road. I headed East and then North on 65 through paint Rock Valley. I happened to see a friend out in his yard on 65 so I stopped and talked to him for a while. Then I continued North. The leaves were pretty nice but not spectacular. I took some pics on the go.



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My pics don't really show it but 65 is a pretty curvy road.



I saw a nice photo spot so I pulled off.



This is one of the advantages of a relatively light bike. I can pull off into spots I probably wouldn't on a 900 pound bike.



I wasn't in a rush to get anywhere today so I took the time to stop and check stuff out.



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I was now in Tennessee.



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I stopped in Lynchburg.



Someone has a nice house with a great view.



Without a doubt the most famous road in Tn is the "dragon" which is really US 129 at Deal's Gap. Not nearly as famous is another 129 right here in Tn. This road starts in Lynchburg and heads west.



I decided to ride this because I heard it was a nice road.



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While not as twisty as the "dragon", it is a pretty nice road with hills, curves and some nice scenery. My pics don't really do it justice. Maybe I can make some money by giving this 129 a cool name and selling some T shirts I just have to come up with a name. Since it starts in Lynchburg I'm thinking "tail of Jack" or "tail of the whiskey barrel"



129 runs through Petersburg , Tn.



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I turned off 129 on to John Barnes Rd which took me through the booming metropolis of Delina.



I went inside to check out the store. It was mostly a restaurant.



When I came out a group of Harley riders pulled up. I talked to them a bit and asked if they had ever eaten here. They said yes and that the food and service were great. I think I'll have to set up a ride sometime and stop here for lunch.

I continued south from Delina.



I had never ridden these roads before. They were nice roads and well worth riding.



Once I got south of 64 I was on familiar roads. I stopped to check out this place.



I had planned on checking out the food here someday but I doubt I'll be doing that.



Bummer

As i rode south the roads became straighter and somewhat boring. I made it home before dark with just over 200 miles ridden. I'm glad I got out and it's always nice to ride some new roads. There are some strong storms forecast in a couple of days. Hopefully they won't knock down all the leaves and I'll be able to get in another ride or two before the leaves and color disappear.

Here's a pic I took earlier this week on my normal route to Wally World:



After that the weather turned to crap and I didn't ride for something like 3 days. It's a miracle I didn't get a bad case of PMS!

Then the weather got nice again for the weekend. I figured I'd go for a ride somewhere but was too lazy to plan anything. Then @Prestonee asked if anyone was riding on the North Alabama Riders thread so I ended up setting up a last minute ride. We ended up with the usual suspects at Freedom Powersports on a beautiful Saturday morning.



@Frank smith on his Tmax and @Prestonee on his FJR. We also met another inmate @acrorider who worked at Freedom but unfortunately couldn't join us since he was working. I remember my days at Bartow Powersports when I missed all the Saturday rides.

We headed south on 231.



Guntersville:



Wyeth Dr:



The colors were actually a lot nicer than I was able to capture with my camera.

Our destination for this ride was High Falls which I figured would be impressive after all the rain this week.



Frank brought his big camera along and got this next really good pic of the falls:



One of the things I really like about this falls is that they haven't put up a bunch of fences to "protect" us so you can get up close and personal.



Since I have been here so many times it's hard to get a pic that's different from all the ones I have take in the past. It was the first time for Frank and Preston so they took some pics.



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We hiked to the other side of the river to get a different view.

By the time we left High Falls it was late afternoon and we were pretty hungry. The plan was to try to get lunch at the Pikeville deli but we found a place a bit closer.



I didn't expect this place to be open. I thought it was seasonal but it's open year round except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The food was pretty good, I'd go back again.

More riding and trying to capture the scenery.



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We rode up CR17 and over CR8 back to 72. They are nice and curvy roads. I never did get into the groove on this ride. Between the cold and wet patches on some of the roads I just never got confident and rode pretty tentatively. Still it was good to get out and ride. I'm not sure how many more nice days we will have before winter sets in. I know the leaves will soon all fall off.

72 is a boring 4 lane but I did snap some pics.



Almost home.



I'll try to get out again today but haven't decided where or which bike.

That's one thing I miss about the east coast, the foliage in autumn... as you know not so much here in SoCal unless I head up to NorCal or Big Bear...

I love the fall foliage, what follows not so much. A few more weeks and I'll be thinking of this song:

I got on the KLR today and just wandered around some with no real plan. I rode Horse Cove road to the top of Keel Mtn. This is one of the steepest paved roads around with some real tight curves. I have yet to get any pics that show how tight and steep this road is.



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Stopped at this pond on Keel Mtn hoping to get a nice pic.



Going up another Mountain on CR8. BTW, those of you readers from out west would consider our "mountains" to be minor foothills.



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One advantage of riding alone is that I can stop whenever I want to take pics.



Going down CR17.



This was off of 72 approaching Huntsville.



I was only out a few hours and rode about 135 miles. The KLR turned out to be a great bike for this ride as many of the county roads around here are pretty rough.

I went for a walk this evening and noticed that there might be a nice sunset so I went back home, jumped on my S-8 and headed for a good vantage point to try to get some pics. I was just a bit late.



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No big rides this weekend but I did get out on some short rides. I rode the Versys over to Allsport in Decatur to get some oil and filter. I stopped in Mooresville for this pic.



Decatur had some nice color left in it's trees so I stopped and got some pics.

As I crossed the bridge into Decatur a Saw what I thought was a paddle wheeler sightseeing ship docked there. I found out later it as a cruise ship. I got a few pics with the ship in the background.



And I managed to get some colorful trees in the pics as well.



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When I got to Allsport they were closed. I didn't need the oil and filter that bad but I did want to spend some time drooling on bikes and seeing what's new.

Stopped again on my way out of Decatur and took some more pics.

I had some running around to do in the afternoon so I took the S-8. Not as many colorful trees in Huntsville/Madison as there were in Decatur but I did find at least one.



By the time I got done with my last stop and headed home the sun was setting. I took a small detour to try to get some shots of what looked like it would be a great sunset.



That's Huntsville Intl. Airport in the background.



It would have been great to get a plane in one of the shots but I didn't see any in the 20 minutes or so that I took pictures.

A friend was going to take his MT-07 up there for service yesterday, found out they were closing at 1130 for the Iron Bowl.

After I got home I saw that they had posted that they would be closed on Facebook. At the time I thought maybe they had sold out everything on Black Friday and just decided to go home