Gaspipe Goes to Alabama............

Day 1:

Even after last weekend's adventure in the Ozarks with DC950, I needed another ride. Gotta get into ridin' shape - I've been pretty lax on my dirt riding since Baja.

I got a Saturday off from work (two weeks in a row!), and decided to ride out to meet up with Iforgot and do a bit of dual sport riding around the Paint Rock, AL area. I'd never ridden around there at all, and Iforgot was kind enough to invite me for a look!

I left work in Corinth, MS at 1400 on Friday on the F650 Dakar (my KTM's 620 and 640 are both still waiting for parts ) and decided to take the back way to the Paint Rock area. I wanted to avoid the major two lane roads and avoid Muscle Shoals, Decatur, and the rest of the larger cities in northern Alabama.

Just outside Iuka, MS.



Rural Alabama! Farms, fields, and few folks.



The road names were highly entertaining.



The ride was hot and rather uneventful until a certain river in which it seems every bridge was out or the road LONG since gone.

Someone at Garmin was asleep at the switch here, as this road clearly has been gone for quite some time.



After riding in expanding circles for about 45 minutes, I found a way across, and made my way to the shores of the Tennessee River near Hobbs Island.



At 210 miles, I filled up the Dakar at New Hope, AL - with 3 gallons of fuel. Gotta love that EFI Rotax plant.

I met up with Iforgot, and had a few cool Budweisers and a thick steak, followed by a good snooze.

Total Miles: 215

Day 2:

We took off up a beautiful asphalt road north through Nebo, Paint Rock, Francisco and on up to Huntland, TN for breakfast and a couple more cups of coffee. I needed them to get the haze of those Budweisers out of my brain.



We saw a Jeep trail and decided to take a look.



The Dakar is a tad heavy for this stuff, but handles it in kind. Iforgot's F650 Classic is shod with Tourances, so we need to be careful where we go. He does a great job piloting that F650 through the rocks.







[more in a little bit - making chili fer dinner!]

We reacked a section which was proving to be tough with the low ground clearance of the F650 Classic and the Tourances, so we made our way back to the pavement, and sought another dirt path.

And we found it rather quickly - and asked for permission to ride - which we were granted.





After a few miles of rather nicely graded dirt, we came to a camp of folks drinking beer (at 1000 in the morning) on 4 wheelers, who rather politely told us to "go away", and they didn't care that someone else gave us permission.

With a sigh, we turned around and went back out the way we came in.

Hmm....what's this here in the road?



Closer....



That beauty was about 5 feet long and had *a lot* of buttons on his tail, which he demonstrated for ol' gaspipe........Rattlesnake chili methinks.....

Northern Alabama is plenty hilly, and quite pretty.




[more to follow]

So far, we keep getting turned back. The State Wildlife Management folks seem to have a mind and agenda of their own. It's a bit disappointing, but undaunted, we keep trying.

We rode some back woods country roads and came across some old structures that have been neglected for a good many years. On a hot, humid Alabama afternoon, this little stretch of CR9 was cool and shady - and quite pretty.



What's next Iforgot? A jeep trail a way past Estillfork - at the dead end of a chipseal road.

A little way further north from Estillfork is a 'retreat', with the biggest satellite dish I've ever seen. These folks mean business when it comes to satellite TV. You could probably watch satellite TV from Alpha Centauri with this baby.



Once again, we're turned back, the area gated and marked NO TRESPASSING. . Now it's starting to be a bit of a PITA, but the roads we've ridden to get from place to place are fun, and we're still having a good time.

Back to Estillfork, we stop for a cold soda and a rest. Damn, it's hotter'n hell today.



A closeup of the sign...........



There you have it, why go further than Estillfork?

[more]

Beer makes it worse. C'mon over. I'll put the fan on.

We left the urban sprawl of Etillfork and took the 'other' road. In a few miles, we came upon a man and his two kids who were unloading a 4WD 4 wheeler. We asked them about the road ahead, and he looked at Iforgots tires and said, "Y'all oughta head back and take this road..."

That was all Iforgot needed to hear, and we went where he said to not go. I have no idea what's ahead, and what is in store for us, but I don't really care. The scenery is gorgeous, the company fine, and I'm having fun. Lead on, Iforgot - I'm with you wherever we go.



The trail meandered along the banks of the stream for a few miles, with occasional mudholes, sand, and dry washes. I was really impressed how well Iforgot was handling his F650 Classic (with Tourances) through parts of this area.



Babyhead rock trails! Fun!



[more]

After passing some guys on DRZ's and some two-strokers, we stopped and asked a couple of good natured and hilariously funny beer drinkin' dudes on quads which way to go.

They said, " The way you done came".
"Thar's some rugged trail on up aye-head".

Unfettered, we decided to go ahead. Worst case, we'll go back, right? Screw that, I never go back.

"Waaay-yell, if'n you boys are gonna go up that-a-ways, turn 'wraught' at dat cab-bean...an head on up that thar mount-teen.."

:huh Yeah, riiiiight.... the mount-teen

And off we went. Towards dat cab-bean.

And we went "wraught", err, right twice, never seeing any cab-bean. There were a couple of tricky spots, and I rode Iforgots bike through one of the rocky sections when he got stuck. I've been in this stuff many times before.

My gawd, I can't believe he's piloted that machine in here. This guy's a tenacious rider.

And then there was that mount-teen - err - mountain. And then that's when it started getting difficult.



At the first of the rock ledges and the 20% grade climb..........



Hmmm...

[more]

I just bought a 276C. My ol' 60C is dying on me. I killed it in just 15,000 easy gaspipe offroad miles. Who'd have thought?

Fixed at no charge.

Cool pics JH. Keep 'em coming.

At this point, I was wondering about the wisdom of riding up here. We hadn't seen a soul for over an hour, and Iforgot was struggling on a few technical sections.

I grew up on this stuff, although I was riding a 200lb bike, not a 400lb mini-pig with expensive roundels glued on the side.

And off I went.



The Dakar has an MT21 on the front and a Michelin Desert on the rear. Plenty of tahr but it's geared wrong and has a marginal suspension to tackle this stuff the way I like to ride it. But I wheelie a bit, weight and unweight the front and rear ends, and negotiate some stuff I would have chosen NOT to ride the Dakar. In fact, I was thinking about my trials bike.

But here we are, and up we go. Damn. No breeze, 95 degrees and humid. I'm sweating bullets.

How long can it be? I'll just jet up to the next switchback and have a look......

[more]

That lil' bit o' sugar from Ernest's soda was a lifesaver. By now it was mid-afternoon, and we'd not eaten since breakfast. I usually travel with some peanuts or peanut butter crackers for energy. But not today.

The steepness of the grade is always lost in the pics, but the 4wd quad guys were really amazed that'd we'd made it up that far with "those bikes".



I.F. got himself stuck a couple more times, and we got him out until disaster struck. He tweaked his elbow, and was having a hard time modulating the clutch to negotiate the tricky stuff.



And there was indeed some tricky stuff. This hill was a mo-fo, but like Iforgot says, we don't go back.

Takin' a break 1/2 way up.




[more]

We've climbed quite a ways by now. Iforgot was in a lot of pain, so over the gnarliest stuff, I'd ride my bike up to a flat spot and park it. The walk down, get I's bike, and ride that up to my bike, and repeat. It was a pretty hairy section of trail, very steep, with many ledges and obstacles that had be be negotiated.

If was fun, in a perverse ADVRider kinda way.

Well, how much further can it go? At each switchback, it got a tad more wierd. Right about now, I'm REALLY glad I didn't ride the BigPig. That would have been a hardship for sure.



The section where I rode both bikes tired me out some. Well, a lot. Did I mention it was hot



Onward and upward, we're almost there. Iforgot was hanging tough with a bad arm.

[more]

All the while we were climbing this 4x4 trail, I kept hearing thunder. I knew we'd get out on dry dirt and rock, but I was quite concerned if we got a gully washer and this stuff softened up. Although I knew I could get the Dakar out by clawing my way on knobs, I was pretty sure Iforgot's bike would be a gonner on the Tourances. So we pushed on when we could have rested.

I really had a ball, as this is exactly what makes a simple day ride into a mini-adventure.

We reached the top of the hill, and the rest of the ride out on the dirt was rather melodromatic compared to where we just were.

I'm still rather impressed how well Iforgot and those Tourances handled some tough terrain. Good onya .

We reached the pavement, and headed to town. I have been without water for a couple hours, my camelback long since dry.



And into Winchester, TN, we rode. A liter of Propel, a tweak to Iforgot's bike to rectify some minor biff damage, and we have to split up. I have a 0600 start time Sunday morning and it's almost 1900 now. And I'm a long ways from home.

I hate to leave a wounded man, but Iforgot assured me he'd be AOK on the ride home. And, thankfully, he was.

Time for me to motorvate. But it looks dark and gloomy ahead.

[more]

The trip home:

I have written before how much of a letdown the ride home always is. But it's the closure to and event.



As I tooled along TN64 headed west, as I passed a hayfield, the aroma permeating my senses, a smile comes to my face. This IS why I ride. I'm not passing through, I'm living it.



The smell of rain is now in the air, the skies long since overcast. A few miles east of Pulaski, TN, the heavens opened. It was long since dark by then, but the lightning blasts illuminated the road for brief instances.

I stopped in Waynesboro TN for fuel and dinner. A Mexican joint was still open. I pulled in, wet and dissheveled, but they took me in. The whole family was there, about to close, but they happily fed me anyway. We spoke in Spanish about Copper Canyon, motocicletas and watched Sabado Gigante as I chowed down on a rather HUGE portion of shrimp fajitas.

Reluctantly, we parted ways, and I walked back out into the rain, fired up the Dakar, and rode off into the thunderstorm as they turned off the OPEN sign.

Adios amigos, y gracias!

An hour later, I pulled into Pickwick Dam, TN. The rain unrelenting. Another end to a great, albeit short, ride. It was a long day in the saddle.

Thanks Iforgot! Get that arm fixed up.

Gaspipe miles today: 289