Learning one trip at a time in Southern Georgia

Yeah, I still pack heavy in comparison to most. In addition to the usual Tent/Bag/sleeping pad;
I bring a tarp, two stoves, my Barbie Dream Kitchen® cookset, a soft cooler with just the bare necessities:
Eggs, coffee creamer, beer, steak etc.

That rocks. I could totally see how the Dream Kitchen would enhance anyone's camping experience. I knew a camp chef when I was younger and he took quite a bit of cooking stuff when we went off into the woods. We'd usually carry his camping stuff so he could carry all the goodies. We ate like kings!

The dinner menu last weekend was Steak, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed asparagus and too much IPA.
Breakfast was Two eggs, jalapeño bacon, grits and too much Coffee.

LOL Love the coffee creamer, you aren't messing about.

Went out for a quick trip today. The weather is absolutely beautiful and I couldn't waste a day like this. It was one of those days where I had no destination in mind. I checked out an old park that has been open-closed-closed-and now open. Then I ran by a relatively local off-road riding area that I had heard about but never stopped by. The Shadow did surprisingly well in the deep sand. The place has plenty of water, woods, sand, and some single track. I can't wait to have a more suitable bike for riding out there.

I took the bike out today to run over to my parents place. I decided to leave plenty early so I could go by a local diner for lunch, country fried steak, and to go run some dirt roads. This was the maiden voyage of the CB on dirt and I can not complain. The Shinko's seem to work pretty well but don't like the sand all that much. I had some front wheel wash out on tight corners but most of that was probably me. I don't have much experience riding in sand on a adventure bike. To me things feel much different than on a dirt bike so I try not to compare the two very much. Well my visit ran a bit late and I got to ride home in the dark. The LED's all worked much better than I feared and I couldn't be happier.

Getting a new bike that has been modified by someone else is always an adventure but so far everything is coming out aces.

OH SNAP, I forgot to update this thread on the big news. So after much deliberation and failed attempts, Tuesday afternoon I drove up to North, North, North Georgia and made a deal for a 2014 CB500X W/ full Rally Raid Farkles. I couldn't be any more excited. I've already started making small touches on it to make it mine. This bike is perfect for me and I am enjoying it.

Went out to "Spook" Bridge just out of town here around Valdosta. The run-up to the bridge has collapsed so I couldn't get the bike up there but the ride in was a blast. Being able to take whatever road I want and go almost anywhere is so liberating. I will get another cruiser but I won't be without a dirt capable bike again.

Once I checked out the bridge I went around finding dirt roads to explore. I found a few really beautiful sites but I wasn't comfortable stopping for pictures. There were two challenging parts to the ride. One section approx 2 miles long was reallllllly deep sand. The sand ranged from 4"-12". The bike would run or track to high sand and then try to whip. Finally I remembered to loosen up pick my head up and let the bike ride. This helped a ton. Trying to fight it from tracking was making me stiff and messing up the suspension. Once I loosened up it got a lot better, it would still track out of my intended path but it was much easier to finesse it back the shallowest of the sand.

The next challenging part wasn't really challenging but was a blast. One of the dirt roads wasn't county maintained but was public. This meant that large sections of the road were really bumpy, washboarded, and rutted. This was a ton of fun.

As a finisher for the day trip I went by a newish local Mexican restaurant here in V Town. I wasn't overly impressed with their Enchiladas Verdes but it was good enough to be enjoyed. All and all it was a fantastic way to spend a few hours. Having this opportunity gives me something to look forward to every weekend or every chance to go into town. What a gift.

Went on a ride today down to a ghost town called Ellaville, well the town wasn't much but the ride was amazing and the Twin Rivers Forest gave me my first true offroad riding. Lots of double and some single track. I had my first off in some deep sand. This was truly my favorite ride to date and I will be back as soon as I can. Izzy Bird did fantastic. She ran the tracks strong and sure footed in second/ third gear with a 16 tooth drive gear. Sand is still a bit of a controlled wreck with the Shinko 705's. I got airborne a bit here and there without bottoming out. I'm super impressed.

It was trip day! Very exciting times. Actually, it has been a while since I was able to get out on the bike. I took a trip a while back with a friend to Albany GA but I got almost no good pictures and the trip was kind of weird. So here we are on our way to beautiful Cordele Georgia. I wanted to visit two places, Georgia Veterans State Park and The Titan I Missile. I decided to take as many back roads as I could and I ended up running out of daylight so mission accomplished. It was great to get out on the bike again and I kept my adventure hat on for almost all the trip.

The first stop was out to Reed Bingham State Park outside of Adel Georgia. I've been to this park several times and I decided to check it out today because we have had some local flooding and I wanted to see how high the river has gotten. In this pic there is suppose to be a spillway but it is now only some bubbles on the surface. It looks like the river is up 2-3 feet which is high but not devastatingly high.

The next big find was THE Vickers Bridge. lol I'm sure this means nothing to ya'll but it was big medicine for me. For months I have been riding the dirt roads around here and, often, they are broken up and almost impossible to stay on the same road. Well, one road in particular Vickers Bridge Road has been extraordinarily difficult to follow. I have been miles on pieces of this road and never saw a bridge. I was beginning to think the bridge was long gone but I held out hope and finally found it.


Around Winona Georgia I saw a really interesting old general store and asked Izzy Bird if she would sit for a bike in front of something old picture. She agreed.

Getting close to Cordele I spotted Fire Tower Road, well what kind of an adventure rider would I be to not check it out. Added to which the road looked amazing. The pictures came out pretty good too.


Next stop was food at a great little spot in Cordele named the RailHouse Tavern. I, of course, got a burger and fries. The burger was a fried pickle variety with some in house sauce that was fantastic.


To Be Continued....

Next I headed over to the Veterans State Park. I've been to this park before and I have yet to really get into it. I like the museum and the static displays are cool but I have never felt like it was a place to spend a lot of time. Unfortunately, this feeling still persists. I think the main focus is the golf course and I don't play much at all due to back issues and lack of time so maybe that is it but still it is a pretty park and I recommend it if you are going to be around.





There is a really cool memorial a little bit out of the way at an intersection on the park. I had not noticed it before which tells you how much exploring I haven't done at this park.

I left the park feeling a bit better about the place but I'm still not sure it has the same natural appeal to me that some of the other state parks have. Now that isn't to say that it is on the level of boringness as Seminole State Park but it just doesn't pull me in. Well on to the Missile.


To Be Continued...

On my way home and even on my way to Cordele I saw a few interesting sites but I'm not exactly sure where they were so I wasn't sure where to put them. First, is this CSX static display I saw somewhere south west of Cordele. I realllllly wish I could have gotten close to it and got Izzy in the picture but no luck. I also tried some photoshop magic to remove the fence but that didn't go well.

I also stopped by the SAM Shortline office but they weren't in. I did get a couple pictures of the Murals on their buildings. I am reallllly hoping to get to take a ride this year. The rates aren't crazy and it is an all day excursion. Oh, and just to let you know these pictures were heavily touched up as the sun was blowing these pictures out no matter what I did.


At one point I had to relieve myself and a dirt crossroad is as good a place as any. Oddly enough I didn't notice that I was peeing on a no trespassing sign for quite a while. lol Izzy though she looked good in this light/ shadow so she wanted her picture taken.

These last two picture capture why motorcycle riding is different than riding in a car. Yeah the wind, smells, and rain but it is more than that. A UPS driver, a fellow motorist, and I got stopped by a really long train that, in turn, had to stop and wait for another train before it could pass and eventually clear our intersection. Both the UPS driver and the other motorist just sat in their cars, played with their phones and the UPS driver eventually got so frustrated that she made a 163 point turn and sped off. I on the other hand calmly parked the bike, took off my helmet, and began exploring the area and enjoying the near by creek. If I was in my truck I would have acted just like these other people but being on my bike I just am more than happy to accept these little things and try to enjoy them. I love adventure riding.


This was an amazing day trip. I only wish I had more time. The winter days are short and while I do rejoice at being able to ride in the winter I am too much of a whimp to ride in the winter at night. For any of you photobugs that may see this please feel free to give me tips and scold me for my editing. This is the first time I have tried to us photo editing software and I am just learning. The wife had a subscription to adobe so I got to download photoshop. The program is a lot of fun and some of these pictures where unusable before I could edit them. I am hoping to get a new camera here soon, saving that scratch up. I have one more trip planned for this month or early Feb. to Waycross Georgia. Thanks for looking at my trip.
Nathan

You seem to be having a good time. Like the bike!!

Thanks Dave, I am having a good time. The whole adventure riding thing has really opened up the world to me. Up until last year I really have been spending a lot of time at home sulking because I didn't like where I lived. Now I am learning to appreciate anyplace and having a blast doing it. IDK It really just feels liberating, hard to explain I guess.

Nice score on the Hon-doo. If you have not made it to Two-Wheels of Suches load the bike in the truck and take the 290 mile trip. There is a load/unload ramp in the vehicle parking area. You can unload the bike ride it into where you want to camp then walk back get the truck drive back and unload the gear & return the truck. Now you will be able to check out what gear the veteran ADV'rs use. And ride the fire roads and paved roads. There is a general store on the corner right there at 60. The lodge has great food and there ice and firewood available. Ride safe & Happy New Year

Bodine, I think I will do exactly that. I've been trying to think of a good way to get the wife involved in a trip and this sounds like the perfect opportunity. I have heard of them through doodle on a motorcycle and was thinking of riding up there but taking the truck sounds like a fun trip. I see you are based out of the thriving metropolis of Cecil, small world.
Nathan

Adel is so close to hell you can see Sparks. Bringing back memories of Reed Bingham and the surrounding areas. Glad I stumbled on this thread, keep the ride reports coming.

Absolutely, will do. I go through Adel and Sparks a lot. I'm hoping to take one bigger trip per month and a couple smaller ones. I'm also looking to do some trips into north florida and I wouldn't mind doing the S.E.A.T but I'm not sure if it is in the cards this year.

Checkout Gregs Garage ep#38 & 39 on u-tube. Wife would like Dahlonega, take a picnic lunch down to the town sguare. Dawsonville to the poolhall for a Bully-Burger & shake, then around the corner to the Georgia Motorsports Hall of Fame. Watch the 15 minute video of "Runn'n Shine on Hwy. 9. I like to set up camp under the tree by the creek opposite the crossover bridge on the north side where the garden shed is. On the weekend you can see and hear all the bikes & foreign sporty cars blasting up Rt.180 & 60