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.