I've not been very active lately, but thought I'd post a recent adventure! Took a Nice ride the last Friday of my spring break. Hit a few familiar roads, and hit some new ones too!
I crossed the NC/TN border three times and hit several National Forests and State parks.
The excellent park section on NC209 between I-40 and Hot Springs, NC. This was one of the detour options for skirting the I-40 rockslide.
Looking North toward Hot Springs
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0023-1024.jpg)
Looking south toward home
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0027-1024.jpg)
Another shot from above, wider angle
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0030-1024.jpg)
From where I came, again looking South
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0031-1024.jpg)
Another shot looking North to Hot Springs
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0040-1024.jpg)
Almost in TN, seems patriotism is alive and well in the hills of Northwestern NC.
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0042-1024.jpg)
After crossing into TN, back into NC, and then back into TN. This is in Roan Mountain, TN
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0045-1024.jpg)
Another from the same place
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0049-1024.jpg)
Yet another. The Appalachian Trail follows the ridge you see.
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0050-1024.jpg)
And one more, where TN ends.
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0055-1024.jpg)
A shot looking South into Western NC
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0056-1024.jpg)
There's the "Quilt Barn Trail" here in WNC. Seems I found it. Here's a couple pics I stopped for. I must have passed 6 or 7 of these:
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0068-1024.jpg)
Quilt barn #2
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/DSC_0072-1024.jpg)
Now for the panoramas...
A stitch of looking South on NC209
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/NC209PAN1-1600.jpg)
Another, looking North into Hot Springs, NC on NC209
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/NC209PAN2-2000.jpg)
Mountain scenery looking South
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/NC209PAN3-1600.jpg)
I found this school, somewhere in very rural WNC. I encountered it on the road leading from Roan Mountain where the NC signs are located. Construction is common among schools built around here in the 1920's and 1930's.
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/School-PAN-2000.jpg)
Quote from: the_Journeyman on April 26, 2010, 05:02:55 PM
Now for the panoramas...
I found this school, somewhere in very rural WNC. I encountered it on the road leading from Roan Mountain where the NC signs are located. Construction is common among schools built around here in the 1920's and 1930's.
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/the_journeyman/School-PAN-2000.jpg)
Nice pics, but this one trumps the all. [thumbsup]
Great picts, JM!!
So what did you learn about Molly and Serena???
[thumbsup] [thumbsup]
Beautiful!!
Best riding roads in America are up in them hills there...
Quote from: DesmoDiva on April 26, 2010, 05:25:41 PM
So what did you learn about Molly and Serena???
Syreena is stable, refined, and smooth under pressure. Molly is organized chaos under pressure. [laugh] Both have their appeal though. It also makes speed deceiving. Syreena doesn't feel like she's going all that fast, I look down and I'm flirting with 80 through some backroad sweeper and it feels like I'm just cruising along nice and relaxed. Hitting that same sweeper at 60 on Molly feels like I'm going 100. Molly also turns in WAY too fast in comparison to Syreena. Part may be the fact I went up to a 180 rear for Syreena (stock is 170) and that accounts for the smoothness and stability that Molly doesn't have with her 160 rear.
Cliffnotes: Syreena is a scalpel carving her a precise and controlled line through a corner. Molly is a bucking bronco galloping her way through that same corner [laugh]
Quote from: RAT900 on April 26, 2010, 11:03:18 PM
Best riding roads in America are up in them hills there...
I'll have to agree! Every road I take, even if I find gravel is a great ride it seems ~
JM
Great pics, JM! Hope I can make it up there sometime this season.
Yep. Looks like home to me. Nice pictures Bud. Drop me a line. We've got the annual "Ride In Camp Out" coming up Father's day weekend - June 18-20.
Some of our group go up to Hot Springs and camp at a camp site right on the French Broad River - it's Beautiful!
The roads all around there are wonderful. Don't tell anybody else.
WWII German prisoners were housed there. They must have felt right at home if they had come from Bavaria.
It's a nice little town with ..... well a Hot Springs spa type place not far from the camp ground, which is right almost downtown.
I try to remind myself how lucky I am to live in a Garden of Eden, with a race track running through it.
Cops have been a much bigger pain in the ass for the last year or more though.
Mr. Cloner and I have a friend who spent a night in a N. Georgia jail lately for little to nothing.
N. Ga, Western NC and South Eastern Tn. [thumbsup] [moto]
LA
Quote from: swampduc on April 28, 2010, 04:54:23 PM
Great pics, JM! Hope I can make it up there sometime this season.
Drop me a line if you do and I'll try to catch up with ya'll
Quote from: LA on April 28, 2010, 05:28:52 PM
Yep. Looks like home to me. Nice pictures Bud. Drop me a line. We've got the annual "Ride In Camp Out" coming up Father's day weekend - June 18-20.
Keep me posted about this, sounds interesting!
JM
Quote from: the_Journeyman on April 28, 2010, 02:35:09 PM
Cliffnotes: Syreena is a scalpel carving her a precise and controlled line through a corner. Molly is a bucking bronco galloping her way through that same corner [laugh]
JM
Excellent reason to keep both. You have a ride no matter what your mood. [thumbsup] [moto]