Deep East Texas Ride of Discovery

[Hairsmith]

DannyRoth and I have bin wanting to do a little exploring of some of the back roads in East Texas and today it worked out for both of us. Danny brought along Mike a friend of his on a nice old KLR. Since we were coming from different directions we met in Etoile. From there we headed north on 226 and quickly found a less paved road to enjoy. Cr-445 or what is known around here as Browns Ferry road, Made a side trip onto 422 back to 226 and on north for a few miles to 420 so Mike and Danny could see some east Texas history for themselves.
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Then running east to 425 north to enjoy some sand. It was not bad today somewhat firm. we made it to 21 in good time and turned east for about 200 yards and hit cr-350 and headed east.
In down town Attoyac we hit cr-392 and found a pretty little lake along the road to take a brake and talk about the ride so far.
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At the county line the road becomes cr-354, and we took that to 21 and continued east to San Augustine for gas and food.
Leaving San Augustine on 353 and did some pavement carving on the DS's over to 87 north up to Patroon and hit cr-2261 and headed east toward the end of the world. Then turned south on 121, it started to look like we might just fall off the edge of the world at that point. This takes us out on a peninsula in Toledo Bend lake and the road is know as nine mile road. It is more like Path to Where?
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But there are some great stopping places to look off the edge of the world (aka-Lousiana)
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I let the KLR get away from me trying to loft the front wheel across a rut and dropped the bike off into a rut that tried to submerge the big thumper. Mike said the water/mud was at the bottom of the side covers. I did not take the time to look that closely, I knew it was not over the front fender so I gassed it and she pulled out the other side. Shortly after that we stopped to tell tales of Daring Do.
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From there we came out and headed West on 276 and back to 96, but we straight across 96 to Carters Ferry Rd. and on to 330 then south to 21 which bought us into down town Geneva. I posted a pic of the Geneva sign on the A-B-C thread for Danny and have caught the dickens for being to late posting, but with the dialup it loads slow!
From there we ran 21 east and hit 1277 in San Augustine. I run that road regularly and always enjoy this spot.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c340/hairsmith/DSC00073.jpg
From there we hit 103 and headed West back to Etoile. Where I split off and headed back to the house.
127 miles for the ride, Average moving speed 41.9 mph I had a great day and look forward to dong it again.

[DANNYROTH]

WOW!! It was a great ride. I spent the day eating a lot of dust but there is a definite advantage of being the third bike in the line. When the first bike gets in deep stuff you can wait to see just where the BEST route could have been.

Coming around a curve and seeing Tom navigating a block-long rut in red clay that was full of water and mud about 16 inches deep was quite a sight. :eek2: The rear tire must have been churning at about 1000 RPM. Mud was flying everywhere. I scoped the surrounding terrain and took a rough "go-around" that had been carved out of the woods to avoid the same fate.

The nine mile road is on the Moscow-Geneva ride I have mapped out. I can definitely say that it was not dissapointing at all. We observed that a GS could have handled everything we covered today, although the jugs would have come close to the edges of "The Rut" that Tom cleaned out.

[kirbykajin]

You guys looked like yall had a lot of fun today... Its time for me to get a dual sport so i can get some of this action. Hopefully soon. Kind of funny running into you guys today, Me and Chris (humblekat) had a nice "Paved" ride today as well. Tom you were right about 353 and 330. Both great roads, I especially enjoyed 353 out of san augustine. Nice to meet you Danny, hoepfully we can do some DSing together soon. (upon approval of the wife letting me buy yet another bike)!!

[dbdolan]

Nice report and pic's, next time you guy's put together a DS ride up that way let me know. I have had a hankering to ride up in the piney woods.:rider:

[Fbronco86]

Great pics! After my KLR gets a little TLC I will be ready for another trip like that.

[Georgiapeach]

Looks like you guys had a blast. I'd be up for a ride in the Piney Woods too.

[dixonduke]

I love to see familar territory! Great write up... I wanna see that GS of yours in the sand pit of Browns Ferry, or the Mud hole y'all found... Keep it coming as it is a nice reprieve of this concrete world I now live in...

[DANNYROTH]

Next time we'll start at Moscow and check out that end of the route. Nine Mile Road will be hard to top, but I understand that there is a major bog within 4 miles of the start.

I'm going to see if I can map out some routes that are relatively circular so the ride back to the start point wont be such a chore. Of course, as was pointed out by someone on a thread some time ago, coming back on the same route is like a whole 'nuther ride. If it was good going, it'll be good returning, too.

[dixonduke]

Let us know when you plan on doing this, I am willing not sure if the GS is able... well the bike is surely able, not sure if the rider is able to navigate the mud bogs, but it will be fun trying...

[Fbronco86]

Let us know when you plan on doing this, I am willing not sure if the GS is able... well the bike is surely able, not sure if the rider is able to navigate the mud bogs, but it will be fun trying...

Long as it is dry like it was when we went a GS would not have any problems.

[hond330]

Hey Danny, I will be flying into Dallas this Friday, May 26 and i wont be going back to Montana till June 5th... so i got plenty of time to ride in texas... lets plan on getting together. im not sure i want to take the vstrom down too many muddy roads.... sure wish i had the klr down there about this time though......maybe we can do a big circuit on some twisty paved roads pretty much all over the east texas piney woods....