Alright, so with Sarah in "school mode", Daniel and I have the day free. I am not a morning person, so we get a late start, about 12:30pm. We've been doing a lot of riding West of town because it is close and convenient, but I have been getting tired of the same old roads. Today I decide we are going to head North and hopefully I don't get any work calls. It is a beautiful sunny day, few clouds, and in the mid 70s with next to no humidity (at least for East Texas anyway...).
We roll out and head North on FM 980 to FM 2628 and cut over to FM 247 to head further North. It's all paved and just has gentle sweepers through the woods. However, all along the road there are signs that Houston is creeping ever closer. Properties are for sale and the prices are high. A parcel I looked at not long ago that was 30 something acres has apparently sold and is being turned into a new subdivision. We've been having new subdivisions pop up all over the place around the outskirts of town and all my favorite little out of the way roads are being "improved"
We have to get about 25-30 miles North of town before there is even a hint of little county roads because so much of the land in this direction belongs to the Texas prison system. About 3/4 of the way toward Midway, we pass the Ferguson Unit. Normally there would be inmates meandering about an outside area, but today it is empty. In fact, as I peek through the windows into the metal buildings on the North side of the unit, they all look to be empty as well
Not sure what is going on here as the prison system has long struggled with overcrowding. There are a few quick little curves just before we reach Midway that Daniel enjoys, and then we head East on Hwy 21.
If you bust out a map or hit your favorite online map and check out this area, it looks like there are just tons and tons of unpaved roads to explore. However, there are a LOT of them that are private. Also, some of them are just pasture roads that lead from a locked gate to the other side of the property or that dead end. Either way, they are not accessible. It can be frustrating though because there are often two roads that almost meet, but just have this one tiny little stretch of private road between the two of them that keep you from connecting a route. Just on the edge of town we turn left onto FM 3060 and head North again. I've been coming out this way for years. There are some nice properties out this way. Lately, I have been seeing a LOT of ads for them on Facebook and the prices have skyrocketed. This is paved and has a few fun corners but soon comes to a "tee" of sorts and turns to gravel. We head left on Goose Prairie Road. The pastures out here look like they have been painted yellow. At times I catch intense whiffs of the sweet smell from the flowers, at others is the "sweet smell of money" from the herds of Longhorns in nearby pastures...
Daniel is leading and he has really taken to the KTM 390 Adv. He's been riding it very well and just can't stop blabbing about how much he likes it and how much fun it is as I hear him bouncing off the rev limiter coming out of almost every corner
I've been trying to teach him that while it is indeed fun to rip out of corners, you need to always be thinking about that next corner that might be just around this corner, so don't get too carried away until you can see that there is enough road ahead to slow for the next corner if you've been engaging in Hammer Time! I'm also just trying to stay out of range of the rocks flying off his rear time. The other thing I have been trying to teach him is that when you are riding in unfamiliar areas, keep an eye on the GPS to watch for intersections, especially on these little back roads where those intersections are often hidden around corners or just over a blind rise and may not have enough time for you to stop! We reach Bozeman Ferry Road and turn West toward FM 1119. This is a mix of broken pavement and gravel.
FM 1119 is a nice ride with gentle sweepers and some fun elevation changes in a few spots. The elevation changes become more pronounced the further North we get. A few miles up the road we pass FM 977, another fun road, but that will be saved for another day. For now we are continuing up to FM 811. This has more curves and more hills and is very pretty. A few years ago I too a big turkey vulture to the chest on this road that left a massive ugly bruise on the left side of my chest and upper arm! I was doing about 55-60mph when it came up out of tall grass and flew right into me. It died. I and my bike smelled like processed road kill...
..
I mention this little bit of excitement to Daniel, stressing that you do NOT want to hit one of them, and almost as important, do not be directly under one if it is not gaining altitude! If they panic, they will often jettison "ballast"...
Yeah, been there, done that too
We pull over at the start of 811 at what used to be some kind of tiny general store.
I've no clue what the story is for this place. It looks like it might have been built at least 50-60 years ago, if not more. There are some old ceiling fans hanging from the covered porch, their blades dropping from the long exposure to the East Texas humidity and heat. There is an old rusted safe sitting outside. It looks thick and HEAVY. I give the door and TUG and it groans its displeasure at my disturbing its slumber, grinding and creaking, before it finally says, "No more". I doubt there is anything important inside, but man, they don't make things like they used too! This is heavy gauge steel. I'd be willing to bet it easily weighs 450-500 lbs! I can't help but wonder what things were locked away in here all those years ago to keep them secret and keep them safe...
About four or five miles up the road on 811 we turn off onto CR 123 and head East toward the Trinity River. This is one of those roads that looks like it should connect with another at the river. In fact, the road on the other side is called Alabama Ferry Road. I am pretty sure it is a dead end, but perhaps there might have actually been a ferry here at one time
Anyway, when I am not sufficiently zoomed in on the GPS map, sometimes intersections can be tricky because what looks like a multi road intersection all at one spot is actually a few different intersections that are just real close together. In other words, I took a wrong turn. It's cool though. We have time. We are just out here to see what we see. The road is dirty and fun. I frequently hear Daniel giggling in his helmet without realizing it is coming through the communicator. I many places the road is just a dark tunnel through the lush Spring foliage on the trees along the pasture fences lining the road. The pastures are just as lush and where they are not covered in flowers they are covered in knee deep thick green grass that looks so soft you want to risk the worst case of chiggers you can imagine to go and roll around in it. Been there, done that, got the scars from scratching to prove it
Not too far down our wrong turn, we come to a few locked gates. It is a nice shady spot at the end of a tunnel and I suggest to Daniel that perhaps we might try our hand at getting some drone footage here.
Looking back up CR 125 the way we came, it shouldn't be too hard to fly a drone in a straight line through here without hitting anything... right?
We get the drone out, fire everything up, and then for the life of me I cannot figure out how to get it to go into active track mode so that it will follow a target. My plan is to just have Daniel run up the road and back with the drone pursuing him. We fiddle around with it for a bit, but finally just give up and do it manually. Daniel goes first. I fly in a mostly straight line behind him, but he goes to quick. Then, once the drone is at the other end of the road, I can't see it because it just gets lost on the visual clutter of light, shadows, and tree branches. I eventually get it back, but again, Daniel was long gone. So the end result is no usable footage of Daniel
It doesn't help that I am being swarmed by tiny gnats bent on exploring the deepest inner workings of my body! Daniel wants a go at it though, so I hop on my bike and make sure to ride slow enough that he can keep up with me.
This turned out decent for a first try. Don't ask what that thing dragging on the right side is. I have no clue and don't even notice it until after getting home and watching the video. It was gone by the time I turned around though.
The gnat win. We put the drone away and get moving. Being stopped for very long actually starts to get hot. Once moving again though, the wind coming through the jacket vents is heavenly cool and dry. We ride back up to the main road and turn right, seeing the actual turn I had intended to make just a bit further along the way, except that it isn't a turn. The road just continues straight. It gets confusing because by the time I am zoomed out far enough to see where a road goes, I can't see much detail. By the time I zoom in enough to see the detail, I can only see a really small area and cannot tell where the roads go!! It is incredibly aggravating. I need a BIGGER screen and the ability to upsize the map text to a larger font. I mean, go to ANY adventure rally and it is mostly a bunch of old farts with glasses. Does Garmin not realize this is their customer base!?
The correct road is just the continuation of CR 123 toward the Trinity River. It starts out wide and graded, then turns to a wide two track, and eventually starts getting narrower with taller grass between the tracks. This is usually how I know I am about to reach either a dead end or locked gate.
The road narrows and gets rougher right where it disappears into the tree line.
As I am taking the picture above, Daniel vanishes into the tree line, giving me a running commentary until the communicators disconnect. I take off after him and eventually hear him still doing commentary about people fishing, mud, nasty water, and how cool this road is. Sure enough, the last bit is narrow and doesn't look like it has been maintained in a very long time. However, at the end there is a concrete boat ramp down into the river that is VERY steep! It doesn't go all the way to the water, so there are big muddy ruts at the based leading into the water. The wheels of the truck and trailer sitting next to me are completely caked in mud. How they got down that ramp, unloaded the boat, and got back up it is a mystery to me, even with 4WD!
No sign of the road on the other side. It doesn't look steep here, but it is, especially the last 10-15 feet of it.
Daniel chilling and waiting to head back
We get turned around and Daniel spots what is left of the skin of a large Alligator Gar in the road. Fortunately, it is old and dry, so it doesn't smell. We start heading away from the river back toward CR 124, where we will cut North. Having just come down the road and knowing what to expect, we pick up the pace a bit and have some fun. At CR 124 he head North. A few fun corners and some cool scenic pastures later we reach CR 122 where I briefly pause to consider whether or not to run it out and back, but decide to just press on and save that for another day. A mile or so later we come back to FM 811.
CR 124 dumps out right in the middle of a fun curve on FM 811. Just around the curve is a cool little old gas station. I have no idea if they still sell gas. They did years ago.
I would occasionally stop here to get a drink and ice cream. The guy that owns the place lives back behind it. While sitting here, I spot the back of an old car that looks interesting and pull up to get a closer look. It is a car port find!?
Other than being dusty, the car looks to be in mint condition, inside and out. While I am taking pictures an old truck with a boat on a trailer pulls up to talk with us. It is an old guy and a really old guy, maybe a father and son. I walk over to talk with them and the first thing he says is, "It's not for sale".
I tell him that's cool as I am not into buying old cars. He then tells me the owner bought it new in 1972 and has had it the whole time. He is constantly getting people asking him to sell it, but he steadfastly refuses. He fires it up every few weeks and takes it for a short drive. My my... how cars have changed in the last 50 years...!! Still, look these up! It is a 1972 Chevelle 350 Malibu that looks to be all original. Anyway, convinced I am not here to cause trouble, the gentlemen bid us goodbye and safe riding, then back out and go their way. Daniel and I head North on CR 121.
CR 121 doesn't go a long way, but it is a really fun road. There are lots of elevation changes and tight corners. The surface is good dirt and gravel. Once again I hear Daniel winding up the 390 coming out of most every corner. It is like he thinks he needs to drift them all! I may have to make him pay for the next set of tires, but that would likely only cement in his mind the idea that the 390 is "his" and the XT250 is Sarah's
I really need to sell my 530 EXC and the XT and just get another 390
A low area that looks like it might flood with enough rain
We quickly reach Hwy 7 and cross over to pick up the start of FM 1511. These paved FMs are roads that I used to run back when I would do organized rides on weekends before we had kids and before my job consumed my time. There are a few corners that can catch out a rider not paying attention, but in general they are just really fun roads with next to no traffic. They are very scenic, especially right now with all the flowers blooming. 1511 is short, just running between Hwy 7 and FM 831. The section between FM 3178 and FM 831 is the best part. Near the North end, there is a right hander you enter after coming over a hill and it doesn't look bad, but it tightens up as you get into it. Despite me tapping my brake light and doing the SLOW DOWN signal with my hand, I have seen a LOT of riders run wide here. Fortunately, none have crashed or met oncoming traffic. I warn Daniel and his self preservation mode kicks in despite his youthful enthusiasm. This is one thing that makes me feel better about him riding. He's shown me he's not stpuid. Hopefully, all the years of being on the back of my GSs with me and hearing me talk about riding experiences of my own and those of others has imparted some level of wisdom into his head. He negotiates the corner perfectly, holding a nice consistent line even when it tightens, before ripping out the other side.
1511 comes to a tee with 831 in Flo, a town if you can call it that. Mostly it is a volunteer fire station and a tiny church across the road. On the SW corner of the intersection there is a little building back off the road. I have no idea what it is or was, but years ago there was a working Coke machine on the porch and I would sometimes stop here for a cool refreshment. Now it is gone. I take a minute to glance at the GPS and try to figure out where to go next. I am just sort of making it up as we go. I had originally planned on eventually winding up in Centerville to stop at Woody's BBQ to grab a late lunch and stock up on some beef jerky sticks to take home for snacks. We've already blown past Centerville, so now I am thinking we'll just head up toward US 79 between Buffalo and Oakwood on dirt roads, cut over to Oakwood, and then head back down 831 to Flo and start working our way back to Huntsville. It is getting late in the afternoon and Daniel is wanting to get back for a Youth group party at the church by 6:00pm-ish. So we cross over 831 and follow CR 212 into the woods.
I don't want to go all the way to Buffalo, so I am looking for a road that cuts North, CR 223 I think. Either I am not paying attention or I get confused about intersections again, but I miss the turn and we have to do a short backtrack to find 223. Just after we had passed it, Daniel spotted an ATV flying around the corner that could have been a real problem had we arrived just a few seconds later and met him in the corner. Daniel points this out because he knows the story of me being hit head on by a slightly drunk teenager racing his buddy on ATVs in Arkansas when I had my KLR 650. I was fine, but shaken. The bike was out of action! That turned into a whole dueling banjo kind of experience by the time it was all over
We got onto CR 223 and headed North.
I guess I really need to spend more time looking at the GPS when I stop. Pretty quickly we come to another intersection and I have it in my head that we need to turn right. Again, this is because I cannot see a large enough area at one time to see where the roads are going and it is easy to get them mixed up. Just after turning there is a really pretty pasture full of Indian Paintbrush flower. Daniel is already vanishing over the top of the hill but I have enough time to tell him I am stopping to get a few pictures before the communicator crackles a few times and he is gone.
He went that way...
A minute later I hear the communicator crackling back to life and Daniel is in mid sentence telling me something about whatever he saw over the hill. While I am getting my gloves back on, remounting the bike, and trying to tell him I think we are on the wrong road, he vanishes again, so I take off after him. You can see above that the road is a wide graded road with loose gravel. I have to admit, I understand why Daniel likes drifting through the corners
The big GS spins up the back tire effortlessly and very controllably, and it is fun!
I catch up to him fairly quick and he mentions that he is running his GoPro, so I move ahead of him. As I am rounding a corner my phone rings...
I have these certain clients, the ones that seem to have a knack for calling at the worst times: holidays, right when I am walking out the door, right when the waiter walks away from the table after taking our order, right when I am at the furthest point from home on a ride, etc,... I reach up an punch the phone button on the communicator to see who is calling, and it is one of those clients! I tell him his timing really stinks. We have a pretty bad connection because we are out in the middle of nowhere. I can hear him talking, but am only catching every few words. I hear him say he can hear me fine, so I tell him to hang on while I make my way to the top of a nearby hill. Once there, he tells me he doesn't have a job, he just wants me to know that his client really liked my design package. Well... Thanks! But dang... that couldn't wait until Monday!? These people just don't understand what hearing the phone ring does to me when I am trying to enjoy a day off to spend time with my family
I thank him and tell him I'll catch up with him later, then we head around another corner...
To find this cool little spot! It looks kind of like a miniature Grand Canyon
As we get on around the corner, the road starts that familiar process of degrading, getting narrower, and less maintained. It eventually starts getting a little sandy with grass growing in the tracks and soon starts to get fun, which usually signals the end
Sure enough, we come to the top of a short climb and the road dead ends into a nice gated entrance. To either side of the fence are large pastures covered in yellow flowers. I mention to Daniel that this would be a nice spot to stop in the shade and see what kind of scenery shot we might be able to capture with the drone. He agrees so I get it out and turn everything on. I lift off and head out over a fence into the pasture. This drone does not have to get very far away before I can no longer hear it at all and if I lose visual track of it, it can be hard to reacquire visual contact, even when I look where the controller is telling me it is located! Getting old and going blind sucks.
So while I am standing around looking up into the sky like some kind of moron, the kid on the ATV we saw earlier pulls up and is followed by a Kubota RUV with what I think is his Mom but Daniel thinks is his girlfriend. Another side effect of getting older is that I am getting worse and worse about accurately estimating the age of anyone between 12 and 25. Whatever... I walk over and talk with them. It turns out her parents own the property on the other side of the gate and they just happened to be heading back to the house. They aren't here specifically to find out what we are doing. Regardless, I tell him I am trying to relocate a nearby drone so I can bring it back. He gets interested in the drone and hangs around. I try the return to home point feature that should make the drone automatically navigate back to its take off point via its built in GPS. But for some reason it keeps trying to just land wherever it is. So after a minute of looking at the screen and spinning it around to look for landmarks, I finally figure out where it is and spot it so that I can fly it back.
After it lands, Daniel walks over to pick it up. He immediately comes over to me and tells me to look at the propellers. They are covered in bug guts! He mentions the bee hives we passed shortly before stopping. It seems that even as high as it was and as far away from the hives as it was, the bees did not like the drone and went after it. Now I recall that shortly after taking off I was seeing some kind of spots flashing in front of the drone camera on the view screen. I just thought they might be video signal glitches or something. Well... it turns out they were bees being sliced and diced by the drone
It's kind of funny, but also kind of sad because I like honey bees. I spent a few years helping my Dad work 13 hives. Oh well, lesson learned. Watch out for bees!
As we get ready to head back to the main road, Daniel sets up the GoPro on the back of his bike and wants me to follow him. Sure. He takes off and a nice pace, zipping between the corners but slowing to a reasonable speed in the corners and not running them wide.
This would be the video I posted previously,
I was messing around with it in the video editor and tried cropping it to a 16:9 format to get rid of so much of the sky. You can see that it didn't quite turn out right. This whole video editing, process, and uploading to YT thing is new to me and I am still trying to figure it out. One thing is for sure, I need a MUCH faster internet connection at home with better upload speeds! Maxing out our connection at 6Mbps upload makes even 5-6 minute videos take an hour or two to upload and kills the internet connection for any other activity unless I throttle that computer down to 5Mbps or less. I think our local electricity Co-Op offers fiber connections that are considerably faster than the ATT Uverse we have and for much less per month. Time to make that call.
The fun side road is CR 279. We get back to CR 223 and continue North, passing the traffic you seen in the video above. That big truck hauling the trailer behind it is a good reminder not to think we have the road to ourselves out here even though there is very little traffic. We pull over to fix Daniel's GoPro. The ball mount it came with is not the best quality and the camera starts flopping around. He grabs it and just puts it back on the chin of his helmet and then we are on our way again. We soon reach US 79 and head East toward Oakwood, the furthest point North on this trip. We stop for gas, an ice cream, and a drink. We need to be working our way back now.
I'll save that for tomorrow...
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It is overcast, damp, and 50 F. My right shoulder is screaming about my throttle habits on the 530... 
And to think there are people worried about computers taking over the world someday!? 
I am a light eater when out riding. After lunch we just backtrack toward the Navasota River and I stop to try to get some pics of the flowers I mentioned earlier.
I was really worried she wouldn't get it all done. She's been struggling with burnout, mostly because of poor time management leading up to the need for this crunch, so her motivation levels were really getting LOW. I've had several of those conversations with her about the importance of setting and achieving goals, how this might not seem important now but it will if you actually make it, and other such fatherly kinds of advice