sandman
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Congrats Daniel and all of the Friday family.
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Daniel Graduates Highschool and We Head for the Smokies!
- Thread starter Tourmeister
- Start date
Great job Daniel! Enjoy your trip.
StromXTc
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Daniel s like, ... NEXTAnd it is official, he graduated!
18 minutes to get 430 kids across the stage!
A few shots from the rental house we got for the weekend
Good job,
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We stopped off in Jacksonville, Al., so I could show Daniel my old hood from when I was in 6th grade. The neighbor across the street was still there, now a widow, and 86 years old. She came outside when she saw us in the street and knew who I was as soon as I mentioned our last name. I last saw her in September 1978! We had a great visit with her and then got back on the road.
We made good time getting to Dalton, Ga., where we parked the trucks and unloaded the bikes. We visited with Phil “Dualindalton” from advrider.com for a bit and then headed back to the hotel to grab dinner before calling it a night. The real riding starts tomorrow!
We moved in here in 1977 and it was brand new, pale blue siding then and scrawny trees.
Neighbors house across the street. We spent a LOT of time playing in the creek and woods behind the house. Apparently it is still a popular spot for all the neighborhood kids to play.
Mrs. Corbett, super sweet southern lady
This used to be an abandoned dairy barn that served as our massive club house. Someone bought and turned into an event hosting restaurant. The milking stalls were turned into booths with tables!
The church we attended
Where I went to 6th grade
It did not take long for the stories to start flowing!
Our gracious parking host
The Red Roof Inn in Dalton has seen better days. It has gone down hill a bit since we stayed here in 2019.
We made good time getting to Dalton, Ga., where we parked the trucks and unloaded the bikes. We visited with Phil “Dualindalton” from advrider.com for a bit and then headed back to the hotel to grab dinner before calling it a night. The real riding starts tomorrow!
We moved in here in 1977 and it was brand new, pale blue siding then and scrawny trees.
Neighbors house across the street. We spent a LOT of time playing in the creek and woods behind the house. Apparently it is still a popular spot for all the neighborhood kids to play.
Mrs. Corbett, super sweet southern lady
This used to be an abandoned dairy barn that served as our massive club house. Someone bought and turned into an event hosting restaurant. The milking stalls were turned into booths with tables!
The church we attended
Where I went to 6th grade
It did not take long for the stories to start flowing!
Our gracious parking host
The Red Roof Inn in Dalton has seen better days. It has gone down hill a bit since we stayed here in 2019.
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Congratulations to Daniel and You for choosing home schooling. We also home schooled both of our kids thru ABEKA. And it was a fantastic program.. My Daughter Rodeo’d and went on to obtain a full ride Rodeo Scholarship where she earned a business degree as well as her BSN in Nursing.
My Son Raced Motorcyles throughout and continues to race and went into the trades where he is a partner in a small company that installs agricultural and industrial polyurea flooring.
Best decision we ever made for our children, and we continue to have an awesome life with them as productive Adults.
There is nothing more special than enjoying time and adventures with your family.
My Son Raced Motorcyles throughout and continues to race and went into the trades where he is a partner in a small company that installs agricultural and industrial polyurea flooring.
Best decision we ever made for our children, and we continue to have an awesome life with them as productive Adults.
There is nothing more special than enjoying time and adventures with your family.
Another ride to follow. been ready for this. Your story of your hometown reminds me of mine. I got to do a birthday ride last year, Benton Arkansas. We moved there when I was just a few days old. Leaving it and friends behind was a disappointment, but I'm glad I ended up back in Texas. It's odd that my brother is not a native Texan. We moved when I was about to turn 8. Each kid got one birthday party, at 8 and I never got mine due to the move. Not long after we had left, we got news that my best friend there had accidentally shot himself. He found his dads gun. He and his brother was playing with it and shot himself in the head and was instantly gone. It was cool getting to ride to my old town. I remember things but my brother didn't, as he's several years younger. Anyway, enough rambling. It's good to see another story unfold each morning. I still have my desire to do a Colorado trip, to the 4 corners and Pikes Peak.
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Great day today! Got started right on time and headed out of town on backroads. We did some easy dirt and some seriously nasty dirt! Some of it was bone dry and some was slick as snot! Weather was perfect, cool and relatively low humidity. Stopped for lunch at an old gas station with a grill. It was good and cheap! We ended up at Two wheels of Suches. We will be here another day.
I went first to make sure it could hold the heavy bike...
REALLY good lunch here that was inexpensive!
A sign of things to come
Things got quite rough and nasty on Old Bucktown Road going up the west side of the pass. I never stopped for pics because I was hanging on tight and trying to keep the bike rolling. It was wet, slick, and had BIG potholes. I think the Jeeper/SxS crowd may have been playing on it. That seems to be a common issue out here. We took a well earned break at the top until the gnats drove us nuts.
I think this was Grassy Gap Road. The sign at the bottom said the road was closed in .8 miles, so we rode in to check. We never saw anything indicating it was closed and the only gate we came to was wide open, so we continued. Like Old Bucktown Road, it got a bit on the wild side.
This is the easy stuff near the bottom, the real fun started near the top. As seems to be the norm, I did not stop during any of that to get pics
This would be a common them for the whole trip
A nice stream runs through the grounds of Two Wheels of Suches campground.
A great front porch with rockers and chairs. Fun place to hang out and meet folks from other places
Across the street on private property, easily heard from the campground
We had the upper floor of the lodge to ourselves this evening
Fire pits with wood provided
Path back to the cabins
No idea what this is, but it is supper common out here!!
Basic cabins. No A/C or heat.
Main guest area upstairs in the lodge. Rooms are rented individually with a common shared bathroom.
Nice big room to spread out in and the beds were comfy
This was true. I turned it on and let it run 5-10 minutes before finally getting hot water.
I went first to make sure it could hold the heavy bike...
REALLY good lunch here that was inexpensive!
A sign of things to come
Things got quite rough and nasty on Old Bucktown Road going up the west side of the pass. I never stopped for pics because I was hanging on tight and trying to keep the bike rolling. It was wet, slick, and had BIG potholes. I think the Jeeper/SxS crowd may have been playing on it. That seems to be a common issue out here. We took a well earned break at the top until the gnats drove us nuts.
I think this was Grassy Gap Road. The sign at the bottom said the road was closed in .8 miles, so we rode in to check. We never saw anything indicating it was closed and the only gate we came to was wide open, so we continued. Like Old Bucktown Road, it got a bit on the wild side.
This is the easy stuff near the bottom, the real fun started near the top. As seems to be the norm, I did not stop during any of that to get pics
This would be a common them for the whole trip
A nice stream runs through the grounds of Two Wheels of Suches campground.
A great front porch with rockers and chairs. Fun place to hang out and meet folks from other places
Across the street on private property, easily heard from the campground
We had the upper floor of the lodge to ourselves this evening
Fire pits with wood provided
Path back to the cabins
No idea what this is, but it is supper common out here!!
Basic cabins. No A/C or heat.
Main guest area upstairs in the lodge. Rooms are rented individually with a common shared bathroom.
Nice big room to spread out in and the beds were comfy
This was true. I turned it on and let it run 5-10 minutes before finally getting hot water.
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Belated congrats on the graduation!! And oh boy...... more vicarious riding adventures!! Be safe!!
And thanks for framing pics with a Waffle House sign. One of the few things I actually miss about traveling.
Congratulations to your son on graduation! What a way to celebrate with an awesome ride together!
Great to be back looking for each mornings trio update. Did you bring a spare brake lever?
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Yet another awesome day of riding! I can’t even begin to remember all the roads. Awesome dirt roads and amazing paved roads. Took us about 9-1/2 hours to run 200 miles. Had a nice lunch in Morganton on Hwy 60. Ran into a mess load of Army Ranger trainees and they blocked the road for close to 45 minutes. We did an out and back on Wolf Pen Gap before heading down US 129 before stopping because Daniel got a nose bleed. Fortunately it wasn’t too bad. We made it back to the Lodge at Two Wheels of Suches for a relaxing evening of rocking on the front porch and enjoying a beautiful evening!
Last night’s evening sky
Army Rangers waiting on the trainees
Trainees getting loaded into trucks as they come huffing out of the woods with massive packs and weapons
EVERY road, paved or dirt, has a creek or river next to it here...
Decent lunch here.
We got in a few miles and were no longer on the GPS route and the road wasn’t on the map. It was getting dicey so we backtracked and routed around.
Part of Wolf Pen Gap on GA 180
Wolf Pen Gap, GA 180
Last night’s evening sky
Army Rangers waiting on the trainees
Trainees getting loaded into trucks as they come huffing out of the woods with massive packs and weapons
EVERY road, paved or dirt, has a creek or river next to it here...
Decent lunch here.
We got in a few miles and were no longer on the GPS route and the road wasn’t on the map. It was getting dicey so we backtracked and routed around.
Part of Wolf Pen Gap on GA 180
Wolf Pen Gap, GA 180
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Wow what great memories this will provide. So happy for all of you.
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Day three of riding and we are leaving Suches, heading East along the Northern edge of Georgia before we turn up into North Carolina to spend a few days in Franklin. Two Wheels of Suches is a cool place to stay! The weather was great as were the roads. We made another run through Wolf Pen Gap on GA 180 then ran South on US 129 a bit before cutting back into the woods. We stopped at Helton Creek Falls and did a short hike back into the woods. It is not that hot, but man was I sweating by the time we got back to the bikes! Shortly after the falls, Daniel got to do his first "official" water crossings today, crossing several large creeks and even a river. The creek crossings were easy. We did what seemed like endless miles of dirt/gravel roads. Then there was the freshly graded but muddy stuff 
I didn't think that would ever end! The river crossing required us to enter, go down stream, make a hard left around a dead tree, and then climb out the far side. It was maybe 100 feet in all, all on slick rocks. At least the water was clear so we could see the big ones. We did a big loop North of Helen, Ga., through the Chattahoochee National Park. Like everything out here, it was awesome! Sometime before we stopped for lunch, we got into a quite steep, rough and eroded section of a dirt road. I was picking my way down when I heard Daniel make a loud exclamation I won't repeat and then crunching noises. I asked if he was good and he said no. He'd gone down pretty hard. I was stopped in a precarious spot, but eventually managed to get the bike stable so I could dismount and hike back up to him and Roger. It wasn't serious. He lost the front end after hitting a big rock in a rut and he and the bike took a pretty good tumble. Both were able to continue. He did get another nose bleed though, but this might have been from a mild impact because his upper lip was a bit swollen by the time we stopped for lunch. We managed to negotiate the rest of the descent and then things smoothed out. We passed some other DS riders going the opposite direction. Then we did the river crossing. I am not sure which river it was though, I think the Tallulah River on Charles Creek Road, North of US 76. Lunch was at a little place near Lake Burton. Then we started up a dirt road that looked iffy from the start and only got iffier as we climbed. We were getting whacked by branches, there was mud, it was steep, it eventually ended and we backtracked, heading into Clayton for gas before continuing. We eventually ended up in Franklin, NC. We'll be here a few days.
It IS steeper than it looks in ALL of the pics of this trail
Pics never tell the truth!? That wood deck above us is at least another 50-60 feet higher than where we are standing and probably 100 feet behind us.
Again with theh pics versus the eye... The eye easily sees these roads twisting through the woods and then they barely show up in the pics. I tried a few, but I think I am about to give up on that kind of shot.
Look at the previous pic. We went from that, to seeing a grader, to miles of mud like what is show below. It was slick!
One of the easy creek crossings
Yes... Very steep. Had trouble getting stopped here so I could walk back up to Daniel after his get off
He's back around that corner and up hill a bit. Right after that rock under my front tire, it starts going down pretty fast.
"If you were a 690 Enduro, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
He came around the right side of the image and tried to loft the front wheel over that cross rut, he landed in the next rut and knocked a big rock out of the ground. I think that is what sent his front end whacky. You can see the rock at the bottom of the pic.
All the dark spots on the road between the rock and the bike are where he and the bike were bouncing...
Not pretty, but still functional. Ironically, we just bought the fairing piece that is missing around the headlight yesterday even though we didn't need it at the time. @Pedro 2.0 was giving parts away for free and all we needed to do was pay shipping. The parts will be at the house when we get home.
My bike is sitting down there in the shade where it looks like the road ends.
The river crossing. You can see a little white rectangular sign in the background in the shadows. That was the entry point. I am standing near the exit about 20 feet out from the bank.
Still happy to be here...
There was a cool breeze blowing through here that was making me SLEEPY! The food was excellent.
Another of the dead end roads that turned out to be a LOT of fun despite having to turn back.
Our digs in Franklin, NC., for the next few days.
If you can see these vids, they are on the last out/back dead end road we did. A lot of it was like this.
I didn't think that would ever end! The river crossing required us to enter, go down stream, make a hard left around a dead tree, and then climb out the far side. It was maybe 100 feet in all, all on slick rocks. At least the water was clear so we could see the big ones. We did a big loop North of Helen, Ga., through the Chattahoochee National Park. Like everything out here, it was awesome! Sometime before we stopped for lunch, we got into a quite steep, rough and eroded section of a dirt road. I was picking my way down when I heard Daniel make a loud exclamation I won't repeat and then crunching noises. I asked if he was good and he said no. He'd gone down pretty hard. I was stopped in a precarious spot, but eventually managed to get the bike stable so I could dismount and hike back up to him and Roger. It wasn't serious. He lost the front end after hitting a big rock in a rut and he and the bike took a pretty good tumble. Both were able to continue. He did get another nose bleed though, but this might have been from a mild impact because his upper lip was a bit swollen by the time we stopped for lunch. We managed to negotiate the rest of the descent and then things smoothed out. We passed some other DS riders going the opposite direction. Then we did the river crossing. I am not sure which river it was though, I think the Tallulah River on Charles Creek Road, North of US 76. Lunch was at a little place near Lake Burton. Then we started up a dirt road that looked iffy from the start and only got iffier as we climbed. We were getting whacked by branches, there was mud, it was steep, it eventually ended and we backtracked, heading into Clayton for gas before continuing. We eventually ended up in Franklin, NC. We'll be here a few days.It IS steeper than it looks in ALL of the pics of this trail
Pics never tell the truth!? That wood deck above us is at least another 50-60 feet higher than where we are standing and probably 100 feet behind us.
Again with theh pics versus the eye... The eye easily sees these roads twisting through the woods and then they barely show up in the pics. I tried a few, but I think I am about to give up on that kind of shot.
Look at the previous pic. We went from that, to seeing a grader, to miles of mud like what is show below. It was slick!
One of the easy creek crossings
Yes... Very steep. Had trouble getting stopped here so I could walk back up to Daniel after his get off
He's back around that corner and up hill a bit. Right after that rock under my front tire, it starts going down pretty fast.
"If you were a 690 Enduro, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
He came around the right side of the image and tried to loft the front wheel over that cross rut, he landed in the next rut and knocked a big rock out of the ground. I think that is what sent his front end whacky. You can see the rock at the bottom of the pic.
All the dark spots on the road between the rock and the bike are where he and the bike were bouncing...
Not pretty, but still functional. Ironically, we just bought the fairing piece that is missing around the headlight yesterday even though we didn't need it at the time. @Pedro 2.0 was giving parts away for free and all we needed to do was pay shipping. The parts will be at the house when we get home.
My bike is sitting down there in the shade where it looks like the road ends.
The river crossing. You can see a little white rectangular sign in the background in the shadows. That was the entry point. I am standing near the exit about 20 feet out from the bank.
Still happy to be here...
There was a cool breeze blowing through here that was making me SLEEPY! The food was excellent.
Another of the dead end roads that turned out to be a LOT of fun despite having to turn back.
Our digs in Franklin, NC., for the next few days.
If you can see these vids, they are on the last out/back dead end road we did. A lot of it was like this.
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At last he didn't break off the brake lever
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One of the first things I checked
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The rain finally caught up to us today. It held off all morning and we did more amazing roads on the East side of Franklin,NC. We did quite a few steep long dirt roads and were often over 4000 feet elevation. This made for some cooler temps. I saw 63 on the bike dash! We made it to the top of Wayah Bald Mountain and I survived the hike up to the lookout tower. It was a toss up between me stroking out because I’m out of shape or being driven insane by the clouds of gnats swarming our heads… After some lunch we headed NW of town on a bunch of paved backroads, and eventually started climbing to Tellico Gap from the East side. It was freshly graded dirt/gravel. About half way up it started pouring. The riding gear kept us mostly dry, but it was hard to see because it was hard to keep the visor clear. The rain didn’t last long and was apparently concentrated right where we were. After clearing Tellico Gap, we found our way to Winding Stairs and did dirt down the side of the mountain. Somewhere in all that the boss man let us drive across the bridge that was still under construction. The go around route was LONG, so that was cool! After more fun dirt we ended the day with a run up and down NC 28 between Franklin and US 19. This road has to be experienced personally as describing it is pointless. But then, that is true of so many of the roads out here. We were too tired to mess with going out for dinner and just ordered pizza.
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Simmons1
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I know this bridge...
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Rich, do you recall the location of the bridge? I didn’t drop a marker on the gps and forgot what road we were on.
Simmons1
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I'll look and get back to you. It's been a few years since was there.
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Day five. We are tired!! The weather was great. The roads were great. The single track through the steamy jungle was great. I fell over. Old people do that you know. Just stopped where I wanted and before I knew it the bike was past the point of no return, so I just stepped off. I guess I really just wobbled because weebles don’t fall down 
We got out of there, navigated around another bridge being replaced and explored other dead ends. By the end of the day, our 180 mile ride had turned in 203 miles. I pity the fools that stick to the paved roads. They have no idea what they are missing.
Lost my balance after coming to a stop
I have a shot of Daniel just like this from the same location from our trip out here in 2019.
Is this related to the Dogwood trees we have in Texas?
We got out of there, navigated around another bridge being replaced and explored other dead ends. By the end of the day, our 180 mile ride had turned in 203 miles. I pity the fools that stick to the paved roads. They have no idea what they are missing.Lost my balance after coming to a stop
I have a shot of Daniel just like this from the same location from our trip out here in 2019.
Is this related to the Dogwood trees we have in Texas?