After all this i didn't much get the camera out anymore... we headed back to camp and Jon started drying out on the fire... Me Wade and Gene decide to head into town... The road to town out of camp was still a little damp and snowy, but we'd been down it a few times now so i was feeling good about it and stepped up the pace. Wade decided to kick it up a notch too and kept up good... unfortunately Genes top speed is somewhere around 45 (and we were running up to 80)... we stopped an waited a few times, but ran the last half of the way w/o stopping... Figured it was a straight shot. When Gene never showed at the highway we got worried and headed back halfway to camp. With no sign of gene, and my bike switching over to reserve, we decided to head on into town.
First gas and then Walmart. I needed more water, some shoes, and a chair! Wade found us some 1/2 size kiddie chairs and i found us some fuzzy slippers! This was gonna be a real treat. Unknowingly we both picked up Brats with cheese, and of course two small cases of water. I must admit we looked like vagabonds walking into Walmart... boots covered in dry mud, unshaven, and dirty.
Loaded down we headed back into camp. Thank god for Wade's headlight on the 650 or else it would have taken hours to navigate off of my headlight alone.
Just as expected, the chairs and shoes were perfect. After sitting on nothing but a motorcycle seat and the ground for a couple of days, you realize just how much you need a chair to sit in and some soft shoes to relax in by the fire.
I retired to the tent early in an effort to get more sleep Saturday night, this time retaining several layers. I was warm all night and slept till morning.
Wayne had come down with a cold so he had his wife meeting him somewhere not too far away with a trailer, and Monty was heading back south, so they broke camp a little after we did. Monty was videoing us leaving camp, so i decided to ass off. Being the last guy to get the bike started moments before everyone took off, i decided to rock a wheelie out of camp... The wheelie was good, the landing was not. I held it took long and as i set it down i had to ride into the ditch... which to my dismay was blocked by a decent size downed tree... some calm thinking and quick steering got me back on track and i managed not to crash. This antic scared my little Intel guy so much he jumped off the front fender and bailed... No man left behind though so i turned back, scooped him up, and tucked him in the back again.
As others have recounted, Gene ran out of gas twice on the way into town, and Fowler ran out once. The rest of the ride back to Billy Creek was fun, and we had talimena drive entirely to ourselves.
On the way back i took a detour up to Talimena State Park (in the truck) hoping to catch a hot shower... nope. All the bathrooms were locked up tight. Bummer.
I look forward to this ride again next year, and like HF, if it looks like it'll be too easy, i might not show up. I came for the challenge, and it felt rewarding to make it through this ride unscathed. Truth is, i hope theres 6" of snow next year. I would love to see what its like to ride in snow that deep, and look forward to the challenge.
Good times, good trails, good buddies. Lets do it again!
First gas and then Walmart. I needed more water, some shoes, and a chair! Wade found us some 1/2 size kiddie chairs and i found us some fuzzy slippers! This was gonna be a real treat. Unknowingly we both picked up Brats with cheese, and of course two small cases of water. I must admit we looked like vagabonds walking into Walmart... boots covered in dry mud, unshaven, and dirty.
Loaded down we headed back into camp. Thank god for Wade's headlight on the 650 or else it would have taken hours to navigate off of my headlight alone.
Just as expected, the chairs and shoes were perfect. After sitting on nothing but a motorcycle seat and the ground for a couple of days, you realize just how much you need a chair to sit in and some soft shoes to relax in by the fire.
I retired to the tent early in an effort to get more sleep Saturday night, this time retaining several layers. I was warm all night and slept till morning.
Wayne had come down with a cold so he had his wife meeting him somewhere not too far away with a trailer, and Monty was heading back south, so they broke camp a little after we did. Monty was videoing us leaving camp, so i decided to ass off. Being the last guy to get the bike started moments before everyone took off, i decided to rock a wheelie out of camp... The wheelie was good, the landing was not. I held it took long and as i set it down i had to ride into the ditch... which to my dismay was blocked by a decent size downed tree... some calm thinking and quick steering got me back on track and i managed not to crash. This antic scared my little Intel guy so much he jumped off the front fender and bailed... No man left behind though so i turned back, scooped him up, and tucked him in the back again.
As others have recounted, Gene ran out of gas twice on the way into town, and Fowler ran out once. The rest of the ride back to Billy Creek was fun, and we had talimena drive entirely to ourselves.
On the way back i took a detour up to Talimena State Park (in the truck) hoping to catch a hot shower... nope. All the bathrooms were locked up tight. Bummer.
I look forward to this ride again next year, and like HF, if it looks like it'll be too easy, i might not show up. I came for the challenge, and it felt rewarding to make it through this ride unscathed. Truth is, i hope theres 6" of snow next year. I would love to see what its like to ride in snow that deep, and look forward to the challenge.
Good times, good trails, good buddies. Lets do it again!
