Warm Springs and SETI

What do you do when it is one of the best days of the year, so far, and want to go riding, but can't figure out where you want to go?

Let someone else plan and lead the ride!

One of our clubs had a "covered bridge" tour on the calendar, so we decided to tag along.  We were going to have to kick ourselves into high gear to make the meet time, though.

No fear. Some people can be counted on to always be a little fashionably late.  We arrived 3 minutes before the kickstand up time of 10 AM. But we (the group) hung around until 10:40 for some stragglers.  It was worthwhile for some of the conversations that came out of our time standing around.  I can't repeat some of them as they were raunchy!  But funny if you have that type of humor.

Everyone arrives and with some good natured ribbing we head for the road.  Turns out that this bridge tour is exactly that: a bridge.  As in one.  The leader had planned for two, until he discovered the other bridge was about 100 miles northeast of where we were headed.  Mr. Oilburner and I didn't mind as this was going to be another bridge in our belts that we hadn't visited before.

Red Oak Creek Covered Bridge is touted as being the longest covered bridge in Georgia.  But so is Watson Mill.  How can there be two?

We think Red Oak Creek bridge is considered the longest span at 391 feet, but the entire span isn't "covered".  Where as Watson Mill bridge is the longest/covered/full span at 229 feet.

Watson Mill Covered Bridge

Yes, we did ride through and across the bridge.  Only two others followed us.  Everyone else was chicken.  I can tell you that what I thought were abutting boards actually did have gaps between them.  I didn't see that until later since riding across them didn't give the appearance of any space.  I was a little glad I didn't know that beforehand.

This bridge is farther off the beaten track than others and sees its fair share of graffiti artists.  And I use the "artist" lightly.  A couple were cute or funny, but it was all the basic "Bubba and Jolene 4-ever" type of thing.

Then someone noticed a plaque high up the bridge wall noting the "high water mark" from flooding on July 7, 1994.  Wow!!  This was probably 18-20 feet above current water levels and mean that a large portion of this wide ravine was full of water.

You can make out the high water plaque in the upper left amid the black spray paint.

Once the sightseeing and speculation was done we headed over to Warm Springs for lunch.  Most people were interested in the BBQ place for lunch.  Since Mr. Oilburner and I had eaten there a couple of weeks ago, we opted to split and have lunch at the little cafe that serves diner fare.  Service was slow, but the food was good.  BLT was piled high with crispy bacon.  mmmmm......

After lunch saw people sightseeing and lounging around the ice cream shop.  But most of us just sat on the steps outside, soaking up the sun and camaraderie.  Now came decision time, continue south and west a little to hit some twisties at Pine Mtn? Or begin heading northeast towards Atlanta and see some large satellite dishes?

Hondamatic

1948 Moto Guzzi

1924 Military Harley Davidson

Nessie?

As much as I didn't want the day to end, it was nearing 3 PM and heading away from Atlanta was going to give us a long ride time home.  Besides, I have seen (but not ridden) Pine Mtn.  I wanted to see these dishes in the middle of nowhere.

Today's roads were great.  Once out of the urban areas we stuck to the less traveled lanes that DOT (Department of Transportation) was letting slide.  The lanes were narrow and bumpy as the asphalt was beginning to break apart a little.  You know those lanes where you can feel the "sport" suspension on your bike.  :)  I loved the tour on these back roads where even farms and houses were few.  I would rather have enjoyed them at the posted speed limits.  But some people see these small roads as perfect opportunites to get a little wild.  I don't know if my inner-daredevil is a little bit chicken (could be), I am a girl (most definitely) or I don't want to have my motorbike impounded for reckless riding.  But I usually like to look around as I tour.  And I just can't be a tourist when I am worried about calculations and reaction times traveling down the lane.  Outside of that, the roads were fun and exciting.  It has been awhile since we have been on completely new road.

The dishes did not disappoint.  These are actual SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) dishes that  were originally an AT&T satellite relay station.  One dish has been refurbished for SETI use.  Currently parts for one dish are being cannibalized for the other dish since AT&T managed to damage both of them when they abandoned this site.  Georgia Tech University has reclaimed them.

We spent a few minutes chatting and speculating, wishing for tin foil to make hats to prevent our brain wavelengths from being read.  But it was now time to head home.  It was a great day with all the exciting and entertaining food, companions and destinations.  The temperatures started at a 42F (5.5C), necessitating heated gear.  But the end of the ride was a basking 64F (18C).  it is so nice when you can remove a layer of clothing during the ride!!  Out little jaunt came to 227 miles (365 km) of some great pavement.  More images available on Flickr.

[Not So] Warm Springs

...trite and cliche.  I know.  But still a little cute.

Guess what?? 

WE COULD RIDE!!!

The snow is gone.  The roads are relatively clear.  Some cities were a little sand happy, but that probably wouldn't be the case with the direction we were traveling.  It was going to be smaller cities and farming communities where you still see 1970's Chevy pickups in driveways of mobile or cinder block homes.  Not exactly the Lexus and Mercedes communities with three quarter million dollar homes.  No.  The cities in our direction of travel don't warrant sand.

The day started like any other.  The temperature showed a balmy 29F (-1.7C).  But we should be hitting the tropical high of 46F (7.8C)!  Oh what a glorious day! 

The breakfast time of 9 AM and kickstands up time of 10 was ignored by all in the messages.  Everyone saw 10 and basically came at 10.  So we ate breakfast while the ride organizer/leader arrived promptly at 10:02.  :) 

One of the group realized he needed to put 10 lbs of air in each tire.  But he detests paying for air.  (I don't know about your area of the world, but air at gas stations is no longer free over here.)  He was going to bite the bullet until Mr. Oilburner pulled out his little air pump and all became right with the world.  Cold, but right.

In all, this started our day off about 45 minutes late.  Say it with me...as usual.  LOL.  :)

No matter.  I don't think anyone cared.  Some of us were suffering from PMS (Parked Motorcycle Syndrome) and just needed to ride and others were testing their cold weather survival gear as they hadn't ridden in the winter before.  (They were woefully lacking...)

Saddled up and ready to take off I had to verify the morning temp.  Yep.  It was still cold.


That sucker displays 32.9F (0.5C)


Now we are off for our adventure.  Which actually starts quite suddenly with some unexpected turns and immediately getting lost.  I am chuckling because the organizer was fairly stern in his warning that he was sticking to the route and everybody better have it programed in or printed out and learned.  Yet his little iPhone mapping/route wundermap (pronounce vundermap) was not following his admonishments.  Meanwhile, he is getting frustrated and trying to reroute while riding.  He's chucking it in and slows down to ask me if I would like to lead.  See, I had given him this route.  It was nearly identical to the route we three had taken last year to Warm Springs.  Only this time we would be riding it backwards.  The route, not the bikes!  Like a dutiful little anal retentive mapping person that I am, I had not plotted this route into the GPS.  He was going to have to do this on his own.  And he actually had us turned around and headed in the proper direction in short order.  But it is fun to tease him about it.

We're making good time down the road and our first break is about 60 miles out.  Someone in our group of 8 needed to use the restroom.

What is the old quote about women and always needing to pee?  She never passed a lilac bush without having to stop and pee?  I don't know, something I read in a Stephen King book one time or another.  Unfortunately, in some cases it is true.  Fortunately, not with me.  I have a bladder like a steel trap!  So I found it particularly funny that I am the only girl in this group of 8, and all 7 guys had to go to the bathroom.  Score one for the women of the world.  All the years we put up with humiliating exams.  Men over 50 it's your turn.

Those of us watching the bikes and personal property began to wonder where the others disappeared to after 5 minutes of minutes of waiting from them to return from the bathroom. I was told on questionable authority later that not all were using the facilities.  Some were purchasing hot coffee to warm their frozen fingers after their gloves proved deficient.  It might have been more productive if they had just dipped their frozen digits into the scalding coffee.  After all, holding the cups merely warms the palms; areas that aren't as cold as the outside of the hands!  Other gentlemen were making new best friends of the hot air dryer in the bathrooms.  Either way...they were still cold.

One pet peeve that I have been encountering more frequently lately is people leaving their bike at the pump and walking away!  Walk away to either go to the bathroom, get something to drink, chat, you name it.  And it is never for just a minute.  Stopping for gas in a group generally means 10 to 20 minutes of hanging out.  It just seems so inconsiderate to other people that need the pumps and to the gas station owner to deny access to other customers.  Does anyone else experience this?  So our little group was blocking access to 4 (out of 6) pumps while they were taking care of business...at Wendy's next door since the gas station facilities were out of order.

OK.  Female superiority intact, we head out again.  Only another hour till our arrival at Warm Springs.  First order of business?  Food!  Believe it or not, it had been four hours since breakfast!



Our motley crew


We headed directly for the BBQ shack.  They have limited seating in their establishment and we would not have left room for upcoming customers.  Or so we told ourselves.  They couldn't possibly have been profiling us as some die hard biker gang come to destroy their place.  Could they??  So we were shepherded into the adjoining steak house that wasn't opening until 5.  They allowed us to spread out on the HEATED, enclosed patio. 

Alan snuggled up to the heater, making a second new best friend of the day.

Grilled chicken with good flavor.  The BBQ improved it.  Slow baked bean side...yum.  Hey
it wasn't like we were in an enclosed car if I had any problems...

Mr. Oilburner's rib plate.  The Brunswick Stew was really good!

Tummies full and fingers relatively thawed we hit the rest of town.  Still being winter there wasn't much open at all.

Narnia nearby?

Warm Springs is becoming a little hotbed of bikers in the summer months.  And they are learning to cater to their our singleminded obsession with all things of two wheels.  The motorcyce museum has overflowed its interior space and has displayed their wares along any space available in the walking avenues.  Here are a couple examples that I stumbled across.



Lil Sturgis my foot!



Yamaha Midnight Spirit 1100

Honda 175

Honda CL70.  This looked so cute!

Triumph Bonneville.  Beautiful!

Couldn't find the model on thsi one.  ;-)

We have realized that the warmest portion of the day is upon us.  And it will only become colder from here.  The road home isn't long, but will be at highway speeds and higher wind chill. The group stays together for a long ways, but slowly new friends begin to peeling off and wave their goodbyes.  Some make them quick waves to keep their frozen digits out of the arctic slipstream we are creating.  But we maintain our contact with the leader since we have organized a post ride meeting at Sheridans with another friend.  Sheridans...Frozen Custard.  Are we stupid or are we complete geniuses?

That little temp gauge is reading 39.2F (4C) when we stop for frozen custard.

Our fourth party is sitting in traffic, still another 30 minutes away.  The breeze is a little stiff and we don't want to wait.  We check our options and think of the Thai place a couple miles down the road.  Dinner thoughts are lingering and we all agree that is better suited to our needs; a nice warm place with hot food!  This place is our favorite Thai restaurant, all organic and the owners are the nicest people.

Crispy Duck for Mr. Oilburner.  I manage to steal a few pieces.



Penang Curry for me.  Before

After


Dinner is great.  Company is festive.  Those of us on bikes manage to regain a little of our warmth.  We are reluctant to gear back up, but the sooner done the sooner we are home.  Luckily we are only 6 miles away.  Poor Alex has about 30 miles to traverse.  But he has a better hot tub waiting at home that I do.

Last temperature shot revealed a whopping 31.1F (-0.5C) at home. 

Stats:
237 miles, wonderful but cold
I managed to see 44F (6.7C) on the gauge...once...as we headed for home.  It was short lived.
The new Gerbing's jacket worked like a charm
Men can get lost in the bathroom just like women
Can still get a good ride in cold weather with some friends
More images at Warm Springs on Flickr
Roger, get one of these so you don't have to take it down the block in ATGATT to air up.  Slime Top Off.  Has some high reviews on ADV and sells for about $13 USD.

Hope everyone else has some great stories to share!  Our weather is taking a bit of a downturn this week.  Hopefully the weekend will look up.  :)

The FIRST Good Day of 2010

The FIRST weekend day of the New Year that is 1) not snowing, 2) not raining, 3) sunny, 4) not working on the transmission and 5) projected to reach 62F!!

Can you believe it?  We sure couldn't, and we were gonna make use of it!!  What better way to shake the cobwebs, stretch the fingers in the summer gloves and enjoy these perfect temps than on the bikes of course.

Didn't want to head towards the mountains given the night time temps, sand, salt and gravel on the roads.  So it had to be someplace south.  The easy, no-brainer was to head to Warm Springs, GA since I had been there but my two companions hadn't.  It was someplace where I knew we could get food, see some sights and take it easy.  Not a difficult ride at all.

Again, the quickest way was to hop on the freeway and head south.  With Mr. Oilburner in the lead we followed his goofy GPS directions that jumped us off the freeway just before construction began.  Great news since I didn't want to ride the 28 miles of slalom construction and the side roads were wonderfully empty.  There was some sand in some places, but mostly out of the riding lanes.

The ride down was slow paced and completely, luxuriously uneventful.  I rode in the back to take my time and look around at everything.  I still need to get that GoPro camera so I can capture some of them...

Warm Springs was the hotbed of bikers it is coming to be known for.  Given it was the first, best riding day of the New Year many other people had exactly the same idea and the place was crawling with bikes.  We parked on the main street, before we knew there was plentiful biker parking in the alley. Which was probably a good thing since it was mainly full of chrome, pipes and leather.

We just planned on walking and soaking up the sun.  We weren't terribly hungry as Mr. Oilburner and I had just eaten.  It was easy to pass up the Brazilian food, although it smelled great.  But we just couldnt' pass up the BBQ.  Come on...it's the South.  You have to try the BBQ.  And it didn't disappoint.  Hence, why no pictures of the food...  :-)

Not all of the shops are open.  It is a little before peak tourist season.  But a large portion of the shops are connected by meandering paths with tons of junk antiques and murals at which to gawk.  Someone was having some fun with their paintbrushes.

 

  

  

  

  

 

We wandered, ate, shopped, photographed and went on our merry way.  The road back was new to all of us and completely avoided the interstates.  The cops were out in force, but friendly if you followed the traffic laws.  And we topped the day off in the best way possible by meeting up for dinner with another musketeer that wasn't able to join us for the day.  Hmmm...this can't become a habit of riding to breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one day...

Stats:
223 glorious miles
A warm 64F as the high temp of the day...yyyeeaaahhhh
Good food all around
Numerous bikers to share the road with