Photos etc- Great weather for yard work so I'm going for a ride

[..]

Leaving Tuesday to ride to Weiss Lake Lodge, AL for Tues and Wed night. Ride home Thursday.

Stopping at Little River Canyon along the way.

Wed night I might get to meet with 12.

The forecast is for sun and over 70 - I need some riding, sun and heat after this bloody winter here in Maggie Valley.

[cookiedough]

we did  yardwork unfortunately vs. cycle riding this first WARM weekend into the 60's. 

we planted 2 zestar apple trees.  Who woulda thought a 6 ft tall dwarf sized tree would need a 20 inch deep by 32 inch around hole dug for each tree?   Try digging out clay soil after the first 5 inches and a place to put about 40 gallons each of NO good soil.   Then, adding two 2cu ft bags of garden soil mixed in with sand and peat moss for drainage, along with a topping of basic garden dirt we had for our garden top 2 inches and another 3 inches of wood mulch on top.  I figure each tree took 2 hours of tending to along with staking it and wrapping the trunk and watering to settle/compact the loose dirt to settle it all in.

Luckily, we did ONLY 2 of the 8 trees and bought ONLY 2 trees so far.  We originally wanted to buy all 8 trees and plant all at once, but not enough hours in the weekend to do all 6, let alone all 8.  Hardest part was IMO digging out all that clay soil and then finding a place to transport it around shoveling a ton. 

figure about 50 bucks per tree to plant so hoping they will grow once done if we can 6 more dwarf sized apple/pear trees in next few weeks.  A few local places have semi-dward that grows 16 to 17 ft tall, but we really prefer the 10-12 ft tall trees in our city lot more manageable and less trimming needed.

[..]

Relive decided to have a hissy fit on my way to AL and only recorded the first 9 miles.  

Here's a Google maps route and some photos.

https://goo.gl/maps/nZGGEr3cQUXQiu5C6

First gas stop in Blue Ridge, GA



AL County Rd 103 / Gadsden Ave from Menlo south was a royal PITB. The local DOT had some left over gravel they needed to get rid of. I can imagine the conversation  in the bed of the truck.
 
Jimmy how much do we dump here on the flat. Use a 5lb bag.

Jimmy how much do we dump here in this bend. Use a 10lb bag.

Jimmy how much do we dump here in this downhill, uphill bend. Use a 10lb bag but add some stones.

And repeat for about 10 miles. 





Little River Falls
















Weiss Lake


Weiss Lake Lodge. I wouldn't stay there again. For the price of $227 for 2 nights it's not worth more of my dollars.

[..]

Bruce rolled up a few hours after I did. He'd ridden straight through from Ocala.

Unpacked and fed we enjoyed some conversation for a couple of hours.

Asking the motel manager where was a good breakfast place he listed some chains like Waffle and Huddle House.

A quick search found the Big Time Cafe in Dog Town AL.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtown,_DeKalb_County,_Alabama

This was on our way to the Little River Canyon. A good breakfast.

We rolled up the Canyon road to find the mystery gravel truck had been busy here as well. On my ride south along the canyon the day before there was no gravel in my lane. Now we could both hear gravel pinging in our bike fenders and on the underside of our bikes. WTH.

A couple of photo ops and a stop at the large visitors center at the top of the the Canyon Rd.

Bruce and i split up and I went off to go take a look at the Little River Marina and Lodge.
On the way I was blocked by a mobile home delivery gone wrong.

There was a gap at the back end of the home that I calculated I could squeeze through.



It was wide enough but the blacktop drop for my left foot left it hanging in the air as I scooted by using my right foot. I also had to lean slightly right and had to have one of the delivery guys make sure I wasn't going to scrape my saddlebag on the sharp corner of the trailer.

https://littlerivermarinaandlodge.com/Marina___Lodge.html

The rooms here at the time of writing are $69 for a standard and $79 for an room with a kitchenette.

There are some rooms above the office/store and then there's 2 stand alone single story blocks as you could see on Google Maps.

I spoke with a couple of fishermen from Knoxville who told me they stayed there with families twice a year.

I'd rather stay here than the other motel even though it's a bit remote. However the local country roads are pretty good. I'd recommend this as a place to stay and go ride.

Relive isn't doing so well. This route has some photos missing or out of order. My problems with Relive have started since I started to pay for the service so more photos could be included. I hope this gets fixed before I start my trip west in July.


https://www.relive.cc/view/vPv4AKVjJ3O

[..]

Dinner was at a local BBQ joint. It was just OK.

The business had a sign on the door explaining they closed at 7pm due to the difficulty of finding staff. The same verbiage was also posted on the door of the gas station I stopped at hoping to buy some beer on the way back to the motel.

More conversation and I retired early to my room because some little flying bitey bastids were having their own dinner.

The morning forecast was for rain developing so I was on the road at 8 running ahead of what I could see on the radar. Bruce was off on a coddiewomple heading somewhere north or northwest.

A few sprinkles but dry all the way home.

https://www.relive.cc/view/vwq1RZmRyBv

The young guys Honda S2000 had an LS7 engine shoe horned into it!!!

[carolinarider09]

Good information.  I may ask you for some suggestions in that area.  Looking at a four - five day trip in June.