Posts Tagged ‘#motorcyclerides’

Newer Entries »

Destination – Cypress Landing RV Park

May 5, 2021

Found a great excuse to go ride. An old high school classmate of mine has apparently built an RV Park up near Dozier, Alabama so of course felt the need to ride up and check it out for myself. He doesn’t even know that I went as of this writing. Will probably contact him and go up for a personal tour of the place at some time in the future. This ride was just one of those “destination not as important as the ride” situations that I took on April 22, 2021.

It was a very clean and quiet looking place located on the shores of Gantt Lake, located in the Gantt Community, north of the City of Andalusia in Covington County, just off State Highway 29. The reservoir impounds the Conecuh River, and is approximately 2,700 acres in size with 21 miles of shoreline. The River Falls Power Company constructed Gantt Dam in the 1920s, but it is now operated by Alabama Electric Cooperative for hydropower generation. 

Since I was on the bike did not want to disturb the guests. Sure seems set up well, they have a general store for guests, boat rentals, fishing, and on week-ends and special occasions a live band, karaoke, dancing, and food is there for your enjoyment. Here is the link to the Cypress Landing RV Park FaceBook Page for more information and bookings.

Below is a few photos taken when I made my stop there.

Entrance Sign
Taken standing at the sign – entrance road.
Bike Parked on Entrance Pavement
Another Angle

Very nice looking place, will definitely go back some day and visit the entire park and might even get to do a little fishing?

So the ride up there was awesome. As always I take the back country roads wherever possible, my favorite places to ride. Mostly what you have to look out for is animals, tractors, pot holes, sand on the road and other such minor things. As you can see from the “My Ride” app below, was a 94.3 mile round trip so not really far from home. Notice I can usually find a different route to return home, no sense in retracing your steps if you don’t have too.

So this was a nice short trip, am looking to expand and find places a little further from home, maybe interesting places to visit within say a 100 miles or less. That way the round trip of 200 miles could easily be done and have time to stop and visit some and play tourist, etc. If anyone has some suggestions of out of the way places that might fit into my riding style, would certainly love to hear from you. Just leave the suggestions in comments below.

Such a nice ride, will share a video with you below of some of the roads taken on the way home, enjoy!

Thought you might like to know more about Cypress Landing RV Park? A quote directly from their website: https://clrvpark.com

Families, outdoor enthusiasts, and visitors of all varieties gravitate to our RV park on beautiful Gantt lake. Our mild year-round climate attracts both short and extended stay visitors. We welcome pets as well. Gantt lake is known for its great fishing, hunting, boating as well as other water sports. Come and pay us a visit, away from the crowds, but still close to town and convenient to the many attractions on the Gulf Coast. Our RV Resort offers top quality amenities and beautiful natural surroundings. Come and visit us. We are located on Hwy 29 about 12 miles from Andalusia.

They have also produced a video showing the entire park, see below, enjoy!

Once again, thanks for reading/following, hope you will continue. Remember not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate) that loves to ride motorcycles. “Biker” is really not the right word for me, “motorcyclists” fits better.

Feel free to leave comments, suggestions and hit that like button. Stay tuned, follow to be notified when next post publishes. And if you feel the urge, share this on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Thanks for reading. 🙂

Keep the shiny side UP!

See more Video clips of my rides on My YouTube channel.

Tags:,
Posted in My Story | Leave a Comment »

Journey to Murder Creek

May 3, 2021

Always looking for places to visit, excuses to get out and ride my motorcycle. Was seeing posts and hearing about this place called Murder Creek Distillery. News about them opening up another place in Downtown OWA Foley, Alabama and people were raving about it.. Murder Creek Distillery Facebook page While the new place sounded awesome, the ride to the original place was more to my taste so guess which one I visited. You see, sometimes the destination is not as important as the ride itself. 🙂

The original Murder Creek Distillery is an Alabama based manufacturer of distilled spirits located just outside the beautiful city of Brewton in the town of Riverview. Was curious why they would name a place Murder Creek?

History is always interesting. The Story of Murder Creek, copied from Murder Creek Website:

Murder Creek origins go way back to 1788- just after the Revolutionary War. Colonel Kirkland and his party were on their way to Pensacola, Florida. Unfortunately, they never arrived at their destination. Due to the silver in their pockets, Kirkland’s party was ambushed and murdered. Only one of the three outlaws was captured for this crime, and paid the final price… After these bloody circumstances, the little creek which had been named Aloochahatcha, became known as Murder Creek.

When visiting the Murder Creek Distillery, you are given a tour of the process and their product (moonshine) is made. It was interesting and even purchased a jar of Dixie Honey Moonshine. Funny thing is I do not drink alcohol of any type, this was only for the novelty, it’s stored in a display case. Proof below 🙂 Gentleman told me if I wanted to drink it that it would go best with unsweetened tea.

Murder Creek Dixie Honey Moonshine

Here is their process as copied from the Murder Creek Website:

“Our Moonshine is crisp and smooth. Our alcohol is distilled to the highest purity in small batches. A double distillation process is used with each batch being filtered multiple times through charcoal and a unique pour bed to remove impurities. This pure alcohol is bottled at 80 proof as our Murder Creek Moonshine, or cut down to 40 proof and mixed with our special flavors in each batch.”

And just in case you’re curious about the many different flavors they brew, the following is a list of moonshine possibilities when you visit. Peach Cobbler, Orange Dreamcicle, Pecan Praline, Alabama Apple Pie,
Southern Cherry Bombs, Watermelon, Blueberry, Banana Pudding, Dixie Dizzy Pickle, Dixie Honey, Dixie Chocolate, and Dixie Chocolate Mint.

Now the ride that day was awesome, started out in the mid 50’s and was probably in the mid 60’s temperature wise when I got home. This ride happened on April 19, 2021 and was according to the MY RIDE app 113.6 miles round trip. Photo below, as you can see, took a different route home, hate traveling the same road back as going when riding. 🙂 Again is the ride, not the time or destination that matters so much.

Murder Creek Ride

It was also a beautiful ride in that most all of it was back roads with lots of good ole fashion country scenery. My favorite type of riding. Will post a couple of short video’s below but please don’t talk bad about my poor video equipment and experience. 🙂

On the way to Murder Creek Distillery
Clip 2 further down the road on the way to Murder Creek Distillery in Brewton, Alabama

Oh and almost forgot, here’s a photo taken when arriving at the Murder Creek Distillery. As you can see, not a huge place or fancy by any means, but they sure got a lot of things going on in there and absolutely worth the visit.

Murder Creek Distillery

Once again, thanks for reading/following, hope you will continue. Remember not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate) that loves to ride motorcycles. Biker is really not the right word for me, “motorcyclists” fits better.

Feel free to leave comments, suggestions and hit that like button. Stay tuned, follow to be notified when next post publishes. And if you feel the urge, share this on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Thanks for reading. 🙂

Keep the shiny side UP!

See more Video clips of my rides on My YouTube channel.

Tags:, ,
Posted in My Story | 1 Comment »

MY First POKER Run

April 30, 2021

Had always wanted to ride in a Poker Run, knew the basics but had never participated. There was one scheduled last year before my accident happened but it was cancelled due to the Covid thing and some other issues.

This year however, the VFW Post 4437 in Defuniak Springs, FL was determined to do this Poker Run to benefit a local charity that does amazing things for cancer patients in our area. Not only was I excited to ride but a little nervous also since it would be something I’ve never done and with people that I didn’t know since I’m not a member. Am a Veteran but was never in a war zone so not qualified for membership at that post. Remember at this point still building my confidence back. Because it was for my favorite charity Cancer Freeze was very determined to do this in spite of all my doubts and made up excuses.

I posted out of my normal order of progression about this a few weeks past Here: VFW Post 4437 Poker Run and if you follow my Face Book page you already know how excited I was to participate. 🙂

Weather was suppose to be rainy that day and without tons of confidence yet wasn’t sure I was ready to ride in the rain, don’t like riding a motorcycle in the rain anyway but woke up that morning, kept kicking myself in the butt to DO THIS and stop thinking negative. The starting point was about twenty five miles from my home so bit the bullet, got dressed and headed to the VFW Post, figured I could always back out after I got there if weather was too bad. 🙂

Got there early, met some people, ask a few questions, just hanging out while people were coming in and registering etc. About ten minutes before we were scheduled to pray and bless the bikes it started sprinkling rain. YUCK… not good. Long story short it didn’t last very long, dried the seat off with a towel and we were kick stands up on time and believe it or not, didn’t rain on us all day. In fact the sun came out and was a very pleasant day. So we’re off and I’m trying to get as near to the back of the pack as possible, that way could peel off at anytime should I start feeling uncomfortable. Never happened, half way through this trip and I’m hoping it will continue longer than planned.

Beginning of the ride as we were leaving the post. Turn down your volume, have terrible recording equipment.

Will have to tell you, one thing that made me feel a little out of place was the type bike I was riding. Out of the seventy or so bikes that started the run, only about four or five were NOT Harley Davidson’s! Most all of these bikers you could tell were experienced and quite normal for them to do these rides. Many of them were the VFW Post 4437 Motorcycle Riders group and many of their friends. That’s ok, I’ve felt out of place before and was having too much fun to back out now! You see not only was this my first Poker Run but it was also the first time I had ever ridden in a group ride that large. Normally I ride alone, my favorite way to ride, have ridden with one or two others in the past but never a group.

An idea of what it looks like from my position in the group, keep in mind there was still more behind me. Was still cloudy in this photo but sun came out bright later. 🙂

Staging area before all bikes were there
Parked at one of our stops
Another stop
Our next to last stop
One of our places to stop
My bike behind those two Harley’s

Short video of our first stop on the Poker Run, Horse Power Pavilion. Turn down your volume, wind noise is bad. 🙂

To say I enjoyed this day would be an under statement. Hey, had a good reason to ride my motorcycle and a great cause to benefit, what else could you ask for! Would definitely do this again anytime especially if it was for the benefit of Cancer Freeze. I encourage you to click that link and check out all the things that Cancer Freeze does for local cancer patients in this area. Started by a local couple with many different events scheduled throughout the year to raise money, all done with Volunteers, no salaries involved. The main event is always the first Saturday of February each year held at Lake Jackson in Florala, AL, only about two miles from my home.

Just so you know, you can learn more about and DONATE to Cancer Freeze from that link! Please consider. 🙂

Once again, thanks for reading/following, hope you will continue. Remember not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate) that loves to ride motorcycles. Biker is really not the right word for me, “motorcyclists” fits better.

Feel free to leave comments, suggestions and hit that like button. Stay tuned, follow to be notified when next post publishes. And if you feel the urge, share this on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Thanks for reading. 🙂

Keep the shiny side UP!

See more Video clips of my rides on My YouTube channel.

Tags:, ,
Posted in My Story Also | 2 Comments »

Final Video – more rides

April 13, 2021

Well actually that was the final video for that particular camera. Certainly will not be my last video as several have already been taken and added to My youtube channel. Take a chance, go visit, like it, comment on each video, hit that little bell thing so you’ll get notified the next time I upload another video.

As you can see from the images below these were a few of the rides that I recorded on the “My Rides” app on my phone. The app provides a lot of information, date, distance, time, speed, acceleration, lean angle, and altitude, plus outlines the route on the map should you wish to repeat that ride at a later date.

May 2, 2020
May 17, 2020
May 28, 2020
June 14, 2020

This isn’t all the riding I did up until June 14, 2020 (will explain the data on that date later). In fact normally I took a ride almost every day unless it was raining. I just didn’t record all of them. In fact none of these were video taped either since the camera had flown off somewhere around the end of April. Whatever day it flew off there was a lot of video on it but when you can’t find the camera, it’s oh well, bye bye. Below is an ending of the last video recorded while riding the Yamaha.

Loading the Yam into the trailer April 20, 2020 after about a three hour ride.

April 20, 2020 loading the Yamaha into trailer/motorcycle garage.

Not only riding but did another motorcycle camping trip in early June. Will write a post about that camping experience in the next post and then we’ll get around to talking about the one day I’d rather not remember or talk about but find it necessary to explain this total motorcycle experience in full.

Once again, thanks for reading/following, hope you will continue. Remember not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate) that loves to ride motorcycles. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Stay tuned, hit that follow button to be notified when next post publishes. And if you feel the urge, you can share this on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Thanks for reading. 🙂

See other Video clips of my rides on My YouTube channel.

P.S. See previous post, YES I did ride in that Poker Run, my very first so will certainly have to tell you all about that venture in a post to come soon. 🙂

Tags:, ,
Posted in My Story | 2 Comments »

How It Started

March 18, 2021

Now I’m not going to go back to when I first started riding motorcycles, just gonna talk about these latest experiences with motorcycle riding. This latest rage started in 2019 after my two grandsons had graduated from high school and were out doing their own thing. I was seventy one years of age at the time. 🙂

Had been searching online for a bike for months and the more I searched the more the desire was taking over to get back on a bike. Since I’m not a wealthy person, of course price was important. Really wanted a touring style bike but had never ridden one that large or heavy but was thinking of doing some long distance riding.

After a whole lot of searching and looking at different bikes finally saw one at Rucker’s Auto & Motorcycle Sales in Enterprise, Al. that really appealed to my taste. Was a 2005 Yamaha Roadstar XV1700, loaded with bat wing wind jammer, radio, stereo system, with blue tooth capabilities. Pretty much all the bells and whistles a person could ask for including a phone charger holder and hookup to charge it. Photo below is the day (Oct 21, 2019) I trailered it home since I was unsure I could actually ride it home safely.

That bike with all the accessories weighed in at about 800+ pounds of bone shaking fury. Had Vanes & Hines exhaust which on that 1670cc engine was, let’s just say LOUD! 🙂 Loved it, had awesome torque and horsepower.

Ok, so tell you more about my experiences with that bike in the next post!

Tags:, ,
Posted in My Story | Leave a Comment »

Why I Ride

March 11, 2021

Valid question that I’m asked many times, Why do you and what do you get out of riding? Especially after my accident back in June of 2020 (more on that later), plus the fact that I’m an old fart. People just do not understand the desire to ride a motorcycle.

I’ve ridden in the past, on two wheels (motorcycle) for a while and then off again but basically been doing some riding since I was probably eighteen or nineteen years old. Never really took a formal training class but more on that in later posts.

Why I ride is simple. Totally enjoy the feeling of freedom and excitement. Now I could stop talking there because that is ninety percent of why!

What I get out of it is peace and relaxation. Riding focuses the brain to only think about your riding and the dangers lurking around every corner, over each hill, and through intersections and any side roads coming your way. Removes any other thoughts from your mind therefore even relieving tensions from an exceptionally bad day. 🙂

There’s a thrill from the sound of a V-Twin rumbling beneath you, a feeling of freedom from the wind blowing in your face. Just a feeling not easy to describe, but rather one that has to be experienced!

Tags:, ,
Posted in My Story | Leave a Comment »

Newer Entries »