Category Archives: Rides

Getting Ready For The Next Ride

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FOUND – The Rear Tire For MY Dual Sport Bike

I finally found the rear tire and it has a tree growing through it.  Took me a while to find it as it was under a couple of torn apart ATV’s that I am trying to put back together.

Approximately five years of growth

Approximately five years of growth

Looks like it will be awhile before I get this back on the bike.

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Actually I am not quite sure that I can or will want to ride on trails now that I have had both hips replaced.  Still would like to get onto fire roads and forest service roads.  Working on my strength but kinda’ iffy’.

IMG_5258Tire looks good but it is after all over ten years old so probably not a good idea to use it.  So looks like at least a new tire and possibly a rim rebuild.

Thanks for looking, I am feeling much better as far as pain and so forth so I will be bringing more posts your way as time flies by.  I do have some stuff saved up and will be putting it online as soon as I take out the pictures that did not turn out good.

Both hips have been replaced now and I can walk upright, and actually get into a marching rhythm for a short time.  I still get tired but as I excersize and push it I keep getting a little bit better.

 

 

Fall Hollow Campground and Restaurant

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Best Place to Stay and Eat in Hohenwald, Tennessee

IMG_0976I have stayed here numerous times over the last four years and it is the cleanest motel I have stayed at in Tennessee.  Yes I know the sign says campground and rv hook-ups, but they do have two rooms in the main building behind the restaurant.  Please call ahead if you want a room.

 

The food is home cooked and their is none better, you could even sit at the counter and IMG_1168watch it cooked while carrying on a pleasant conversation with chef Bill, also known as the gardener, and all around good guy.  Along with your room you will get breakfast but not before 8am.  I have had the pleasure of staying while on a job and had to leave early, no problem Bill will set out the makings for peanut butter and jelly sandwitches, along with coffee maker ready to turn on.IMG_0977

A view of the restaurant from HWY412 out of Hohenwald, TN.  Address is 1329 Columbia Hwy, Hohenwald, TN 38462.  If on the ‘Natchez Trace Parkway’ the exit for Hwy412 is at MP312 and the restaurant is just across Hwy412.

 

 

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Bill and Kathy are great hosts and provide a lot of local information as well as where good stops are on the ‘Natchez Trace’ especially if you are on a bicycle, and camping.  Incidentally there is not a better cobbler than the peach cobbler here at Fall Hollow

 

IMG_0975  Yours truly enjoying the time off and conversation before heading for the Dragon’s Tail in northeast Tennessee.

Pictures In And Around the Grand Canyon

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Bottom of the canyon is an old mine, can’t see it but it is supposed to be on the river.

IMG_2168 IMG_2223 We have been home now for several months and I finally got back to going through the pictures taken during our dash home from Mississippi.

 

A lot of these pictures are cloudy and that is from the conditions found at the sites where they were taken.  It was late in the afternoon for most of them and the sun being very bright brought out the haze in the pictures.

 

The Park Service had stopped letting hikers go down into the canyon be the time we arrived, they said it was the end of the vacation season, although by this time my arthritis was keeping me from wanting to walk anyway.

 

 

The Hopi had planted fields way down their on the river.

 

As alway please click on any picture to be taken to the full album.  Also the full album is also open to the public.

 

Isolated homestead leading into the Grand Canyon National Park.

Isolated homestead leading into the Grand Canyon National Park.

Not sure what the people living here did for a living.  There was no animals or farming implements.  Very far from any town or other possible locations???

 

As always please click on any picture to access the full album, which also will have much better resolution on the pictures.  Also please leave a comment if you so inclined.

Thanks For Looking

Sunday Car Ride In Tennessee

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A Quiet Day Trip Through The Country Side

We found this sign while on an afternoon ride just north of the Tennessee Alabama state line south of Nashville, TN.  I was not going to publish, in some respects though we have to remember in order to not repeat the past.

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A friend that stopped by to chirp at us while taking a rest break at one of the many pull outs on the Natchez Trace Parkway.IMG_0364

Next is a Magnolia blossom on a magnolia tree close to our compound where we reside for the next couple of months.IMG_0127

I had to include this scenery photo of a stream and road in Tennessee close to the Meriwether Lewis Burial Site.

IMG_0098Finally here is a photo of our puppy Pepper taking a dip in the pond behind our house at the Springs.  We have tried and it is impossible to keep him out of it due to the heat and humidity we get here in Mississippi.  It helps that it does not take long for him to dry off, so as to not smell up the house to awfully bad.  This afternoon he gets a bath, but the pond is still close and it is going to get hot and humid the rest of the week.

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The Station Cafe — The Natchez Trace Parkway

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1 Mile West From The Natchez Trace On Hwy429.

Good Eats

Good Eats “The Station Cafe” in Thomastown

I found this interesting cafe fifteen miles south of Kosciusko about one mile west of the Natchez Trace Parkway on HighWay 429.  The cafe is in a small town (hamlet?) called Thomastown.  Excellent home cooked food and pleasant conversation is served.  They have a two burner stove and electric griddle so if you happen to stop by in a large group be prepared to wait your turn.

 

I was on a work excursion driving a truck with my equipment this time, but I do hope to make it back on the bike before I leave for my home QTH in Oregon.

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My apologies to the two young ladies, I forgot to ask their names.  Regardless it was easy to take my time eating and talking, so I was late getting to my three destinations today.

 

 

15 Miles South of Kosciusko and 45 Miles North Of Jackson On The Natchez Trace Parkway.

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As you can see here the seating is somewhat limited.  The menu is also somewhat limited but what one would expect in an establishment this small.

 

 

 

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Ride The Trace

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Ride The Trace – Looking For Hernando’s Trail

Here is a pull out on the Natchez Trace Parkway for Hernando de Soto.  I rode through West Point and Starkville, MS before I arrived.  Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, and the first documented to have crossed the Mississippi River.  Click on Hernando de Soto if you would like more.

Here is the map of his exploits while in the America’s.images

Ken at Hernando de Soto

Ken at Hernando de Soto

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Riding The Natchez Trace In Mississippi

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Riding The Natchez Trace In Mississippi

I got out today even though it is cloudy and fairly cool today. I wanted to test out my new Nolan N90 helmet. It very comfortable on this ride which only lasted about an hour around a coffee stop about 15 miles south of the Natchez Trace Parkway HeadQuarters. I bought it fairly snug but it will loosen up as I can feel it getting better as I ride.

The Natchez Trace Parkway

The parkway is one of the best rides and covers 444 miles from Nashville Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi. It is mostly a straight highway limited to 50 miles per hour with sweeping curves. The road itself is in excellent condition and commercial traffic is not allowed. You will see bicicles and hikers along the road so give them a wide clearance as the Rangers will enforce the law giving them half a lane clearance.

HeadQuarters And Office Complex

The picture included is at the head quarters of the parkway and in Tupelo, Mississippi. It is within 40 miles of being at the center of the parkway and there are a multitude of facilities available with in a mile of the office. There is tourist information available and rest room facilities. The Park has a map handout the identifies other locations along the park for overnight accommodations, food,and gas. You will need this as you can not see or pass through any towns or cities if you stay on the parkway, although you will be passing next to several.

Looking Forward to Longer Rides

I work out of the Tupelo area and will be travelling the full length from here going both north and south visiting the many wayside stops. I will cover the information and ride as i go. Right now the bike is running good and ready to go, just waiting for a little more break in the weather.

Cold Weather Ride

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WE had a break in the cold weather here in Mississippi and I took the time to warm up the scoot. Actually was warm while in the sun but once you got into the shadows the cold returned instantly. Still it was a nice respite from the cold weather and I enjoyed a good warm lunch at the Country Store a few miles south and east of Tupelo, Mississippi. Lunch was great and I tanked up on coffee which was excellent. Everything worked well on the ole’

bike and I sure will like it when the weather actually changes and gets back to Mississippi weather, make that warmer weather.

The Old Natchez Trace

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This roadside pull over on the Natchez National Park at approximately mile post 222 shows some of the original post road as it was.  Obviously it has been cleared so you and I can walk along it.

Originally it was used by the Indians to travel from the lower Louisiana delta area up to the Nashville, TN area and farther north.


 These pictures, as good as they are, do not show how dense the forest and underbrush can be. 

 Maintaining this 500 mile wilderness road in the early 1800’s was a difficult if not hopeless task.  Consider for an instance that those old travellers had to endure insects, snakes, and other animals along with the heat and humidity that at times in unrelenting.  Those of us who endured Viet-Nam would understand what they went through.

As you look down the trace notice how it is sunken, and also the large trees growing on the edge of the ten foot wide trench or roadway that is cleared today.

The sunken part was caused by the thousands of travelers, the rain that made passage next to impossible in some sections.