Day 3 - Friday
Today is a riding day. Woohoo. I woke up having slept comfortably in the hammock even though the temps got down into the 40's overnight. The Hennessy Super Shelter under quilt did it's job and kept me from suffering from cold butt. We had coffee, then suited up and headed to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the group. Breakfast was next door to the hotel at Shoney's and the campers lined their bikes up out front.
Breakfast buffet and coffee was a staggering $12. The hotel guests ate for free but not me. That's a chunk of change when you are eating light because you know you'll be on the road all day.
We broke into smaller groups and I chose a slower group led by the fantastic Tyler. She's an excellent photographer and an amazing person, and her pace was spot on for me so we had a good time following the twisty roads in the hills of Alabama around the Cheaha State Park in the Talladega National Forest.
We were in search of a short hike to a waterfall. We stopped here and were greeted by this sign, which we took to NOT be our short hike.
The gateway to the trail was nice though.
About this time we were approached by a very bubbly happy "Park Ranger in training" who was eager to distribute maps and give directions. She gave us directions to where we needed to go, but she cautioned us that there's a parking lot and then a gravel road leading to the trail head. We can take the gravel road and park directly at the trailhead to shorten the walk.
We found the parking lot, we found the road, but the waterfall trail head wasn't to be found. We did find Cheaha lake and stopped to get some photos of the beauty of the area. Miss Tyler was taking her own pictures of course. I could sit in that chair all day and just take it all in.
I got my own photo of course.
Then we were off and there was a lot of this...
Maps were consulted, roads were identified and the thing we found we were most sure of was that Miss "Park Ranger in training" required more training.
Eventually we found a parking lot with some buildings and a gate guard. We pulled off into the parking lot and let Tyler speak to the gate guard. When she was done she looped around and waved me over. She explained that there's a small park there and the entrance fee is $5, but that there's also a restaurant in there and since it's a little past lunch time we could eat there. I told her she should have just pointed and said "Food" and I'd have agreed to go. The others agreed so we paid and went in.
Surprisingly enough, they gave each of us a $5 coupon toward our luch at the restaurant. The running joke was that we were about to have $15 ham sandwiches. On entering the restaurant we were presented with this view.
Wow. Ok, I'm ready for a $15 dollar ham sandwich to eat here. Except, no sandwiches, but a buffet. Even better. I stuffed myself, determined to get my money's worth out of this high priced meal. When the check came, my bill was $10. Yes, less than Shoney's. Taking into account my $5 off coupon I ate here for five freaking dollars. I can't even eat at McDonalds for five bucks. This was one of my few great deals I stumbled onto on this trip.
Afterwards we stepped outside to take in the view and take a few photos.
On the way out, I couldn't help but notice that some folks who live in Alabama apparently are smarter than the average resident.
Since we paid to get in we took a trip around the loop in the park. At one point Tyler stopped and took pictures of us all.
While she was headed back to her bike I figured someone needed to get a picture of her so I zoomed off down the road and set up to get an action shot.
After that, it was more riding trying to find the waterfall hike.
And more consulting of the maps...
Finally we arrive, after yet another long gravel road. We were taking off our riding gear when two of the other groups showed up as well. Perfect timing! A good size group to hit the trails with.
Once on the trails I was in my element. There's a fair amount of rock scrambling and I love being out in the woods doing this kind of stuff. I scrambled on ahead to snap some photos, including some steep stairs that were almost a ladder.
If you stopped at these falls, you'd miss the better ones up ahead.
The high falls, what an amazing place. Well worth the short hike.
The trail continued on up, so several of us ran up and found there weren't any more falls, just a lot more hiking. Not doing that today. The view from above the falls and the group hiking.
On the way down I wanted a selfie in front of the falls. There was quite a gap to jump between rocks. I had a short conversation with myself about how I'm not as young as I used to be, but I still jumped and made it.
Leaving on the gravel road, Tyler got this fantastic shot of her Spyder and me with my FJR.
We made our way back to Rally central, getting stopped once by a train.
Being unaware of the facilities at the party/camp location I'd done some intel work ahead of time and had something to try out. Reading up on some forums of folks who travel by motorcycle or folks who stealth camp in their cars, it turns out that Truck Stops are a great source of a hygene session for a mere twelve bucks. There was a Loves Travel center nearby so I stopped by there on the way back. I grabbed all my stuff and headed inside not sure what to expect. I bypassed the normal counter and went straight to the truck counter and inquired about the showers.
Me: So, how does the shower situation work here?
Her: Well, you pay me and then you take a shower.
Me: Um, ok.
Her: Just kidding, are you a rewards member?
Me: No, not really.
Her: Well, if you pump a certain amount of diesel you can earn free showers.
I hold up my helmet "I'm on a motorcycle.
Her: Oh well, it's twelve dollars, but you know, we have a lot of guys who come in that have unlimited accounts and don't always use them, so just go ahead for free and I'll charge to one of them sometime.
Score! Facilities were very clean, they provided you with towels and wash cloths and had soap dispensers. You got your own private toilet, shower and sink. I was able to take care of the good old Marine Corps three sh's. Yes, shower, shave and that other thing. This will be something to remember when moto camping on the road because this was much better than 95% of the camp grounds restrooms I've used, and certainly more private.
Back to the rally location and we were served a huge pile of food in the form of a "Shrimp boil." I don't do shrimp, but there was enough sausage, corn and potatoes to leave me stuffed, but not too stuffed for pie and ice cream of course. I did hear folks hitting the shirmp holy grail though announcing that they couldn't possibly eat another shrimp. I understand that's a difficult limit to hit for those who love them.
Yes, terrible focus on this next one, I was dodging people running for the shrimp.
Turk, our host, had arranged these two very talented guys to come in and play for us. I'll admit, the songs I knew sounded just like they did on the radio and they seemed quite good, but the songs weren't necessarily my music and I'm not the greatest appreciater of music so I ended up out poking at the fire listening to them outside enjoying the cool weather and general ambiance and conversation with others. Still, those guys were great and everyone was very amazed. There was a lady who jumped in with them at one point with an amazing voice as well. What a great finish to an amazing day.
More time spent around the fire with my new friends and some were quite tipsy and entertaining. Some good stuff happend that falls into the "What happens at SFO stays at SFO."