Pre-Christmas Ride--December 14, 2019

So what do you get when you combine an easy-paced pre-Christmas ride with deserted backroads you never knew existed? – a Gawker’s Special!  Why?  Because at low speeds and with no tree cover, these remote areas offer lots to see.   My head was on a swivel moving from one sight to the next.  With temps only in the forties, we planned a late start and early finish.  Larry, Dave and Mel met in Ball Ground, then meandered west along Long, Friendship and Salacoa roads.  The light pace provides plenty of gawking opportunities… at properties, Christmas decorations, farm animals, the $1M mansion on the hill with the septic truck parked in front.  The leisurely pace gave us time to stop and watch a slow-moving flock of turkeys cross the road.  After a brief warmup in Fairmont, we enjoyed more of the same in the Henderson Mountain area before stopping for lunch at Davis BBQ a few miles south of Jasper on Refuge Road.  Very enjoyable and I’d go again, but…

We were only given one task by BobS and we failed – to formulate a ride plan for January.  To our credit, Dave lead a great discussion of a wonderful area he and his wife recently experienced while visiting their oldest over Thanksgiving – Uruguay!  It may not work for our January ride so stay tuned for Plan B.  But it was fun dreaming.  And Dave gets to board his son’s Scrambler for a couple years (hope he doesn’t check his odometer too close)!

After lunch the clouds thinned and sunglasses came out as we picked up the pace on Cove, Steve Tate, Sperin and Conns Creek roads as we worked our way back to Cherokee County.  All in all, a great day of winter riding.  About 125 miles and home by 2:30.  Join us next time.