Men's Fall Trip... pics added complete

[Cormanus]

EmptySea, I agree with you about the utility of Google Maps. Most of the time it's really handy. Using towns is good; I think, but I'm not sure, because the program generates a URL to describe the route and, at some point, it can't get any bigger. I've a suspicion that, as soon as you change the route from the one the engine prefers, it generates a longer URL.

Using the new MyMaps gives you a bit more latitude. You can add a number of layers with multiple way points before it gets stroppy and tells you to pay for the professional edition. The down side is that it's output is a little less accessible.
Click for link to Google Maps. May not work on tablets or phones.

https://goo.gl/maps/HAezS

 

[the Ferret]

Perfect map Cormanus..very cool! Look at all those squiggles.

Day 4 is now in the books. A little warmer this morning low 53 and this afternoon 79. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer yet.

Had another good ride plotted out ( yellow loop) and it turned out even better than we had hoped.
For Cormanus.. From hotel headed east on 956 to 25. 25 north to Richmond. At Richmond we grabbed 52 east. 52 started out a boring 4 lane, dropped to a boring 2 lane then turned into a carnival ride of twist turns up and downs for the next 30 miles or so. Great road. We took 52 to 30 at Quicksand, and took 30 north ( another great road) to the Bert Combs Mtn Parkway. The parkway was open and mostly flat but still kind of cool. Clean and wooded on both sides it was like an expressway thru a forest.We took the Parkway west and exited the parkway at Rt 11 and took an amazing 11 south past Natural Bridge State Park to Beattyville to 52, and then took 52 west back through the awesome carnival ride , then boring 2 lane and boring 4 lane to 25 at Richmond, and 25 south to 956 west back to the hotel. Great day of riding! Total miles for today was 242.

Total mileage for the 3 days so far is 899 (about 99 of those straight and 800 of them curvy). At dinner we were discussing which state is better for riding, West Virginia or this part of Kentucky. We declared a tie, and just thankful that we have gotten to ride in them both.

 

[emptysea]

Great loop. Again, some of the roads you hit I had on my "if there's time" list. Alas, there was not. Glad you had a great ride.

 

[Cormanus]

Picture links to Google Maps.



Looks like some great riding in there, Ferret. Clearly I'm not going to have nearly enough time in the US next year.

 

[the Ferret]

Cormanus, you are a magician

Day 5 in the books. Tomorrow we head home. Been a great trip. Today we did one new loop and another loop which included parts of two other loops we had already done. Temp started out in the low 60s and made it into the low 80s. Just beautiful weather all week. We even saw a rainbow around the SUN on the way back from dinner. None of us had ever seen that before.

Loop 1 the Blue Loop on my map. We headed west on 956 from Berea to 595. West on 595 to 52. 52 west to 34 and 34 west to 150 at Danville. 150 west to 68 at Perryville. 68 is a Kentucky Scenic Highway and we took it north thru some beautiful horse farms to Nicholasville, where we pocked up 169 south. Not shown on my map we were blasting down curvy 169 when we came to the Kentucky river. There was no bridge. We had to ferry our bikes across on a small paddle wheeler ferry. There was no charge ( it was paid for by the county) and really cool. On the other side we picked up a very curvy 169 and took it into Richmond, where we picked up 25 south down to 956 east back to the hotel. This loop covered 125 miles.

Loop 2. For dinner we decided on the Right Place Restaurant in Irvine. we decided to take the curviest way there. 21 east to 421. 421 south to McKee. There we picked up 89 north and weaved our way to Irvine for dinner. After dinner we took 52 west to Richmond and 25 south to 956 east back to the hotel. This loop covered 95 miles.

Total for the day 220 miles

Total for the trip so far 1119 miles.

 

[Cormanus]

It's getting a bit hard to keep up, but I'm trying. As usual, the pictures should also be a link to Google maps so you can explore each route in more detail.

The Day Ride


Gotta love riding through a place called Paint Lick.

The Dinner Run
[url=https://goo.gl/maps/gTfk2]

The complete day
[url=https://goo.gl/maps/1kCnS]

Looks fabulous Ferret.

 

[the Ferret]

Twas Fabulous Cormanus. Perfect weather all 6 days. Great roads, wonderful companions, superb reliable motorcycles. 1247 miles.

Here are some pics..Day 1 Cinti to Berea

Meeting up at Jimmy's..l to r my brother Randy, son Brian and Brian's FIL Jimmy



Randy leading down "my road" on the way to Ferry

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip011_zps8664c529.jpg.html]

wating for the Ferry to take us across the Ohio River to Kentucky

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riding the ferry

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riding thru N Ky

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some of the dry stack rock walls around Paris Kentucky horse farms

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Horse farms

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Walking around Berea... a real "artsy town" stopped in a little shop where they made Dulcimers. Randy and Jimmy are playing rhythm while the maker is playing the main tune and singing. It was great!

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip034_zps90fd469c.jpg.html]

lots more to come...stay tuned
Day 2

Getting ready to ride..yep a bit nippy out

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Red River Gorge area

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Looking over the edge

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Group shot
[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip087_zpsaa8deab0.jpg.html]

Nada Tunnel 12' wide 13' tall, 900' long blasted thru mountain
[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip117_zpsfda32d04.jpg.html]

"The Right Place" restaurant Mmmm good!

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip132_zps010a0ee7.jpg.html]

riding after lunch

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip134_zps9c0c7376.jpg.html]

Comfort Food from Sonny's in Richmond for dinner

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip141_zps562b6561.jpg.html]

 

[Rick Froscheiser_imp]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Cormanus thanks for mapping it out. Very cool to see.
Ride safe my friends

 

[the Ferret]

Day 3

Gassin up



rippin the curves

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip148_zpsf5f86277.jpg.html]

rock wall

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip154_zpse3220908.jpg.html]

taking a break in the shade

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Day 4

Heading out in the country to the next curvy road

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip179_zpsd88747c8.jpg.html]

Look in the shady spot out in front of Randy for the deer sprinting across the road..there were 3 this was the last

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip182_zps2d10d031.jpg.html]

riding

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip187_zpsb9f415cc.jpg.html]

Action shot for Houtman

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip192_zpsa31f9441.jpg.html]

some riding shots

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip210_zpsd9ab5017.jpg.html]

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more to come

 

[the Ferret]

If you look in this pic you see something we thought was a large dog in the road. Ended up it was a big brown billy goat ..I know crazy huh?



After the goat it was back to railing

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip240_zpsa7e09b6d.jpg.html]

Yep, Jimmy's still with us

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip241_zps50132455.jpg.html]

lean left!
[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip250_zpsa07a9e88.jpg.html]

Being chased

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip274_zps8d97f3bf.jpg.html]

interesting geography

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip315_zps9c639625.jpg.html]

This is the paddle wheeler that ferried us across the Kentucky River on Rt 169

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip322_zps7366ca88.jpg.html]

and more riding

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip347_zpsbc8a1741.jpg.html]

 

[redbirds_imp]

Nice photos Ferret. What camera are you using for your action shots? I do enjoy them.

 

[the Ferret]

Redbirds..it's just a point and shoot Fujifilm XP digital

More pics

Here is the rainbow which was in an arc over the sun. It was explained later that night on the news and called a "Sun Dog"



our run back to the hotel that evening on the boring part of 52

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip364_zps0fdf32f8.jpg.html]

Packing up this morning for the trip home

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip371_zpsc3a23480.jpg.html]

droning up I-75 north towards Ohio

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip377_zps77809e17.jpg.html]

Randy peeling off on the outer belt around Cinti, while Brian, Jimmy and I take the exit for ST RT 52

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip393_zps5cb8aba7.jpg.html]

Just a couple more miles at this point on very familiar roads

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip403_zpse31cbfb0.jpg.html]

just a few last turns

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Jimmy waving off... he goes left here, Brian and I go right

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Brian waving off, he goes straight here, I go right

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip430_zpsbad87696.jpg.html]

coming down my drive I am greeted by a doe eating acorns in the front yard

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/FallTrip434_zps0696f580.jpg.html]

Home at last

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What a great trip. PS Thanks again to Cormanus for the awesome map work. Much appreciated.

 

[emptysea]

Great read. Maybe especially since I've been in that area and it is a rider's paradise.

Where did you stay in Berea?

 

[the Ferret]

ES we stayed at the Red Roof Inn Berea ( formerly County Inn and Suites or something like that).Middle of the road place to stay...not the greatest, not the worst. Had typical continental breakfast in mornings and a heated indoor pool we used several evenings. $ 80 bucks a night per room which we split. Randy and I shared a room, Jimmy and Brian shared a room. People were really friendly. General Manager ( his name was Roy Rogers, I kid you not) rode a HD Fatboy to work everyday. He told us to park in front under the awning so no dew would get on our bikes.

 

[Cormanus]

As always, fabulous pictures and a great report, Ferret. There was a certain vicarious pleasure to be had trying to keep up on the map.

 

[the Ferret]

Funny thing, in the narrative I used words like rippin the curves , and tearing it up. On the last evening we were rippin the curves going up 89 north. A Ky State Trooper passed us going the opposite direction ( what he was doing on that devilishly curvy road, I have no idea) but I looked down at my sppedometer to see if we needed to worry and it read 52. We weren't even doing the speed limit (55). Felt like we were really tearing it up lol.

 

[OldF7Guy_imp]

Great pics and thanks for sharing. I missed a trip a little while back to red river gorge where the nada tunnel is and opted instead to go the the kentucky kickdown instead. ONe of my buddies wants to go back yet again before the year is out so I hope we can make it before the weather turns bad.

 

[Cormanus]

I'd be interested in some feedback on the utility of a map of the entire ride (bar the final day, which I assume was straight up I75) so here is one. As usual it should link to an original Google Map that you can zoom in on and all that useful stuff. Any feedback, politely expressed of course, would be appreciated.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zwzS5Q1Lo7Yk.kmP_pLB123PE

 

[emptysea]

If it's not too much trouble, the full map is great. However, it seems to me that having just the segment maps is probably ssufficient for my reference purposes. I am not likely to have the opportunity to duplicate the entirety of Ferret's route, but knowing the segments of the roads that he enjoyed most is very useful indeed. Thanks for posting them.

 

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Beaut photos. Love the Sun Dog one. Shame you couldn't get a bit of CB in it. Great ride. You live in a beautiful part of the world. Makes this city slicker envious.

Cheers