Jimmy's First Dual Sport (and stuff)

[kdtrull]

That's Jimmy....my buddy for almost 16 years now.  He's on his practically brand new 2016 KLR that he dang near stole from a feller down in Cullman.  $5300.00 sound OK?  It does to me.  A coincidental photographer just happened to be here taking some pre-wedding shots when we rode through.  Some of you will recognize the place...if not now, eventually.  Pretty cool picture, ain't it?  It's from our afternoon ride this past Sunday.  We'll get back to here later.

A couple or three weekends ago, I jumped into the Middle TN Tag game.  I do that from time to time just to get them fellers away from Nashville every once in a while.  I isolated their tag and headed out.



I was too dumb to check before I left out and got Bruced by 3 hours.  By the time I got there, the new tag was done gone up to Franklin:



So, I went all the way up to that congestive traffic failure and moved it way back down to here....



....and gave some nice clues about some nifty ways to get there.  Like Dave Hill Rd.



Jimmy wasn't actually there that day but it's the only picture I could find from the crossing on Dave Hill Rd.

The next tagger seemed to really enjoy the ride so he dropped the next tag where he knew I could get to it:



And I did...and set the next nifty tag here:



It was set on the very next day and I had swapped from my KLR to the mighty 20.767% Super Tenere.

The next tagger moved it way back up yunder and I had no idea where it was at.  Time to drop out of TN tag for a while.

The next week, me and Jimmy set out for Cullman to (hopefully) pick up his first dual sport.  I felt sorry for the dude.  He had it listed as a race-horse deal and took even less for it.  He was having foot tendon problems that prevented him from riding his brand new KLR...1786 miles.  It was a heavy-hearted moment for me.....super-nice guy....just south of Al Goodwin.  I hope he gets a full recovery and rides again some day.

I did a little more piddling around while Jimmy was getting all his stuff sorted out.  Nothing special...just fart'n around the countryside.



As soon as Jimmy got his stuff together, he was ready to get his feet wet in the wonderful world of dual sport.  The following weekend we took of for a middle TN tour of goodness.  We started out on dry gravel, moved onto unimproved roads:



Then did "Jimmy's First Crick" at good-ole Dave Hill Rd.  It's actually pretty slimy bedrock but it's pitted enough that you don't slide too much.





There's the kind of stuff just across the state line that I just don't know how to find around here:



Now it's time to meet Pvt. John Dixon.  Randy actually showed me this place the first time but I had no idea what a brute-force stud this guy was until the second time I went there with Jimmy.





I'll tell you more about John in the next installment.  Hint:  He didn't stop with one wife!

[kdtrull]

So, that site marker sits right out by the road and on top of it is what I assume are the original grave markers for John and Elizabeth...since one is broken and the other very worn.

The actual grave sites appear to be back in the far left corner from the site marker:



So, here's where John gets a little more interesting.  I think John had to be between 17 and 18 when he was in the war.  It's unclear when he actually came home but he managed to get back and marry Elizabeth by the time he was ~20 to 21.  That's when John really "got busy". :)

By 1817, John and Elizabeth had founded and begun the first production run at the Dixon Baby Extrusion Company.  They were quite successful at it:



They produced 12 baby Dixons in just 26 years.  Poor Elizabeth...I bet she stayed tired a lot.  She was just 17 when it all started.  Looks like, by the time she was 44, she just couldn't take another production run.  But she did manage to remain at the company another 25 years, or so, until she was 64. 

Big John didn't waste much time...At ALL!  Elizabeth died in Nov. 1863 when John was only 68 years old.  He still had a right fair share of work to do.  Just a few weeks later, Mary joined the extrusion empire and delivered another 5 baby Dixons....incredible.  John was ~81 when little Manerue Ella was born.  There's no other information on site about Mary.  At least she didn't have to help raise them other 12 hetherns.  :P

[kdtrull]

Me and Jimmy work together with another feller named Mike.  Me and Jimmy had been talking bike stuff, off-and-on, for weeks....not realizing that Mike was having bike issues of his own.  Mike's son was totally bent on getting his first bike and he wanted a sport bike....generally not a good idea for a learner....at least according to some people, including Mike...and me.  ;)

So, Mike was able to tell Cole about his dual sport buddies at work..and show him some pictures and videos....and finally reach a compromise on what had become a pretty heated issue between the two of them.  They ended up traveling to MO last week to pick up a 2013 DR650 for just $3400.00.  Another great deal, I thought.

So here's Cole on his nifty, new-to-him, DR650:



On a late Sunday afternoon whim, after Mike and Cole had a chance to take a couple short test rides, we all met at my house and went out for a (too) short middle TN tour.  I even let Mike ride the mighty 20.767% Super Tenere so he wouldn't be left out of his boy's inaugural dual-sport ride.  You can't deny a buddy an opportunity like that, can you? 





I took 'em to one of my favorite water holes, the Creek at Mt. Zion Church.  That's Cole in the foreground.  He claimed to be having a great time.



I had been out earlier that morning, alone, and got into a bit of trouble in the swollen creeks.  One in particular washed me off the pad and about 5 feet downstream.  I was genuinely spooked for a few seconds until I got oriented upstream.  If the event had lasted much longer, the mounting pressure between my innards and my outtards would have reached an unsustainable differential and I would have a much messier story to tell...or not tell.  :-[  Anyway, on the way to Mt. Zion I stopped by to show them where I got pushed off the road.  The little car in the background chose wisely and turned around.



That's Mike holding the camera and me, Cole, and Jimmy in the back.  It must have been a flood early Sunday or late Saturday night.  That creek is hardly ever that high.  It had already gone down 6-8 inches by the time we went back that afternoon and made the picture.

Almost forgot...this is the nice photographer lady with her clients that gave use the nice pictures:



Since there was more water flowing than I've seen in months and months, I thought it would be a good time to show the guys Wilburn Mill.












I had a blast and got to make a new friend:



And Cole and Jimmy and Mike all got to get their dual sport feet a little wet.

Later, I found out that Mike and Cole live in the same neighborhood as Jeep8.  And they have met and talked and plan to ride some together.  I'm glad Cole will have, at least, one good mentor to keep him pointed in the right direction.  ;D

[Chitza]

Super tale, kd! And I always love reading your stuff :)

[kdtrull]

You've probably seen these places multiple times and, Yes!, I'm still hung up on this song, but here is a short clip from Sunday:

[lazeebum]

Looks like you're personally increasing the number of dual sport addicts in the area.

[Nice Goat]

Jimmy's KLR looks a lot like mine!

I love those roads up there.  That was one of my favorite dual sport rides.  All those water crossings and pasty white women in the creeks....

[Guidedawg]

Great story, pics, and video - as always!

You are an excellent dual-sport ambassador, and they are fortunate to have you to show the ropes, or at least the creek crossings and to join in your addiction.

[kdtrull]

Well...this short tale has nothing to do with Jimmy's First Dual Sport (and stuff) but the other threads have new posts in them I didn't want to knock anyone off the top of the list.  I know, very well, Wynn's post will not be affected by this little blip....and so it is:

Mike and Cole were ready to cover some new ground last weekend.  Since the last post in this thread, Mike has bought his younger son a DR200.  The young'n is not quite ready to hit the roads yet.  So, Mike took the boy's 200 (against much protest) on a ride over to Waterloo/Dry Creek WMA last weekend. 

I swear, every time I go there, it looks different.  Those 4-wheeled jobberdoobies can really rearrange the landscape.  I will not be riding the KLR through much of that place any time soon.  My little 250 was fine but there were a few get-offs in the books for Mike and Cole.

I firmly believe those low-speed get-offs are a good learning experience....although, I don't wish them on anyone....they just demonstrate and remind you how easy it is to get into trouble on two wheels.

I've shown y'all this area, at least, a couple times before.  But, It sure is fun to take folks who've never been there before to see the sights.



Can you tell why it's called Rainbow Falls....although, it's dang near dried up now:



If you come in from the north, you can get to the falls in/on just about anything with a little ground clearance:



We came in from the south this time and it was a little treacherous....probably would not do that again if we could get a do-over.

You won't believe this but, I was real hungry (hardly ever happens  :D) and had a mouth full of beef jerky in this one  ;D



It was more crowded along the Panther Creek area last weekend than I've ever seen before.
Cole is doing great on the 650, in my mind, for a new rider.  He is young and strong.  And, his pappy is doing a great job with coaching him about staying on the edge of them 1 and 1.5 lane roads and meeting oncoming traffic....and a few other hotter issues we won't bring up here!!!  But the main thing is....I think (hope) he's enjoying dual sporting enough that he is no longer jonesing for a 120 H.P. sport bike for a while.