Bibb County BeBop

[Guidedawg]

Although I hope to ride up this way in 2 weeks for an event in Tuscaloosa, it was just too nice of a day to waste by not being on my motorcycle.  I'd been itching to get the photo tag since TFancher placed it, though it did take me some searching on Google Maps before I found the exact spot.


And since I was going that way anyway, I decided to update the National Register of Historic Places section of this site since no one had yet started Bibb County.  It was not until I started writing my report that I realize I overlooked one of them.  However, it gave me an opportunity to travel some of the back roads and explore the communities.

Photos and descriptions of the properties may be found at https://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?topic=2136.0

Go check 'em out and maybe it will inspire you to pick a county of city and get one or two to add to the updates!

It was a colder morning, and that's what I told a friend from my rider's association when he spotted me at a gas station.  If fat boy is going to wear his vest, I'm going to need some vest extenders to fit it over the jacket!

My route took me past Maxwell Air Force base, across the Alabama River into Prattville and then on Hwy 82.  Unlike most rides this direction, however, I turned onto Hwy 22 In Maplesville and then on to 139 to begin getting pics at the sites I had mapped.



One of my stops was at Brierfield Iron Works park where I spent some time talking to a scout master. He (along with other leaders, both male and female) was there with an all-girls boy scout troop.  I realize BSA is under bankruptcy now, but since they allowed girls to join, I think having an all-girl troop is the way to go.  There are far too many young ladies who would rather camp and play with knives than sell cookies.

I just did a quick drive through and saw the furnace



But I opted not to go to some of the other nearby structures



After all, the bridge troll might come after me!



I particularly enjoyed driving through the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge.  It was a detour from the route map I printed before going.  When I left the park, I chose to take Bulldog Bend Rd to Cahaba River Drive.  I would cross the river several times in different places as I made my way around the county.

I pulled off to turn around and take a photo of the Refuge sign when I noticed I was on a trail.





It was another sign of the mining that was so prevalent in this area.  If you'll visit the Bibb County section linked at the beginning of this post, you can see a bit about that history in the West Blocton area.

Sure enough, when I looked down I could see the remnants of the old mining line tracks. Cool stuff



Unfortunately, my visit to the Italian Catholic Cemetery wasn't nearly as interesting.  I looked about the cemetery and was surprised to see so many graves from the 1950's fairly deep in the woods.  There was a gate across the dirt road and a sign that said the key could be gotten at City Hall.  The historic cemetery is further up that road, but I didn't want to try to get my heavy cruiser around the gate.

Although the map says I took Hwy 5 down to Centreville, I actually made a detour along River Bend Rd for more rural riding.  And it seems that each time I found myself on Hwy 25, I was never far from a lumber mill and the smell of creosote or turpentine.

When I arrived in the metropolis of Centreville, I recalled that it had been almost a year since I was last here and on the same sort of errand.  JBMFT had placed the photo tag at a Mexican restaurant and I was next door to it again as I filled the gas tank.  I filled my own tank at the nearby Jacks before heading toward Brent and claiming the photo tag.



As you can tell from my reports, I enjoy learning about the history of an area and the catastrophic storms were interesting (though tragic)research for finding the tag.

I had taken 219 down to Selma the last time I was in the area, and while I enjoyed some backroads riding that day also https://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?topic=3780.0
This time I decided to stay on 82 and take a more direct route home.

As I rode near the roadside produce stands, I saw a lot of bare peach trees, but I also saw several with pink or white blooms.



Springtime is upon us!

And once I found this welcome spot in Maplesville



I closed the loop and made my way back through Prattville and Montgomery where I was still in a historical frame of mind as I placed the tag downtown.

You'll just have to visit the games section here to see where

https://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?topic=18.285

[merc16]

There are some very impressive train trestles in the Cahaba NWR from the 1800's and a very nice packed gravel road that goes right along the Cahaba River. The road would be cruiser friendly and you can get a good view of the Cahaba Lily's. They're very rare and only bloom once a year in May. I'm very glad to see you post about this area.  Thank you !

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