Based on what you have already said, I think that this new place you found may actually be cheaper than the "free" places you have already used to ride. I know that my 72 year, "Scratch n' Dent" body won't take another crash. Hell, I've got 2 artificial hips that are older than most forum members and that's just the minor stuff. I've got so many doctors that I see I need still another doctor to keep track of all the other ones. So please be careful or else you'll end up in the Scratch n' Dent bin too. Thank goodness for patient wives. Meanwhile, have fun,
This place is on my list. Croom ATV park in Hernando county. Much bigger than bone valley ATV Park. It's a good 150 miles north of me so this would require an overnight camping trip in my opinion. Used to be phosphate mining land which is common for any ATV park or mountain bike Park in Florida because you don't naturally have much elevation to speak of and riding flat ground is boring as hell. Enjoy some vicarious riding by men much younger than us. People die here. I'll be the first to admit I do not ride like these guys because I have neither the proper gear nor the medical insurance. I just take leisurely rides through the woods. I just wear a helmet boots gloves and glasses.... The mandatory minimum of gear
Today the adventures of fatback find him about 12 miles from home. This is Charlie Creek in minor flood stage in the southern portion of Hardee county. This looks like a spot where the locals come to fish and camp. I checked it out on Google satellite before coming here. No fence and no signs...
And here I find what is almost certainly left by pure white trash. It takes a real garbage excuse of a human being to come all the way out here to leave their trash this way. There's a 99.9% chance this was left by white trash and I say that because they are about the only ones that live in the woods around here, that being white people and evidently there's a portion of them that are white trash So for those of you that say I only noticed bad behavior on the part of certain individuals.... Trashy people leave trash behind.
Here we can see the road I came in on. That limestone is dangerous stuff to a bike when it is wet. And conditions are fairly damp right now. Limestone is very hard and is often used for the under bed of highways. If you see any green or moss on weathered limestone like that you can know that it is slick as baby snot when it is wet One must not get crazy on top of such surfaces. You would have a hard time getting anything but a four wheel drive truck down this road. I do believe this Old bridge probably dates back to at least 1930 and may have been the original highway 17. This is a bridge over Charlie Creek, Charlie Creek feeds directly into the Peace River where I am sitting on the bank of right now... Just like Charlie Creek, it is also in minor flood stage currently. The bridge I am speaking of is located below the above photo. The structure and the architecture of it remind me of a similar bridge crossing over the Peace River at Arcadia that was in fact the original highway 70 and both appear to have been built in the same time and as I stood upon it I thought to myself that probably some of the same men worked on both Bridges. After all they are probably less than 20 mi apart from one another... When I leaned over the side and saw the big arch I just knew I had to walk down on the banks and snap better pictures. They don't call these motorcycles adventure bikes for nothing. I am seeing so many areas that I would never have seen in my life without one. JUST RIDE... Stay on the actual grass in the middle or on the sides whenever possible
A feild allowed to go fallow the last two growing seasons. Probably about 80 acres and whatever this yellow weed is, is all growing at the same height all the way to the highway back in the distance. @DEFinning @Grau I don't know if y'all saw my post today but I took some good pictures of some back roads that very few people ever see. A lot of people born and raised around here have no idea where that bridge is, in the photos above. here you can see a cattle pasture with oak trees and a stream. If I was still in the hunting mushrooms you could not ask for better habitat to find them. An abundance of oak trees combined with tall grass is the best place to look. Plenty of cattle dung doesn't hurt either
During the hurricane which was one year ago yesterday.... There had to have been at least 8 ft of water over the top of that bridge. Come to find out the bridge was constructed in 1926 so I am sure it has seen its share of floods, and being that the road is not really public I'm sure it doesn't receive much of any attention from the DOT. It is amazing what water can do. Somewhere around here I have photos from the last year where at least a hundred yards of elevated highway was completely washed away by the river.
Yet your photo looks very picturesque, nevertheless. Though it is caused by glare, and a characteristic of this particular film (or whatever digital technology is involved), I really like the way the violet tinged glow, in the upper right, creates a real dynamic depth, as it feels like the many vines in the foreground, all grow towards that glimmering portal. Notice even the circular shape of the sky, swirling around it. And a cool, off-kilter, sideways tilt. This other photo, is also a nice composition: spacially & geometrically interesting; with beautiful balance:
Going to spend the day here at Cecil Webb wildlife Management area on Tuesday. Off-road vehicles are only permitted during hunting season but you can drive throughout the wildlife Management area, which means my licensed and registered motorcycle is just as good as the minivan I will drive there in. Park and unload. Here's an interesting link with some of the history for anyone interested in Reading. https://floridacompleterealty.com/fred-c-babcock-cecil-m-webb-wildlife-management-area/?amp=1
So I made it here about 30 minutes ago and unloaded the bike and was riding down a blacktop Road with all of these lakes that run parallel to interstate 75. The lakes are actually where they took out fill dirt to build the interstate. I come around the corner and there was a gator about 20 inches in the road and he zigged and he zagged and I zagged the other way. If you're not going stupidly too fast you leave yourself time to react to things like that. I am so hoping to find a pygmy rattlesnake today. This place is huge, 75,000 acres. There are counties smaller than this.
There are free ranging cattle here. Cow patties are a common sight on Tucker's grade. You can see by the scars that controlled burns are a part of regular Land Management here. California are you listening? This particular trail is called wherdafukawii? Lol
Just sitting here minding my own business watching this wasp drag a spider it has evidently paralyzed with its sting and probably plans to put it wherever it's eggs are so that it's larvae can feast upon it.
I have ridden 30 miles of these dirt roads so far. At one point I hir almost 50 miles an hour which is faster than I have ever been off road and I didn't stay going that fast for very long. But believe it or not there are times when going faster on a motorcycle is safer than going slower. The dreaded death wobble where the front wheel start shaking back and forth is a good example. Speeding up will take some of the weight off of the front wheel. Not that I go that fast. For a fairly amateur Rider like me that is really hauling ass off-road. You can see the cattle dung on the road. I have seen some cows on the side of the road and in the road and yes you must be cautious because it is a possibility one could jump out in front of you. That would certainly not be good at 50 miles an hour. Which is the reason why 95% of the time I'm only doing about 25. But they are very well maintained and flatly graded dirt roads. This place is open until an hour and a half after sunset but I don't think I will stay that long. I looked at the schedule today and there are no hunting periods right now. Archery season already passed in September and general gun season doesn't start until sometime in November. Interestingly enough the place is 24-hour access during raccoon and possum season which is basically the entire month of February. I think I shall have to make it a point to come ride at night out here sometime during that month. I bet you might see some interesting creatures out here on these back roads at 2:00 a.m.
@Grau @DentalFloss This is so tempting right here. 2005 Yamaha 1100 v Star with less than 4,000 miles so it's barely broken in for $2,650 and it's only about 20 mi away from me. I am so tempted to tell that guy I'll be there with 2600 bills and a $50 bill just as quick as I can. But I already have a bike I don't really have anywhere to park it but this is the sort of bike I could get on and go see key West for a weekend. This bike is easily worth $5,000. And it's an immaculate condition with a clean title owned by an old man so I can only imagine he hardly ever rode it and his wife said, honey you don't even really ride that anymore it's just taking up space in the garage why don't you sell it? Why couldn't I have found something like this when I had $7,000 burning a hole in my pocket? Because I was in a hurry and wanted something. Lesson learned.
Many years ago, I visited my relatives in Rhode Island. My uncle had several motorcycles, including a Honda XR 600, which he allowed me to ride. I had no American driving license, but I was an relatively experienced off-roader (XT 500 (4-stroke) and KDX 400 (2-stroke) at home). So he told me to go offroad as soon as possible to avoid the police. The XR600 was a revelation for me. Starts at -15 degrees Celsius with the first kick. I bought one myself, soon later, which I still own today, totally reliable and good-natured bike.
I'm sure I would love that because the only bikes I have ever ridden is my KLX 230 dual sport which is a modest engine as these machines go. And the only other bikes I have ever ridden was a Honda Shadow I believe in 800 or 1,000 and the Harley 500 street that I took my endorsement on. When I get another bike in the future it will either be a larger dual sport such as a DRZ or perhaps a KLR 650 or a cruiser but I have no interest in a sport bike. Dual sports are awesome because you have a somewhat capable dirt bike that is also street legal that you can legally go a lot of places that a regular off-road vehicle would never make it legally. And if I get stuck in traffic I just look over my shoulder for a cop and you bet your ass I'll go through a ditch or over a median. One thing I do not do is Lane split. But I will go off-road in a hurry.
Don't know what's a sport bike for you. For me it's street-legal racing bikes like the Honda CBRs or Kawa ZX types with almost no off-road capability. I also own a Honda CBR 1000 RR (Fireblade), which I enjoy when I want to quickly cover long distances on German Autobahns. From Hannover (Germany) to Vienna (Austria) took me less than 9 hours (~830 km) including little stops for refilling with gasoline and coffee.
The problem with me getting a bike that can go 180 mph is that eventually I'm going to want to go 180 mph. Plus the riding position doesn't look all that comfortable, but I know they make sport bikes that are somewhat of a hybrid designed with comfort in mind. Probably not something I should do. When I say sport bike it's what a lot of people refer to as a crotch rocket. There is an acronym for a certain type of sport bike rider known as a squid... Stupid, quick, underdressed and eminently dead. Plus they seem to be a cop magnet. My brother lives in Tampa and has owned a few of them and he says even riding responsibly he got pulled over like once a week. I guess the cops are mad at the last guy on a sport bike that hauled ass and hurt their little ego and got away from them. Lol
About 10 years ago, police stopped me a lot while riding my XR600. The bike has to be limited to 17 hp if you want to ride it on the public road. It usually has 45 hp. Throttling down to 17 hp occurs via a small metal plate between carburetor and engine. With this "throttleplate", the engine runs very poorly, responds too slowly to the throttle grip and often stalls (for no reason). Almost every XR owner has removed the disgusting "throttleplate". The Cop's first question was always "How much horsepower does your bike have?"
