SFO 2016 - Oct. 27th thru Oct. 30th in Jemison, Alabama!

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Oh, and I thought SFO would be the next time I would have to opportunity to add some more states to my ride map- but it looks like I have been persuaded into riding down to Arkansas for the Hooterville shindig. So I'll make sure to snag Oklahoma while I'm there. (+2!)
Then 3 weeks later, I'll be down for SFO. Not sure any of the surrounding states will get grabbed that weekend. As it looks like the LZ is pretty well centered in the great state of Alabama....
You had better stop by my neck of the woods!

 
Oh, and I thought SFO would be the next time I would have to opportunity to add some more states to my ride map- but it looks like I have been persuaded into riding down to Arkansas for the Hooterville shindig. So I'll make sure to snag Oklahoma while I'm there. (+2!)

Then 3 weeks later, I'll be down for SFO. Not sure any of the surrounding states will get grabbed that weekend. As it looks like the LZ is pretty well centered in the great state of Alabama....
You had better stop by my neck of the woods!
Hey- I asked you about riding this weekend!! I even offered up a set of seats for you to borrow..... Lol.
 
FInally have my plans on paper. So for me it will be leave Council Bluffs, IA. on 10-22-16 and head south Flower snifing the Ozarks and Arkansas to the HpPants inspired Natchez Trace Parkway all the way up to Hwy 72 then cut across to my nephews in Madison,AL. Planning to arrive on monday. Going to ride by day, while he works, and visit Seth by night and then show up at FJRBandits for SFO Thursday-Sunday. Will make plans with Cav and Pants to ride where the wind takes us.

Pants: Wish timing was better, would have came down and rode up with you guys. Looked up the trace pkwy and looks like close to top ten road.

looking to ride up into Tennessee if anybody know a good day route or two

 
Day rides in Tennessee?

Mr. Daniels makes whiskey in Lynchburg, and there are serious mountains to the east, around South Pittsburg. (Yeah, there's no "H" in the Tennessee town name.) The University of the South in Suwanee has a gorgeous campus, with plenty of flowers for sniffing.

Lots of small highways for route choices.

 
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I'm IN!! Put another name on the hotel list for this shindig...

As of now, I'm planning on arriving Wednesday so I can do some hiking in Oak Mountain State Park Thursday, and if time permits, the Barber Motorsports Museum.

Did I miss the posting of rides, routes for the area? Any who, I'm in!!!!

 
I had indicated that I would attend (camping), but my daughter just informed me that I have a conflicting engagement. Hope all goes well!

 
I'm IN!! Put another name on the hotel list for this shindig...
As of now, I'm planning on arriving Wednesday so I can do some hiking in Oak Mountain State Park Thursday, and if time permits, the Barber Motorsports Museum.

Did I miss the posting of rides, routes for the area? Any who, I'm in!!!!
ET sighting!

Sorry I'm gonna miss this one.

 
The Redfishes pointed their middle fingers at the Best Western in Clanton as they rode by Friday around lunchtime. Well, the youngest one did anyway.

Not able to commit either way. Lots of turmoil in The World of Redfish right now. A promotion, flood recovery, offsite training, just returned from an 8 day ride with Pop, the usual BS.

Also, Pop and I are not good Social Animals. We usually stay quietly outside the noise and the fury. And we do not care for large group rides.

I don't know what exactly went on at EOM but I hear 4 totaled bikes. Can anyone confirm this? What happened? We sure as hell don't want any part of that.

 
I'm IN!! Put another name on the hotel list for this shindig...
As of now, I'm planning on arriving Wednesday so I can do some hiking in Oak Mountain State Park Thursday, and if time permits, the Barber Motorsports Museum.

Did I miss the posting of rides, routes for the area? Any who, I'm in!!!!
Great to hear ET! I like your early arrival plans as well. If you haven't been to Barber I highly recommend that you set aside at least 3 to 4 hours to do a run through at a minimum.

As for rides and routes... you haven't missed anything, see below.

I had indicated that I would attend (camping), but my daughter just informed me that I have a conflicting engagement. Hope all goes well!
Maybe next time rpm! Enjoy your time with your daughter, there's always next year to see us heathens.
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The Redfishes pointed their middle fingers at the Best Western in Clanton as they rode by Friday around lunchtime. Well, the youngest one did anyway.
Not able to commit either way. Lots of turmoil in The World of Redfish right now. A promotion, flood recovery, offsite training, just returned from an 8 day ride with Pop, the usual BS.

Also, Pop and I are not good Social Animals. We usually stay quietly outside the noise and the fury. And we do not care for large group rides.

I don't know what exactly went on at EOM but I hear 4 totaled bikes. Can anyone confirm this? What happened? We sure as hell don't want any part of that.
I get it RFH - just do what you gotta do. But hopefully you and Pop can make it. As far as social animals go, this will be a laid back BBQ eatin' campin' event. I'm sure that you and Pop would feel right at home!

As far as group rides go - I'm not a fan of BIG group rides either. I prefer to ride in a group of 5 to 6 max. Along those lines, let me say to the "group" that I had intended to post up at least a three or four routes that I would suggest but have just been overly busy at work lately and I don't see any let up anytime soon. My plate away from the office has been quite full as well. But I'll eventually get around to it, hopefully in the next week or so.

At this point I would like to refer back to the first page of this thread, to post #11, where I provided a long list of attractions in and around central and north Alabama. Please take a moment to peruse the list and make suggestions to me of things you might like to see or places to visit. I'll do my best to incorporate those into routes. I highly encourage those of you that are good at routing and are somewhat familiar with the area to come up with your own routes and volunteer to lead a ride or two. That would help with splitting up our groups into 4-6 riders per group.

ALL RIDES WILL BEGIN AND END AT THE INN OF CLANTON AT I-65 EXIT 208

We will plan to have breakfast at the Shoney's next door to the hotel Friday and Saturday morning around 8 am then depart on our rides from there, hopefully before 9 am.

As a reminder, this is the link for directions to my property from I-65 exit 219.

The Location

My property is located in Jemison, AL, which is only about 30 miles south of the Birmingham suburbs. It's only one mile off of Interstate 65 at Exit 219. The site is located on 21 wooded acres of serenity and is ideal for camping, grilling and chilling.

Directions from Exit 219 to the property

I have plenty of space for as many tent campers as could even possibly show up. There is at least an acre of wooded area that is cleared out, grubbed and generally level. If you are camping you shouldn't have any trouble finding an ideal spot!

One other important thing I would like to note - the drive into my property from the paved road is about 750 feet of crushed stone, with a couple of fairly steep inclines to traverse. It has been extremely dry in Alabama for about two months now and I will have the road groomed to where it will not cause the average rider any trouble at all. But just be aware that if you are staying on premises there will be some gravel to negotiate. It's really no big deal, I just wanted to call everyone's attention to it so they wouldn't be surprised. For those staying at the hotel, you likely will not be even riding to my place, as our "tipsey taxi" service is really coming together and I plan to get each of you from the hotel to my place and back both Friday and Saturday night.

SO - we are now a mere 18 days out. There are no activities planned for Thursday night, but we'll just wing it that evening as far as dinner is concerned. Probably just grill burgers and hot dogs onsite, depending on how many people are there. Those that will be staying at the hotel and arriving Thursday are welcome to come join us Thursday evening. Just let me know if you would like for us to come pick you up, or just ride your bike on in.

As always, any questions feel free to post up here or PM me directly. See y'all soon!
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I'll say this - we went to SFO '09 and had a great time with some great people.

Even Turk. He's OK.

And I heard what still has to be the funniest line I've heard at an FJR gathering: "If you don't shut the **** up, I'm gonna beat you like odot clubbing a baby seal." Pure gold right there.

I don't know what exactly went on at EOM but I hear 4 totaled bikes. Can anyone confirm this? What happened? We sure as hell don't want any part of that.
Yep. EOM was a rough one. One center-punched a deer, another low-sided in a blind, gravelly corner, the third had a brain-fart and went ditch-riding, and I think the fourth ran wide and his aux light caught on a guard rail post. All riders walked away and are fine, thank heavens.

Just ride your ride and dress for the slide.

 
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".... got a brain fart and went ditch digging...."

Yeah - that described what I did in Colorado last year pretty well.

 
Well, we are just over two weeks out from when many of you will be arriving. Just wanted to give everyone a quick update and say that everything from this end is all in order. Our corn boil and BBQ chefs are looking forward to cooking up a spread for everyone on Friday and Saturday night and our Friday night entertainment is set and ready to go. I have just a little more to do at my property in terms of getting things in shape to host everyone. But, nothing that can't be handled in a weekend - like this coming weekend. Because the following weekend I'll be tied up with my LGFR buddies at our biannual Talladega blowout...
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Hopefully I'll be recovered by the following Thursday.
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With that being said, those of you who will be looking to map out some rides I wanted to throw out a few Alabama State highway numbers for you to focus on. East of I-65 and south of I-20, you'll want to look at State Roads, 9, 14, 22, 25, 48, 49, 77, 148, 229, 281

West of I-65 and south of I-20/59, some of the same numbers and a couple of others, 14, 22, 25, 69, 183, 191 - much further south, below Selma, I also love 10, 21, 41 and 47.

For those that want to venture north of Tuscaloosa, I recommend US 43, AL 17, 18, 69, 96 and 171 just to name a few.

Those roads could keep you busy for several days. Like I noted in my first post offering to host this event, I wouldn't much on the caliber of North Georgia and North Carolina type of riding, but there will be times that the roads listed above will offer some minor to moderate level of technical riding, but always are variety of beautiful countryside. It's too bad that we are in the midst of a prolonged drought here in central Alabama, which has many of the leaves just turning brown and falling off the trees already. Otherwise, in a couple of weeks the forests would be popping with all kinds of colors. Either way, nature will provide a us with it's beautiful scenery, regardless.

Anyway, as we say in the South, "that right thar will give you something to chew on". I'll try to put together a few routes myself for you in the coming days and share them with you here. But if you put together a route or two, please post them up to share with everyone.

 
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Most excellent stuff, Bandit!!!

Maybe could you update the first post regarding who's in and who's not?

As for Pants, I'm most assuredly IN IN IN !!!!! In fact, I leave two weeks from today. My buddy Nate is as stoked as I am.

My tequila and rye are still sitting on top of the fridge, unopened. This has got to be my greatest accomplishment in a long while.

 
So Mr. Laam is supposed to "start" working on those seats next Monday the 17th (way behind my scheduled date 09/01, but that's a rant for later). I spent this week cleaning up the wiring underneath the seat from the cruise control (let's hope it still works
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), and next weekend will be my oil change and packing. So far I've only got one person signed up for my CDL prep class so the plan at this point is to leave early on Wednesday morning.

And pants if I can make it out of town on time, I'm going to try and make it to your campsite by Wednesday night. It may be a quick 10 hours but I'm up for the challenge
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As some of you know, I am back coaching football this fall as an assistant. We need one more win to make the playoffs. The playoff games begin SFO weekend, so if we win, our team is in. But if we lose the next two, I am in for SFO. The prospects of winning look difficult. We play the #1 ranked team in the state on Friday and then next week play the # 6 ranked team in the next largest class. Gonna be tough for sure.

If I get to go, my plan is to head south right after work on Wed. Get as far south as I can. Prob around South Memphis. Then it on to the fun stuff. Looking forward to either the playoffs or SFO. Either way, I am a winner!! LOL.

Thanks Turk for putting this all together. I will admit, I will be disappointed a tiny bit if we make the playoffs and I miss SFO. But I love coaching as much as I love riding the FJR, so it is a WIN/WIN.

Have fun and be safe.

 
As some of you know, I am back coaching football this fall as an assistant. We need one more win to make the playoffs. The playoff games begin SFO weekend, so if we win, our team is in. But if we lose the next two, I am in for SFO. The prospects of winning look difficult. We play the #1 ranked team in the state on Friday and then next week play the # 6 ranked team in the next largest class. Gonna be tough for sure.
If I get to go, my plan is to head south right after work on Wed. Get as far south as I can. Prob around South Memphis. Then it on to the fun stuff. Looking forward to either the playoffs or SFO. Either way, I am a winner!! LOL.

Thanks Turk for putting this all together. I will admit, I will be disappointed a tiny bit if we make the playoffs and I miss SFO. But I love coaching as much as I love riding the FJR, so it is a WIN/WIN.

Have fun and be safe.

I'm pulling for you guys, Coach - kinda.
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I'm looking as forward to it as the rest of you. Just this little thing called work is really wearing me out right now. But, hey, that's what pays the bills, right?
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If I weren't quite as busy at work I'd have set up a few more things, but that's the way it goes. We're gonna have a blast either way.

 
...If I weren't quite as busy at work I'd have set up a few more things, but that's the way it goes.
Man, don't even think that way...you have been going to extreme lengths to make this quite the deal. I'm just sorry I'm going to miss it!Next year, if you happen to decide to do this 'Bama thing again.
I feel the same way!

 
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