RTE - Feb. 20th to D&H Cycles and the All-Steak Restaurant in Cullman, AL

[FJRBandit]

Well gang, the first peek at the long range forecast looks promising. As I noted in the first post, "Recognizing that in mid-late February the Alabama weather can be anything from sub-freezing nasty to gorgeous and in the low 70's". My prognostication appears to be right on, from snow flurries yesterday, to 35 in Birmingham today, with Saturday's hi forecast to be around 40. The weatherman is even talking about a possible "wintry mix" Monday. But it looks like we rebound nicely towards the end of the week next week, which works out perfect for us!

We all know how much stock you can put into a ten day forecast, but at least the general trend is looking good for us with hi's around 70 starting Friday the 19th thru Sunday the 21st. Hopefully we won't have too much moisture in the mix.

Bottom line: It's still game on.

I'm glad to see that griff and Cav are showing an interest in joining us!

Cav - a good place to put you within easy striking distance of Ft. Payne would be on I-24 about 90 miles out of Nashville in Mount Eagle, TN. There is a Best Western there with an authentic Tennessee smokehouse restaurant. Surprisingly it's called, The Smoke House! https://thesmokehouse.com/ It's a great place to eat and the Best Western that is generally attached is adequate lodging for the night. It would leave you about 90 miles to Ft. Payne. Here's the info if you are interested.

Best Western - Mount Eagle - Phone931) 924-2268

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g55212-d73871-Reviews-The_Smoke_House_Lodge_Cabins-Monteagle_Tennessee.html

If no one is coming to Birmingham Friday evening I could possibly get away early enough Friday afternoon to meet you in Mount Eagle. Just PM me if you decide to come and we can work out the details. Also, anyone else that is interested in meeting in Mount Eagle the night before just let me know. El Toro, that would get you off the plateau and out of the morning fog, if you aren't coming to Barber that Friday.... Also, we could start the morning off right with a great little 1.5 hr ride to Ft. Payne down TN 56 / AL 117, beautiful ride!

Anyway, just throwing out ideas... looking forward to meeting everyone next weekend!

 

[Cav47]

Great info Bandit. PM sent

Saturday, after the visit at the D&H and the Steakhouse, I plan to meander north in some fashion. Staying at a cheapo hotel or camping somewhere. Leaving myself a nice ride back through southern Indiana and home to the Land of Flatness, Straightness, and Boring.

 

[Uncle Hud]

^^^^ Have a safe ride, Cav47; it will be good to see you again after Hooterville.

 

[FJRBandit]

Here is the intended route from the MAPCO in Ft. Payne to D&H Cycle in Cullman for Saturday Feb. 20th. We will meet at the MAPCO at exit 218 on the west side of I-59 in Ft. Payne, AL. We'll plan to meet around 8 am cst with KSU at 8:30 cst. We'll shoot for arrival at D&H around 11 am.

Ft. Payne to D&H Cycle

After lunch, for any of those that want to ride back to Birmingham and visit the Barber Museum on Sunday we'll take this route to the Leeds area where Barber is located.

All-Steak to Barber

 

[Uncle Hud]

Cullman's forecast for Saturday, Feb 20: cloudy, 65F / 42F, zero chance of rain.

That's good riding weather. Anybody else interested?

 

[SunRider]

The ride routes look well planned and fun.

For me, It would require an overnight Friday or a 5am departure Saturday from here, so likely not.

Disappointed.

Bravo the northern riders that make it !

 

[Uncle Hud]

^^^^ Wuss. I'm leaving about 6:30 to hit some BMR locations, then meet up for lunch. Afterwards, I'm south to B'ham and the Heflin Post Office for more BMR points. Getting back around 6:30 pm.

12-hour day? Tough.

3 tankfuls of gas? Cheap.

Meeting a few crazies on FJRs at the legendary D&H Cycles? Priceless.

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Disclaimer: Ride your own ride, and don't do stuff just because an internet troll uses the word "wuss". We'll see each other down the highway sooner or later.

 

[FJRBandit]

Sunrider, and anyone else that is interested, it looks like Cav47 and I will be meeting at Jim Oliver's Smoke House in Monteagle, TN Friday evening. It's really a great RTE destination in and of itself! We're going to stay at the reasonably priced Best Western there adjacent to the Smoke House then take the 1.5 hour ride down to Ft. Payne Saturday morning. If you are interested in joining us see post #20 for details.

In addition to the awesome, down home cooking they offer, The Smoke House has live music every Friday and Saturday night. I've never been there for that but I imagine it'll be a lot of fun. According to their lineup posted online, scheduled to appear Friday night, Feb 19th are:


The Uprights

Sounds of rockabilly, roots-country, and a bucketful of blues, poured out of a trio of hollowbody strings and trap-set. The name befits not only our sound stylings, but our moral and physical attributes as well!

Mabus Jackson lays the true bass path and harmonizes, Peter Keeble drives on the drums, and guitarman Willis hollers, wrings out blue notes, and tries to keep between the lines.

Slung together by a common musical attitude, The Uprights might hold forth low, slow, and mournful, or raucous and funky. We carry on the long history of American and Southern musical blending, and innovating—from the roots up.



Then:

Randy Finchum & Friends

These singer/songwriters will be doing a Nashville-style round where each songwriter will take turns performing one of their songs back and forth. These rounds are a fun time and the interaction between the songwriters is always a crowd pleaser.

I don't even know if they "serve" spirits... but I imagine there will be a flask or two in the house....

As Unclehud noted, looks like the weather next Saturday is shaping up to be perfect riding conditions.

 

[FJRBandit]

Edited original post with the following:

List of (possible) attendees and their status

Committed (I think)
FJRBandit - come hell or high water....
Unclehud - seems pretty damn sure he'll be there too
griff - meeting UncleHud in GA and riding over with him???
El Toro - hmmm, matador, early tentative commit, pls post up with your status
2ducs - seems that the ducs will be flying, , pls post up with your status
rehabgen1 - depends on if she'll fire up or not. pls post up with your status
CAV47 - in - all the way from Illinoise. I mean really, are you locals gonna let Cav show you up???

Maybes???
Sunrider - like Unclehud said, long day? so what, that's what we do! Plus, you can stay in Birmingham Saturday night and visit Barber Sunday!

Any others???


For those of you that have not given me your phone # please send me a PM with your number so that if you are commited we'll have a way to contact you if you aren't at the MAPCO by the KSU time of 8:30 Saturday morning. Also, I'll reply back with my number so you can let us know in the event you run into difficulties or drop out at the last minute.

 

[griff]

pm sent to Bandit. I'm still a maybe.

 

[2ducs]

Yep the ducs will fly in, uh, I mean the FJR.

 

[Uncle Hud]

Saturday forecast still not bad: partly cloudy, 53/67, 20% chance of precipitation, and that would be zero percent chance of snow.

 

[FJRBandit]

Here's the latest! - Edited the original post


*** EDIT ***

List of (possible) attendees and their status

Committed
FJRBandit - IN
Unclehud - IN
griff - IN
CAV47 - IN - all the way from Illinoise.
2ducs - IN - meeting at D&H



Maybes???
El Toro - early tentative commit, pls post up with your status
rehabgen1 - depends on if she'll fire up or not. pls post up with your status
Sunrider - maybe next time???

Any others???

We struck out the Mapco in Ft. Payne and are now meeting just outside Scottsboro. We are meeting at the Comer Bridge Boat Ramp just over the river from Scottsboro with KSU at 9 am Central time - GPS Coordinates 34.6320495,-85.9742259

Unclehud and Griff are meeting FJRBandit and CAV47 in Scottsboro.

2ducs plans to meet everyone at D&H Cycle.

Please PM me if you are coming and you are not listed on the Committed list above.

 

[El Toro]

Sorry. I haven't been on line much lately.

Friday and Saturday do look like good weather.

I've been in touch with Uncle Hud and will refresh my status on Friday.

I have not ruled this ride out ... but I need to do some farm business over in West Tennessee, and Friday and Saturday look perfect for a ride over in that direction for me.

If I do meet up with you folks, it would be in Cullman most likely. I'm not so interested in D&H (I've been there several times), but I am curious about the restaurant and beautiful downtown Cullman. I've never been through there.

So ... I'll update on Friday with Uncle Hud.

Best,

Glen

 

[FJRBandit]

Excellent! Thanks for the update Glen. I have some "farm work" to do myself as well. But I'm gonna push that to next weekend. ;-) Just got a new Mahindra Max 26 XL back in September and I love that little tractor! Between that, four motorcycles and my golf clubs there just aren't enough "off days" in my life right now! ;-)

Btw, I spoke with Jerrold this afternoon and let him know they're on our radar this weekend. He was thrilled to hear the news and said they'd try to get some refreshments together for us Saturday. I extended an invitation for he and Renae to join us for lunch. He said they would love to but would need to see how the day is going. I'm really looking forward to visiting with them and meeting all of you guys!

 

[Cav47]

Weather temps are looking good. 60ish when I leave on Friday afternoon. But the wind is sopposed to really pick up. South West at 28 with gusts to 50 on Friday for the ride down. That seems ridiculous. I am headed straight south pretty much, so I will have ti keep an eye on this.

 

[FJRBandit]

Cav is lighting the fuse at noon, headed south. I'm firing up the V-strom about 1 pm and headed northeast, going to hit some trails in the Little River Canyon National Reserve, then on to Monteagle to meet Cav this evening at the Smokehouse. We'll meet Unclehud and griff in Scottsboro tomorrow morning and then head to D&H. If anyone else is interested, either meet us at the Comer Bridge Boat Ramp identified in post # 32 above, or just join us at D&H Cycle around 11 ish tomorrow morning. Safe travels!

Pictures to follow next week.

 

[2ducs]

I'm out. My employer threw a wrench into the works about two hours ago. I'll meet you guys another time.

 

[Cav47]

Food at the Smoke House was fantastic. The pie was equally as good. Down home southern fried pies. FJRBandit had peach and I chose the apple pecan. Both of us had homemade vanilla on top. Looking forward to the ride to D&H tomorrow. Pictures to come later.

 

[Niehart]

The pie was equally as good. Down home southern fried pies. FJRBandit had peach and I chose the apple pecan. Both of us had homemade vanilla on top.

Did someone mention pie ...

Ride safe and enjoy.