I love fall. To me, while growing up in Iowa, fall meant... bright foliage and burning leaves, cold noses and sweatshirts, football games with blankets, and the anticipation of... snow days! It seemed like a nice transition from the warm and sunny summer to the long cold winter that allowed us to linger in between that change of season. But now that I live in Alabama, fall for me just isn't the same. Believe it or not, we can get pretty cold here, but it usually goes from warm to cold without much in between. While I've been reading about everyone else's dropping temperatures and winterizing their bikes, I'm thinking... WTF! It's still hot here!I've been belly aching for weeks that I was ready for cooler weather and the brilliance of fall to show itself. The lingering summer heat was beginning to wear out its welcome as far as I was concerned.
Two weekends ago on the day we rode up to Mt. Cheaha State Park, we finally got our cold snap. The temperatures dropped to the low 50's with an overcast sky, so it was quite chilly during our ride. It was nice to feel cold air around me for a change. Hell, the weekend before this one we were still riding around in nothing but a long sleeve t-shirt with sunny 70's! (oh... I guess I had my jeans and boots on too!) But the point is... we in the south finally got that cool blast from the north we so desperately needed. Thank you Mother Nature!Riding north for 85 miles made such a difference in the color we saw that I felt priviledged to be so close to such a pretty area. I put together a slide show of our wonderful scenery while we were on our peeping expedition. The great road shots you are about to see were taken by Harley while we were on the move. Who needs a helmet cam??!!
Mt. Cheaha is the highest point in Alabama at 2407 feet and we love to come up here when we're riding. I highly recommend a visit here to anyone who finds themselves near the area.
There's a small lake that borders the camping and picnic area and while we were snapping pics of the view, we noticed this poor chap pushing his bike to the camping area where we were parked.
By the time he made his way by us, I spoke a sympathetic hello in his direction and he managed to mumble out a return greeting. I felt a little guilty that right at that moment, that he was not sharing my jubilant attitude... understandably so.We had a great rest of the day, and I really enjoyed our "cool" ride through the park. Our afternoons still like to heat up to the high 60's and low 70's, but the crispy 42 degree mornings are a promise of what's to come.
HAPPY FALL YA'LL !!
Lady R
8 comments:
Great post! Kudos to Harley for taking the pics! They remind me of New Hampshire in the early fall. I miss the changing of the seasons, and the beautiful colors in the fall, but I can't say I miss the cold. For us, 60 is cold now, and that's fine by me.
Great pictures. I'll bet it was a great ride. The leaves here are all on the ground:( When I lived in Ga. fall rides were great...But...Spring was better. What color that is. Glad you are enjoying the weather too. But watch what you wish for. You also can get those horrible ice storms we rarely get. We get 2 foot or more of snow. Pretty it is if you have power.
Fall used to be my favorite season until I got into riding seriously. Now, as much as I enjoy the football and foliage, the hot cider and Halloween, I just hate the idea of putting the bike away. Having been in Alabama through a winter, I know you get a lot more days when you can ride than we do up here. Sure, there are odd rare days when it's dry and sunny, but even then there is sand EVERYWHERE from the snowstorms. The last two years I have not ventured out again until April, and that's probably not going to change. So, I'm definitely a Spring kind of guy now.
But, I still loved all the pictures. Even though I dread what comes after it, the Fall is a great time to ride.
Happy Fall Lady R!
Mmmmm, Beautiful. I love Fall. Heck, other than not being able to ride in the winter, I don't really even dread that. Its just what I'm used to.
Awww man, I remember those pushin' days all too well. Hadda '74 Sporty that would ALWAYS go haywire on me.
The hubby actually did me a favor when he crashed the damn thing ;-)
This is definitely MY time of year. If it weren't for ridin', Springs & Summers could take a hike for all I care.
It could never become tiresome looking at sights like that. Adding seasons to the mix just changes it enough to make it necessary to ride even more.
I really enjoyed the slide show, thanks Harley for taking the pictures.
Ann... "60 is cold now" LOL! I hear ya! My friend the Road Runner called me last night and said, "Me and G-man saw your blog and wanted to know if you thought you were riding in Minnesota or something!" LOL! They gave me a hard time, but I didn't get cold!
Webster... The leaves will fall soon here too. We in the south just like to do things a lot later than everyone else. LOL! Your right about our ice problem. We get black ice on the bridges very frequently so, if it promises to rain when it's that cold, we usually don't like to ride. Besides, it's frickin' uncomfortable! I guess I'm just getting too soft. :)
Joker... I can see how Fall is bittersweet for ya! I would go stir crazy not to be able to ride, all year.
We don't burn up the miles like we do from March to October, but we still get out every weekend to air out the Glides as long as the weather is decent enough.
During the warm months, we get up and out sometimes as early as 8:00 to hit the roads and don't get home till 7:00 or 8:00 that night. With the Fall, comes shorter days and colder nights and mornings so we have to wait till almost 11:00 or noon for the day to start warming up first, and we're home by 4:00, before dark.
But that's okay... it's still ridin'!
Mr. M... I would probably have to get into snow mobiles if I ever moved back up there. Seems to be a great way to keep the "therapy" on track during the cold months.
MDJ... This dude did not seem very happy. In fact, we offered our help and he just mumbled something as he pushed past us. Well... okay then. I still felt a little guilty watching him push away as I hit my ignition switch.. just a little.
AZD... Your welcome! Maybe that's why God and Mother Nature worked out this little deal of the four seasons for us. To keep us from getting bored!
So glad you are enjoying your season. Fall is a great time to ride. You can gear up in full protective gear without completely roasting to death. The sights, the sounds, the smells are quite refreshing. But it still depresses me when my riding days are cut shorter and are fewer & farther in between. I'm with Joker, I much prefer the spring when the world is coming alive instead of watching it slowly die like now in the fall.
This entire year has pretty much sucked weather-wise. I wonder if it will ever stop raining. I find myself now thinking about putting together our calendar of events for next year, like I can't wait for it to get here...and the current one still has 2 months to go!
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