Hey,
Just saw the pics of the Amicalola trip. Where have you dudes been hiding? I got heavy into the Rover thing for a few years and then gradually got bored because I couldn't find people to ride with from around here. These days I mostly go camping with my wife in my '07 Nismo P/U--no reliability issues but kind of sterile compared to the D90 with the doors off. So now I have a dust-covered collection of Rover trucks and parts in need of mud.
When I moved back to this area, I figured that because of all the tech businesses in Huntsville there would have to be a ton of Rover nuts around. Where are they? Maybe I went about it the wrong way, but a few years ago there never seemed to be more than one or two guys who actually had a working truck and could get free to do stuff. They couldn't agree on what to do or when to do it, so mostly I just went solo. The local dealership-related Rover events were infrequent and kinda lame sounding, so I never got too thrilled about them either. I found out about the place in South Pittsburgh just about the time the father and son stopped sponsoring events and riding in their trucks. I poked around looking for guys from the Huntsville/Decatur area on other forum sites, but the crowd I bumped into was the "watch me break the sh*t outta my truck" bunch instead of "Overland Journal" flavor.
I've sort of migrated to fishing (especially kayak and bluewater stuff) as a way to squander my money, but I would enjoy dusting off one of the trucks and getting out more. I used to have all my gear staged so I could leave on 10 minutes' notice. Now I probably have a layer of mold to scrub off first. From looking at the Amicalola pics I guess my idea of mounting the Tent Cot side-saddle wasn't as clever as I thought. Is it just me or does the wind blowing under the tent at 2 a.m. bug other people too?
On a "trail report" note, we did get out yesterday, which was an experience. Instead of Mentone we hit Bankhead and stayed at Brushy Lake after running some forest roads. We heard that it got down to like 24 degrees before midnight, which sounds right based on how our food was freezing. That was followed by a creepy warm front and a major all night downpour. We were trying out a super light tent we never really broke in, so we were stuck on the ground. We had zero water intrusion so I was in a pretty good mood considering that it sounded like we were going to get washed away. After raining like mad all night, the sun abruptly broke out in the morning and we did some more poking around on the backroads. Here's a shot of the view from my sleeping bag and one of the lake itself. The ice was extremely clear in spots which made the view a bit crazy looking. I highly recommend camp site #4 at Brushy Lake if you are going to use one of the regular campgrounds. It is maybe 40' from the water and has two levels so you have extra room for hanging out.
Give me a shout whenever anything fun is on tap,
Mike
michaels- if youre not going to ride illegal trails, then that cuts out alot of the ones i know. tons of people ride where i ride, i dont think its enforced. whatever.
