Rambling BackRoads
- Thread starter 3930dave
- Start date
- Views: 6544
I've been out in the woods where my hand held Garmin shows a road, but there is nothing on the ground. Then I will come across remnants of an old camp or culvert. On one occasion I found a big piece of coal which most likely from an old logging camp.
fried1765
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2015
- Messages
- 10,159
- Tractor
- Kubota L48 TLB, Ford 1920 FEL, 8N Ford, Gravely 12 HP "Professional", 48" SCAG Liberty
turnkey4099
Elite Member
We farmed for a few years on such a place. School tried to get the old 1/4 mile link between our kouse and the river road opened again to save the bus driver from a 3 mile 'run around' and then have to turn around at our house. County refused to open it. It would have taken some major grading and lots of rock.
dalola
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2017
- Messages
- 683
- Location
- Ohio
- Tractor
- Kubota BX2380 w/FEL, Woods RM48, Yazoo/Kees Max2 ZTR
I drive my patient wife crazy taking back roads..... She's more of a "destination" gal, I love the journey. It's on my bucket list to travel across the country via secondary roads. Not sure if she'll be joining me! :laughing:
MossRoad
Super Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2001
- Messages
- 66,225
- Location
- South Bend, Indiana (near)
- Tractor
- Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
Every time we go somewhere that we've been before, we take a different route just to "see what's over there?" (unless we are in a hurry). Heck, I don't go to the grocery store the same way twice in a row! :laughing: Ever since my wife was a little kid she enjoyed going for rides in the country with her grandparents. And I like to drive. So we make a great team. 
oosik
Epic Contributor
In 1978 we drove back to see my wife's relatives in Omaha. We could have gone I-90 but instead we went Hwy 2. What an amazing adventure thru all the small towns and villages.
One of these days I will ride my motorcycle back to visit my high school chum in Munford, TN. 2100 miles
One of these days I will ride my motorcycle back to visit my high school chum in Munford, TN. 2100 miles
dmccarty
Super Star Member
Quite a few old, abandoned roads around here.
I used to own some land that had an old road through it. The road use to go down to a river at a spot where one could cross. An old timer told me that back in the day the road was part of the Underground Railroad and it was used by escaping slaves. There is a large community of Quakers in this part of NC, and there were some near the road who would hide the slaves as they made their way north.
When we were looking to buy land and I was searching for absentee owners in the court house. There was one deed that mentioned a rock in a road that was part of the boundry for the parcel. That road no longer exists.
Once upon a time I was walking through the woods along a river in our area. There was an obvious road zig zagging from the high ground down to the river to a ford. Up on the road was an old rock structure that was puzzling. Not sure what it was but it had a fireplace but it was pretty small.
When we were in Ireland a few years ago, we visited Reginald's Tower in Waterford. The tower was first built in the 800's by the Vikings. The tower as it exists today is a bit younger since it is made from stone and the Viking's first used wood. There is a cannon ball in the tower from when Cromwell visited. On our last day in town we were looking at the old abbey and started talking to a couple of locals. They were putting on a Long Bow exhibit in the museum that was across the alley from the abbey. I made a comment about how we were wondering what was under our feet when we had been walking around the town. The man laughed and said we were standing over a tunnel that led to the river and we would see the tunnel if we visited the museum. The museum was our next stop and sure enough, there was a tunnel used to load/unload caskets of win back in the day. :laughing::laughing::laughing:
This summer we went back to Ireland and visited a part of the country in the north west. There was a ring fort in town is at least 1,500 years old. Outside of town there is a stone structure that is thousands of years old.
The roads! :laughing::laughing::laughing: Well, many of the roads are really single lane lanes. Really not hard to drive down once you figure out the process. Having said that, we were really happy at one point to be following a really large New Holland tractor. He was tall enough to be seen above the hedges and around curves. :laughing::laughing::laughing: He pulled over at one point to let us by but we motioned for him t keep on going. We were sad to seem him get to his destination. :laughing::laughing::laughing:
These roads had to have been put down where there were old trails. Who knows how old. One road we went down many times was a two lane road and is part of the National roads but still very narrow by US standards. What was interesting is that the road went over a sorta flat mountain but the road was not flat but followed the land. The road had these huge humps that were like a long wave. The speed limit was pretty high, about 65 MPH or there abouts and since the road was straight you could hit the speed limit. twas quite fun hitting those humps at that speed. A ticket ride! :laughing::laughing::laughing:
Later,
Dan
I used to own some land that had an old road through it. The road use to go down to a river at a spot where one could cross. An old timer told me that back in the day the road was part of the Underground Railroad and it was used by escaping slaves. There is a large community of Quakers in this part of NC, and there were some near the road who would hide the slaves as they made their way north.
When we were looking to buy land and I was searching for absentee owners in the court house. There was one deed that mentioned a rock in a road that was part of the boundry for the parcel. That road no longer exists.
Once upon a time I was walking through the woods along a river in our area. There was an obvious road zig zagging from the high ground down to the river to a ford. Up on the road was an old rock structure that was puzzling. Not sure what it was but it had a fireplace but it was pretty small.
When we were in Ireland a few years ago, we visited Reginald's Tower in Waterford. The tower was first built in the 800's by the Vikings. The tower as it exists today is a bit younger since it is made from stone and the Viking's first used wood. There is a cannon ball in the tower from when Cromwell visited. On our last day in town we were looking at the old abbey and started talking to a couple of locals. They were putting on a Long Bow exhibit in the museum that was across the alley from the abbey. I made a comment about how we were wondering what was under our feet when we had been walking around the town. The man laughed and said we were standing over a tunnel that led to the river and we would see the tunnel if we visited the museum. The museum was our next stop and sure enough, there was a tunnel used to load/unload caskets of win back in the day. :laughing::laughing::laughing:
This summer we went back to Ireland and visited a part of the country in the north west. There was a ring fort in town is at least 1,500 years old. Outside of town there is a stone structure that is thousands of years old.
The roads! :laughing::laughing::laughing: Well, many of the roads are really single lane lanes.
Really not hard to drive down once you figure out the process. Having said that, we were really happy at one point to be following a really large New Holland tractor. He was tall enough to be seen above the hedges and around curves. :laughing::laughing::laughing: He pulled over at one point to let us by but we motioned for him t keep on going. We were sad to seem him get to his destination. :laughing::laughing::laughing:These roads had to have been put down where there were old trails. Who knows how old. One road we went down many times was a two lane road and is part of the National roads but still very narrow by US standards. What was interesting is that the road went over a sorta flat mountain but the road was not flat but followed the land. The road had these huge humps that were like a long wave. The speed limit was pretty high, about 65 MPH or there abouts and since the road was straight you could hit the speed limit. twas quite fun hitting those humps at that speed. A ticket ride! :laughing::laughing::laughing:
Later,
Dan
Your last paragraph Dan reminds me a lot of the road to my paternal grandparent's farm, when I was a kid. Short rolling hills, that were fun to take at speed..... mini roller coaster on the way to Gramma's farm..... Good memories........ time passes, road improvements were made..... a safer road today, but less smiles/mile !
Roads themselves can lead to interesting stories, as you covered above :thumbsup:
I have a few favourite road songs...... One is Telegraph Road......
Dire Straits Telegraph Road FULL HQ - YouTube
Telegraph Road (song) - Wikipedia
Even as an imagined history..... a great story, at least if you have Mark Knopfler's skills.....
Rgds, D.
Good memories........ time passes, road improvements were made..... a safer road today, but less smiles/mile !Roads themselves can lead to interesting stories, as you covered above :thumbsup:
I have a few favourite road songs...... One is Telegraph Road......
Dire Straits Telegraph Road FULL HQ - YouTube
Telegraph Road (song) - Wikipedia
Even as an imagined history..... a great story, at least if you have Mark Knopfler's skills.....
Rgds, D.
Great solution....but knowing myself, I probably wouldn't arrive on time.....too many voluntary detours......
It's about the Journey, Not the Destination...... easy to put on a wall-plaque, harder to live sometimes.....
Most of us live overly-structured lives....... modern life demands that often, the rest of the time it's just Us.... and the habits we get into.
I remember a lady DJ (roughly my age) in Toronto talking on-air (Then vs. Now) about being a kid growing up in Montreal. She and her young friends would hop on their bikes and play "Get Lost"...... ride until you didn't know where you were, and, nobody else did. Talk about a different time........ imagine the skills and development gained by doing that......
My "Get Lost" time (way too short most summers
) now is on a motorcycle. I had been away from MC for a long time, got back on a street bike about 10 years ago....... in short order, found myself on roads I'd never been on, some only about 10 minutes from where I'd lived for 20 years......"Get Lost"..... "Going Walkabout"........ it's precious time, when we can pull it off....
(P.S. ..... Moss - it's easy to see that you used to ride MC
)Rgds, D.
prichard
Veteran Member
There's a state highway in Florida running from Stark to Camp Blanding. Next to the road there is just a flat grass area except each bridge on the road has a matching bridge over to the side. I kept asking around why. Finally I found an old guy who explained that during WWII troops and equipment were brought from the railroad in stark and moved to Camp Blanding for staging before shipping to Europe. The grass roads were for tracked vehicles. Makes perfect sense. It was fun tracking down the "mystery".
dmccarty
Super Star Member
Heck yeah! Dire Straights is awesome and I love that song! :thumbsup::laughing::laughing::laughing:
There is a woman who has covered some of Dire Straights song(s) and put the video(s) out on YouTube. I had not listened to Dire Straights in a while when I saw the video which was really good. The video made me go listen to my Dire Straights albums.
Found a YouTube video of Mark talking about how he started playing and how he came up with his style of playing which was very interested. This weekend I allowed YouTube to keep me up until 2:00am in the morning. One of the videos I watched was of a Dire Straits Concert. I would guess it was the 80's based on the hair styles. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Eric Clapton was playing backup. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Blew my car speakers out, they were the cheap OEM ones, listening to Money for Nothing over and over and over again while driving around what used to be a back road in Orlando. :laughing::laughing::laughing:
Later,
Dan
Sigarms
Super Star Member
One of my favorite drives "off road back road" drives...
Driving the Hole-in-the-Rock Road - Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service)
I swear, you could spend years vitsiting Utah and still not cover all the roads there.
Driving the Hole-in-the-Rock Road - Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service)
I swear, you could spend years vitsiting Utah and still not cover all the roads there.
MossRoad
Super Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2001
- Messages
- 66,225
- Location
- South Bend, Indiana (near)
- Tractor
- Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
A couple months ago we took a lot of back roads in Missouri. It was pretty fun. Once you get a little southwest of St. Louis, there are no crops. Grass and trees. A lot more rolling hills and valleys and the roads curve due to the terrain. Quite enjoyable. Many miles between cross-roads, too.
Here in the northern half of Indiana, it' RARE to not have a crossing road exactly every 1 mile. Exactly 1 mile. Diagonal roads are also rare. Most are highways between towns. About the only curvy roads are along rivers. It's almost guaranteed if you're on a curvy road it's River Road, Creek Road, etc....
If you do get into a town where the roads run at angles and curves and follow terrain around here, it was probably laid out by the French. They liked to follow the terrain. And, of course, it's usually where two or more rivers meet.
Here in the northern half of Indiana, it' RARE to not have a crossing road exactly every 1 mile. Exactly 1 mile. Diagonal roads are also rare. Most are highways between towns. About the only curvy roads are along rivers. It's almost guaranteed if you're on a curvy road it's River Road, Creek Road, etc....
If you do get into a town where the roads run at angles and curves and follow terrain around here, it was probably laid out by the French. They liked to follow the terrain. And, of course, it's usually where two or more rivers meet.
turnkey4099
Elite Member
I drove US2 Syracuse, NY to Spokane, WA several times back prior to the Interstate system. Wasn't fun with all the truck and local traffic when one's goal was 'as many miles as I can get in a day', Even then I enjoyed driving and exploring the local roads whereever I was when I wasn't in a rush. 1125 was my record but about half was interstate by then.
oosik
Epic Contributor
US Hwy 2 would NOT be the choice if your object is going from WA to NY and make good time - - for darn sure. Just about the time you get up to cruising speed - here comes another small town with its 25mph speed limit. And its that way ALL day..............
Steppenwolfe
Super Member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2012
- Messages
- 7,086
- Location
- The Blue Ridge Mountains
- Tractor
- Kubota MX5400, 1140 RTV
Yep... we have one of those on our property. Back in the early 1900's it cut through our property to the next road over. Over time the two houses on that road burned down, and the county extended the main road to connect around our property. Now I have a farm gate up at the main road and we still use the old road as a main pathway through the property. It was never paved but it sure is handy...
