I woke in the morning not feeling perfectly refreshed, but ready to finish the last 200 miles. Nothing dramatic about the ride down until we reached the overlook where a Gold Wing trike pulled out right in front of me. The woman driving seemed to think it was funny, but I really did not see the humor in it.

We saw some of the new signs warning the trucks about the road ahead. I suspect they are working because it seemed like we saw fewer trucks on 129.

We got a warm greeting from Dennis upon our arrival! Dennis is the pin striping guy at the Deals Gap Motorcycle resort and he is a great guy who does great work. The Gap pretty much feels like my home away from home and it is always great to get back. I did a little back and forth and as the sun set we started a campfire and cooked some dogs.

Tuesday we decided to take the boy to Cherokee where they hit the junk stores and we got some pizza. The weather was sunny and warm so we headed to the top of the Smokies. The trip started out excellent with the sighting of several Elk and then the weather went downhill quickly. Soon we were in heavy fog and rain and the view was totally obscured. We did hit some clearing on the way back down and got some spectacular views. Our route back was via Little River Road, but it turned out to be closed due to a rock slide. This was a bummer because it meant we had to get back via Pigeon Forge. It ended up being not all that bad and we were treated to several more spectacular views along the Foothills Parkway. We were followed by a tow truck on the Parkway and figured that meant there was a crash on the Gap, and sure enough when we got to 2 square there it was. I managed to get a little back and forth in and then returned for a delicious steak dinner. We saw some lightning off in the distance and I headed to the overlook to take pictures, but got scared when the winds picked up that a tree might come down and I would not be able to get back to my steak so I turned around at Picnic Tables.

Brady is still up to her old tricks. Walking around pretending to be homeless and then people feel bad and feed her. We know better but she still ended up getting a delicious steak from us and many hot dogs.

Wednesday was all about rain. The weather started out perfect, but by the time I finished my pancakes it was getting pretty dark. I got a half a pass in and got pretty wet so I headed back. It stopped raining pretty quickly and a few hours later the road was dry so I got another hour of riding in before it started raining again. Finally at around 3:30 the sun came back out and by 7:00 the road was mostly dry so we got about two hours of good riding in.

Thursday began with a forecast calling for an 80% chance of rain. It rained pretty hard late into the night on Wednesday so I really had no plans on getting a sunrise ride in due to wet roads. The truth is there has not been much reason to do a sunrise ride because I have had the road mostly to myself all week.

The weather ended up being much better than predicted, and we had more good weather than I had energy. As far as I could see everyone was riding safe and I saw no wrecks all day. We had some LEO presence but I did not see anyone getting a ticket, but like I said people seemed to be riding well so there really was no need for them to ticket anybody. I actually spent some time talking to one of them at the overlook and he was a good guy who has the same love of motorcycles we have. I ended up with a full day of riding before the rain started and once it got wet we jumped into the car and got Mexican food and ice cream in Robbinsville.

The best news of the day was the arrival of Alex – the Arkansas guy! This time he also brought his son. It’s great to see him again! He is a fun guy to hang out with and this makes our visit all that much more fun.

If you run into these guys at the Gap make sure you get a chance to hang out with them.

Friday started out cloudy but we never saw any rain and we had plenty of sunshine throughout the day. I started off with my usual coffee at the overlook, but instead of returning for breakfast I went on a wildlife search. The first thing I found was a huge flock of turkeys. There were at least 30 of them, but I did not get the camera out fast enough and only got pictures of a few.

The next thing I came across was a family of pigs. I managed to get pretty close to them and got some great pictures.

By the time I took the picture above she was staring to get pretty agitated with me so I decided it was time to move on.

Deer were the next animals I found.

All in all I would say my hunt was pretty successful! I also saw some nice Largemouth Bass, but Ben claims they are uncatchable. Next trip down I am going to see if he is right.

For most of the day it was my usual back and forth, and then tragedy struck. A car backed into my motorcycle at the overlook and knocked it over. It broke my turn signal, clutch lever, and bar end and put scratches in my fairing and saddlebag.

Friday night we got together with Alex and his crew and Dennis and his girlfriend and had some awesome BBQ.

Saturday ended up being the best day of the week for us. The morning started out wet for us, but there was no rain in the radar so I slept in waiting for the road to dry then got a full day of riding in.

It was pretty busy and there was one bad wreck that involved the rider loosing his arm to the guard rail. I have heard nothing more on the riders status so I do hope for the best for him.

As usual we ended up with a lot of food on the last day so we grilled it up and offered it to all who wanted it. While we ate Mikey told stories and kept us all laughing.

The last day is always the saddest day because I never want to leave. It helps to know I only have to work three days and then it is off to MotoGP, and then I return home to go to work for two days and then I will return to the Gap again. The weather was pretty poor this week and it really made the trip less than perfect, but we did get a few good days in. I just figure it is payback time for the excellent weather the last two years. I will be camping over Labor Day weekend, so I may cancel the trip if there is a lot of rain in the forecast.

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In the picture to the left you can see what appears to be the main building in the town. It appears to be very old but it is in very good condition, as are most of the buildings in this town.

The grounds are maintained like a golf course, but there was absolutely no sign of life.

There must be times when the place is very busy because there were pavilions ond chairs everywhere, just no people to be seen. It was actually a little bit creepy.

There were a lot of busses and passenger vans parked all over the town, but they had no markings on them to identify them.

As you can see in the picture the streets are all named and there are also streetlights.

Here are some pictures of the many buildings in this town. Notice how abandoned everything seems, but at the same time it is all so well maintained.

Another interesting thing I found was a very large generator.

The buildings mostly seemed to be pretty old, and a lot of them had fallout shelter signs.

There was some activity, because a noise was coming from this building and smoke was coming from the smokestack.

Here are some more pictures:

OK, now you tell me. What is this place? A secret government facility? A religious cult? A college?

I have no idea what it is, but I hope someone out there does know!

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Click here for a GPX file with all the waypoints.

GPS makes attempting such a thing pretty simple.  I simply downloaded a file of waypoints for each of the bridges and told the GPS to route me to each one of them.  I know a lot of people say that a GPS takes away the freedom of riding a motorcycle, but I think it does just the opposite.  I think it gives complete freedom when you are riding.  It would be so much more work to do a ride like this without a GPS.  With the GPS all you do is enjoy the ride and you don’t have to worry one bit where the next turn might be.

My first stop on the trip was the Windsor Mills Bridge.  I think it is one of the nicest bridges in the county.  It has a very nice wood inlay on the front and back and appears as if great pains were taken to make this an attractive bridge.  The bridge was built in 1867, and then it was rebuilt on opened for traffic again in early 2004. The supports are made from sandstone that was taken from a nearby quarry, and from stone right out of the river it goes over. Here is the location of the Windsor Mills Bridge: View Map

My next stop was the Riverdale Road Bridge. This bridge is really starting to show signs of its age.  This one was built in 1847 and was rebuilt in 1981. Here is the location of the Riverdale Road Bridge: View Map

If you are not comfortable riding on dirt or gravel roads, you probably should not attempt to see all these bridges.  You will ride many miles on roads like these if you do take the bridge tour.  As far as dirt roads go, they were all in very excellent condition and I had no problem at all riding comfortably at 50mph on these roads.  If you are the type of person who does not like to see his motorcycle get dirty you should probably avoid it as well.  By the end my bike was totally covered in dirt.

My next stop was the crown jewel of all the bridges in Ashtabula, the Harpersfield Bridge.  The bridge itself is quite nice, but it is also surrounded by a spectacular park.  A great place for picnicking, swimming, or fishing.  This bridge was built in 1868 and the steel section was added in 1913 after a flood washed out the north end of the bridge and altered the river channel.

If you are only going to see one bridge, this is the one I would recommend.  If you are making a day of it this would also be a great place for your midpoint.  Pack a lunch and hang out for an hour or two here.

Here is a map to the Harpersfield Bridge:

View Map

My next stop was the Mechanicsville Road Bridge.  Personally, I found this one quite unattractive.  This one was built in 1867 and is believed to be the oldest one in Ashtabula.  Across the street from this one is a great bar that serves some very excellent food, so this would also be a good place to take a break during your tour.

Here is a map to the Mechanicsville Road Bridge:

View Map

This bridge was built in 1868.  In 1987 it was renovated and a laminated arch was added.

Several of these bridges feature a laminated arch and I think they are very interesting.  It seems like a more honest way to provide support for the bridge than to run a bunch of steel underneath it.

Here is a map to the Doyle Road Bridge:

View Map

Next up was the Netcher Road Bridge.  This is one of the newest bridges in the county as it was built in 1998.  It also features a laminated arch and the walls are inverted Haupt style.

Here is a map to the Netcher Road Bridge:
View Map

The Giddings Road Bridge, built in 1995 was my next stop.

Here is a map to the Giddings Road Bridge:

View Map

The Olin bridge was named after a family that has owned the land next to the bridge since it was built in 1873.  This was also one of my favorites because it was in a very scenic and peaceful area.

The Olins Museum of Covered bridges is just past the Olin bridge, but they had a sign in the window that said closed the day I was there.  I don’t know what the hours are that they are open, but it might be an interesting place to visit if you are interested in learning more about the bridges.

Here is a map to the Olin Bridge:

View Map

Another laminated arch bridge, this one was built in 1900 and renovated in 1985.

Here is a map to the Benetka Bridge:

View Map

This one was built of southern pine and oak in 1983.

Here is a map to the State Road Bridge:

View Map

I had got a fairly late start for the ride, so I was beginning to run out of daylight.  To make matters worse, somebody was borrowing my camera and the camera I was using did not work nearly as well in low light, so I needed to pick up the pace if I was going to hit all the bridges before it got dark.

Nobody knows when the Creek Road bridge was built, but it was renovated in 1994.

Here is a map to the Creek Road Bridge:

View Map

Middle Road Bridge, built in 1868 and renovated in 1984.

Here is a map to the Middle Road Bridge:

View Map

The Root Road Bridge was built in 1868 and rebuilt in 1983.

Here is a map to the Root Road Bridge.

View Map

With time running out on me, the Graham Road Bridge was a bummer.  You can’t even drive through this one!  It was washed downstream during the 1913 flood and it was rebuilt from the remains in this field alongside the road.

Here is a map to the Graham Road Bridge:

View Map

This is the first Pratt truss bridge built in Ohio.  The Caine Road Bridge was built in 1986 to celebrate Ashtabula Countys 175th anniversary.

Here is a map to the Caine Road Bridge:

View Map

Unfortunately for me, this would be the last bridge I could see because it was getting too dark for the camera to get a good picture.  I still did pretty well considering I had not even left home until after 1:00.  The only bridge I missed was the South Denmark Road Bridge and I plan on doing this again in the fall when the leaves change!

I highly recommend this ride for anybody.  Even if you don’t care about the bridges there is some very nice motorcycle riding involved in getting to each of them.  I guarantee you will not be disapointed if you spend the day searching these bridges down!

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Above is one of the customs at the show. Now for me I would never really want to ride a bike like this, and I guess nobody really rides bikes like this. You do have to be impressed with it. It just sparkled like a diamond and the paint job was very complex and well done. Not really my cup of tea, but still an impressive motorcycle.

The Hayabusa above is something I am a little bit more drawn to, but this one was really strange. The wheels appeared to be hubless, but they were not. It was a solid wheel, but the inside part was some kind of Plexiglas or something. I just can’t imagine that this could hold up at all. I could not find any information on the bike so maybe there is something I am missing, but I imagine within an hour I could have those wheels destroyed. Now this is my idea of a sweet custom motorcycle. This Ducati was really attracting a lot of attention. If you like purple motorcycles with fat rear tires, this is the bike for you. This is not the bike for me. The bikes above are interesting. Actually, they are the same motorcycle. It looks different from each side. Victory really makes some beautiful motorcycles. Now here is a custom motorcycle I would love to have! This is Casey Stoners Moto GP bike.

And here is the bike Valentino Rossi rode last year. Getting the chance to see these bikes up close is one of my favorite things about the motorcycle show.

I also love the engine cutaways. On the left is a BMW and on the right is the new Buell engine. I can stare at these for a long time.

This is Roger Hayden’s Supersport Kawasaki.

Here is BUB 7, the bike that holds the current land speed record.

I am sure you have noticed that there has been no Harley bashing in this writeup. These tough guys pulled up on me and told me if I did any Harley bashing they would find me. I love Harley’s!

I am not going to say who the Korean manufacturer is that puts the sticker above on their bikes. Cool Boy? Would you ride a motorcycle that says Cool Boy on the side? Those Koreans probably wanted to put something like “Bad Ass” on the side, but translated it to Cool Boy. The rep there said that the sticker comes of really easy.

Here is the exit Nazi. She looks nice and friendly, but don’t try to exit through her entrance. I turned on the charm and tried to talk her into letting me do it anyway, but she would have none of it. I have never seen a woman who could resist my charms before.

Supposedly this is another land speed bike, but to me it looks like something Donald Duck would ride.

I don’t think there is a single kid in the whole world who doesn’t want one of these. I know I want one!

On the way home we had Pizza in Parma. The boy and I killed an entire large, plus garlic bread!

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