Chattahoochee National Forest - Wagoneer Adventures

I recently went on a fly fishing weekend getaway to North Georgia, and I just happened to be right in the middle of the Chattahoochee National Forest, which of course meant some Forest Service Road Adventuring! It was a dark and gloomy day and the area I was in was recovering from a tornado from a few months ago, so a few roads were closed and many others were in poor condition.

Billie, Cody, and Julia.

This was one of the more interesting roads I found, off of Tray Mountain Road. Upon venturing down this road, we were met by three teenage "mountain boys" driving a lifted Chervrolet heading in the opposite direction. The road was too narrow to pass, so I backed up until they found a suitable place to pull off. I drove forward, and the driver of the truck rolled down his window. I pulled beside him and thanked him for pulling off the road.

"I wouldn't go down this one!" The driver, looking a little pale warned.

"Yeah, you don't want to try it!" The younger boy in the bed of the truck warned, looking frightened and thankful he was alive.

"Oh yeah?" I innocently asked, even more amped up to drive down the road.

"Oh, no, no you don't want to do it." The boy stuttered, still somewhat shaken and shaking, "there's a tree blocking the road and rocks... rocks everywhere! And a huge rut in the road. We barely made it to the end!"

"Oh... ok." I said, reaching an even more anxious level to travel this rocky rutted death inducing road! "Uh, thanks, then. Say, is there a place I can turn around down there?" I asked, no wanting to show my over eager hand that I was in no way going to heed their warning. He informed me there was a turn around, and we parted ways.

The road turned out to be rough, but not as impassible as I had hoped. I did wind up turning around, after I found the rutted out area in the road. Earlier while driving a trail I had blown one of the lines to my air shocks, so my Wagon was saggin', which limited my maneuverability.

Over all it was a pleasant and fun ride, it would have been even more enjoyable if it had not been such gloomy weather. 





Has It Really Been A Week?!?

Yes, it's been over a week since my last post here. But never fear my loyal readers, I am still alive! I have been hard at work every evening working on my roof rack for my Wagoneer. I am building it out of 3/4 and 1/2 EMT, conduit. I have seen the idea all over Jeep forums, and not wanting to shell out around five hundred bucks for a roof rack for my Jeep, I decided to try my hand at building one. It's coming out pretty nice, and strong. I have read a lot of people saying that EMT is too weak, but I think it's just fine. Especially for my use, I don't plan on putting anything stupid heavy on top of my Jeep anyway!

Anyway, no pictures of that yet, it's still a work in progress. I only get an hour each night to work on it, after Julia goes to sleep.

Well. . . lets get to the pictures. (From the archives!)

The beautiful Flint River! I haven't been down there in ages it seems!

Weird bug.

Driving from Augusta, Georgia to Columbus, Georgia in the Wagoneer. This is the first drive. That was a 250 mile drive in a new old Jeep. Wow! I am so thankful nothing "eventful" happened, thinking back on it.

Enjoying my Wagoneer for the first time.

And then there was this guy!

Self portrait. From the archives.

Blast from the Past!

My cousin "Little George" and your photographer, from probably around four or so years ago.

This photo by Walter Mallard. Courtesy Walter Mallard Photography

(Check him out, he's the best.)

Enjoying my Wagoneer

Lazy Sunday, listening to A Prairie Home Companion.

New stereo, and damage to the dash due to a break in. The idiots stole my old JVC, leaving the detachable faceplate behind. Oh, well, it gave me an excuse to upgrade it. The thing that really makes me mad is the dash damage.

Brian Mallard - Rockstar

Brian and I did a quick impromptu photoshoot in the studio.

My uncle and me.

. . . and then the silly entered the room. . .

Self Portrait (From the vault)

Taken about two years ago.

Self Portrait

Dr. Roberto Gonzalez. My alias in case I ever have to escape to Mexico and become a goat farmer.

Billie and me.

Chattahoochee National Forest Part One

Billie

Cody

Your photographer. Photo by Billie. She's been taking some photography tips from me.

Me again. Photo by Billie.

Me with the adventure vehicle. Photo by Billie. 

Black and white. Love this picture. Photo by Billie.

All of us. (left to right, Randy, Cody, Billie and myself)

Building A Shed

There's a certain feeling you get when you build something and then a tree falls on it and squishes it. And then you say forget it! Then you decide to build it again. This is the story of my shed addition, or rather my "dry boat port."

My helper checks out the roof.

Tarring the roof.

My shed is very green. Used tin bought at Reeve's Wrecking was used for the roof. For the sides I used heavy duty pallets.

Coming together very well now. Of course, now the walls are completely finished, but those are photos for another day - when I take them. I'm pretty proud of my shed. In all seriousness, I find an art in building stuff like this.

After the hard work was over, we enjoy a fire.

Enjoying A Pipe

Enjoying a bowl of "Gatekeeper" in my La Torre Personal freehand that I bought off of eBay. It's a beautiful pipe, but my Dr Grabow Regal is a better smoke. Perhaps its just my smoking style, but I got much more flavor and a much cooler smoke out of the Dr Grabow.

Enjoying a Cuban

My buddy smuggled me a Cuban cigar back from Mexico. I smoked it while driving back home from North Carolina. It was tasty, but nothing extraordinary. It has been too long now to do an actual review of the cigar, but I can say that I wouldn't go out of my way or spend twenty bucks on another one. Although, this is to date the only Cuban I have smoked, and - there is always that possibility it was a fake...