swampy
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Registered: 02/16/06
Posts: 4,859
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| | 10/05/09 | Reply with quote | #1 |
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This event has been going on for about 5 years now, and DDS has been a proud sponsor for the past 3 years!
Wonder what the DreamHouse is about? Go ahead and read about it here. I challenge you. Go ahead. I dare you.
Now that you know about the DreamHouse, here's a little bit about this fundraiser, the DreamHouse 500. Clicky Here!
Let's make plans to get a larger DDS contingent out to ride next year!
BTW, there is an all street route and an Adventure route, so ifin you got one or the other, there's an opportunity to ride with some very good people.
So here now, is the DreamHouse Ride Report
The DreamHouse 500 begins at the Rider Education Center at Honda located in Alphareta,GA. You have a Honda? This is where it comes from!
We assemble at 0600 to register and have some breakfast, meet other riders and say hello to some old frioends, and meet some new ones! Afterall, a stranger is just a friend we haven't met yet!
Here the sign-up ladies are willing to take my money... it's kinda like home!
The sun comes up, the fog is bright and we take off out the back way and out of Alpharetta...a quaint southern town on the edge of the Atlanta metropolis...
We wind past old little stores....
Take old, sledom used roads....
Make a R DR onto Harley Trail..... anyone else see the irony in something withe the words "Harley" and "Trail" on the same sign?
To top it off.... Harley Trail is a dirt road!
We arrive an hour later at the first gas stop and checkpoint, located just south of Big Canoe. We do some chatting, and pick up a card for what will be, at the end of the day, a losing poker hand!
More to come...
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tomr62262
Bueller?...Bueller?....Bueller?
Registered: 10/19/07
Posts: 88
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| | 10/06/09 | Reply with quote | #2 |
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Probably the best Adventure Tour ride I've ever been on.  |
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swampy
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Registered: 02/16/06
Posts: 4,859
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| | 10/06/09 | Reply with quote | #3 |
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Now it gets to be an interesting cool ride!
We pull out of the gas station and continue on our way. A quick turn down a dirt road....
...which provided a view such as this...
I mean, really. Simple scenes you find on a motorcycle. A 58 degree morning, fog, sporadic sunshine through the mist, dirt roads in north Georgia and I'm riding a motorcycle while assisting in the care of kids with medical needs... come on... It's AWESOME!
We exit the dirt, grab some pavement and trun left onto Goldmine.... Sometimes a name foreshadows what comes along in the day...sometimes you don't realize it until it's over. But our goldmine continues...
Outside of Dawsonville we come across this...
Anyone? Hint: NASCAR engine builder.
Okay, it's the workshop and engine assembly place of Ernie Elliott, Bill Elliott's brother!
Now continuing on.....
Here we are in Georgia.....remember this.....
Georgia had Alpaca farms!
Curious animals, they come over to the fence and check you out!
Young alpacas frolicking in the pastures...they're sooo cuuuuuuuuuuute!
Today.... is a good day... I'm riding my motorcycle in Georgia.
I know it's blurry, but I had to grab it. WTF?
...and the ride continues....
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swampy
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Registered: 02/16/06
Posts: 4,859
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| | 10/07/09 | Reply with quote | #4 |
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Oaky, we're back for the next installment!
When we last left off this was a WTF moment.....
Then just up the bend attached to the fence was THIS sign....
Kangaroos?
In Georgia?
WHO KNEW!
But anyway, there's the Kangaroo Conservation Center!
Here's the linky to find out more!
I put a bug in Sam's ear to maybe have us stop at this place on next years DreamHouse.... that would be pretty cool!
Now back on the road, the Georgia Fall morning was just getting better and better....
We shoot on up Nimblewell gap road.... ya'll are familiar with that one...
We sing up past the 4-H Camp and Camp William Merril, up over FR42 and down one of my favorites and seldom used roads...Gaddistown Rd... Let's ride!
Lake Winfield Scott....
Interesting story about General Winfield Scott... he was responsible for the removal of the Cherokee from North Georgia....
More fabulous roads of adventure...
Leading us to yet another old friend... The Sunrise Country Store.... and another gas stop....
It's here that a legend, a myth or just a story may just be revealed.
When every Halloween, Linus sits in the pumpkin patch and waits for the Great Pumpkin to arrive...
Let's recap the story....
Quote: Linus believes in a strange hybrid of a jack-o-lantern, scarecrow, and Santa Claus character named: The Great Pumpkin.
Linus thinks that the Great Pumpkin will arise out of
the most sincere Pumpkin Patch on Halloween night
and deliver toys to all the true believing children. Of course,
Linus becomes somewhat obsessed with his self-appointed
mission to not only receive toys from The Great Pumpkin
for his undying belief, but he actually wants to be
in the garden when the benevolent giver of Halloween toys
rises from among the pumpkins.
October 31st has arrived again, and the night of Halloween
is upon the Peanuts gang. Lucy gets brother Linus to carry
home her carving pumpkin, and decides he doesn't really
like what's inside the pumpkin.
While the kids are busy readying their costumes for an
evening of trick or treating, Linus is penning his annual
letter to the Great Pumpkin.
"Here we are, Sally, sitting in a pumpkin patch waiting
for the Great Pumpkin. Every Halloween the Great Pumpkin flies throughthe air with his bag of toys, and just think.....if you and I sit here all night, we may get to see him!"
...we'll wait and see...
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EbarDP48
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Registered: 02/22/06
Posts: 2,613
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swampy
Moderator
Registered: 02/16/06
Posts: 4,859
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| | 10/09/09 | Reply with quote | #6 |
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This is a really cool Fall type picture, isn't it... (okay I'm biased I admit it! But I did buy a bag of peanut brittle that was made this morning!)
"Here we are, Sally, sitting in a pumpkin patch waiting
for the Great Pumpkin. Every Halloween the Great Pumpkin flies through the air with his bag of toys, and just think.....if you and I sit here all night, we may get to see him!"
Now, on to more of the ride.....
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swampy
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Registered: 02/16/06
Posts: 4,859
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| | 10/09/09 | Reply with quote | #7 |
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.... more country roads... like Wolfstake and Hatchett Creek....
Tha day was just fantastic as we crossed the creeks on Hatchett Creek Rd...
...and we go onward to....
Hey Look! It's Sam and the other group!
Over at the lunch stop.... everyone comes together, the road riders and the adventure folks!
Hummmmmmm BBQ pork shoulder, slaw....spice cake.... ride and eat boys, ride an eat!
The Alpharetta Cowboy sings his songs....
The folks share stories and tales... strangers this morning, friends by the afternoon.....
Is is just me or does anyone elses knees feel weak....
Now we have to cover the ride back! Stay tuned for more fun and fall scenes!
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swampy
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Registered: 02/16/06
Posts: 4,859
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| | 10/11/09 | Reply with quote | #8 |
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So we leave lunch at Vogel and begin our way back towards the Honda Riders Center.
Along the way we pass scenes such as....
...another waterfall...
...great North Georgia pavement...
...what's riding NGA without a sweep by T.W.O. They had something about Biktoberfest on the sign out front...a number of KLRs were present in the street crowd...
How can you really beat a sunny blue sky day, temps in the low 70's, country roads and good friends on motorcycles getting together to help out medically fragile kids....
You can't! Here's some of the folks in the woods...
Great roads...
...more wonderful forest scenes...
Even yet another history lesson as we come to the Cartecay Methodist Church....
There is so much to learn if we only began to take our time and look at our surroundings. It's important to know how things came to be... that, my friends, is part of an adventure!
We swing in for gas and snacks in Cartecay, a little conversation, and it's time to move on...
The final push to Alpharetta coming up!
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swampy
Moderator
Registered: 02/16/06
Posts: 4,859
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| | 10/12/09 | Reply with quote | #9 |
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On the road to dinner!
More from this fabulous day...
A forgotten station stop on a lonely stretch of highway...
The countryside just smacks of America...
Lakes and ponds abound in this area....
Mountain top views...
...and more lakes below the roads up on the ridges......
...the South... my home....
Alpharetta here we come...
Dennis smells dinner! It's this way boys!
The final installment up next....
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swampy
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Registered: 02/16/06
Posts: 4,859
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| | 10/12/09 | Reply with quote | #10 |
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...Back at the Honda Rider's Center...
Laura, founder and CEO of DreamHouse, and Katie, a DreamHouse kid! And look at that check!
I was sincerely honored to be at the 500 this weekend. A lot of people came together to make the day a success, though none of us benefit from that success, because that success is for another.
We had an opportunity to ride our motorcycles through some beautiful areas. Many of us have been here before. But that's not what it's about.
It's not about the bikes, or the ride. Those are just excuses for us to get out. It's about what we can do together to impact the lives of others.
Today, was a DreamHouse day.
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SteveVaughn
DDS Rocks!
Registered: 02/04/08
Posts: 4
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| | 10/13/09 | Reply with quote | #11 |
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Great report Swampy, Count me in for next year.
2008 WR2500
1995 KDX 200 tagged
AMA Life Member
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atwowheelguy
Look At The Size Of THAT Tank!
Registered: 05/08/06
Posts: 49
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| | 10/13/09 | Reply with quote | #12 |
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Mr. Swampy,
You are an accomplished story teller. We are pleased that we could provide a story worth telling.
We are grateful and proud to list DixieDualSport among our event sponsors. Thank you for your support.
As we sat at dinner, I asked Swampy and the others at the table if they felt they got their money's worth. The others nodded and said, "Yes."
Swampy answered, "I would have gotten my money's worth even without the ride." I beamed as I blurted out, "He gets it! He gets it!" I wanted to hug him, but what with both of us being big, brawny adventure riders and all, I decided not to.
Swampy,
We hope to see you and your compatriots again at the Dream House 500 on down the road. We WILL have a good time and we WILL help Ms Laura and little Miss Katie make a child's life better.
Sam
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tomr62262
Bueller?...Bueller?....Bueller?
Registered: 10/19/07
Posts: 88
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| | 10/14/09 | Reply with quote | #13 |
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Sam,
Thanks for leading us "B" riders.
This is the "B" group of Adventure Riders Sam got us back to bace within 1 min of 5pm. That's 8 hours of riding, over 240 miles, with about 60 or so on the dirt, on schedule perfectly. Can't tell Sam was an experienced Enduro Rider.
As for me, I'll be there again next year.
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cbob
Registered: 10/14/08
Posts: 1
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| | 10/15/09 | Reply with quote | #14 |
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GREAT report, Swampy! It's almost as if I was there . . . .
and thanks for breakfast 
Best,
- c bob
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