Maxton the ride home.

[HarleyCruiser]

After I said good by to Buzz, Mike, Dale and Brian, I left Maxton I headed south on back roads, let my Harley go where it wanted, it seems to find better roads than me and my map.
The country is real pretty lots of farms, cotton soy beans tobacco.
The roads are funny don’t go north and south, like most places, they seem to go cattie wumpus, then turn back to themselves.
Without a compass or GPS you would end up driving up your own tail pipe.


Going south on 601, south of 301 I ventured off on a back road, I started to cross some railroad crossing, in a small town called Miley.
Miley was so small it had both city limits signs back to back on the same post.;-)
I noticed a old locomotive sitting on the tracks. Also a large piece of equipment that at first I thought was a old locomotive, at a closer look realized it was an old steam engine.
I did a u-turn and pulled in. a guy was leaning against the building and I ask if it would be ok to take a photo of the engine, he did not move, just said. No problem.
Then I ask if I could take a picture of him, he just smiled, said “name's Bob.”

You would think I was William Davidson back in 1915 pulling in on his new invention.
Bob looked my bike over like he had never seen a Harley.
That thing got a Garmin, where does it plug in?
The fly wheel on the steam engine had to be at least twenty feet tall.
The Bob explain that it powered an old saw mill that went bankrupt in the sixties when the minimum wage was raised.
They would take the log, square it up and burn the scrap cut with the bark on it, in the fire pit to heat the boiler.
This thing was big, like I said the size of a locomotive, should have had Bob stand next to it but did not think about it until latter, Duuhhh.

[HarleyCruiser]

I have this thing for ponds, bridges, and cemeteries. On the back roads it’s hard to find a rest stop so look for interesting places, to stop.
I always take some water, a box of cereal to munch on, relax for a while and always look for a place with at least one tree.

[HarleyCruiser]

My favorite spot to stop is an old cemetery just north of the Georgia line on 119.
Ran across it several years ago, and always make a point to go back.
The Black Swamp Cemetery on Black Swamp Road.
There is a old hand dug well just as you go into the gate on the left, you can see it just above my bike.
There is a large stone on the gate, Black Swamp Cemetery and Church, built 1790.
I love these old cemeteries, looking at the dates from a hundred and fifty, two hundred years ago. It seems people either lived to be 90, in their twenties/thirty or Infant.
You see a lot of deaths during the war years, both Civil and WWI. There are a lot of wife’s that died in their teens, twenties, with infant graves next to them, with the same death date.
I was in a cemetery years ago that I will never forget. There was this one family, husband, wife, with six or seven small headstones at their feet.
All the small headstones were for infants. The dates were one year after another. I don’t remember exactly but it was like, death 1861; 62; 63; stopped at 1867. I looked up at the father’s headstone and his death was 1866. Then I knew why they had stopped.
To me stopping, reading the stones is a way of paying respect.


This guy Maner, was a Major in the war of 1812, died in 1852 was a Senator and in the House, it did not say if it was state or national.
Went on to tell his whole life story.
I found this very interesting, man the stories he could have told us.
The stone next to him just said, Catherine, wife of Major Maner, when she died, and her age, and some scripture.
Things sure were different back then


After I left the cemetery I ran down the back dirt road, and I swear there was a Hog in the middle of the road, no not a Harley, a real Hog. Big one too, must have been three, four feet long.
I stopped the bike took the camera off my handle bars and started to walk to get a better photo. Got about thirty feet from him, and put the camera up to take the photo, he looked at me, gave a big grunt and ran into the brush next to the road.
I got a good photo of an empty road.
Yea I know should have taken it and then got closer, but my camera was almost full, and did not think I could take two.
Yea yea, I know, you don’t believe me.
Well that’s all the time for now, maybe more to come latter

[street bob]

Steve... What a great journey!!!!
Thanks for sharing and filling in the details, almost feels like I was there!

[JCourneyaP]

Somemore Great Pictures.......Thanks HC

[evoKENevo]

You "ride" much like I do..off the beaten path,stopping to see the sights,meet people,and smell the roses..or the brush fires or the freshly spread manure,etc.,for that matter.

Cemetaries are interesting too.
Hell (excuse the pun) some of my best friends and loved ones are in them now.

[HarleyCruiser]

Originally Posted by evoKENevo

You "ride" much like I do..off the beaten path,stopping to see the sights,meet people,and smell the roses..or the brush fires or the freshly spread manure,etc.,for that matter.

Cemetaries are interesting too.
Hell (excuse the pun) some of my best friends and loved ones are in them now.

Ken, I have a lot of friends who will not ride with me/us, they “want to get there.”
Or they will ride up with us and “meet me at home” on the way home.
I did not count, but guestimate I practiced my U-turn at least half a dozen times on my ride home.
I crossed I 95 five or six times, gave it the finger every time.
I’m getting pretty good at turning around in a two lane road without putting a foot down.
Even on one lane dirt roads, that I feel are the prettiest, I look for a small hill to pull my front tire up on so I can back up easy, I have even bounced my front tire off trees to start me backing up, what do they call that, A tree point turn?
Like you, to me it’s about the ride.
Hey Ken how about a ride report from you, got a favorite road you like? Lets hear it.
Or anyone?
Don’t has to be fancy.(SIC)

[evoKENevo]

I'm really not much good a writing stories..'cept maybe for short blurbs here in keeping with someone else's. That and it would be difficult for me to pick a "favorite road" other than to say the one I've never been on before.

When I leave here,I usually don't have a "destination" in mind. I just kind of pick a "direction" and go from there, on what I call my "Diner-Treks"...stopping when I find some road-side Mom & Pop Place or Truck Stop that usually has better food than "Restaurants"...along with some pretty funny/interesting folks to boot. Some of which were other bikers I'd join up with for awhile...in whatever direction.

I used to think that I just HAD to do "Rte.66" for a month or so before I croak..taking in EVERY side trip and/or road-side attraction...that most others seem to think are boring/stupid. But,although I've been other places/states I've found that Michigan has just about everything any other state has to offer except mountains that I can live without... and with more roads to explore too.

I'll pack clean "socks & skivies",a few tools,ATM card, cell-phone,etc..and may be back same day..or weather permitting 2 or 3 days..crashing in "Bates (?) Motels",for the night.

More than once,Ive stopped in a little cross-roads town..taken out my compass and map and had helpful friendly folks stop to ask where I was heading. Yeah, and it always seemed to get a laugh when I'd tell them I was'nt heading anywhere in particular just trying to figure out where the Hell I was....

Have'nt taken many pictures..other than those stored in "myhead"...but they'd be a lot like the ones you've posted here...thanks !!!

[BaggerDad]

Well how cool was that ride back. Looks and sounds like you had fun.

Mine was a lot less exciting in the truck, but the 1931 Harley with race plates sure got a lot of attention on the highway.

[EZE RIDER]

Great ride report! I enjoyed it. I have friends like you who seem to be in a rush to get back every single time. Now I tell them to go ahead without me.