Exploring Area Roads

[mgescuro]

Originally Posted by knightfan26917

Hmmm...I kinda like that idea, mgescuro! I'll have to take some time sometime to make a few of my own. That is cool.

So...15 miles...how long time wise?

Including my drive home? Almost 1.75hours.
I hit traffic on the Embarcadero. But it was soooooo beautiful out. I could look out to the left and see the sail boats cruising on by and just enjoy the scenery. It was a perfect drive.

You know? SF is only about 49 sq miles in area. But if you flatten out the City, it's the size of Chicago. It can take a long time navigating the streets. Which can be fun.

I love the idea of this thread. I'm gonna make it a Sticky.

[mikmak]

A grand idea indeed. I often get "lost in transit". It's one of my favourite past times

This MAP used to be a great driving circuit but they fixed all the potholes, widened it and made the corners less acute.Basically in the pursuit of safety, they wrecked the stretch from Yandina in the West of the map, to Coolum Beach in the north east. They are still fairly nice stretches of road with plenty of surprises. At one point Mount Ninderry just pops into view and on the right day it just gives you that little bit of warm and fuzzies.

[mikmak]

This ROUTE, is the one I took on my wedding day. Diddilibah Rd and Kiel Mountain road make up a great drive and considering I was driving a 6.0 six speed manual SSV Commodore, it took me considerably less than 28 minutes. The route mixes between cane fields and pineapple plantations, with some generous hills and off camber corners.

Note: If you go to 342 Keil Mountain Road in street view there is a white astra and a nice SS Ute

[knightfan26917]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

Including my drive home? Almost 1.75hours.
I hit traffic on the Embarcadero. But it was soooooo beautiful out. I could look out to the left and see the sail boats cruising on by and just enjoy the scenery. It was a perfect drive.

See...sometimes the scenery can make the long drive seem short.

But...I really do not like driving in the city, so when I get my older 4 MCs out for a drive...I tend to stay west of Elgin...and spend my time on the "country" roads, where I can go a longer distance in a shorter amount of time...usually. Since none of mine are "collector" vehicles, I don't mind adding miles to them...in fact, I prefer to .

Originally Posted by mgescuro

You know? SF is only about 49 sq miles in area. But if you flatten out the City, it's the size of Chicago. It can take a long time navigating the streets. Which can be fun.

Wow...that is a fact I did not know. Learn something new every day .

Originally Posted by mgescuro

I love the idea of this thread. I'm gonna make it a Sticky.

Holy.............cow! Very cool...thanks .

[t-rex]

I don't know if this is the same thing or not but...

My brother, some friends and I used to make "Plight Runs". We'd leave New Orleans and drive to either the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain (the deep South) or head out west into Cajun bayou country.

But it wasn't to look at scenery. We were just amazed at how rural white trash lived. We'd play games, trying to count how many Korean War-era school buses were occupied as dwellings. There was "count the cars up on blocks." Or we'd see how many Cajuns we could spot walking into the grocery store wearing white rubber boots (Grand Isle Reeboks in local parlance). Double points were given if said white boots were worn by a woman...

My favorite game was racking up points by seeing how many people's vehicles were worth more than their dwelling — a common sight being a $50,000 decked out F350 Lariat parked in front of a raggedy mobile home best suited for storing hay. Quadruple points if the bass boat parked under the awning was worth more than the dwelling...

Or we'd count the empty Natty Light cans strewn aside the highway.

Another favorite was "spot a woman wearing something other than a T-shirt"...

Cajun country is the most fun though. However "Counting the statues of the Virgin Mary in the front yard" could only be played if one was particularly quick in keeping score. And you can forget counting the either the "W" stickers affixed to rear windows of pickups or anything resembling LSU paraphernalia. Only a Cray supercomputer can make such rapid calculations...

Okay kidding aside...

In the days before Katrina, I'd hook up our two Honda Aquatrax PWC's to the F150 and we'd trek across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, pass through all the suburban sprawl and just drive and drive and drive along rural country roads, taking in the scenery. We'd do that a couple hours before finding one of our many spots we'd found over the years to launch our waterbikes, usually somewhere along the beautiful Tchefuncte River.

If we didn't tag the twins along, we'd often leave one of the bikes behind and ride in tandem until we'd come across some secluded sand bar or cove, shore up, and unpack my wife's famous English-style picnic hampers, brimming with tasty treats and of course the omnipresent bottle of wine. We'd have a leisurely lunch and often just lay back and take in the scenery, enjoying a most romantic time.

I never replaced our waterbikes, dismissing them as mere fripperies — more material items that were best shorn from our new, minimalist lifestyle. But lately I've been missing the beauty of the North Shore, missing the scenery along the many rivers that drain into Lake Pontchartrain, missing the scenic drives along country roads, missing watching our kids romp and splash along some hidden sandbar, missing those romantic picnic-and-pinot-grigio getaways.

Sigh.

[rmodys]

My next planned expedition is into Alva, SW Fla's redneckland.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sadd...=UTF8&t=h&z=12

It'll be about $24 in fuel and an 80 mile round-trip... but it should be pretty fun once I get out of Cape Coral since it's pretty rural out there.

[jenilopaz]

There are several routes to the top of Mount Chirripo. The most popular, by far, leaves from San Gerardo de Rivas. However, it's also possible to start your hike from the nearby towns of Herradura or Canaan. All these places are within a mile or so of each other, reached by the same major road out of San Isidro. San Gerardo is the most popular because it's the easiest route to the top and has the greatest collections of small hotels and lodges, as well as the National Parks office. Information on all of these routes is available at the parks office.
------------------------
Jenilopaz

Guaranteed ROI

[mikmak]

Perhaps you should have referred to the route taken to get there "jeni".

Originally Posted by CostaricanationalParks

To reach Chirripo National Park Costa Rica, take the Interamerican highway out of San Jose to Cartago, then continue to San Isidro de El General. From there, take the road that leads to San Gerardo de Rivas.

This way you would have avoided appearing like a spambot. *finger*

Here's some sights I saw on a round trip to Redcliffe for work:

Disappointed with this piece of false advertising

Our own mini Florida; Scarborough, Queensland.

Welcome to the Sunshine Coast. This is the tourist route on the way home.

One of my favourite monoliths from the Glasshouse mountains: Mt. Tibrogargan

Not really a tourist trap, this is just for a mower shop.

Now this is a tourist trap. The Ettamogah Pub is actually a franchise based on a Cartoon that used to be in a regular national publication, which I think was called The Post (feel free to chime in, anyone who knows better). There is another one down near Wagga Wagga somewhere, but I can't remember where exactly.

Yes, that's a beer truck on the roof mate!




Doing the same trip tomorrow so I'll grab a shot of the Big Pineapple as well as some of the best local tarmac

[GMCSonoma]

Originally Posted by nailhead425

26 from Hennepin to Peoria. Driving along and stopping off along the Hennepin canal is still a favorite trip. A summer time bike ride along the banks would be a great week-long trip.
47 runs from Lake Geneva all the way to Champaign. Arrow straight, but still small town America.
Of course 84 through Galena, along the river, is a great trip.
Try heading out of Galena NNE towards Scales Mound, through Apple River, Warren, Waddams Grove, Lena, McConnell, Rock Grove, South Beloit, etc. All back roads, all crazy cool. With AZ plates people were different, but once I started talking they warmed up. (My wife says I have an accent)

I've driven all the backroads in Henry, Mercer, Rock Island, and Whiteside County, IL, as well as all over Eastern Iowa.

I once drove farm and county roads from Independence, IA back to Davenport. It took forever, but it was awesome!

Here in AZ my wife and I run the fire roads and trails. We can drive from our place above the Mogollon rim outside Heber to her Uncle's place down near the Lake Roosevelt without ever going on pavement, or near civilization. Rural life is a blast.

I was just through NW Illinois two saturdays ago, going from Beloit to Lena then up to galena then into Iowa at Dubuque...



Who stuck this thread, btw?

[rmodys]

Originally Posted by GMCSonoma

I was just through NW Illinois two saturdays ago, going from Beloit to Lena then up to galena then into Iowa at Dubuque...



Who stuck this thread, btw?

mgescuro

[knightfan26917]

Originally Posted by GMCSonoma

I was just through NW Illinois two saturdays ago, going from Beloit to Lena then up to galena then into Iowa at Dubuque...

Shoot..wish I'd known you were in Lena...could've met you there. Almost went to Freeport...and then onto Galena, but didn't go after all....

[mgescuro]

Originally Posted by rmodys

mgescuro

Yup.
T'was me. Thought it would make a great little thread with maps and photos of peoples driving excursions around their area.

[mikmak]

Man, what a trip! I took a detour early to get a picture of the Big Pineapple early in the morning.



The rest of the trip to Redcliffe was uneventful save for the LTD Wagon I spotted, parked near Woody point (ironically, this isn't too far from Humpybong Park ).



It wasn't until I got back to the Vectra, after my meeting, that all the other interesting stuff (at least what I thought GMIers would find interesting) started to come out of the wood work.

Firstly, I snapped this Sportwagon, looking across to Moreton Bay;



Then as I looked up the main street, along came a Commodore patrol car;



Shortly after,I just snapped a Holden Suburban. It rolled past as I listened to the 2 folk standing next to a Camry parked behind me, exchanging insurance details with a guy in a V12 CL Merc who reversed into their passenger door. I didn't include this pic though as you already know what they look like.

On the way home, I went a similar route as my previous trip with just a slight deviation. Previously, I left the Bruce highway to travel along Steve Irwin way. This time, however, I went in search of a view that I stumbled on last year, when er....honing my low traction environment, vehicle control skills. All I knew was that it was somewhere amongst the forestry roads. As I was refuelling, this little number pulled up.



It's from the Performax company in Gympie (1 hour north of where I live). These guys do Left-to-correct hand drive conversions for full size US trucks and also the Corvette.

Out along Johnson Rd, I took a forestry access road that seemed a little familiar. Sure enough, I could see my target in the background: Mt. Tibrogargan. I was hunting for a better angle than I had gotten on the previous trip.



Here are a few of the Glasshouse mountains, viewed from the same spot.



It didn't take long to reach my goal.








PINEAPPLES!
And so, as I return home, we come full circle I hope you enjoyed my little tour as much as I did taking you there. Thankfully spring is here, so I was lucky enough to "endure" 25deg C all day long.

I'm hoping that tomorrow will be just as nice, so I can bump the summertime thread and give you poor antipodeans a few images to keep you warm over your looooooong cooooooooold winter

[knightfan26917]

Looks like a sweet trip, mikmak!

Originally Posted by mikmak

The rest of the trip to Redcliffe was uneventful save for the LTD Wagon I spotted, parked near Woody point (ironically, this isn't too far from Humpybong Park ).

Holy cow! That LTD looks in good shape. Any other pics of it, by chance?

Interesting how the chrome bumper is "shiny" from the sunshine on it? Almost like it is trying to smile . he he

[mikmak]

It was remarkably straight but 50% of the paint job looked like it was done with a brush
Besides that, it was pretty mickey mouse.
I have a few more pics of it on the other pewter so I'll stick em up later