Driving home: Alabama to Illinois

Time to go home. We were up just before sun up. The tent was apart in mere minutes, the re-packing of the truck took a little longer. Less than an hour later we were on the road.



Packing up camp

281 was all ours, we only saw a couple of cars going the other way. 431 was another nice and curvy road, we took this one to the interstate





Views from 281

We wanted breakfast but figured many places would be closed new years day so we waited until we got closer to Birmingham to stop at a McDonalds to eat.







Driving the many curves of 281

431 another nice road with twisties

A cold and sunny day in Birmingham, AL

It was a cold and windy morning and it was supposed to stay cold and windy all day. We continued on the interstate heading north, the traffic wasn’t bad and by our calculations, we were looking to be back in Chicagoland by 9PM.

A big rocket near I-65 somewhere between Birmingham and Nashville

Nice scenery along I-65

New Years Day ride in Nashville, TN

A really cool bridge

We had some snacks in the car for lunch, but by dinner time, we were looking to see what fast food places were open off the interstate, hoping for something healthy to eat like Subway. But the few exits we took, nothing as open. We finally gave up and stopped at a Taco Bell.

The winds kept picking up as we headed further north and by the time we reached Tennessee there were snow flurries floating about. We knew that Chicago was getting snow today but we were hoping that it wouldn’t delay us too much. I had to be at work tomorrow morning, so we had to make it home tonight.

Snow getting worst in Southern Illinois

But the weather was not cooperating. The further north we went the worst it got. About 120 miles from Chicago it was snowing bad. It was very cold. 30-40MPH wind gusts were blowing so much snow across the road, not only was it hard to see the road but the wind was also trying to push us off of it. The driving in these conditions was not fun, towing a trailer.

After sliding on some ice and freaking out, we decided to take a break at another McDonalds. The weather channel was on inside and many people were watching TV. The place was packed.

McDonalds parking lot, 100 miles from Chicago on I-57

Driving in these conditions was very dangerous. The biggest danger wasn’t our driving skills or the road condition, we were as careful as we could be, driving 15-20MPH under speed limit. It was all the other vehicles. Some trucks were still going 65MPH, passing us way too close for our comfort. We counted at least 40 cars in ditches that slid off the road.

Some people that stopped in at the McDonalds that were driving from Chicago on I-57 said that once we got past Kankakee the road conditions would improve. We were not that far from Kankakee. It was time to get going again. The snow stopped falling from the sky but the winds continued to blow the snow across the road, at times you couldn’t see anything. It was slow going, other vehicles continued passing us at a higher speed and we continued seeing many more cars in ditches. But we got past Kankakee and the roads did get better, the wind wasn’t blowing as hard either. The driving conditions got better and better as we got closer to Chicago.

Back home

After what seemed like a long day, we arrived at the house a bit after midnight. Our trip had come to an end.

Talladega Mountains, Alabama

I woke up shortly after the sun climbed over the mountain and started shining through the tent's walls. Mike was still sleeping so I went to check out the camp site. For me, there is nothing better than waking up in the morning, climbing out of a tent, taking a big breath of fresh mountain air, grabbing a Red Bull to fully wake up and going for a hike. This campground was really great. It was still very cold this morning but the sun was warm and the temperature was slowly climbing.



We were the only ones camping here



Frost on fallen leaves



This primitive camp site was littered with interesting ruins



Vegetation taking over



Morning dew sparkling in the sun



Mike makes some killer scrambled eggs





Breakfast is served: eggs, toast, orange juice and hot cocoa



Cooking and eating in the woods is the best

After a good breakfast we geared up and rode up to the registration office to pay for our camp site. The primitive camp site was $11 per day, kind of expensive for a camp site without a bathroom, but we enjoyed being alone so much that we decided to stay there tonight as well, even though we'd probably be cold again tonight without our electric blanket.

The bikes ready to go for a ride






Cheaha Road

The day was amazing, sunny and 62 degrees. We took of on Cheaha Road until we saw the sign for the Kentuk ATV trail sign. Then we took the forest road that went to the ATV trail, we didn’t ride the ATV trail, just rode the forest roads.

The forest roads were amazing, hard dirt with a bit of gravel with tons of twists and turns and many elevation changes. Actually, there were not a lot of straight sections here, nothing really tight either, just nice curvy roads. I'd have to say that so far these were the best dirt roads that I've ever been on. They were so much fun to ride. There were a few cars on these roads, mostly hunters and people that live around here.

Posing next to some river



The best twistie road of the day

The day consisted of 88% dirt - 15% pavement. We had no route, just the GPS. There were tons of dirt roads here, enough to ride for a week or more. And every road we tried was good but slightly different from the others.













Cheaha Road

It was getting late now, we looped around to Cheaha Road and headed back to the campsite. I stopped by Cheaha Lake for a few minutes, the colors were amazing as the sun was preparing to set.





Cheaha Lake



Back at the campground

We were leaving bright an early tomorrow morning so Mike was going to load the bikes on to the trailer tonight, so all we had to do tomorrow morning is tear down the tent and go

While Mike loaded up the bikes, I spent 30 minutes gathering fire wood. Tonight we were going to have a real camp fire.



The sun sets on our last night in Alabama



Campbells clam chowder for dinner

It was another beautiful night. It was still just us at the primitive campground. The sky was dark and the stars were many. Even though it was technically new years eve, to us it was just another night camping. At least it wasn’t as cold tonight as it was last night, the lows were going to be in the low 30’s tonight.



The camp fire was a good one tonight and kept us warm while we relaxed on the last day of the year



There was a light wind blowing tonight, but I wasn't cold at all. Tucked in to the two zero degree sleeping bags, I was very comfortable. Those extra few degrees make a huge difference.

Ruffner Mountain - Birmingham, AL

We woke up to rain - again. The forecast still looked the same just as it did since it had started raining days ago. More rain coming up from the Gulf. But here in central Alabama the rain was finally ending this afternoon. And to think that Alabama and Georgia had been in a drought before this rain came.



Watching the weather channel, more rain

Since it was raining, we were not in any hurry to go any where. The Day’s Inn had a decent complimentary breakfast. After we ate we got the laptop out to figure out where we would be camping tonight and tomorrow night. We were going to ride in the Talladega National Forest. The forest roads were supposed to be awesome, but unfortunately the national forest campsites were not open right now. After searching the internet and not finding any other camp sites near Talladega, we almost gave up on riding there. But at the last minute we found a state park near by that had campsites with electricity and water. The Cheaha State Park is located on a mountain, so it was going to be pretty cold at night.

We took off and had to an early lunch at the Olive Garden in Birmingham. Soup, salad and breadstick. And bread pudding. I just discovered bread pudding last week. I’m surprised I’ve never come across it before.

Bread pudding

After lunch we went to check out Ruffner Mountain, which I read about on a website on Alabama's tourism. There was supposed to be some good hiking there and nice views of Birmingham.

The website did say that getting to Ruffner Mountain was kind of difficult, the directions were long and kind of complicated. And it did take us an hour before we found all the streets to take us there. It was totally worth it though, a really nice place to hike with beautiful scenery. And the rain had finally stopped. Yea!

We hiked the Quarry Trail, it went to the scenic overlook of the city

Quarry overlook

We almost stepped on this little guy

A nice trail through the woods

That's the quarry down below

Even with all this cloud cover and very little sunshine, low to mid 50's felt great

Mike with Birmingham in the distance

Ruffner Mountain visitor center

After we finished our hike we took off toward Cheaha State Park. It was already later then we thought. Our hike was a long one. We kind of didn’t pay attention to the directions that were posted on the website for the state park and we ended up taking the long way there which was the Cheaha Road, a twisty, very narrow, pea-graveled road, which entered the state park from the west. There was a lot of fog on this road and by now it was completely dark. We saw some deer near the road, other than that it was too dark to even read the road signs.



Heading into the Talladega Mountains at sunset



Fog hovering low above the grass



The twisty Cheaha Road going to the state park

Finally we arrived at the Cheha State Park. I read on their website that there was a camp site on top of the mountain and one lower down the mountain. I was hoping to camp at a lower elevation, thinking it would be a bit warmer.

We passed up the lower camp site and but we didn’t even know it, too dark and foggy to see anything. The upper camp site had a few RV’s camping there, but I went and checked out the bathroom (because I had to go) and for some reason there was no running water. This obviously was not supposed to be, since the facilities had regular toilets and sinks, there was just no water for some reason. It was also pretty cold up on that mountain and someone's dog kept barking non-stop.

We drove back down and finally found the lower camp site, but there was a gate that could only be opened with a entry code of some sort. They probably give you the code when you register to camp, but the registration office was closed already. We were getting pretty tired of driving. The primitive camp site was down the road from the lower full service camp site, so we went to check it out. The road through the camp site was really rough and at some point we couldn‘t continue on it with the truck and bike trailer. We got out of the truck to think.

It was going to be very cold overnight, in the upper 20's. We wanted to use our electric blanket to stay warm but we just didn‘t feel like driving back up the mountain to the upper full service camp site. That place was just not very inviting, with the RV's and the barking dog.

Here at the primitive camp site, we were alone. There was no one camping here tonight. It was just us, the trees and the stars, kind of nice. We decided that since it was late now, just for tonight, we’d just stay here.

This camp site was "primitive" just as the sign had said, meaning no water or bathrooms of any kind. To keep warm tonight we got all of our sleeping bags out. I had two zero degree sleeping bags for myself and Mike had a 35 degree and a zero degree bag. Like I’ve done last year in Big Bend, I’d place one sleeping bag inside the other for extra warmth. It works like a charm.




Four sleeping bags for two people, for a cold night camping up on a mountain




Keeping warm next to the fire




Another self-starting log being used as a camp fire, it was too dark and we couldn't find any other wood to burn nearby




Hot cocoa to stay warm




Chili and bread for dinner

The night was pretty cold, and I woke up a few times to zip the sleeping bag up further over my head. My head and my feet were cold most of the night. I even had to put my gloves on, and had kept on all my clothes, including my jacket and hat. I'm sure more expensive gear would work better, but I never intended on camping in such cold temps when I bought the stuff.