I usually say that this is my favorite among my routes.
I think that is true.
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| Corner of Range and Ellis Chapel Roads, after one has climbed the "Range Wall." There are several photos of this demobilized self-propelled artillery piece on this blog, several with people posed on its flanks. Seems there have been some plantings made fronting the gun - plantings that are maturing quickly, and if not kept trimmed, it might not be possible to take this photo in the near future. Next time I do a photo essay of this route, I need to remember to skip this location, skip the next artillery piece at the Cassam Rd corner, and get a pic of the ack-ack gun further along Range Road. Oh, since there might be some non-locals reading this, Range Road essentially encircles Camp Butner, a National Guard training facility, with a history more interesting than that. |
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| This was the 28th time I've completed the rando Denny's Store Sortie. I've also ridden essentially this same course pre-rando at least two or three times. And I've done the non-rando Range Road Rover about 12 times. In other words, I have ridden past this location at least 40, and perhaps 45, different times - yet, this was the first time I ever noticed this little cemetery on the west side of the western side of the Range Road loop. Maybe I've never noticed this because there is a more attractive scene just before this; I almost stopped this day to photograph that prior scene but ... didn't. This photo didn't come out very well because of the bright, bright sunshine making it impossible to read the words on that large headstone. Those words indicate that this is a "Duke Cemetery" - which branch of the Dukes I do not know. |
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| The gas station / c-store at Moriah. I hadn't stopped here in slightly over seven years, but on this day, I decided I wanted a fresh COLD beverage. I was delighted to find an "Arizona Sweet Tea" and a much more pleasant clerk than there was seven years ago. They also have the usual fizzy drinks and a good array of Gatorade and similar. They also have a large selection of beer, however I doubt they had a single beer that Mark Thomas would want to drink. That thought came to me while searching for the Tea. I took this photo and proceeded up the road, going south to north, before realizing that Mark had ridden past this store about a month earlier, going west to east on the first day of the Carolina Spring 1200, but he almost certainly did not stop here since there was a control in Timberlake only about 10 miles before. |
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| I probably should discard this photo since it is SOOOO badly framed -- proof that, without my magnifiers, I can't really see what is in the camera viewer on my flip-phone. However, I include this lousy photo because it is taken atop "Mt. Harmony" and I want to indicate that I keep thinking that someday I'll stop in that shady area in the background and have a picnic of sorts -- probably while doing the "Road to Hicksboro" 205k perm since this spot comes a bit too early on the Denny's Store route -- maybe a picnic here would make sense if I did Denny's Store reversed (which is approved, but has only been ridden reversed one time). Maybe I'll better frame the photo next time. |
I forgot to take a photo, probably of the "peep benches," at the Allensville control.
(Click here if you want to see those benches in action.)
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| Iconic location for photo for this route. Since this ride consisted of only me and my steed, you get a photo of the sign, the top of my steed, the house across the road, all slightly off-kilter, and nothing else. |
I took a photo at the Berea control, but I definitely do NOT like it.
Therefore, it went straight to the trash bin.
I thought about stopping at Culbreth to take a photo of the burned down house, etc.,
The bright sunshine and shade trees might have made for a nice pic,
If taken from the correct location,
But I decided to ride on.
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| It was an enjoyable break to stop in the shade and take this photo. I finished off the last of the COLD beverage that I had gotten at the control in Berea before it became too hot. I was looking forward to getting some COLD water at the Southern States in Creedmoor; I did refill my bottles there, but the water was tepid cold instead of the usual COLD. |
I thought about taking a photo in Stem.
Of the location where we one cold February day found a BBQ sandwich vendor,
But I had just stopped in the shade to take the one at Shoofly, and decided to ride on.
The Denny's Store route is the one that was ridden when
My friend NCBob first attained K-Hound status.
It is also the route that was ridden, the only time ridden reversed,
When LynnL became the first NC female to get to Hound-and-a-Half.
We took a photo of Bob and company that ended up on Facebook,
And Lynn took a selfie that might be on the K-Hound blog.
I decided to stop and take a photo of the backdrop for both those photos:
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| See the ripples on the surface. The not too bad headwind since leaving Allensville is pushing the surface of the lake against the current. I started to get dizzy just after taking this photo because the moving water messed with my sense of equilibrium. |
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| Ride done, steed secured to bike-rack, time to go home. |
Placeholding in case I decide to add some stats here.
Don't hold your breath waiting.
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