Monthly Archives: April 2012

Roads in Brown County — Things are not always as they appear to be

DNR gate at the end of Comb's Road

This should come as no shock, but I thought it was interesting and worth sharing. 

Just be careful as you plan trips around Brown Co. The roads on your GPS, DeLorme Atlas and Google maps may not be open.

The photo above was taken on Comb’s Road just outside of Elkinsville. 
This is what you currently see on Google Maps. Point ‘A’ is the location of the gate and it appears the road goes on through.
It’s been closed due to lack of county maintenance funds. I spoke with some locals who were very nice and told me the gate opens with a key making it accessible for handicapped hunters through the DNR. But lose the notion of going around with your bike. If they catch you on it otherwise you’re going to be in trouble. And according to the guy I spoke with he wouldn’t attempt it on his trials bike! Before the roads were closed, they were throughly trashed by 4×4’s and then erosion has taken a toll, as well.
The lack of maintenance funds has also meant some roads reverting from pavement to gravel–which is a good thing for GS purposes! 
The gravel roads that I found were uniformly in excellent condition, otherwise. But many of them ended in similar barricaded dead ends. DeLorme/Garmin/Google/NavTeq have a lot of updating to do!
Funny aside, just to get the first photo I went a ways down a pretty normal gravel road. Then the gravel got a little thinner. Then there was an old trailer parked in a meadow. Then it turned into what looked like somebody’s driveway, but no posted signs for end or road or private property, etc at any point. Then there’s a horse just standing and grazing, unfenced in this driveway. A small stream crossing and the road changes to a little more trail-like covered in horse droppings going along side a fenced pasture. Then the gate pictured above pops up! There was a small turn-around/parking area there. Maybe for hikers/mountain bikers?
-Dallas Peak

Hard Eight BBQ

I highly recommend the Hard Eight BBQ in the Dallas area. There are other locations in Texas too. If you love BBQ, you will love this place.
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Fifteen Reasons Why I Late Apex Curves

  1. A wider entry to a curve allows me to see farther down the road. (Is there an 18-wheeler entering from the other end?  Is that hound dog in the middle of my lane?)
  2. Since I can see farther, I have more distance to slow or stop if necessary.
  3. If I observe oncoming traffic or a road hazard, I can continue on the outside of my lane instead of apexing the curve. Continue reading

2012 Jim Brown rides to Texas

Y’all come back to this page. There might be more albums in the future, time permitting.

The day before the trip was not a good one. I was on the Hoosier State Press website attempting to register for an upcoming conference. I saw that the day and date of the conference did not match according to my calendar. I immediately called HSPA to let them know of the error and while I was talking, I noticed that the person who was wrong was me. All you can say in these kind of situations is, “never mind.” Continue reading