Road to Radium Springs, Ga
Why Radium Springs? I think the better question is why not! Like all of us I saw a post or a reel about this place that talked about its mineral water and it being pumped from a cave at 70,000 gallons per minute!! I thought that sounds interesting and unique. Also close enough to ride one of the motorcycles to it. Roughly two and half hours, 135 miles one way sounds like the perfect day trip. Also a chance to make a vlog or YouTube video about the ride. The bike chosen, the ‘24 CFMoto CL-X 700 Sport. Why this bike? Why not the Pursuit, the Ibex 800T or even the Ninja 1000SX? They all are clearly better choices. And that is the point. They are the better choice. Why not live a little? When I purchased the CL-X 700, I went to Athens, TN to buy it along with the Papio CL. That was 198 miles one way and a three and half hour ride, in the rain, back home. The bike did just fine and so did I.
Let's be real here though. I’ve been riding the high of recent YouTube growth and honestly I am wanting to keep that momentum going. The one video I posted on the CL-X has done surprisingly well, which tells me there may be an audience for this motorcycle and I enjoy riding it, so again I ask why not? One of the things I look forward to when looking at google maps about Radium Springs is where the spring water meets the Flint River. The water doesn’t appear to mix. I always thought it interesting to see water that makes clear lines like that
For this trip I will pack the Insta360 AcePro 2, Insta360 GO3S, the DJI Osmo Pocket 3, and bring my Canon T7i with most of the prime lenses. The CL-X doesn’t offer panniers and the sport pillion doesn’t offer much for tail bags either. I will need to look for the pillion seat possibly in the future as I don’t want to scratch the plastics using a tail bag. I invested in a Quad Lock for the phone and an SW-Motech Pro Tank ring for this trip to assist with navigation and carrying my wallet and keys. I already have tank bags, so adding the ring to this bike just made sense. I think for carrying the cameras I will use my camera backpack, but as of writing this, it is honestly still in the air as to which bag I will load up for the day.
This past weekend has been a wet one, with rain coming and going quicker than I can pour myself another cup of coffee. I look forward to this coming weekend, the 9th to be exact, as that is the day of the trip. Even though I have intentions to make a vlog of this journey, ultimately it is to get me on the road again. With limited time for traveling (single empty nester with two dogs at home), this gets me back on longer day trips post chemo and I am looking forward to that. I may struggle with video structure and clearly conveying a story, but I enjoy the process. The opportunity to make mistakes and learn from using my gear. The editing process and the attempt at creating something. Getting lost in a nine to five with the stress of building something for someone else at times has me feeling unfulfilled. These moments help to not only clear the head, but to see something new and try something new. Whether it is a success or not in the internet world, it doesn’t really matter. It’s doing something for yourself, then sharing it unabashed and raw. A sense of connection for those who aren’t polished creators.
And at the end of the day, a deeper connection is what we all ultimately search for. Whether we admit it or not.
I’ll update this post with the vlog link once it’s live.