I found this route on motorcycle roads and though it looked worth a drive so today I decided to try it out. Don't do it!
http://www.motorcycleroads.com/75/764/Kentucky/Elk-Creek-Winery-Loop----Owenton-KY.html
Left at 8:30am. I knew I would hit some morning traffic but I figured by the time I got to the good stuff they would all be at work and the roads mostly clear. Big mistake.
I took rt60, aka Shelbyville Road, and I should have just taken the highway, 64 to Frankfort. Some scenery but the spread of urban sprawl, strip malls, and slow traffic made it pretty boring. I managed to find 127N pretty easily in Frankfort. This road is super boring also. 55mph and I saw just enough cops often enough to not want to go more than 62-ish. Weird being so far out and still seeing a fair amount of troopers.
I missed route 607 the first time and my GPS tried to reroute me. I ended up on a road with no lines, 1 1/2 cars wide, cutting through farmer fields, cattle, and scary looking 1800's style collapsing "homesteads." I ended up in a steep section of road where an old bridge crossed a stream. The bridge, was out! It had collapsed into the water but it was clear that anyone with a pickup was still crossing. My civic was not going to make it. If I had run into any traffic the roads were so narrow we both would have had to put one wheel off the pavement to pass. I was nervous enough as the area was very remote and did not look friendly one bit. I managed to get turned back around and raced back to 127. I headed back and found 607 no problem.
Let me just say that in this entire area almost all the road signs had been knocked down. It looked to be very deliberate and several were bent over as if they had just been hit by a large truck for fun. Especially the signs warning of tight turns and the bridge. They were definitely removed on purpose. Scary. The speed limit signs were brand spanking new and on very sturdy looking new posts. Apparently the highway department knows whats going on.
Route 607? These guys have to be insane recommending this road! Narrow, poorly maintained pavement, large clumps of grass, dirt, and horse poop, possibly human, in both lanes. Like seriously large piles that I needed to steer around because I thought I would catch my bumper on them. Also tons of loose gravel around turns and i saw several larger fist sized rocks just sitting in the road. There were quite a few areas where people in trucks had obviously crossed the road and dragged a huge mess of mud across. They must have made the trip several times as the coating was pretty thick.
I ended up behind a very intense, angry looking guy on a 4 wheeler hauling bags of fertilizer. He was not pleased to see any traffic and there was no way around him and he was traveling straight down the lines in the middle. 10mph until I reached the next road..... wow, thanks for the recommendation on that one.
The houses on this stretch were very very close to the road and I really felt like I was driving across their front lawns. I saw no people but many many wrecked houses, cars, and piles of junk. This is definitely the place where people dissapear and a horror movie gets made about them later.
Route 227. A little bit better. This road, while not well maintained actually had decent pavement, double yellow lines, and white lines with small shoulders. By far the "safest" road since leaving the main highway/127. This road was pretty fun. Except for the imminent threat of death by large truck. I have no idea what was going on in this area but there were several dump trucks barreling down this road definitely across the center line. Had it not been for that, this road would be pretty good. Also got stuck behind a cobalt spewing white smoke doing 20. Buh.
Elk Creek Winery - ok it made a decent spot to stop and pee but other than that, they must be smoking crack to say to go here. The review that says "you'll think you're in california." Wow. No. Nope. No way. Weird place, weird looking, weird people. Bathroom was nice and it was easy to slip in and out.
Continued on 227 to 22. I had a feeling I should just head back to Frankfort and pick up 64 back to Louisville. I decided to try 22 and just finish the loop so I could make a full report. 22 starts out great, very tight, twisty, and fun. Then...... it just flattens out and you are cruising 55mph through farmer fields. Super boring. Also all the houses are really close to the road again. The road itself it great and in good condition. First set of guardrails I had seen in a while. Also it winds you through several small towns that have definite speed trap style "speed zones" that change from 55 to 45 to 35 to 25 and back up again. Yeah, awesome. The signs were the really old small ones and are very easy to miss. I just kept it under 30 as soon as I saw the first 45mph sign. There were loads of cops out today. Just chilling in every town. Saw a couple people stopped today. I'm sure my bright yellow out of state plates made a nice target but I was being very cautious.
I also somehow ended up behind a schoolbus doing 15 under and droppin kids off at 11:30. WTF? 11:30? Whatever, it was just a perfectly annoying end to a long mostly boring drive.
Anyway, thats my full report on this drive.
It might be worth it to take the highway all the way to Georgetown and pick up 227 there and drive it up to Owenton and back. That's an hours worth of driving just to get to Georgetown alone.
TL/DR: Not worth it for the small fun parts. Hillbillies will kill and eat you if you break down in the wrong area. Loads of ticket potential from small town speed zone changes.
http://www.motorcycleroads.com/75/764/Kentucky/Elk-Creek-Winery-Loop----Owenton-KY.html
Left at 8:30am. I knew I would hit some morning traffic but I figured by the time I got to the good stuff they would all be at work and the roads mostly clear. Big mistake.
I took rt60, aka Shelbyville Road, and I should have just taken the highway, 64 to Frankfort. Some scenery but the spread of urban sprawl, strip malls, and slow traffic made it pretty boring. I managed to find 127N pretty easily in Frankfort. This road is super boring also. 55mph and I saw just enough cops often enough to not want to go more than 62-ish. Weird being so far out and still seeing a fair amount of troopers.
I missed route 607 the first time and my GPS tried to reroute me. I ended up on a road with no lines, 1 1/2 cars wide, cutting through farmer fields, cattle, and scary looking 1800's style collapsing "homesteads." I ended up in a steep section of road where an old bridge crossed a stream. The bridge, was out! It had collapsed into the water but it was clear that anyone with a pickup was still crossing. My civic was not going to make it. If I had run into any traffic the roads were so narrow we both would have had to put one wheel off the pavement to pass. I was nervous enough as the area was very remote and did not look friendly one bit. I managed to get turned back around and raced back to 127. I headed back and found 607 no problem.
Let me just say that in this entire area almost all the road signs had been knocked down. It looked to be very deliberate and several were bent over as if they had just been hit by a large truck for fun. Especially the signs warning of tight turns and the bridge. They were definitely removed on purpose. Scary. The speed limit signs were brand spanking new and on very sturdy looking new posts. Apparently the highway department knows whats going on.
Route 607? These guys have to be insane recommending this road! Narrow, poorly maintained pavement, large clumps of grass, dirt, and horse poop, possibly human, in both lanes. Like seriously large piles that I needed to steer around because I thought I would catch my bumper on them. Also tons of loose gravel around turns and i saw several larger fist sized rocks just sitting in the road. There were quite a few areas where people in trucks had obviously crossed the road and dragged a huge mess of mud across. They must have made the trip several times as the coating was pretty thick.
I ended up behind a very intense, angry looking guy on a 4 wheeler hauling bags of fertilizer. He was not pleased to see any traffic and there was no way around him and he was traveling straight down the lines in the middle. 10mph until I reached the next road..... wow, thanks for the recommendation on that one.
The houses on this stretch were very very close to the road and I really felt like I was driving across their front lawns. I saw no people but many many wrecked houses, cars, and piles of junk. This is definitely the place where people dissapear and a horror movie gets made about them later.
Route 227. A little bit better. This road, while not well maintained actually had decent pavement, double yellow lines, and white lines with small shoulders. By far the "safest" road since leaving the main highway/127. This road was pretty fun. Except for the imminent threat of death by large truck. I have no idea what was going on in this area but there were several dump trucks barreling down this road definitely across the center line. Had it not been for that, this road would be pretty good. Also got stuck behind a cobalt spewing white smoke doing 20. Buh.
Elk Creek Winery - ok it made a decent spot to stop and pee but other than that, they must be smoking crack to say to go here. The review that says "you'll think you're in california." Wow. No. Nope. No way. Weird place, weird looking, weird people. Bathroom was nice and it was easy to slip in and out.
Continued on 227 to 22. I had a feeling I should just head back to Frankfort and pick up 64 back to Louisville. I decided to try 22 and just finish the loop so I could make a full report. 22 starts out great, very tight, twisty, and fun. Then...... it just flattens out and you are cruising 55mph through farmer fields. Super boring. Also all the houses are really close to the road again. The road itself it great and in good condition. First set of guardrails I had seen in a while. Also it winds you through several small towns that have definite speed trap style "speed zones" that change from 55 to 45 to 35 to 25 and back up again. Yeah, awesome. The signs were the really old small ones and are very easy to miss. I just kept it under 30 as soon as I saw the first 45mph sign. There were loads of cops out today. Just chilling in every town. Saw a couple people stopped today. I'm sure my bright yellow out of state plates made a nice target but I was being very cautious.
I also somehow ended up behind a schoolbus doing 15 under and droppin kids off at 11:30. WTF? 11:30? Whatever, it was just a perfectly annoying end to a long mostly boring drive.
Anyway, thats my full report on this drive.
It might be worth it to take the highway all the way to Georgetown and pick up 227 there and drive it up to Owenton and back. That's an hours worth of driving just to get to Georgetown alone.
TL/DR: Not worth it for the small fun parts. Hillbillies will kill and eat you if you break down in the wrong area. Loads of ticket potential from small town speed zone changes.
