Trippin' Connies - Take 2 & +1

[klb1122]

Shortly after last year's trip, dad and I started talking about the next one. We decided to go the opposite way this time. I started planning the trip and my goal was to hit every curvy road I’d heard about East of the Mississippi. The trip turned into a planned 9 day ride of about 4,300 miles and 12 states (including Texas). As the trip approached, we added another member to our wolf pack, my Uncle Randy. Randy rides a Yamaha FZ1, but we’ll let that slide for now. Enough of the prelude, I’ll just get on with it.

Day 1 - Saturday - June 19, 2010

Humble/Houston, TX to Greenville, AL

We wanted to get off to an early start. I woke up at 3:45 am and we were at dad’s house by 5 am. We promptly left there by 5:10 am.

The morning got off to a great start with a detour right off the bat into downtown because I-10 under US59 was closed. No problem though, I just let the Zumo recalculate and followed along. There isn’t too much to write about the trip down I-10, but I’ll try to make it interesting.

Louisiana…

Sun coming up.

Gas stop #1 in LA.

Bridge over the Mississippi River before entering Baton Rouge.

Thirsty bike stop #2. We were stopping about every 120 miles to start with not knowing the FZ1’s range and also not trying to completely wear ourselves out.

Not a bad deal. I wish it were later in the day.

More gas and melted granola bar time.

Mississippi…

Isn’t I-10 fun!?

And shortly thereafter, Alabama.

Traffic backed up going into the tunnel on I-10 in Mobile. Huh, I didn’t know there was a tunnel along I-10…

Luckily the wait wasn’t too bad as it was really heating up outside. We finally made our way through.

After the tunnel the opposite direction was backed up for several miles because of a broken down Uhaul. That would have been a nightmare.

We broke off of I-10 and went South on US98. We pulled into a gas station and a lady pulled up between Randy and I. She got out and said we looked like we were traveling and was curious where we were going. We told her about our trip and she informed us that she was just getting back from the Isle of Man. She took her husband, who is a cancer survivor, there for his 60th birthday to watch the TT races . As she was getting back in her car I told her was going to be on the internet and she tried to hide her face. She was very nice and energetic.

One of the destinations for the day was Guy's Gumbo Shack. I’m a fan of the Food Network’s show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives so while planning this trip, I tried to see if I could fit in any of the show’s locations along the route. Video of the Triple D episode.

The GPS was a little off and took us all the way to the coast, but I thought I saw the sign about 3 tenths of a mile back. We circled back to the sign, and found the shack in the back of an alley. It was definitely tough to find. We all had a bowl of gumbo; mine had shrimp and crawfish tails. I think we all enjoyed it, I certainly did. It was an interesting place for sure, probably more lively at night though. The waitress/bartender/busgirl handled the whole place and did a good job.

After eating, we went back down to the pier on the gulf and stopped to take some pics and enjoy the view.

I took this picture because I was so jealous these people were able to enjoy the water and I was sweating my butt off, not because of the stud laying out.

We road along the coast for a bit, but unfortunately houses separated the road from the water view. Then we turned towards Florida on US98. It was hot and slow moving across this road. We crossed the bridge over Perdido Bay and entered Florida.

Uh-oh… Well, we won’t be here long.

In Florida at a light, dad saw over 108 degrees on his dash mounted temp gauge. HOT!!!! We took some more backroads in traffic and skirted around Pensacola. After getting back in to AL, about 20 miles south of I-65 the rain started, we pulled over and put our rain covers on and prepared. There was a serious lightning storm to the left of us, but we got on I-65 and headed in the opposite direction. The rest of the day (80 miles) was on and off rain. It was actually nice because it brought the temperature way down. The only bad part was a dirty bike.
We made it to home for the night at about 6:30 pm and checked in.

A call to the wife to let her know we made it.

We walked over to the convenience store, got some adult beverages, and watched the UFC fights. Dad got out-voted on that one.

Total mileage for Day 1: about 680

I’ll post the next day once completed, this is going to take me a while.

 

[JacknTexas]

 

[klb1122]

Hi Jack! Better grab a couple of extra buckets, this one is going to get interesting...

 

[RedPill]

Good start, at least for those of us watching. I don't think I'd like the 108 degrees in Florida, though.

I'm also a fan of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. When you're up in the DFW area, be sure to check out Chef Pointe, a gourmet restaurant in a Mobil station in Watauga. They were also featured on the show.

 

[cdc]

My kind of trip report, lots of pictures and enough text to get the "big picture.."

Thanks!

 

[1 wheel peel]

...... this one is going to get interesting...

Don't know how it could top the last one, but looking forward to it.

 

[MIKEYLIKESIT]

My kind of trip report, lots of pictures and enough text to get the "big picture.."

Thanks!

x100000!!!

 

[NitroRoo]

of to a good start!

 

[one Wolf]

You guys are awesome! Then what happened?

 

[klb1122]

Day 2 - Sunday - June 20, 2010

Greenville, AL to Franklin, NC

Today we woke at 6 am (Happy Father’s Day, Dad!) and were on the road by 8 am. We filled up on the continental breakfast somewhere in between those times. The first half of the day would be more slabbing, but the second half would finally consist of some good stuff.

Hello Georgia state line and bye-bye hour as we enter the Eastern time zone.

Atlanta was a mess. Dad wanted to get a picture of the skyline, but quickly was fearing for his life instead. Cars were flying by us and we were not going slow. There were several confusing junctions we had to get through that were tricky for someone out of state. At the I-75 and I-85 split, Zumo kept telling me to stay on I-75. I followed and as soon as they went opposite ways, she tells me I should have turned on I-85. Great. I was pissed because we were almost in the clear, but we just went up to the next exit and did a u-turn. We did hit one toll both on 400 leaving town, but it was painless. Everything did seem bright green going through Atlanta.

We stopped to grab some gas when we split off on US 19 going North.

Shortly after we were turning on 60 and heading up to T.W.O. Motorcycle Resort. We finally hit our first taste of twisties after a day and a half of riding. At T.W.O., there were only a handful of bikes, probably because of Father’s Day.

We arrived 4 minutes after lunch was supposed to have stopped being served at 2:00, but they served us anyway… thankfully. I had a BBQ sammich, onion rings, and sweet tea. Delicious.

We talked to a couple guys in the restaurant and they were telling us all the good roads in the area. No worries boys, we’ll be hitting them. Leaving lunch we turned down Wolf Pen Gap Road. This was a tight road with little traffic.

We then turned down US 129 South onto Blood Mountain Rd. This is a great wide road with nice sweeping turns, but there was quite a bit of traffic. Dad ended up getting stuck behind a few cars. Whoops.

We took 75 Northeast for a short bit to get to Richard Russell Scenic Highway. I really enjoyed this road. There was little traffic and the road surfaces varied, but overall it was good. About half way up, we stopped at a scenic overlook where there is a memorial tree for a passed away member of zzrbikes.com. The location was beautiful! It was hot in the sun but nice and cool in the shade with breeze up against the rock wall.

We looped back around to 356, which passed over the dam at Unicoi Lake. It was another beautiful N. Georgia spot to stop. Dad was really impressed with N. Georgia and I was smitten as well.

Turned onto 197 and road North, around Lake Burton. We didn’t stop anywhere along here, but it was a really nice road and it looked like a cool but busy lake. We stopped for a fill-up in Clayton. The place was busy as heck and everyone wanted to talk. That’s been happening a lot thus far on the trip. Everyone is definitely nice though.

Soon we were at the Chattooga River on the border of GA and SC.

After entering South Carolina we cut over to 28 and began our journey North. 28 ROCKS!!!! It really has it all… tight sections, sweeping sections, and good pavement. 28 crossed back into Georgia, and then North Carolina. Right before NC, we were passing a car and all the sudden a bike went flying around all of us. It was a guy on a Honda 919. As he passed I thought I would try and stick with him for a while. That lasted for about 5 corners and the guy was out of sight. We did come up with a good list of excuses though: weight, knowledge of the road, freshness, etc. Yep, we had plenty of them. As we were stopped at the state line, Mr. 919 came back by and gave us the “I didn’t think so” wave.

We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls right along 28. The cold water was perfect too to stick your head in and cool off.

Here’s a short video dad got of the falls.


Shortly after we stopped at some more falls right up the road. It was pretty hot in the sun, not so bad when riding.

We made it to Franklin and cruised to our destination. We had reservations at The Franklin Motel, or at least I thought we did. I walked in and the gentleman asked how he could help. I said we should have some reservations for the night and he said there were no others he was aware of. Luckily, he said there were plenty of rooms available. The guy was really nice and helpful. He said he wasn’t surprised about the reservation situation because the previous manager had really messed things up. Apparently, the new guy was a painter and dry wall installer just one week before, and he made sure to tell us that several times.

Today was a beautiful day with no rain in sight. Because of losing an hour during the day, we got to the hotel at 8:00 pm EST. It was already late, so we walked down to the grocery store to grab some necessary items, showered, and went to bed. Today was a long day and tomorrow would be the same. Hopefully dad's day was good.

Total mileage for Day 2: about 450

 

[ekms377]

Making me jealous again Kory!!! Hey...what tires you using on the Connie?

 

[klb1122]

Making me jealous again Kory!!! Hey...what tires you using on the Connie?

All 3 of our bikes were wearing Pilot Road 2s.

 

[ekms377]

Thx.....keep the pics coming!!!

 

[khast1701]

Lookin like a fantastic ride so far! Bein a fellow Connie owner, I'm definitely lookin forward to hearin how they did out east!!!

Cheers,

Kevin

 

[achesley]

Fantastic sounding trip. I've not been in the N.Georgia area in many years. Probably over due. Thanks for reminding me. . Thanks for the work of letting us travel along with you.

 

[taminator]

The northern part of Georgia is a beautiful area to ride. Enjoying the report!

 

[klb1122]

Day 3 - Monday - June 21, 2010

Franklin, NC to Little Switzerland, NC

We woke up at 6 am and took off at 7:30. There was no breakfast at the motel so we skipped it and planned on eating later. We continued our trip on 28 all the way to Fontana Dam and eventually Deal’s Gap. 28 continued to be awesome! There is one small section where it opens up to 2 lanes on each side for a stretch, but other than that it’s greatness. I highly recommend it. Our first stop of the day was at Fontana Dam. It was perfectly peaceful.

One of my favorite sections of 28 was from Fontana Dam to Deal’s Gap. The road runs along Cheoah Lake and besides the great views the corners and road surface are great. I had a great time on Deal’s Gap. We rode past the store and straight into it. A guy was standing on the side of the road in the first corner and it distracted me. I didn’t even see the sand, my front end slid, but luckily I didn’t go down. I think we all did the same thing and the guy was just sitting there waiting to pick up parts. The next couple of corners had a bit of sand as well, but after that it was perfect. It was still fairly early, and there was really no one on it. I got into a good rhythm and ran down it at a good pace. We stopped at the overlook towards the end to relax for a couple minutes. There was a group already there, so we swapped taking pictures of each other.

I did one panoramic and didn’t realize it was on black & white, I still like how it came out though.

Then in color…

And a short video.


We ran down the rest of it until we had to turn around at the rockslide and then back to the store.

I’ve been down the Dragon two times in the past, but this time it seemed to go much quicker. We ran it at a good clip, but not too crazy. I did scrape my pegs a couple times and dad said sparks were flying. There was one cop sitting hidden along it, and I didn’t even see him the first time. I told dad about him on the way back by when I noticed him, but Randy never did see him. The whole time up and down, we only had to pass one car and no bikes, which made it nice. Killboy was out there and I even saw him taking pics both times by, but I never could find them on the website.

We got to the store/restaurant and walked around for a bit before heading inside.

We were hoping for a burger, but it was still a bit too early and they only had breakfast, dad and I had the Special with sweet potato pancakes and Randy had the Slayer Special with…. everything.

In the store I bought my dad some goodies for his Father’s Day present. I also purchased a matching shirt for my soon to be child in December. I had to go with black because we aren’t sure if we’re having a boy or girl yet.

By the time we left there were bikes everywhere, so we had hit it at the perfect time. Right down the road is Cheoah Dam. I pulled over to try and get a picture, but the fence pretty much ruined that.

Oh yeah, I forgot the road turns and provides a perfect view of the dam.

We headed South towards Robbinsville on US 129 and turned West on the Cherohala Skyway. Sadly, we ran into quite a bit of traffic. Trees were in their full summer glory and kept us from seeing the good views that dad and I were used to in the past. We still had a good run down it and stopped somewhere along the way for a short break.

Before entering Tellico Plains, we turned onto 360 and stopped for a fill up at a busy Shell station. It was already hot out and so we took cover for a few minutes.

360 took us over to US 411, the straightest section of road we would see all day, and it was only about 15 miles. In Maryville, we turned onto US 321, which would take us towards Great Smokey Mountains National Park. We broke off and road through the park on some small, slow, traffic infested curvy roads. It was very scenic though as we rode along the river, a definite hotspot for locals. It reminded us of a much grander River Road on the Guadalupe River. I pulled out the camera after we got though the highly congested area.

I decided to just pull over and we walked down to the river. It was such a peaceful place. We ended up soaking our heads and shirts in the cold water and it was perfect for the heat.

A little bit up the road we got held up by some geese that were in no hurry.

We still had a long way to go for the day, so the 25 mph speed limit combined with lots of cars led us to many illegal passes. Whoops. At one point I passed a car leading into a curve and I rolled off the throttle because I thought for sure there was no way the others would follow, especially because a SUV was rounding the blind corner. I then witnessed out of my rear view mirror a superhero like maneuver by Randy as he squeezed in between the car I just passed and the oncoming SUV. Don’t try that at home kids. We turned South on US 441, which led us back into North Carolina. The way we were going, there was a long downhill section filled with sweepers. It was a great road. There was still quite a bit of traffic though. At one point we ran up behind a guy on a ST1100 being followed by a female on an older BMW sport tourer. As I passed them, I could have swore I saw white fluffy dog sitting on the lady’s tank. I asked dad if he saw the same thing and he laughed and said he did. It was in some sort of box on the tank. I told dad they were sport touring, but we were supersport touring, so we had to make quick work of them. I’ll be honest, most of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park is a blur because we blitzed our way through it.

We turned directly off of US 441 onto the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We were at the beginning of it, but actually technically the end because the mile markers start from zero at the Northern most point of it. We would eventually run every open mile of the parkway, but my route had it split up over the two days. For you history buffs, this year actually marked the 75th anniversary of the parkway.

We got sprinkled on here, but it didn’t last.

I’m not quite sure how anyone on a motorcycle could be disappointed with the Blue Ridge Parkway. The section South of Ashville has perfect pavement, beautiful views, many tunnels, great sweeping turns, very low traffic, and not a stop sign or stop light in sight. Actually, almost all of that applies for the whole parkway, but this lower portion was my favorite.

Here’s our first stop along the BRP. In one of the pics you can see a part of the road we just passed.

If we ever all do a trip again, I would suggest buying stock in this stuff before we take off. The, ehem, older gentlemen needed it. Me on the other hand, I have o’ natural energy. I think dad started to get delirious at this point in the day. Riding along I asked him how many curves he thought we had hit today and I didn’t get a response. I asked him if he heard me and he said, “yeah, I was just trying to think of how many millions…” Yep, it was one of those days.

South of Waynesville we stopped at the highest point of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We ran the BRP until we came to the detour and took 276 North. On our trip, this was the only section of the BRP that was closed due to repairs. It was an 18 mile stretch we had to detour around, just South of Ashville. As we turned off of the BRP and onto US 276 we went from a great surface and sweepers to rough pavement and tight twisties. It felt quite dangerous to me and made for an interesting decent down the mountain. Once down, it flattened out and we could relax. The detour felt like it took a while, but we gassed up while we were off the parkway and then made our way back on.

Back on, we ran into several of these…

Lots of these…

And one of these.

We hauled it up to Mt. Mitchell, the highest point East of the Mississippi River, where we got off the BRP and ran up the mountain in the state park. At this point we were ALL delirious. I think all of our brains were fried from concentrating on curve after curve. As you can see, the sun was headed down and a storm was brewing, so we made the stop quick and headed to our destination.

We made one last quick stop to throw the rain covers on the tank bags. What a fitting location…

10-15 miles from the hotel, we ran into a light but steady rain. The road was slick and it was definitely hard to see. On this last stretch of the day I asked dad, “you know what my motto is?” He said, “kill dad?” I said “no, ride big or don’t leave home.”

We arrived at the Skyline Village Inn & Cavern Tavern at 8:30 pm. The store and restaurant were dark and I was wondering if it was even opened. There was a sign that said to call if you were checking in late. We got back on the bikes and headed around back to the covered motorcycle parking, at least Randy and I did. Dad thought I said the other direction and ended up going up some gravel driveway that led up the mountain and not to the parking area. When we were getting off the bikes the owner Mike walked up and greeted us along with his dog Blue. Mike really took care of us. There was only one other guest at the Inn that night. Once he saw we had 3 people, he hooked us up with an extra single room free of charge. The Inn has been around since 1948 and Mike has owned it for the last 6 years. All of the rooms have been completely redone and he is now working on finishing the restaurant. Business has been pretty tough this last year. I said I guess the restaurant isn’t opened and he said not to worry, he would have dinner made for us and gave us a menu. We all had cheeseburgers with onion rings and a few recommended beers. At dinner we had some good laughs about the events of the day. I asked them if they were ready to do it all over again tomorrow. Dad joked (I think) asking Mike where the nearest airport was.

Total mileage for Day 3: about 425

 

[jhansen]

Seriously good lookin' cheeseburger and rings there...

 

[achesley]

Very neat, really enjoying the pictures and comments. That Skyline Tavern seems like a place to stop at.

 

[klb1122]

Day 4 - Tuesday - June 22, 2010

Little Switzerland, NC to Floyd, VA

Wow, I wonder what genius planned that mess of a route.

Today is one of the shortest mileage days at a planned 375 miles, albeit a very curvy 370 miles. We woke up once again at 6 and were on the road at a little before 8. We tracked down Mike and paid for everything from the previous night. It was a cool crisp morning with a light haze hanging in the mountains. The Skyline Village Inn ended up being our favorite stop along the route. It comes highly recommended by us and it’s hard to be the location right off the BRP.

Mike and Blue.

This chick scared the heck out of dad.

We took off and jumped right back on the BPR for several miles before breaking off and heading for the Shady Valley, TN area. In Linville, NC, a deer ran out in front of two cars ahead of us. No harm done. We went down 105, which seemed to descend forever into Boone. In Boone we took US 421 North and crossed into Tennessee.

Sometime during the previous day, my Icon gloves tore along the seam on the tab I use to pull them on. The tear got worse throughout the day and they became harder and harder to put on. Now that we were in civilization again, I decided to make a stop at the next motorcycle shop we came across. In Mountain City I saw a Suzuki shop, so we stopped and went in. The lady working in there was nice and I looked through the selection. A couple of options, but none fit like the Icon Tarmac 2.0s. Doh, they only have blue. Doh again, dad has the exact same gloves. Oh well. I’ve had a pair in the past and liked them, so $35.00 later we were back on the road. We also filled up in Mountain City before heading to Shady Valley.

We made our way to the section of US 421 nicknamed “The Snake.” The ride into the valley from East to West was definitely Deal’s Gapish. It was tight and technical, but had a little debris on the road here and there. Still, I enjoyed the ride. I almost had my head taken off by a hawk as we were blasting along. I was going down a short straight and all of the sudden just saw feathers in my view. I pulled my head down so hard and quick it actually hurt my abs, not to mention it scared the mess out of me. I had to ask dad to make sure it actually was a bird. It happened so fast, I thought I may have just imagined it, and that would have been quite embarrassing.

We went down into Shady Valley and passed the country store and kept going straight since we would be eventually turning around and coming back to it. The Western part was not as technical as the East, but still fun with challenging corners. We turned around at the bridge over South Holston Lake and took a stop. At this stop I told dad and Randy I wanted to stop in a corner and get some pics of them riding. I thought it would be great for the ride report.

I found what seemed like a good spot and we stopped. I told them to go back and forth and I would snap away. (Note: That is not a dead rat on the road. It was a pile of something… what, I don’t know.)

Where are you going Randy? Ha, it seems crazy things happen when a camera is on you.

Dad… nice!

And back by…

I sort of missed dad coming back. Whoops.

I took this picture while waiting for them to get back. You’ll find out soon enough why this shot is very ironic.

They came back and I asked dad if he wanted to see the pics. Pics?!? The whole time he thought I was taking video. I asked him if he wanted video too and they both said yes. So, off they go again and I got video this time as they went back and forth. Dad was quicker coming back by than I expected and I goofed with the camera, so I missed his second pass.




When they got back, dad asked me if I wanted him to do the same for me, and of course I said yes. I went back and forth with dad getting the pics below. Typical, the first time I went by there were several cars going the opposite direction.

Next, one run by for video.


And one last time. The first 3 times by I felt awkward and decided to lay off a bit the last time by.


What the #@$%& #%@*^$ just happened!?!?!!!!!

Here’s my best account of what took place. I was actually going slower than all the other times. This was the 6th time I had ridden this corner. I tapped the front brake (obviously it must have been more than a tap) before entering the corner to scrub a bit of speed and BAM! There was no millisecond to make a correction. It felt like as soon as I touched the brake I was being slammed to the ground and the bike was sliding. I separated from the bike quickly, so no body parts got stuck underneath. I rolled a time or two and shot right up to my feet, I’m sure I can thank adrenaline for that. Dad rushed over to me (luckily he didn’t toss my camera) and asked if I was ok. He kept asking but I was unable to answer because the wind had been knocked out of me. I shook my head that I was ok. I didn’t feel like I had broken anything, but my side was in some pain. I was actually scared to look down and see what kind of rash I was going to be working with. I was pleasantly surprised, because it felt a lot worse. My gear did much better than I ever imagined. I didn’t even think I hit my head, but my Shoei RF1000 was scraped on the chin bar where the vent is and also a rash on the top left above my shield. My boots show nothing. My brand new Icon gloves only had a tiny scuff on one of the knuckle protectors. I had a quarter-sized rash on each elbow. The only reason I have the small rash on my side is because my jacket rode up from my pants exposing my shirt/skin.

And now for the bike. It slid off the road and into the gravel. It went right in between where dad and Randy’s bikes were and where they were standing. You can see in the picture below where the skid mark is and it came all the way to where I was standing taking the pic. I would estimate I was going about 35-40 mph. That’s just a guess. The biggest blessing is that it didn’t roll. As you can see at the end of video, my saddlebag comes flying into the screen. The lower bag mount broke and allowed the bag to separate. The mirror broke off at the mounting location. My Baker Hand Wing came apart. The clutch lever was bent, but not broken. The passenger footpeg mount was bent in. The rest was just a severe case of road rash. Oh yeah, I had jumped on the bike so quick prior to taking the pictures that I forgot to zip my tank bag. So amongst the bike parts there were items everywhere: cash, credit cards, my cell phone, my wife’s camera, medicine, etc.

We took a good hour here gathering everything and making sure I was ok. I was pissed off, but I somewhat cooled down. Dad and Randy stood the bike back up and started making the roadside repairs. They rigged the bag back on with safety wire and a bungee. We did our best to shake all the gravel out of the fairings. The bike started right up!! What a relief, being over 1k miles from home.

Well, here we are 4 days into the trip and in Tennessee. My bike is officially jacked up. It’s time to hang up my boots and quit riding. Yeah right! Let’s get going and head back to the valley. Getting back on the bike wasn’t as easy anymore. Also, the when did the footpeg on this thing get so high! Once in the riding position I was ok. We took it easy back to the Shady Valley Country Store.

Connie and I... wounded.

I had planned to grab a small lunch here and we did just that. I had a hot dog and we sat in the back room and watched a video of some sport bikes running down the snake.

I had thoughts of leaving my mirror in the store since they had parts hanging from the ceiling. I decided against it since it was still in good shape and I thought it would save me some money in the end. I bought some stickers and placed one where I felt it belonged. You may see it in later pics.

After eating, I did the one thing I had been dreading… I called my wife to let her know I had crashed. I told her I had bad news and good news. The bad, I crashed. The good, I'm ok. She took the news pretty good, but she was more in shock than anything.

We took 133 North from the store. I wanted to stop at what is claimed to be the world’s shortest tunnel. I passed a small truck, possibly on a double yellow, and then saw the tunnel. I went through the tunnel while trying to slow down. I decided to head to the other side and stop and as I was slowing down I looked in my one good mirror and the guy in the truck was all over me. I didn’t want to slow down too much and risk him running into the back of me, so I ended up overshooting the pull off and by the time I scrubbed all my speed I was in the grass… slippery grass. When I came to a stop I was on a little slope and the bike started leaning to the side while sliding in the slimy grass. It became too much for me to hold and I set her down on her good side. &$#*()#@!!!!! In my young life I have ridden about 50k miles on the street. The last 14 miles had easily been the worst.

Dad missed it all because I told him we were stopping and he stopped on the other side of the tunnel. Randy turned around and helped me pick the bike up. Many curse words later I looked over the bike. The bottom of the mirror was scratched and there are now two small scratches on the right side bag. I thought I was in all grass, but apparently there were two nicely placed rocks that managed to leave a mark. Ok, I guess it wasn’t so bad, but I went to fire the bike up but it just cranked and cranked. I tried a couple more times and nothing. I started to worry about draining the battery and then I noticed a red light on the dash was flashing every time it tried to fire. It appeared to be the fob light. I walked away from the bike and back to it. I tried again and it started. Halle-freakn’-lujah!!!

I rode back to the other side and got my stupid pictures.

Rest of the day was a semi-blur of several hundred miles. Right after the tunnel we entered Virginia. I wasn’t in the mood to take a picture so we rode on. We turned right on US 58 and passed a ton of Christmas tree farms along the way. We were supposed to take State Route 743 South, but I guess Zumo wanted me to take a shortcut. I turned down a road that looked decent. It quickly turned into a narrow rocky road that had a drop off on one side. I gave the turn-around signal and started thinking about how I was going to do this myself. It took a couple times of back and forth but I was able to do it without dropping it or riding it off the cliff. Yay me! Back on US 58 and a couple hundred feet down the road we made the correct turn.

I got worried again because it was a narrow road, but at least it stayed paved. Once we crossed back into North Carolina it turned back into a two-laned road, 194. We took 88 back down to US 421 and into Boone. Somewhere around here we stopped for gas and we took an extended break.

Out of Boone we took US 221 through Blowing Rock. A couple years back my wife and I went here, and on our way back to Ashville we took US 221. The only problem was we were in dad’s F-250. I have wanted to ride it on my bike since that day. Right out of Blowing Rock we got stuck behind several cars and an 18-wheeler. It was crawling, but there was no place to pass. We finally made our way around and a sticker on the back said “Student Driver.” Yikes! We joked that going down US 221 was the student driver’s final exam… either he made it down it or probably don’t make it back. Along the way we were riding right under the BRP at some times. It was pretty cool seeing the bridges up above us. Sad to say, US 221 wasn’t as great as it was in my memory bank. The only problem with it was the road surface. It was a bit sketchy at times, but for the most part it was decent. We made one stop along 221 at this big rock formation.

Next we made our way back to where we had exited the BRP earlier and headed Northeast on it. We would be on it for the rest of the day so we started cruising along at a pretty good pace trying to make up some time, only stopping a couple times before our destination. One stop was at the Basin Cover Overlook. On a side note, it never fails that I stop at an overlook that is “just ok” and the next one we pass is spectacular.

Along the BRP we saw several deer and quite a few wild turkeys. We crossed into Virginia. I was hoping to get a picture of the sign this time, but it was just some funky little sign with no room to pull off and it was on the opposite side of the road. Never mind, onward we went. We were getting close to the motel, but my butt was killing me so I stopped at an overlook just a couple miles short of the motel. This one was actually a very scenic spot and you could see out for what seemed like forever. While there, a lady pulled up and jumped out to take a picture. She insisted that we get together and she would take one of us. I think it turned out pretty nice.

We arrived at Tuggle’s Gap, once again right off the BRP. We walked into the restaurant to check into the motel. At first I thought the waitress was just sarcastic, but we later figured out she was just rude (being nice here). She charged us $5 for having 3 people, even though I told them this would be the case from the beginning. We would be the only ones staying in the motel. We went down to our room to unload and then came back to the restaurant for dinner. The room is a dump. There were bugs everywhere, no air conditioner, only one little window opened, no TV, no nothing. The shower curtain wouldn’t stay up and the list goes on. We may as well have just slept outside for the night. We ate dinner and told motorcycle stories. My side hurt, of course, but the right side of my chest hurt when I laughed. Dad and Randy’s stories were making me laugh way too much, so it wasn’t a good combination.

I had some chicken strips that weren’t all that great and a little liquid medicine.

After we got back to the room we watched the lightning storm in the distance and laughed about how crappy the place was. Once the restaurant closed, a bunch of the waitress’ friends showed up and they started drinking and being obnoxious. Every once in a while you could hear a breaking bottle. Finally they all piled in their cars and left.

Sadly, I turned what was supposed to be one of the shorter days into one of the longest. Sorry guys.

Total mileage for Day 4: about 375

 

[varnado]

Kory, just wanted to take a minute and thank you for the wonderful stories and pics of your trip. This has to be one of the best ride reports I have had the pleasure of reading. I wish I could have been on this trip with yall. Makes me want to head out and have an adventure of my own. Thanks for sharing.

Randy

 

[1 wheel peel]

Kory, just wanted to take a minute and thank you for the wonderful stories and pics of your trip. This has to be one of the best ride reports I have had the pleasure of reading......

Agreed! Sorry about your get-offs, but look at all the charcter Connie has now.

You mentioned earlier how green it looked as you passed through Atlanta, one of the main reasons is because of all the Kudzu that is taking over seemingly everything around those parts. Once it covers the trees it will eventually kill them, but it doesn't stop there. It will grow over houses, road signs, cars, anything that isn't moving. My sister and brother in law live there and says the stuff is just out of control with few ways of controling it.
http://www.jjanthony.com/kudzu/

Keep the pictures coming!

 

[klb1122]

Agreed! Sorry about your get-offs, but look at all the charcter Connie has now.

You mentioned earlier how green it looked as you passed through Atlanta, one of the main reasons is because of all the Kudzu that is taking over seemingly everything around those parts. Once it covers the trees it will eventually kill them, but it doesn't stop there. It will grow over houses, road signs, cars, anything that isn't moving. My sister and brother in law live there and says the stuff is just out of control with few ways of controling it.
http://www.jjanthony.com/kudzu/

Keep the pictures coming!

Thanks for the info. Kudzu it was and those photographs look exactly like what we saw. I think I even commented to dad how out of control the vines were, growing all the way across the street on the power lines. It's quite impressive in person, but there's going to be a whole lot of dead trees.

 

[one Wolf]

Ouch! Too bad about that little get off. I hope your OK and glad the debris missed the others. Is the Connie an ABS model?

 

[Tabasco]

Ouch! Too bad about that little get off. I hope your OK and glad the debris missed the others. Is the Connie an ABS model?

Neither one of our Connies is ABS, I wonder if it would have helped, maybe. I tell you, it looks alot worse in person than in the pictures.