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Eaton_corners
| | Posted on Sunday, March 01, 2009 - 01:27 pm: | 
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Hey Ed, is it snowing yet? Forecast for next weekend is 72 for a high on Saturday. |
Rpm4x4
| | Posted on Sunday, March 01, 2009 - 09:22 pm: |
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Wendsday we loaded our bikes in the back of my pickup and went home for what was supposed to be an early evening. I barely slept the evening of Feb 18th. I knew I needed to get a goodnights sleep because I had a lot of miles ahead, but the anticipation of this journey was overwhelming. I had to get up at 4am but was still laying there restless at midnight. 4am came in a blink and it was hard to get out of bed but the adrenaline of what we were about to to soon kicked in. I picked up Dan around 5am and we were off. Everything went fairly smooth till we got to a construction zone in northern Illinois. I have been through there many times before and knew where we needed to go, however the construction had us moved around quite a bit. The road split and I took the wrong fork onto a tollway that had no exit for around 100 miles and dropped us right into Chicago. I never intended to go near there. I was planning on going down 39 through normal. Instead we now added 3 hours to our journey by missing one turn. We ended up rerouting and going through Indiana and Kentucky.
We arrived it Nashville Thursday the evening of the 19th around 7 pm. I have a friend, Zig, that lives on the south side so we stopped there and hung out with him for the evening. The Temps were a little disappointing to say the least. We just drove all day and temps were only 6 degrees warmer than where we had left. We went to a place called The Corner Bar for a few beers and some supper. It was only a block from Zig’s apartment. As soon as we walked in the door half the bar yelled “ZIG!”. I turned to him and said “so do you come here much?” I loved the small town feel of The Corner Bar. The food was great and the people working there were so cheerful. I think we finally got to bed around midnight.
Friday morning we woke up around 7am and headed for a carwash. Our bikes had salt and road grime from the trip down all over. After washing up a little we headed for Bumpus HD Buell about 40 miles south in Murfreesboro. As Dan and I were walking up to the front door 3 people met us at the front door. Ft_Bstrd, Canyon Carver, and TnXbrider. Dan and I were blown away to say the least at the hospitality. If I had bought a few bikes from them I wouldn’t have expected such hospitality. We talked for a while and they showed us the loading dock which made unloading the bikes so much easier. Then they even offered to have us pull inside to the shop so we could detail a little before we left. I went to straighten my brake lever that got twisted down a little in travel by my tie down I broke the little knob that holds my right side switches in place. They offered up some superglue so I could put the locating knob back in place. Just knowing how I was treated not even purchasing something was amazing. We headed south on 41 around 11:30 central time if I remember right. Everything started off pretty well and Dan and I were feeling pretty good even though the temps were in the low 30s. After about an hour of riding a chill started to set in pretty badly. Dan and I stopped at a gas station and drank some hot chocolate and we were starting to wonder if the temps might be too much to handle. I grabbed a pair of socks out of my tail bag and cut a hole for my thumbs to make some make shift mittens to put over my riding gloves.
We hit the road again and were a lot better. I had planned to meetup with Eaton Corners. I misjudged my time badly. I knew that Ringgold was eastern time and thought that I had an extra hour when in fact I had lost an hour… that on top of the fact that I was over an hour behind schedule anyway. We missed Eaton Corners and since we were running late we opted to grab a quick bite to eat at Mc Donalds and hit the road again. Xb1200rick saw us and dropped in on his Firebolt and hung out while we ate. After that we headed south to Atlanta. Traffic was moving at a shocking pace. We really didn’t expect that. We merged in at 75mph and cars were flying by us scary fast. I opened up the Buell and hung with the pace of traffic in the left lane. We did nearly 95mph all the way into rush hour Atlanta traffic. I couldn’t believe as we were riding I actually saw Acav80 riding his Uly north! As we entered Atlanta we needed to get over to the HOV lane because the mass sea of cars was pretty crazy. There was 6-8 lanes, all bumper to bumper, moving at 85 mph. We were surprised how aware drivers were of motorcycles and how courteous they were as well. We needed to move over 6 or 7 lanes so I pointed at the HOV lane and rocked my hand to motion that we wanted to go that way and traffic just opened up like parting the red sea. We moved over and continued on. Traffic was moving like 80+ mph and the speed limit was 55. I thought that we would get pulled over for sure but then we got passed by a cop. We stopped for fuel at a Waffle house south of Atlanta and warmed up a little. The sun was going down and temps were dropping. LOL, dropping, as if they had been high! I don’t think we saw 40 degrees all day. After that we hit the slab but this time we noticed the cops were pulling over speeders so we slowed to 75mph. We were getting passed a lot but most of them were on the side of the road with blinky lights in tow soon afterwards. As we reached Cordele we needed fuel again and decided that we couldn’t continue anymore. We were frozen. It was 27 degrees but it felt colder. The first day was only 396 miles and we rode till almost midnight. We got a hotel and called it a night. I think this is the hardest we slept on the whole trip. |
Rpm4x4
| | Posted on Sunday, March 01, 2009 - 09:27 pm: |
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Saturday morning we woke early knowing we had ground to make up to achieve our goals for this trip. We also didn’t want to run so late like we did with Eaton corners as we were meeting up with Nevrenuf at Gainesville HD. Temp was still 27 when we hit the slab and opened it up making Gainesville in less than 3 hours even with a fuel stop. In Gainesville it was warm. Im guessing it was 75 degrees or more. There we met up with Nevrenuf (Neil) and his wife. It was Gainesville HDs 16th anniversary an there was a huge party with a live band. It was kind of fun to hang out and talk to a bunch of bikers. After that we followed Neil and his wife to a Mexican restaurant that Neil said was great. I will have to take his word for it because when we got there we found that they were out of business. We ended up at Fridays and had lunch there.
Afterwards we headed south to Brandon, on the north side of Tampa. There we went to Neils home where we got to see his Buell collection. At dusk we decided to get moving and push to Naples. The temps were in the 60s and the traffic was light. When we arrived we called for hotels only to find that literally there want any left. We called hotel after hotel for over an hour. We gave up on Naples and decided to back track. We called a hotel in Fort Myers about 30miles back and got a room. Turns out it was worth it because this hotel was awesome. BTW if your ever in Fort Myers stay at the Best Western Waterfront. Here is the view from out hotel.
We did laundry across the street and went to bed about 2 am. |
Rpm4x4
| | Posted on Sunday, March 01, 2009 - 09:34 pm: |
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I am running out of time tonight. More to come tomorrow.
I really regret not being able to ride w/ yall or at least send you off proper, maybe next time.
There will be a next time. mabey sooner than later. |
Nevrenuf
| | Posted on Sunday, March 01, 2009 - 10:10 pm: |
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hope it is sooner than later mike. it was good to get out and ride. and it ended up being a pretty good day if i say so myself. i'm glad the demo's on the spyder were on sunday and not saturday. |
Rotzaruck
| | Posted on Sunday, March 01, 2009 - 10:16 pm: |
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Hey Ed, is it snowing yet?
NO!! Promises promises.......
I might have to take my old rusty sleds to BIRMINGHAM!!
mabey sooner than later.
COME ON DOWN
When it's warmer and we all get our bikes fixed.
We'll find some mountains and some good okra. |
Rpm4x4
| | Posted on Monday, March 02, 2009 - 11:38 pm: |
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Sunday we slept in till 10:30 and then headed to Ihop for some breakfast. It was getting warm, low 80s as we headed south for the Tamiami trail. My neck was a little sore from all the high speed riding. The helmet buffing from riding a naked bike was taking its toll a little. Thats something I had not thought of. Dans right wrist and knees were a little sore too. When we hit our last fuel stop before the Tamiami we took a couple Ibuprofrin, sat in the shade for about a half hour, and relaxed just taking in the weather. The Tamiami was beautiful. We went slow and took in the scenery. I was taking in a little too much scenery because I almost hit a decent sized turtle that was crossing the road because I was looking at birds in the trees. We also stopped at almost every scenic wayside along the way. About half way down there was one with a very curvy exit. No one was around so I felt the need to drop a knee.  There are curves in florida, ya just have to look a little harder.Hindsight that would have been a great pic. Further down we stopped at a bridge along the way and saw alligators swimming around in the water. Ive never seen one in the wild before.
A lot of exotic cars were cruzin by as well. We saw a Lotus and a Lamborgini going the other way. As we worked our way to the keys we went through a town called Homestead. It had brick roads that I wish I had stopped to take pictures of too. I regret an lot of missed photo moments now. From there we headed south down Hwy 1 to Key Largo. About a mile before the first large bridge entering the keys I saw someone flashing their lights on and off in the oncoming lane. I assumed that meant a cop was hiding up ahead. I slowed to the speed limit as the line of cars ahead of me flew off and out of sight. The people behind us were clearly irritated and were riding our butts. As we crested the large bridge I saw a cop standing with a radar gun pointed at us and a whole series of cops waiting to pull people over. Most of the line that we were just following was already pulled over. The cop running the radar gun was clearly shocked to see the two sport bikes holding up the minivans and such behind us. He shook his head and was laughing while he was talking to another cop. I didn’t need to hear the conversation as I could see it in their faces. LOL! When we got into Key Largo we pulled over in a parking lot to discuss what to do next. We realized we were in a Seafood restaurant parking lot and decided now was as good of time as any to eat. I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the place but it was great food. Everything was homemade. The fries were actual cut up potatoes, even the catsup was homemade. It was an outdoor place that was totally my style. It wasn’t too fancy, but it was cozy. The people genuinely wanted to please you and took real pride in their job. If it wasn’t so far I would go there often. We sat there, enjoyed our meal, and watched the sun go down. We decided that continuing down the keys would be pointless in the dark because we wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway, so we headed north. It was a beautiful evening and we were full of energy so we rode up the east coast on interstate 95 till we hit Melbourne. The speeds up I95 were crazy. We were just going with the flow of traffic and that was about 95mph. I know I said it before but I still cant get over it. You wouldnt make it 20 miles in MN driving like that. Anyways, once in Melbourne we went to Walmart for some socks, underwear and we headed to a hotel to call it a night.
Im working very late tomorrow but will try to get monday up tomorrow.
(Message edited by rpm4x4 on March 02, 2009) |
Eaton_corners
| | Posted on Monday, March 02, 2009 - 11:53 pm: |
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Sounds like a great trip already. Can't wait to read the next installment. Not to start a rumor, but, Your comments sound like March Badness could be in your plans. |
Rpm4x4
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 03, 2009 - 12:02 am: |
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Not to start a rumor, but, Your comments sound like March Badness could be in your plans.
In my plans but the wife...well, lets just say were still discussing. |
Rpm4x4
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 04, 2009 - 08:38 pm: |
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Monday we left Melborne about 11am for Flagger beach about 130 miles north on I95. We met Dans grandparents at a restaurant at the airfield called Highjackers. That is another great place to eat. Very relaxed and cozy. The food was fantastic. A real hidden treasure. Come to think of it we really hit the jackpot with restaurants on this trip. We never got anything less than exceptional service anywhere. Hotels too for that matter. After leaving the restaurant we went over to the ocean and drove up the oceanview Hwy A1A for a few hours as Dans grandparents recommended could not belive the crazy expensive houses along the way. This is a very scenic road that Im glad we added. We jumped on the freeway south of Jacksonville during rushour and headed north to Savanna. Traffic wasnt that bad at all. Nothing like Atlanta, Tampa, or Miami. Temps were dropping fast as we headed north and the sun was going down. After being in the 80s the 50s felt real cold. Colder than when we left. I came from MN at -2 degrees, so the 30s on the first day actually felt warm, but after the south Florida temps we were feeling the chill. We pulled over in Brunswick and had some hot cocoa. I decided to buy a roll of gorilla tape and add some wind protection. I taped over my zippers and put a layer over my hand socks.
I also put a second sock over to hold it on.
all put togather
This helped a lot but we were still cold. Once youve got a chill in your bones its hard to shake it. We made it to Savannah about 8pm and got a hotel. We jumped in the whirlpool and warmed up. After we warmed up we realized how hungry we were so we went across the street and had some ribs and quite a few beers at place called Hooligans.  I dont remember what time we went to bed. |
Rpm4x4
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 04, 2009 - 09:11 pm: |
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Tuesday was pretty uneventful. We slept in did laundry and hit the road about 11am. We both wanted to make sure we were not riding after dark because after the sun goes down in 50 degree temps it kinda sucks. So we opted for the fastest route to Gainesville which looked like a good place to call it a night. We wanted to have a full day in the Suches area and that looked like a pretty straight shot at about 30 miles away and might still have some decent hotels available. We took interstate to up north of Macon and stopped at a walmart to buy another overshirt and sleep pants (which I wear under my jeans in cold weather)to prepare for the colder temps later. We were not cold at all that day but wanted to make sure we didnt get cold either. I needed gas in Buford and we were hungry so we stopped. This was a really nice area and after checking the map it was only 60 miles to Suches so we decided we were close enough. We went to the Country inn and suites since it was brand new and in a nice location with motorcycle parking right outside the front door. The hotel receptionist was curious about what we were doing and was super nice. She asked if we had any discounts and we said no. Then she said "I thought you had AAA?" as she was winking. BTW, Her boss was in the other room. Dan says oh yea I forgot. The room we were in was kick azz. there is no way this room was even close to a 100 dollar room. It was a 2 room suite with a bathroom that was big enough to be a room itself. The best beds of the trip and that was hard because we have had some nice beds. Then the usual drinking, laundry, and whirlpool followed.
(Message edited by rpm4x4 on March 04, 2009) |
Rpm4x4
| | Posted on Sunday, March 08, 2009 - 09:29 pm: |
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Wednesday we woke early to get a full day of riding in. I was still having a little nagging neck and shoulder pain but nothing that 3 Ibuprofen couldn’t take care of.  We headed north to Suches around 8am. The ride up was cool at around 35 degrees but the sun was out so it wasn’t that bad. As we were getting close to Suches we got lost but the roads were so beautiful we did not care. We rode for over an hour without even knowing where we were. The roads were so curvy we could not believe it. We were in heaven. I had no cell service at all and my navigation wasn’t working. I saw Wolf Pen Gap road and recognized the name from here so we did a u turn and went back to ride on it. It completely sucked. They have spread a ton of pea sized gravel all over the road. We literally could not turn a corner over 10mph without washing out. When we got to the tee in the road at Suches we took a right and went up hwy 60. It also had gravel on it but started to dissipate the further up the road we went. About 3 miles up it was clear and we started having fun again. We had planned on runnin the dragon but we had spent so much time enjoying ourselves lost and checking out the scenic overlooks that a large portion of our day had been cashed. The sky’s looked ominous so we bought a map at a fireworks shop and figured out where we were and where we needed to go. Turns out we were right on track. We were only a half a mile from 64 which runs along a beautiful river with rapids rushing and curve after curve for miles. Honestly it was the most beautiful road of our trip. As we approached Chattanooga it started to sprinkle so we tucked down and picked up the pace. We were going to add the river road that Barker suggested but the rain changed our minds quickly. It was straight interstate to Bumpus in Murfreesboro. It was kind of sad but gratifying at the same time. We had made the journey that many told us would suck on a sport bike. Not only did it not suck but it was pretty great as we suspected. Canyon Carver and Tnxbrider were at Bumpus and we hung out and talked bikes. Canyon Carver (David) helped us load up and hung out for a little while after close. It sucked knowing that tomorrow we would not be riding. We then headed up to Nashville to hang out with my buddy Zig for a few hours before we went home to Minnesota. We wandered down to the corner bar again to eat. On the way to the corner bar we saw a Hooka bar. Ive never even heard of a Hooka bar. So after we ate we went over there for a while. Its not really my thing but it was interesting and the scenery wasn’t bad either. It was busy and we were the only 3 guys in the place. Im married but Im not blind. Pretty crazy male to female ratio. I crashed on Zigs futon around 12:30am for a 3 hour cat nap before we hit the road for home.
You would think that the excitement of our trip would be over but on the way back home we hit heavy rains that switched over to snow around Madison Wisconsin. It was white out conditions for the rest of the drive home. At the end we were hauling in 8 to 10 inches of snow. Unloading the bikes was interesting as well. The rain and snow had frozen the brakes solid. I could not get the wheels to turn for the life of me. I ended up sliding/skidding the bikes out of the truck and up the driveway. That is a lot harder than it sounds, trust me.
Hope you enjoyed my story and maybe even took a little something from it to help with a bike trip in your future. |
Rotzaruck
| | Posted on Sunday, March 08, 2009 - 10:27 pm: |
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Yes, I enjoyed that. Great trip, and great telling too. 64 down the Ocoee is a pretty place. Did you notice that flume hanging on the mountain? They turn the river off and run it down the flume, and fight the kayakers about it.
I'm quite proud of you guys, and still jealous.
Rotzaruck! |
Jerry_haughton
| | Posted on Monday, March 09, 2009 - 08:29 am: |
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Hope you enjoyed my story and maybe even took a little something from it to help with a bike trip in your future.
Yes, and yes.
Well done. 
Ferris |
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