karina jean

The last day!

May 16.

We started groggily with hotel continental breakfast, and to the sad realization that it was really cold outside – it was in the low 50s, and when you have to factor in the wind chill of riding at 65ish MPH, you need to dress for bout 40 degrees. Our solution: put on all of our clothes and hit the road. Our plan was to get home as quickly as possible, so it was mostly highway all the way. We were home before dark.

Final states:

Did I mention we took this trip to ELEVEN?

Most of the directions we used:

and final mileage:

We had so much fun on this trip. Can’t wait until next year!

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

May 15.

The next morning was dry, thank goodness, and the Timberline Lodge looked just as respectable in daylight as it had the night before.

After our breakfast, we headed out. We were all getting really tired, and we still had two long days ahead of us  – we were till over 600 miles from home! Today, though, we were going to make a silly and arbitrary trip into West Virginia for the sole purpose of picking up ELEVEN STATES in ELEVEN DAYS. we couldn’t resist!

[[As per all long trips and second children, there aren’t as many photographs on these last days as there were at the beginning. It’s tragic, but it’s human nature (and did I mention that we were so tired?)]]

This ride was really pretty, I wish we had more (any) photos of it.

Highlights of the day: Checking on the funny oil leak Janice’s bike had developed (we didn’t have any Harleys with us any more, so hers was compensating?)

Stopping in WV to tighten Mike’s chain

and the friends we made there:

Things we should have taken pictures of:

• When we stopped for a map check in WV and ran into a passel of motorcyclists who had trailered their sportsbikes in from Ontario. We had a nice talk with a few of them, and this this, well, old guy in a well worn ‘stitch comes barreling over and starts saying stuff like: “Eh, you couldn’t get away from your wives for a ride?” What’s a girl supposed to do? I looked him in the eye and said: “Wanna Race?” It was amazing how quickly his buddies were apologizing – in the funniest ways! “he’s old!” “he doesn’t know what he’s talking about!”  (Did they think he would get housed by the young lady on the DRZ SM? not at 40-odd horsepower he wouldn’t have. Though I am scrappy.)
• The Awfully Nice Guy we met at a gas-and-lunch stop in West Virginia – he was on a moto guzzi and we bonded over our small light flickable bikes, and I emailed him the link to our travel tumbler right away.  He’s involved with the WV Moto Guzzi Owners Club and I hope we can meet up with him on our next trip down to WV!

We did manage to find (nestled in some mountains) a DMV motorcycle testing course, and rode around in circles for fun and u-turn practice.

We ended the day in typical Flying Circus fashion by overshooting our hotel and accidentally getting onto a highway before finding our way back to the room, and making several U-Turns on our way to a Hardee’s for dinner. Not the smoothest way to end the day, and it’s much funnier when Mike S. is the one leading us on U-Turn adventures.

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

May 14.

This was the day we started our trip north. No! we don’t want to go home! Happily we had some more highlights ahead of us.

We started out with a change of plans – Kerry’s dad lives in Limestone TN, so we were able to stop in and see them for lunch. We headed north and mostly motored, so I didn’t get a chance to take many photos.

You can see on the map where we had to cross over the Smokeys National Park  – that road, whatever it was, was a HUGE highlight. It was split between following the coves through the mountains and some strong up and overs. We had to stop and double check where we were at trout stream – you can see the water behind the sign.

It was full spring here in the mountains, and the flowers were thick and the bugs were enjoying it. Something big and hard bounced off of my chest and got me all gutty – I hope it was a big beetle and not a hummingbird – and I think it hit Rick on the way down after it struck me. Yuck!

Once we made it over the mountains we stopped in to see Kerry’s Pa. Limestone is so pretty, it backs up against the hills.

We had a nice stop with lunch and some dogs for belly scritches.

After that, we split off from Mike S and Mike F – they were headed back to Delaware to the dealership where Mike S got his motorcycle.

We took off headed north. Note to everyone in the world: Avoid Rt 11 unless you’ve done the google maps view to make sure it’s not all stopped traffic and big box stores. We had some problems through Kingston and Johnson City. We were really cruising, and then around 7PM the skies got dark and ominous and we ducked into a gas station to put on our rain gear. And not a moment too soon.

We let the bulk of the thunder pass by as we damply huddled in the over-air-conditioned mini-mart, but after about half an hour we decided it was time to move on. We got our rain gear tucked in as best as we could, and hopped back on the bikes. It may or may not have been hailing at any given time, the rain was freezing cold, and it got dark dark dark as the day ended. I think we lasted for 45 min. on the road before we started looking for a place to stay. After an extremely creepy hotel lobby evaluation (“oh, you only have smoking rooms? [thankgoodness!] We’ll move on down the road”) we picked the much nicer Timberline Lodge in Ceder Bluff.

The sign said 100% Quality, and they were right. I wish I’d snapped a photo of the furniture or the lobby but it was very cute. And across the street was a “Waffle and Egg,” where we enjoyed both dinner and breakfast.

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

May 13.

This was a really full day. Mike and I were in charge of the trip routing from Myrtle Beach home, so we had spent a lot of time looking around for the best roads – like, a LOT of time. And if you know Mike and I, we can make a 15 minute trip to the grocery store into a three hour tour (a LOVELY one, but a long one).

We knew we wanted to start in Helen and end up in Whittier, because we’d found a cheap motor lodge that seemed charming and oh did I mention cheap? that is, AFFORDABLE. The group wanted to spend some time riding the dragon, and as we did more research it turned out that there were about a ZILLION other roads that were just as lovely in the area. It made for some exciting mapping sessions.

We got up pretty early, and headed out to find our way around the smokies. Bright and shiny and eager to go:

Before we started we had a motorcycle kick-off talk – I don’t normally do this with our group, because we all ride well together – but we were going to be on some very technical roads, and we didn’t have a map to distribute to the whole group, and I didn’t want anyone to get in over their heads. We let everyone know that the twisties would be fast and frequent, and that some people would like to go faster than others through the route – if you want to go faster, signal to pass up to the front and wait for the group at major intersections. If you want to go slower, hang back, take your time, enjoy yourself and of most importance RIDE YOUR OWN RIDE, and trust that we will wait for you at major intersections.

I don’t know about everyone else, but laying it out like that made ME feel more confident that people would take care and ride at their own pace, and I was able to enjoy my ride much more for it.

Our first route was going to take us up Rt 348, but we found out that it was closed!

oh, that’s ok – quick iPhone re-routing to take GA129 up into NC/TN…. and OH MY GRACIOUS it was so lovely.

[[Disclaimer: some motorcyclists are great at taking photos while they ride. Some motorcyclists are great at stopping frequently and taking photos of where they ride. I am good at NEITHER of these. I am good at riding and riding and riding and having a darn good time and going back later and making google maps of where I’ve been.]]

This is my favorite road of the day – GA 129, up and over Blood Mountain.

Here’s a video I found on youtube that will give you the flavor of the road – basically, you’re going up a steep hill and there are turns! back and forth! not so deep that you had to slow down, but still challenging! you could see ahead of you on the road and all you saw were gorgeous corners ahead!

watch?v=VPJhvVPm02k&feature=related

It was really FUN!

And this day, Day 8, is when it all clicked for me and I started to really understand why light bikes are so fun and how to use the brake to flick back and forth on twisties. SO GREAT. I also started to really appreciate how much work my friends on larger bikes had to put in to get their bikes to lean back and forth. Mike and I were on sportier bikes (He was on the SV650, I was on my DRZ supermoto) so we took the lead. It was phenomenal. Plus, I grew up in Eastern TN running around the smokies, and call me sentimental, but the smells and plants and flowers and terrain felt so familiar and welcoming to me. What a lovely place to ride motorcycles.

We took a break at Tellaco Plains in TN for some ice cream (I had a Mayfair Brown Cow ice cream bar – these were such a treat when I was a kid, I couldn’t resist!) and sodas, and cool water in great quantities. The temperature was fluctuating wildly between the cool of the shadowy mountains and the hot flats and coves in between the peaks – I was really happy to have the gear on that I did, it was very comfortable at a range of temperatures.

After Tellaco we headed out onto the Cherahala Skyway into NC – which would take us up over this ridge:

It was just gorgeous. We stopped at an overlook to get a good view of the smokies:

I think this is the road we came up on!

After that, it was on to Deal’s Gap! We stopped at the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort for “lunch” – it had been a long day already, and we were stopping at 4 or so in the afternoon. I had a smoked trout sandwich, which was supposedly caught and smoked by a local guy. it was delicious.

To prepare ourselves, we walked out back and checked out the tree of shame:

here are a couple of my favorites:

and

“VFR vs Deer. Deer Loses, Rider Walks. ATGATT.”

The Dragon was closed for much of Spring 2010 because of a rock slide which not only covered a portion of the road at the bottom, but also created a dangerous overhang over the road, but it was opened for drivers and riders to go down and come back up again. Despite it’s cult status, Rt 139 is still used as a major cross-over between NC and TN. Check out these amazing old photos of the heyday when the speed limit was 55 MPH.

After that, we suited up and headed down the road. The Dragon’s Tail is really physically challenging. you really can’t go much faster than 30 mph (well, *I* can’t, anyway) and it’s a series of serious switchbacks – not even twisties. there is oncoming traffic and you have to stay in your lane. that said, it was so fun, and so challenging. I’m glad we had a chance to run it.

We stopped near the bottom – there was an outlook (we love scenery!) and there was a pace car ahead of us so we wanted to let it get out of our way before the final push down and back up.

I believe this is the Cheola Dam:

I LOVE this photo – doesn’t it look like we’re having an amazing time? (hint: the photos doesn’t lie!)

Hey, we made it to the bottom!

Killboy was there taking photos, and we ordered a whole bunch from them. They are super quality – I’m glad we got there in time to catch his regular shift, as it was pretty late in the day.

By the time we regrouped at the resort, it was getting late and we were definately tired. We still had one more stretch of road ahead of us before our hotel for the evening, which turned out to be my second favorite road of the day.

Rt 28 is charmingly called Moonshiner 28, and is definately a must-ride. After the athleticism of the Dragon’s Tail, Moonshiner was a nice mix of still pretty challenging but not so rough that you can’t enjoy the scenery. After the twisties rt 28 opens up into a 4 lane rural highway, and soon we were at our final destination –  the Gear Head Inn.

our hosts were so accommodating! They’ve just opened, and they’re redoing each of the rooms in the style of an old car or motorcycle mfgr, with posters and other paraphernalia.

We had the AMC room. the rooms are GIANT and the bathrooms are vintage and adorable.

The proprietors are really super and they were so accommodating. We ordered pizza delivery and ate by the pool, and they offered to run out and grab us beers if we wanted. so kind! They have lots of parking and plenty of spaces right in front of the rooms for cars and motorcycles, and a lot across the road for trailer parking. It was a great place to stay.

The pool is classic motor lodge – i.e., in the center of the parking lot, and we spent some time chatting with some of the other guests there. I had a funny conversation with one of them, he was a MSF instructor and I said something like: “you know how you start motorcycling and you’re just crazy about it for a couple of years?” he responded: “yeah, about *30* years?” So true.

After our pizza we all just about fell over from the sleepy. It was a long couple of days, and we had more long rides ahead of us to get home!

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

May 12

This was a day of motoring. We had to make it all the way across the state in order to set ourselves up for our full day of smoky mountain riding tomorrow!

We had last minute plans to go to the BMW plant in Spartanburg SC – one of our group mentioned it at the beginning of the trip, and sounded really cool: they make cars, not motorcycles, but the building is also a super-efficient green building which I love. So we headed out across the state on small roads, with the plans to avoid highways as much as possible but make up time in some key areas. We got about 2/3 of the way to Spartanburg and were frantically trying to make up miles on the highway when the interested party said “oh hey, let’s screw it. I’ll do it another time. it’s too far away.” We all agreed that it was turning out to be too much work for vacation and happily, we hadn’t gotten too far out of the way, so we hung a left and went south towards our destination for the night.

It was hot going. We stopped to try some boiled peanuts – they are AMAZING with a can of coke.

The last leg of the trip was just twisty and pretty enough (after our long hot ride through some of SCs big highways) to perk everyone up. And I did have a surprise for everyone – we were overnighting in Helen GA , which is a bavarian-style town in the mountains of N Ga. I didn’t tell anyone about the architecture so when we pulled in and saw this:

It got even better walking to dinner:

Everyone was really surprised! it was super. I was a little worried Helen would be kitchy, or that we wouldn’t have enough time to enjoy it, but it was even cuter and more interesting than I had hoped, and everyone loved it and we all are secretly planning to go back another time for a longer stay.

We had an amazing meal at the (of course!) Hofbrauhaus.

And afterwards, we walked back to the hotel and turned in for another early start and a long day of twisties!

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

After our excitement the night before we were slow starters and spent the day riding around checking out what little there was on display for the rally.

someone’s buddy on their motorcycle:

I’m pretty sure someone rode this into the HD dealership – I didn’t see any support vehicles, and it moved around during the time we were there!

there were some great paint jobs out there, and this one reminded us of the iconic three wolf moon shirt:

Although I don’t wear a leather vest, I love seeing the people set up to sew patches onto them. Mike and I are going to get one of these heavy duty sewing machines one day!

For those who have never gone to a rally, well, you might wonder what it’s for. really, I think it’s for walking around, looking at vendors, and checking out bikes. it’s nice to be in a place with a zillion other people on motorcycles, but that gets pretty weird when they don’t wear helmets (nutty south carolina!) or worry about safety gear in the same way you do! also the vendors at myrtle beach were pretty much all different versions of the same t-shirt guy, so it wasn’t that great. There were a lot of pretty bikes there, and of course there are the old hold-out vestiges of “biker culture,” like  suck bang blow, which is a bar where people do burnouts on old tires (no burnouts, poor turnout). There’s a bar called the rathole but we couldn’t find it at it’s new location – this is a more typical “biker” crowd with wet t-shirt contests etc. THAT part of the rally really ticks me off, to be honest, and I was glad to miss it. While there are a lot more women riding their own than there used to be (our group is really stellar in its equal representation) there are still a lot of dudes who need to prove to everyone else how tough they are by objectifying one group or another.

This was also the day that my very favorite photo of myself was snapped:

After noodling around, we all went back to the hotel to pack up. We had a long trip ahead of us! On the way back, I stopped at the store and bought some 2L bottles to try in my sweetcheeks –

And I even put them (empty) into the freezer before capping, so the ideal gas law would make them firmer to sit on. the next day I strapped it onto my seat and it turns out that… it wasn’t that comfortable. Maybe a 1L bottle would be better, this made the seat way too wide for me. So I went without on the whole trip.

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

After our lackluster tour of the “rally” events we decided to head back up north to Wilmington NC to visit the USS North Carolina Battleship Museum. Our butts were feeling much better after our previous slow day! Wilmington is about 80 miles from Myrtle Beach, and on the way is Shallotte SC, where Beach House HD is trying to take up the lost crowds and revenue from the Myrtle Beach Rally.

We stopped at the HD dealership and crossed our fingers that no one would decide to buy a new motorcycle and checked out the vendors – there weren’t many set up, still too early in the week? but there was a delicious BBQ sandwich stand run by the local Volunteer FD and EMS, and also this very cool fire truck:

Then we continued on up to the battleship. This tour is SO COOL. it’s a self-guided walk through the entire ship, and it took us several hours to make it through the whole thing!

What is it about the fisheye camera?

Seriously, I was using some old film…

But every single photo is either totally unintelligible or it is SERIOUS.

Seriously Epic.

Exceptionally seriously epic.

The tour is so neat, you walk all through the ship and up and down and down and down and down –

as we walked out right at closing we saw this sign:

nothing reminds you that you’re in the southeast like alligator warnings!

after our visit to the battleship, we looked up the location of a Golden Corral and headed out for dinner. I wasn’t kidding, we ate there a LOT. Getting there required a Flying Circus Technically Complete U-Turn in Formation. Actually, I think we did a couple of laps around the neighborhood before we could find our dinner! We even stopped and asked for directions. Bellies full, we headed home to Myrtle Beach.

Unfortunately Mike F won our hero of the day award when he ran out of gas on the way home. It was pitch black and getting chilly and his fuel indicator light didn’t go on. Happily, we were really close to a gas station and it was just a slight derail of plans. Pro tip: if the gas station won’t let you borrow a gas can, buy some windshield wiper fluid, dump it out, and put a little gas in side. Easy to cap and bring back to your buddy, and just a little gasoline goes a long way when you’re motorcycling.

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

We were tired after our trip down, so we took it easy on Day 4. I got up and b/c Mike was still so sleepy I figured I’d give him a break, and I went out for a run on the beach. It was great! It was also the only day I went out for a run! But still, great!

I got a call about meeting for breakfast while I was jogging and it was a hilarious conversation: Rick was all “Oh, are y’all moving yet?” and I was like: “yup, I’m out running on the beach!” he was floored.

We headed out to the bikes: would you believe we had a really hard time finding parking in the hotel garage the night before?

So we decided to cruise around and look at stuff today. Mostly, we spent a lot of time at Jammin’ Leather. They’ve made an effort to become rally “headquarters” and I am not surprised, people buy a lot of stuff at rallys and if no one is shopping for leather gear than it must be a giant hit to their business. We did our part – two of our group bought jackets (textile and leather blends, but no armor) and one of us got a vest and chaps. For the record: ALL CHAPS ARE ASSLESS. that is what makes them chaps.

As we were riding around, we didn’t pass many bikers. There weren’t many vendors set up the few days we were there, and permits were more expensive so everyone said that they would set up for the 2nd weekend, not the first (while we were there). All in all, though, it was fine! we managed to occupy ourselves just fine.

we had a very late lunch / early dinner at crabby mike’s, a seafood buffet that seemed appropriate, based on our heavy frequency of mike’s on the trip. also, check out the very creepy dead crab with halo art hanging in the dining room:

after our day out and about, we went back and met up with our two straggler Mike’s and went for a nice long walk on the beach. Definitely a nice evening with friends!

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]