Back from my tour

 

Just spent 10 days on tour to Tennessee, North Carolina, Michigan and
points in between.
Left June 2nd from Winnipeg heading for an annual party in TN.
Took a leisurely route through Walker where we stopped for lunch at
the Outdoorsman where Mark and I had breakfast a few years back.
Ended up in Burnsville where we met up with another couple (Greg O and
wife Annie).
The next day we headed south through Iowa and down into Missouri.
Unfortunately we got delayed a bit when Greg slipped onto the soft
shoulder passing a semi and slid into the median. On the fortunate
side, it was wet and soft from all the recent rain.
No serious damage to people or machine we set off again for St. Louis
to meet up with two more couples from rmh.

We took a scenic route to TN via Lamberts Cafe - The Home Of Throwed
Rolls where we ate lunch.

After the party My wife and I headed east to the Smokies. Got caught
in a downpour somewhere east of Nashville. We got gas and waited it
out.
We headed for Tellico Plains getting there at somewhere between 6 and
6:30 Sunday and looked up Jack Hunt only to fond a note on the door.
We needed to secure lodging before that and ended up going over the
Cherohala into Bryson City. Sorry Jack, I'm sure we'll be back again
someday in the not too distant future.

Got up the next day and rode the Dragon up and down (have to since the
TN side is closed) whoich I enjoyed a whole lot more than my wife,
Lori.
Crossed back and forth a couple of times hitting Gatlinburg which was
a nightmare of commercialization. I was going to get a t-shirt at the
H-D dealer but it would cost $5 just to park. it a side street that
went almost straight up with several 1st gear switchbacks. A bit nerve
wracking to say the least. That led out of town and on tp Pigeon Forge
which, while also commercial, is at least driver/rider friendly. Came
back into NC and stayed at Waynesville as I needed to get an oil
change. Apparently I also needed front brake pads - I use the fronts a
lot more than the backs. The tech said it was the first 09 he'd done
fronts on. He also commented on how my footboards and underneath the
exhaust were scraped up although the bike had obviously never been
down. Don't know how that could have happened <fx: innocent look>

From there we rode the first part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and then
headed north into Virginia and then back over to Kentucky. Middleboro
was full so we went to the next town, Barbourville, which turned out
to be bone dry.
Damn dry counties.

The next day we woke to fairly heavy rain but took off anyway since it
wasn't likely to get any better and was supposed to be raining all
over the area. It did let up after a while which was good because my
glasses kept fogging up. We got hit again just south of Cincy on I-75
and right away got stuck in a major traffic jam - 6 miles of it. After
waiting out the rain at a rest stop I found another route and got opff
the interstate. It stopped raining. After finding the alternate route
it came down heavier than ever and we had to sit at a gas station for
a while where we ate crappy hot dogs.

Eventually we got out of there and headed west into Indiana stopping
at Fort Wayne. Nice La Quinta there.
I found a Walmart which made me wish I had my camera. I could have
added a few shots to the People of Walmart site.
Next day we went up into Michigan eventually stopping in Harbour
Springs which is a very nice little town. We visited with an old
friend and went on the next morning over the Mackinac Bridge.
I decided to take the northern route into Wisconsin through Marquette
but it rained again. I stopped at a McDonalds where I tried to use my
phone with its GPS to pick a route but couldn't get a wifi signal. I
told them their server or router was down but I was told I had to call
the 800 number for a password. I couldn't make them understand that a
password wouldn't help if there was no signal so I used my map and
made a wrong turn when I couldn't see again. I ended up back on the
southern route on Highway #2 which is at least where I wanted to end
up but not after 2 hours in the wrong diorection.
Made it to Ashland soaking wet. If I had been earlier I might have
been able to look up Sue but it was late ahnd we were tried and cold
and hungry.
That brings us to this morning which was foggy and drizzly. We headed
off towards Superior with electrics plugged in. I'm amazed at how many
idiots drive in fog without turning on lights.
Hit the bridge from Suprior to Duluth which, in the fog at least, was
worse than the Mackinac. Downright creepy.
Then there was the extended clusterfuck of a detour through Duluth.
Minnesota was at least reasonbly dry, just a few sprinkles until we
got closer to Canada on Highway 59.
Found our first mosquitoes right at the border, there were none just a
thousand or so feet back down the road at the Duty Free.
The rest of the ride was uneventful except that the skies opened up
for us just as we got to the city. Of course, we live on the opposite
side so we had to ride in it until we got close to home where it
stopped. Welcome home!

Total trip - 7007 km in 10 days.

Bob

 

wrote:


I took the wife and sister in-law to the Saturday Market yesterday.
It's a place to go buy useless junk that you'll never use, or even
enjoy looking at.  I pulled into a lot, got the wife out and into her
wheelchair, then discovered the kiosk wanted $8.  I told sister in-law
what direction to push the wife and took off to find some distant but
free street parking.  $8!!!.
....

I have a feeling we're not talking rain.


Too bad about all the rain, Bob.  I remember one other ride you and
the wife made that was pretty wet too.  I hope she's had a few dry
rides with you.

Thanks for the report,
Robert