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May. 13th, 2004 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elizillaIt was an unusual trip for me, mainly because I had traveling companions for most of it.
Wednesday 4/28 I rode to Columbus and stayed with Phil Ross, and on Thursday we rode together to Burr Oak SP where the Sabmag thing was to happen. I'm the one who found this location and negotiated with the park to give us a discount and put us all in the same area, away from their other guests. This is about as large a role as I have ever had with something like this. So I was nervous. Fortunately, the event went very well. About 50 riders in attendance. Rain on Friday and Sunday but Saturday was clear.
Friday and Saturday I got followed by too many people, and the only time I managed to thin the herd was when I got Phil Ross to go somewhere else and take most of them with him. I like all those people but I'm not that keen on being ride leader, especially when the group is so large. One good thing, though, was that Joey Thorne and I both had CB radios, and he was tailgunner during the part of the ride when there were the most riders in the group. So I didn't have to watch my mirrors and worry; I knew Joey was bringing up the rear and would let me know anything that happened back there.
There were only two getoffs, both minor, and both on the section of Ohio SR 555 just south of SR 78. Rooster crashed there on Thursday, and Squirrel crashed there on Saturday. Maybe it's something to do with having an animal nickname, it makes you crash on 555. This was a road they'd been warned against. As Phil put it, the gravel in the apexes of the turns could be seen silhouetted against the sky. But the state park is too close to this notorious road for the thrill seekers to stay away. Fortunately both riders got out of it with only a few bruises and scratches, and the bikes suffered only minor damages. Both bikes were ridden home. Squirrel created this as a memento.
Russell Stephan provided his usual plastic bottle of frightening spirits. He gets this stuff at the moonshine festival in New Straitsville. Ever since he ran out of gas and was able to bring the bike to the next gas station by pouring it in the tank, New Straitsville hooch has been his drink of choice. Most of the sabmaggots know to be careful of it, but there was still a small amount of porcelain bus driving on Thursday night. On Friday and Saturday nights, Russell couldn't find sufficient victims at our event, so on Saturday he went down to Marietta where the VFR list was having their get together, and offered the bottle around in their motel parking lot. I'm told that he found some unsuspecting souls there. Pretty crazy, I mean, if someone offers you a bottle and says "Try this, it's the worst thing you've ever had!" would you drink it?
The park didn't complain about the noise; no rangers even came by to check on us. They had put us at the end of a cul de sac and there were no other park guests down there. I would think they should have been able to hear the revelry at the lodge on the other side of the lake, but the staff members I spoke to didn't think we were particularly noisy. And there were enough trees hiding us from the lake, that people in the lodge would not have seen Rooster lighting shipping flares and waving them around.
It was actually kinda similar to running a convention, as far as setting up and maintaining good relations with the folks who owned the beds, and figuring out how to keep group members from getting hurt or arrested, without having them feel constrained. This is one of the areas where I always felt I did pretty well with the conventions, and a lot of the same tricks worked just as well with the motorcyclists.
The food at the park restaurant was good but overpriced, so on Saturday night we had an impromptu spaghetti dinner. Dave Morrow had trailered to the park to bring his dirt bike, and he was driving into town for a couple twelve packs of coke, when we decided to do the dinner. So I went with him and loaded the shopping cart in about 10 minutes. Dave boggled a bit at the nine loaves of garlic bread, but in the end almost everything was eaten.
Sunday, everyone left the park by noon. Phil Ross and I were the last to leave. People had contributed about $30 more than we needed to pay for the spaghetti dinner, so we left all the mixed up dishes and furniture in one cabin, along with a $30 tip for whoever would get stuck sorting it all out. We want them to like us, so we can go back.
Phil and I rode down into WV, then circled back around and eventually stayed that night at his parent's farm in St Mary's. Monday we went to Hawk's Nest, and checked out the New River bridge. Phil showed me a ghost town called Thurmond. Then we agreed to go back to Columbus so he could get a new tire and meet with some people about jobs.
Spent Tuesday in Columbus. While Phil was getting his tire changed at Mike Solace's, we picked up a stray VFR rider, Dan, who was also unemployed and therefore free to ride around. On Wednesday the three of us headed out together, slabbing back to central WV, then taking twisty roads south. We visited Frog Level and Hungry Mother, and spent the night at Station's Inn.
Thursday we circled around taking a bunch of the good roads that cross the BRP, and eventually made our way over to Iron Horse Lodge in Stecoah, NC, where we joined the V-Strom rally. I'm not sure I like the Iron Horse Lodge. It's a nice facility and the owners are friendly, but the food is only fair and the common room is echoingly empty and dominated by a giant TV. If I want to sit in a room full of people who are all focused on a screen, I'll go to the movies. But I was outvoted, I guess.
Friday I was going to ride the dirt roads with the V-Strommers but I hadn't gotten gas the night before and I didn't want to be the one throwing a monkey wrench into the organizer's plans. Plus, Phil and Dan weren't up for the dirt riding thing. So I opted out of it. Phil and Dan and I went over to Deal's Gap for a little while, and then took the Skyway over to Tellico Plains for lunch. Phil stayed there with Jack Hunt and Lori Lovejoy during their wedding rehearsal, while Dan and I went back to Iron Horse in time for dinner with the V-Strommers.
After dinner it was very dark and the stars were amazing. Dan and I were standing in the road admiring the sky when my cell phone rang. It was Phil. He was up on the Skyway, at Beech Gap, and he was calling to tell us about the stars. Just then I saw a shooting star and I heard Phil gasp. He saw it too. It was obviously a sign that Dan and I should go up on the Skyway and meet Phil. We invited the V-Strommers but they thought we were nuts.
Dan's VFR is older and has crappy lights, so he climbed on the back of the V-Strom for this jaunt. We found Phil up on the Skyway, and checked out the sky for a little while, but by the time we got there the moon was rising and the stars were fading. No fireflies this time; I guess they aren't in season yet.
One of the cool things about going up on the Skyway at night, is the way you have it all to yourself. We didn't see another car or bike the whole time we were up there.
Saturday we slept in until after the V-Strommers left, since we hadn't gotten back from the Skyway until 3am. We sent Dan off to T.W.O. for lunch since he'd never been there. Phil and I went to Jack and Lori's wedding. You'd never know it from my unmarried state, but I am a sucker for a good wedding. I was happy to see Jack and Lori so happy. The only other maggot in attendance was Russell's gf Ann, who had driven down alone because Russell got stuck at work. Phil got the bride and groom to pose on his Sabre for pictures. I'd share the pics but I don't have them.
After the wedding, Ann drove her truck and Phil and I took the bikes, and we went back up on the skyway and visited at the Beech Gap pullout, where it was cool. Then we left Phil's bike there with Ann, and Phil and I went two up on the V-Strom up this crazy goat trail to the top of a mountain. I rode on the back this time. Pretty wild, being on the back of my own bike when it's being used as a dirt bike. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or scream so I just did both. At the top of the the mountain there was a meadow. The view was amazing in every direction. It revealed thunderstorms heading our way. So we didn't stay long; we didn't want to be on that goat path when the rain came.
Back on our own bikes, we made tracks along the Skyway hoping to get down before the lightning started. I was keeping a nice conservative 50 or 60mph pace, when I was passed by two squids who were hammering along at 80 or 100. I let them go. Drove into the rain about a mile before the turnoff to Joyce Kilmer. The Tourances are amazing rain tires; I didn't need to slow down. The squids came back into sight, tiptoeing on the wet pavement. As I overtook them, Phil was waiting at the Joyce Kilmer pulloff. The squids tried to get away but I stuffed them in the tight section between Joyce Kilmer and 129. Phil left all of us behind, of course.
Just random chance brought us back together with Dan at Robbinsville. We got BBQ for dinner at a place called Sweetwaters. I'm not a judge of Q but it tasted pretty good to me.
It rained all evening and the V-Strommers watched Jeff Foxworthy on the big TV. Yawn. I played pool with Phil and Dan.
Sunday at Deal's Gap, Phil and I left Phil's bike at the CRoT and went two up to the overlook and back. I rode pillion on the way up and he rode pillion on the way back. Objectively, I was on the back for a lot less time than Phil was, but subjectively that had to have been the longest nine miles I've ever done. Phil was on a mission to wear away my footpegs. He's lucky I don't get motion sick. Y'know the Aerostich does have that convenient barf bag on the back. :-)
After that, Phil went off to Tellico Plains, and he was going to go back up to the BRP from there. Dan and I made tracks back up I-75. Dan split off from me at Cincinatti, to go back to Columbus, and I pulled in here around midnight Sunday night.
My bike was utterly filthy, after all the dirt and rain riding, so on Monday night I washed it. This weekend I need to change its oil and its air filter. And I need to decide what to do about my Autocom setup. Everything worked really well but I don't like having it all in the tank bag. It's too inconvenient.
Wednesday 4/28 I rode to Columbus and stayed with Phil Ross, and on Thursday we rode together to Burr Oak SP where the Sabmag thing was to happen. I'm the one who found this location and negotiated with the park to give us a discount and put us all in the same area, away from their other guests. This is about as large a role as I have ever had with something like this. So I was nervous. Fortunately, the event went very well. About 50 riders in attendance. Rain on Friday and Sunday but Saturday was clear.
Friday and Saturday I got followed by too many people, and the only time I managed to thin the herd was when I got Phil Ross to go somewhere else and take most of them with him. I like all those people but I'm not that keen on being ride leader, especially when the group is so large. One good thing, though, was that Joey Thorne and I both had CB radios, and he was tailgunner during the part of the ride when there were the most riders in the group. So I didn't have to watch my mirrors and worry; I knew Joey was bringing up the rear and would let me know anything that happened back there.
There were only two getoffs, both minor, and both on the section of Ohio SR 555 just south of SR 78. Rooster crashed there on Thursday, and Squirrel crashed there on Saturday. Maybe it's something to do with having an animal nickname, it makes you crash on 555. This was a road they'd been warned against. As Phil put it, the gravel in the apexes of the turns could be seen silhouetted against the sky. But the state park is too close to this notorious road for the thrill seekers to stay away. Fortunately both riders got out of it with only a few bruises and scratches, and the bikes suffered only minor damages. Both bikes were ridden home. Squirrel created this as a memento.
Russell Stephan provided his usual plastic bottle of frightening spirits. He gets this stuff at the moonshine festival in New Straitsville. Ever since he ran out of gas and was able to bring the bike to the next gas station by pouring it in the tank, New Straitsville hooch has been his drink of choice. Most of the sabmaggots know to be careful of it, but there was still a small amount of porcelain bus driving on Thursday night. On Friday and Saturday nights, Russell couldn't find sufficient victims at our event, so on Saturday he went down to Marietta where the VFR list was having their get together, and offered the bottle around in their motel parking lot. I'm told that he found some unsuspecting souls there. Pretty crazy, I mean, if someone offers you a bottle and says "Try this, it's the worst thing you've ever had!" would you drink it?
The park didn't complain about the noise; no rangers even came by to check on us. They had put us at the end of a cul de sac and there were no other park guests down there. I would think they should have been able to hear the revelry at the lodge on the other side of the lake, but the staff members I spoke to didn't think we were particularly noisy. And there were enough trees hiding us from the lake, that people in the lodge would not have seen Rooster lighting shipping flares and waving them around.
It was actually kinda similar to running a convention, as far as setting up and maintaining good relations with the folks who owned the beds, and figuring out how to keep group members from getting hurt or arrested, without having them feel constrained. This is one of the areas where I always felt I did pretty well with the conventions, and a lot of the same tricks worked just as well with the motorcyclists.
The food at the park restaurant was good but overpriced, so on Saturday night we had an impromptu spaghetti dinner. Dave Morrow had trailered to the park to bring his dirt bike, and he was driving into town for a couple twelve packs of coke, when we decided to do the dinner. So I went with him and loaded the shopping cart in about 10 minutes. Dave boggled a bit at the nine loaves of garlic bread, but in the end almost everything was eaten.
Sunday, everyone left the park by noon. Phil Ross and I were the last to leave. People had contributed about $30 more than we needed to pay for the spaghetti dinner, so we left all the mixed up dishes and furniture in one cabin, along with a $30 tip for whoever would get stuck sorting it all out. We want them to like us, so we can go back.
Phil and I rode down into WV, then circled back around and eventually stayed that night at his parent's farm in St Mary's. Monday we went to Hawk's Nest, and checked out the New River bridge. Phil showed me a ghost town called Thurmond. Then we agreed to go back to Columbus so he could get a new tire and meet with some people about jobs.
Spent Tuesday in Columbus. While Phil was getting his tire changed at Mike Solace's, we picked up a stray VFR rider, Dan, who was also unemployed and therefore free to ride around. On Wednesday the three of us headed out together, slabbing back to central WV, then taking twisty roads south. We visited Frog Level and Hungry Mother, and spent the night at Station's Inn.
Thursday we circled around taking a bunch of the good roads that cross the BRP, and eventually made our way over to Iron Horse Lodge in Stecoah, NC, where we joined the V-Strom rally. I'm not sure I like the Iron Horse Lodge. It's a nice facility and the owners are friendly, but the food is only fair and the common room is echoingly empty and dominated by a giant TV. If I want to sit in a room full of people who are all focused on a screen, I'll go to the movies. But I was outvoted, I guess.
Friday I was going to ride the dirt roads with the V-Strommers but I hadn't gotten gas the night before and I didn't want to be the one throwing a monkey wrench into the organizer's plans. Plus, Phil and Dan weren't up for the dirt riding thing. So I opted out of it. Phil and Dan and I went over to Deal's Gap for a little while, and then took the Skyway over to Tellico Plains for lunch. Phil stayed there with Jack Hunt and Lori Lovejoy during their wedding rehearsal, while Dan and I went back to Iron Horse in time for dinner with the V-Strommers.
After dinner it was very dark and the stars were amazing. Dan and I were standing in the road admiring the sky when my cell phone rang. It was Phil. He was up on the Skyway, at Beech Gap, and he was calling to tell us about the stars. Just then I saw a shooting star and I heard Phil gasp. He saw it too. It was obviously a sign that Dan and I should go up on the Skyway and meet Phil. We invited the V-Strommers but they thought we were nuts.
Dan's VFR is older and has crappy lights, so he climbed on the back of the V-Strom for this jaunt. We found Phil up on the Skyway, and checked out the sky for a little while, but by the time we got there the moon was rising and the stars were fading. No fireflies this time; I guess they aren't in season yet.
One of the cool things about going up on the Skyway at night, is the way you have it all to yourself. We didn't see another car or bike the whole time we were up there.
Saturday we slept in until after the V-Strommers left, since we hadn't gotten back from the Skyway until 3am. We sent Dan off to T.W.O. for lunch since he'd never been there. Phil and I went to Jack and Lori's wedding. You'd never know it from my unmarried state, but I am a sucker for a good wedding. I was happy to see Jack and Lori so happy. The only other maggot in attendance was Russell's gf Ann, who had driven down alone because Russell got stuck at work. Phil got the bride and groom to pose on his Sabre for pictures. I'd share the pics but I don't have them.
After the wedding, Ann drove her truck and Phil and I took the bikes, and we went back up on the skyway and visited at the Beech Gap pullout, where it was cool. Then we left Phil's bike there with Ann, and Phil and I went two up on the V-Strom up this crazy goat trail to the top of a mountain. I rode on the back this time. Pretty wild, being on the back of my own bike when it's being used as a dirt bike. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or scream so I just did both. At the top of the the mountain there was a meadow. The view was amazing in every direction. It revealed thunderstorms heading our way. So we didn't stay long; we didn't want to be on that goat path when the rain came.
Back on our own bikes, we made tracks along the Skyway hoping to get down before the lightning started. I was keeping a nice conservative 50 or 60mph pace, when I was passed by two squids who were hammering along at 80 or 100. I let them go. Drove into the rain about a mile before the turnoff to Joyce Kilmer. The Tourances are amazing rain tires; I didn't need to slow down. The squids came back into sight, tiptoeing on the wet pavement. As I overtook them, Phil was waiting at the Joyce Kilmer pulloff. The squids tried to get away but I stuffed them in the tight section between Joyce Kilmer and 129. Phil left all of us behind, of course.
Just random chance brought us back together with Dan at Robbinsville. We got BBQ for dinner at a place called Sweetwaters. I'm not a judge of Q but it tasted pretty good to me.
It rained all evening and the V-Strommers watched Jeff Foxworthy on the big TV. Yawn. I played pool with Phil and Dan.
Sunday at Deal's Gap, Phil and I left Phil's bike at the CRoT and went two up to the overlook and back. I rode pillion on the way up and he rode pillion on the way back. Objectively, I was on the back for a lot less time than Phil was, but subjectively that had to have been the longest nine miles I've ever done. Phil was on a mission to wear away my footpegs. He's lucky I don't get motion sick. Y'know the Aerostich does have that convenient barf bag on the back. :-)
After that, Phil went off to Tellico Plains, and he was going to go back up to the BRP from there. Dan and I made tracks back up I-75. Dan split off from me at Cincinatti, to go back to Columbus, and I pulled in here around midnight Sunday night.
My bike was utterly filthy, after all the dirt and rain riding, so on Monday night I washed it. This weekend I need to change its oil and its air filter. And I need to decide what to do about my Autocom setup. Everything worked really well but I don't like having it all in the tank bag. It's too inconvenient.
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no subject
Date: 2004-05-14 03:58 am (UTC)Phil left all of us behind, of course.
That's Phil. This is the same Phil we rode with, right?
no subject
Date: 2004-05-14 04:05 am (UTC)I tried not to squash him as badly as I did to you when I rode on the back of your bike that time. He didn't complain of getting squashed, but I was really sore on Monday, after tensing up as much as I did on my short ride as passenger.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-14 10:50 am (UTC)I love the Blue Ridge/Smoky Mountain/Appalachians. Some of the best terrain on the continent. The Rockies have it beat for "Gosh Wow Look At That", but they're too forbidding at times.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-14 01:01 pm (UTC)Love it.