Pre-Flight.
They say you need to unplug. What an oxymoron that is, “unplug to recharge..”. But that’s what we need more often than not - to unplug from work, disconnect from the responsibilities and reality that is the daily routine in our lives. That daily grind wears you down, slowly, over time - much like a car’s shocks or struts - they degrade over time until all of a sudden you realize the car is bouncing up and down for the duration of a red light when you come to a stop. I appreciate that the audience here falls into 2 buckets - some have already crossed that rainbow bridge from work life to the “I’d love to attend that gathering, but I’m too busy now that I’m retired” and the other half in the “I’m out of vacation time” one. Some of my rambling thoughts here will be foreign to some, but maybe not. Either way, it feels good to get it out.
The past year has been a challenge at work. I think I shared somewhere else about this - a restructure that took away the team I’d spent the last 6-7 years building and handed me customer account sites in Ohio and Indiana. It was a heavy lift - one of the good idea fairy type events a CEO read about in some coffee table magazine or playbook and how it will make us stronger. I carried the load, worked to bring subpar employees and service delivery in line with our standards. Some of it simple enough, like just showing up - there were employees who had not seen their manager in months. Some a bit tougher - like renewing engagements with long expired contracts. In a recent call, my boss informed me he was moving some things off my plate - giving me back some bandwidth and sanity, lessening my travel load. A hardy thank you for being an example of how to do the difficult things, the uncomfortable things.
Fortress of Solitude - that place we go to collect ourselves, restore balance, hone our focus. This week was my time to check out. Unplug, recharge. Spend some time in my fortress of solitude. That place for me is not a secluded ice palace in the far off remote tundra or deep inside a forest. For me, it’s inside my helmet, on the road, in plain sight, yet in my own quiet solitude. Music plays in the background - some Linkin Park mixed with some asian inline 4 cylinder symphony - some of you know the tune - it's the one that makes tires hot and sticky, and produces that distinct brake dust smell at stops… The days ahead will have a healthy mix of those as I set out to get reacquainted with this chunky black asian mistress of mine…
Day 1 was to be a long slog south on the slab. It’s simply the best use of time and energy to get through the “unplug” phase and into the “re-charge” phase. An early launch avoids the A.M. traffic in Detroit, puts us through Cinci mid day, leaving only the evening commute traffic in Knoxville to navigate. A healthy dose of throttle and 5th gear (sassy ol’ Raven Ray don’t need no stinkin’ 6th gear…) might let us avoid that all together. Updated ECM - electronic countermeasures - will be deployed for the run south - WAZE with notifications piped over bluetooth to the Sena, and an upgraded RD as well with Marc Parnes Visual Alert.
That plan for Monday was scrambled twice. First when LKLD called me and said, “Why don’t you stay here…”. Hotel cancelled, casa de Rob’n’Marie set as the LZ (You meet the nicest people on 2 wheels…). The second curve ball was from my spouse in the form of, “Why don’t you leave tomorrow (Sunday)? Well, I still have to pack the bike. “So do that in the morning and leave once you’re packed.” Well, I do have a few work things to get done too. “So do those things, pack your stuff, and get on the road…” So I did just that. A tolerable 6 hours and 350-ish miles later found me Georgetown, KY for the night.
Monday morning arrived with sunny skies and moderate temps. The early departure afforded me time to venture off of I-75 and spend time on some pretty spectacular ribbons of asphalt such as KY58 and KY11. It’s starting to come back to me now - eyes following the arc of the road in front of us, finding the apex, rolling the throttle for the exit, and repeat.
Let’s get it on…
FJRVFR volunteered to provide adult supervision for a few days. The designated rally point was the Tapoco Lodge just south of Deals Gap. I scooted across US129 (tail of the dragon) with no traffic interaction until the state line - I’d call that a ‘clean run’. A stalker mentioned that the distance between my spot tracker pings indicated velocities that did not coincide with slow moving traffic - I’m certain I never exceeded the posted speed limit though.. Lunch was refreshing and the Tapaco Lodge offers a great view of the river.
We traversed NC143 westbound - that’s the Cherohala Skyway - and it was marvelous. Our destination for the evening was at LKLD’s new East TN location. Rob and Marie are such gracious hosts; They prepared an excellent meal and provided an enjoyable evening and catching up - there were even a few darts tossed and maybe some Creamsicle favored adult beverage.
Tuesday morning arrived with clear skies and moderate temperatures. Lets keep track of this.
Monday was, in days with:
Clear weather, Dry Roads, and Near Perfect Riding Conditions: 2
There was a quick stop in Tellico Plains to snap a picture at Tellico Grains and Bakery to remind my lovely wife what she’s missing… We headed east across the Cherohala Skyway, and it was just as glorious as our westbound ride the day before. There is simply no other word to describe it. After the Skyway, we ran US129 to Deals Gap, and made the right onto NC28 and ran that through Fontana and out onto NC74. We made our way to Cherokee and got onto the Blue Ridge Parkway at the west entrance.
I’m not a deeply religious man. I do believe that upon occasion in my life, there’s been someone or something deciding that it was not my time. An event in early 2006 on another continent being one such occasion, and September of 2008 in a Virginia side road ditch being another. On this day (Tuesday, April 29th), everything was flowing well - we were consuming the asphalt in large gulps with almost no effort. The bike was singing that unmistakable serenade as it turned burnt fuel into thrust. Velocity narrows focus, forces concentration, and erases everything else from that moment. The only things that matter are the inputs from the analog ride mode computer nestled behind the tinted visor to the handlebars, throttle and brakes.
What happened next is hard to explain. It wasn’t a thought, or a feeling, or a voice. For no apparent reason, I closed the throttle. I don’t know why, it just happened. I checked the mirror for my wingman. Feathered in a bit of brake, checked again. The RD lit up. I fed in more brake and a downshift and checked the speedo needle as is floated back towards permissible velocity range; this will be close. (or more accurately, “you’re going to jail, dumbass”). All this in what seemed like a blink. Then a white Explorer came into view. RD still screaming. It was a park ranger - I can’t remember the last time I saw a Park Ranger patrol on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But this day, at that moment, I’m sure we had another wingman sharing the road with us.
We did stop at the Richland Balsam overlook - aka the highest point on the BRP. And more importantly, where I shared my last few minutes with JWilly a few years ago. He is there, and He’s looking out for us, still. I do believe that. Thank you, Jwilly. I love you buddy.
We exited the BRP and followed NC215 south towards LZ Wheaton. Sir Wheaton had been left unsupervised, but in surprising fashion, played the gracious host without the aid of Mrs. Wheaton - she has done such a great job in molding Sir Wheat-ness!! We broke bread and the spirits flowed. But Mr. Wheaton had a devious plan. He waited until our resistance was softened, using full bellies and empty tumblers to his advantage.
“You should ride north Georgia tomorrow,” he said.
We have reservations in Lewisburg and Marietta.
“When was the last time you rode north Georgia?”
A few years ago.
“But did you really “ride” north Georgia??”
But we have reservations…
“Do you even remember what north Georgia is like?”
But…
“Do you even ride?”
Somewhere in there, I think he questioned our manhood as well.
FJRVFR and I stared at each other. There was hesitation. And then, “let’s see if we can change reservations…” A few phone calls and web browsing moments later, I was scratching out directions on my notepad and dropping waypoints in the map.
Days with:
Clear weather, Dry Roads, Near Perfect Riding Conditions AND no performance awards: 3
Day 4.
We rolled out just after 8am, with 350 miles of what promised to be some very spectacular asphalt ribbon ahead of us. The day did not disappoint. We traveled west towards Walhalla, SC, then onto SC28, which becomes NC28 after it slices through the northeast tip of Georgia. There was a hard port side rudder input that set our course onto Warwoman Road and into Clayton. The rest was a blur in more ways than one. GA-197 to GA-356 and onto GA-75 and 75A to bypass Helen. Then onto Richard Russel Parkway (raceway??). Ga-19 connected us to GA180 - Wolf Pen Gap and into Suches where we took a hydration break at the picnic table. South out of Suches set up a northbound run on Blood Mountain (US129) and, would you look at THAT, the Richard Russel Parkway again - twist my arm harder, Ma’am.
We rolled to the stop sign at the east end of Warwoman Road, where 28 is glistening new tarmac. Resistance is futile. We turned left, north towards Highlands. The road snakes it’s way towards town in a rolling switch back format that is just beyond words. The new tarmac did eventually end, but there were no safe turn outs for a u-turn until we hit Highlands (imagine that…). After a quick hydration stop in Highlands, we made the quick run out to visit Bridal Veil Falls. You may have noticed that there has not been an over abundance of pictures thus far. I wanted to stop and take pictures, but there would be another curve, and another, and another and before you know it it was time for a gas stop - no sense in taking pictures as a gas station, is there?
There was hesitation and potential second guessing of this deviation from the original plan. At one point during the day, the following audio was broadcast over comms:
"OH MY GAWD, THIS IS...(rest of transcript drowned out by a symphony of Asian 4 cylinder screaming noises...)..."
The only way to top off such a fantastic day on two wheels was a Publix Fried Chicken dinner! The best part about this stop was parking on the sidewalk down from the front door. The looks from the folks walking in and out were “clutches pearls”... A mother with a young boy walked by; he was a little tyke and just completely captivated by the two of us in our riding gear and motorcycles. I asked him if he wanted to go for a ride, and he enthusiastically shook his head yes. He made his mom stand there and watch us turn around and ride back off the side walk ramp. He will be one of us some day…
Days with:
Clear weather, Dry Roads, Near Perfect Riding Conditions AND no performance awards: 4
Day 5 - Thursday, May 1st - Travelers Rest, SC to Lewisburg, WV.
There are still a good number of road closures around Asheville. We skirted around that area by drifting further east before turning north. It was still an enjoyable morning and we were still able to traverse Roan Mountain and the east half of US421 (The Snake) into Shady Valley. VA16 was on tap before jogging left, passing under I-77 at Rocky Gap, continuing towards Narrows, VA before picking up WV219 for the run into Lewisburg.
I ran out to visit Spklbuk. Timing is everything. About 10 minutes after I parked, the clouds opened up and dumped. But since I was parked, and not riding - the streak is still in place. Even better, buy the time I made the run back into town, the roads were dry.
Days with:
Clear weather, Dry Roads, Near Perfect Riding Conditions AND no performance awards: 5!!
Friday, May 2nd - Lewisburg to Marietta (better late than never…)
Friday dawn yet another clear, sunny and moderate day. We scooted west and picked up WV16. We explored a side road and found out just how serious FJRVFR is about not riding on gravel. We can “this” close - on the GPS, it appeared to be 4-5 miles to reconnect with 16, but we back tracked on pavement and resumed the trek north. In Sistersville, we boarded the ferry and stood patiently while the captain found a pretty strong cross wind that nearly prevented him from getting us across to the Ohio side. He did get us there, and we found our way onto OH-7. A few minutes of that nonsense (straight, flat & boring), we hung the right onto OH260. There were dark clouds closing in on Marietta. We made the left onto OH-26 and moved out with a sense of urgency - or rather, with an eye on keeping our streak alive one more day. We managed just that, barely…
It was great to see the usual suspects already at the hotel when we arrived - it was good times with good humans.
Days with:
Clear weather, Dry Roads, Near Perfect Riding Conditions AND no performance awards: 6!!!
Everything in life worth having or doing has a price. Eventually, that tax or toll or tribute is collected. I had made a commitment to get the horses from the barn to the first show of the season for Annette & Harleigh; they needed to be to the show grounds Saturday afternoon. To meet the timeline, it meant a 0600 launch from Marietta. In the planning phase for this trip, pulling the ripcord Saturday morning to get home seemed like a very reasonable compromise - 5-6 days of riding the good stuff, but I would miss out on a day in SE Ohio along with more socializing Saturday evening. Sometimes, you have to make the hard decisions. I thought that was the price, but I was wrong.
The first hour was fine - running north on I-77 at optimal velocity. The rain moved in and I exited to pick up OH-250, which cuts diagonally towards Norwalk (just east of Toledo). I buttoned down the hatches, pulled the RD, stored my cell phone in the top box and put the rain cover on my tank bag. I pressed on, the rain continued to intensify along with the wind and dropping temps. I had my Warm’n’Safe liner set to “roast me mofo”, grips on high and everything else snugged down, but the temperature and rain cut through all of it. Any other time, I would have sat out the rain in a McDonald’s with a hot chocolate and free wi-fi for a few hours. But not this day. This was the price. And I gladly paid the toll.
At the east edge of Toledo, I rolled into a gas station, filled up and went in to thaw out. It was 42 degrees, but the wind and rain were letting up. I did get that cup of hot chocolate and got about half of it down before my timer beeped letting me know it’s time to suck it up and get rolling. I got into the garage right about noon as planned; 30 minutes later I was rolling on 4 wheels in the comfort of Sparklefart with the heater cranked up!! I doubled back to the barn after grabbing the horse trailer (one hour north, then 45 minutes south - don’t ask me why the horse trailer is not at the (horse) barn with the horses are kept…)
Normally, loading the mares is an event I’m not trusted to do alone. But this day, with both Harleigh and Annette working at the show, I left unsupervised and solo. I wasn’t scared.
The reality is that both of the mares recognize the trailer as connecting them to something they enjoy - getting out of the barn, getting to work (or play, as I think they see it), and they’re both excited to get on it and go. I walked out the old lady first - aka Hurricane Dolly - and she snorted and picked up a pep in her walk when she saw the trailer. Little Miss was nearly the same - she floated onto the trailer for me. Look at that, all by myself…
I delivered this precious cargo as planned and on time. My ladies were pleased to see the mares and excited for the next day. Rumor has it, that I’ve been awarded “Legend” status among the barn ladies for this supernatural feat of loading the sassy mares all by myself, unsupervised and alone!
Days with:
Clear weather, Dry Roads, Near Perfect Riding Conditions: ZERO.
That felt good. Thank you.
