All the things ...

Well.  Life has taken an interesting turn for us.  You know how I've said, several times, how I sure would love to get David's Chieftan before the end of the year?  Yeah, in reality, we had NO idea how that was actually going to happen.  And trade in vs. selling outright ... well, our dilemma was solved by  Mufasa getting totaled.

The prior Monday, we were given the opportunity to do fun, touristy things in Pigeon Forge!  Tuesday, we were in the ER.  And by "we", I mean David.  It was a beautiful day, and he'd decided to take his bike out and about a bit.  I'd driven b/c the morning was just a hair too cold for me, which turned out to be a good thing.  We'd JUST had lunch together.  I was back at work, working, and he called me and said, "So, it seems I've had a little motorcycle accident".  I jumped out of my chair and ran out the door.  He still doesn't know what happened.  He was on a road we've traveled on many times, it was not in a terribly curvy part, and he was in traffic.  His rear end broke loose and threatened his control, so he moved it over to the side.  When he hit the grass, the bike did a 180 and flung him off in a ditch.  He was knocked unconscious for roughly 30 minutes; the cops woke him up.

By the time I got to him, he had been given a provisional "clear" from the ambulance EMT's.  He was most definitely concussed, but not much else was going on.  That day, he was fully dressed in all his gear, gloves included.  We swung by the house so he could change, and made our way out to the ER.  Thankful for a great staff that didn't keep us there all night.  Once the CT scan pronounced his head and spine clear, we went back home.  In the ensuing days, it was determined that Mufasa would be put down.  I think I was more sad than David!  It hurt my heart to see him there in the "boneyard".  Unfortunately, Kawasaki Vulcans are a dime a dozen, and the cost to repair them with the overpriced OEM parts quickly overwhelm the value of the bike.  

He hit on the right side

RIP

We'd come to grips that our riding season was over.  Figures, because I'd JUST put the last piece of the puzzle on Khaleesi; pipes.  My friend that sold me her floorboards still had her pipes, and I bought them off her.  David gave me his blessing to ride by myself some, but I was sensing a trend; his dad was riding alone BOTH times he went down.  David was riding alone when HE went down.  So, my thoughts of riding alone weren't so favorable.  But I did go on a short ride, and had a blast.  A week later, we were frantically getting off work and running into Knoxville so we could bring home a new family member; Viserion.

RC Components exhaust!  Soooo loud!

Everything just fell perfectly into place for it to happen.  It wasn't something we were planning, to be sure, but it all worked out.  Viserion turned out to be David's birthday gift; he brought her home the day after his birthday.  Well, almost, lol!  We'd JUST pulled out of the IMOK parking lot, and the check engine light came on followed by a very obvious engine cutting in and out.  We hooked a quick U turn and booked it back to a closed dealership (6:05), but thankfully, we were able to grab our sales guy as he was leaving.  Will unlocked the doors, wheeled Viserion back inside, and said he'd give us a call the next day once they figured out what was going on.

First ride!  Heading down to GA

I can not tell you how much my heart flutters to see 2 Indians in the garage!

Riding the Trail of Tears

Turns out it was just a fouled spark plug, so they replaced both and we were good to go!  My heart was racing as I followed David home; IMOK is off a very busy highway, and the traffic around town right now is so bad with lots of tourists in for the leaf season.  My heart was in my throat until he finally pulled her into the garage.

That gray paint is gorgeous; it's so sparkly, like mine!  NOT a matte finish.

The next day, we left out to ride the beasts down to GA.  It was a lovely ride; very windy and blustery, but we were properly layered up, so no big deal.  David did great; his back was HUGELY bruised up and very sore from his fall, and he did skin his knee.  His jeans were flapping around and irritated his wound on the knee, but other than that, he did great on the ride.  We did 347 miles.  Already, it's time for the 500 mile break in service!  Time flies when you're having a blast!

Yesterday was FREEZING, but today it actually got up to low 50.  We hit the road to ride the NEW section of Foothills Parkway.  They have been working on that 16 mile stretch of road between Walland and Wears Valley since the 1960's.  They FINALLY finished the connecting bridge; yesterday was opening day.  Today, it was sooooo crowded!  We knew it would be, though.  I wanted to do it 1.  Because the weather was ok enough to ride for an hour or so.  And 2.  Because the Fall color is still beautiful!

Foothills Parkway

The missing link series of bridges

Viewing Townsend

We were on the uphill side ... in traffic.  FUN, lol!  Very unique challenge to keep it in 1st, moving along about 2 or 3 mph up a mountain, on an off camber road.  My clutch hand got pretty tired, but I wasn't dying or anything.  We got to the end and came home through Wears Valley instead of turning around and coming back over the Parkway, like our original intention. 

This costume garnered more attention than any other!

We'll have to capture the bikes with the views NEXT time

My thespian acting again!  A Midsummer's Night Dream

The day she came home ... a mini tribe!

The "usual" side of Foothills

We've reached full on "off season".  This week is going to be rainy with highs in the 40's.  We will keep the girls gassed and ready for a ride at a moment's notice.  HOPING Thanksgiving day will be decent; we're going to Harrah's Casino in Cherokee for dinner; it would be awesome to ride the bikes since the in-laws will be available to drive the babies!  We'll just have to see.

Riding variety!

I haven't moved away from blogging of my rides; I've just added another platform.  Sometimes it's just too much trouble to pull out the computer to log everything; I actually have to upload all my pics to Flickr, download to my computer, then upload to the blog.  I added an adventure page to my personal facebook page; you can search "Jen and David Ride", or Indisaki Adventures on facebook and "like" the page if you don't want to miss anything!  If it's not a big, giant, epic ride, it's nice just to upload the photos to facebook along with the synopsis.

The teenager at WORK

Looks like my last entry here was our vacation.  We've had a few fun rides since then, only one long one.  The long one broke our Riding record on day one of the vacation; we rode 435 miles in one day!  It was a fun day; we rode out to Lynchburg and back.

Freshly washed beasts

Sadly, the day after our long ride, my FIL had another motorcycle accident :(  He was riding alone to his brother's house on his bike, and a kid texting on his phone rear ended him as he was turning into the driveway.  It was a pretty devastating impact; he was taken by ambulance to Kennestone Hospital in GA and it turned out he has a pretty severe broken back.  He had surgery to place 2 rods and 8 screws; David had to ride down to GA to pick C up b/c it was his week to hang with the grandparents.  Thank GOD he is not paralyzed; his helmet actually came off his head during the impact, but he didn't even have a concussion.

Night Riding

Obviously, his future wind therapy is in question.  The MIL says she's keeping her bike for now, but won't ride alone.  There's no telling when the FIL will be well enough even to contemplate getting back out there; he's having to get the strength up to even walk again.  So yeah, there's that.

Top of the Dam

Our ride this week was a night ride out to Norris Dam.  We thought about a Cherohala trip, but pop up showers in the area deterred our enthusiasm!  Khaleesi is almost completely perfect; the final piece of my "must have" accessories has been added.  Floorboards!  She now has a Mustang seat, a Freedom Shields flared windshield, reduced reach handle bars, an LED high projection headlight, and Kuryakan mini floorboards.  I love the mini boards because I have the option to hang my heels off the back if I so desire.  My "want" list consists of pipes and upgraded shocks.  Later!

Bottom of the Dam

Let me just say, that if you've never ridden at night, you're missing out!  It is truly an incredible experience, especially once you get beyond the streetlights.  Tennessee has a LOT of area without streetlights.  It's so amazing to look up at the sky and see how vast everything is without all the light pollution; it's breathtaking!

We stuck to mostly main roads and a little bit of Interstate getting there; the harriest part is the "State Park" road because it's not lit, it's 2 lane, it's not well traveled, and it's in the "Park", so lots of potential critters!  God was with us, and even though we smelled lots of skunks and roadkill, we didn't see ANYTHING.  It feels completely different in the dark, and the ride becomes about the FEELING of riding the bike instead of the looking around at the sights; the "sight" part is pretty much cut off.  My next investment is going to be some amber glasses to try for the dark stuff; I feel like I see pretty well with just my eyes, but I'm all for every advantage!  I was sooooo glad I packed my "layers"; I was wearing just a T shirt and my mesh jacket b/c it was pretty humid and sticky last night (got up to NINETY ... in OCTOBER), but once we got moving at a pretty good clip, I got chilly.

Worst selfie on the face of the planet!!

We took the most hilarious selfie, I just couldn't stop laughing!  I feel like the JenandDavid selfie is sort of our thing, and it is the most HORRIBLE picture, it just makes me laugh.  We encountered some teenagers that wanted us to roll on the throttles, and a gentleman at the gas station that I think wanted to snap a pic, but he wasn't fast enough.  We rode around 95 miles I think it was; we were out for about 3 hours or so.  For me, the night rides are "guilt free" because we go once C is down, and the teenager just has to be present in the house; he doesn't have to DO anything.  It'll probably be November before C can go back to stay for "his week" with the grandparents, and that's provided that the FIL has a smooth healing road, and his pain stays under control as he learns to live with the hardware in his back.  We won't have many more nights I don't think, as hopefully the 90 degree days will stop. I'm not looking forward to COLD weather, but I AM looking forward to FALL weather, which means day rides are the BEST ... and of course, I want to ride through the changing leaves.

MUCH better selfie, lol!

Taking each ride day by day.  I try to average at least once a week riding to work.  Found a new way to go that's fun on the bike; keeps me from riding the same ride over and over.  I just thank God for allowing us to own and ride motorcycles, and I'm SO thankful for His protection as we're out and about.  The teenager is learning to drive, and I'm WAY more scared for him out there in the car as a new driver than I am for us on 2 wheels.  FIL's accident has caused us to just add another layer of carefulness to our riding; as we slow down, we use dorky hand signals.  Sitting at a traffic light, we're "split", with each of us having an "out" if the worst happens and someone comes barreling up, not paying attention.  Thanks for reading, and happy riding!!

A day of rest, and relaxation

This morning, we slept as late as we wanted.  Turned out that was around 8:30.  We made our way down to the lobby area and out to the boat dock for a ride on the resort's giant boat around Stonewall Lake.  We were there first, an hour early, and just chilled out.  That was about an hour, and so nice and relaxing.  The lake is secluded and beautiful, without even houses on the shore.

We decided to head to the nearest town for an early lunch, the town of Weston.  We ate cheap, had a little ice cream treat, then decided to head a little further out to a local winery.  Oh, and did I mention that I was the Babe on the Back?  Lol, we have an awesome front row parking spot at the resort and didn't want to lose it.  So Khaleesi stayed put, and I hopped on Mufasa with David. It was REALLY fun, his Mustang seat is the BOMB.  I wish like crazy that MY Mustang seat on my bike felt that good, but it just doesn't.  The ride over to the winery was tiny, windy, and so much fun; I was seriously missing riding my own!  But I just squeezed my honey tight and held on.




After sampling the offerings, we purchased a bottle and 2 glasses to bring home; the lady even gave us a piece of wine cake to eat during our tasting!  Very good, but very sweet.  We got "home", then changed to go to the pool again.  The pool is indoor/outdoor with a hot tub both in and out.  Since today we were in earlier in the day, the sun was out more so we stayed inside more.  The water is heated and feels absolutely, completely, 100% PERFECT. 

Went back to the room to relax for a few, then decided to rent a golf cart to ride around the course.  Yes, they let you do that!  18 holes of golf ... David and I do NOT play, but we can appreciate a beautiful course.  We must have seen about 50 deer; lots of bucks, too.  And lots of geese!  Nothing else, though.  The golf cart tour was like a golf wildlife safari, lol.  So that was great, took up about an hour.

Went BACK into Weston, right across the road from our lunch spot.  We took the best, most fun roads!  We took the "long" way for our evening jaunt and passed about another 50 deer.  Luckily, they all stayed out of the road, and we enjoyed "taco Tuesday" at the local Mexican restaurant.  Came back the interstate to mitigate the wildlife risk, and got packed up for the ride home tomorrow. 

Taco Tuesday!

So, so, so sad to go home tomorrow.  Unbelievably grateful for the time we've had, just thankful to God for a safe and fun trip so far.  Hoping for a slightly more interesting ride home tomorrow in the sense of NOT being on the interstate so much!  BORING in the sense of making it home safe and sound :):)

The top of the golf course

Out of the Eerie and into the spectacular!

Yesterday had a 1% chance of rain ... you already know where this is going!  We got up an hour earlier so we could get the heck out of dodge and get to the resort ASAP.  So we happily left our massive room with nothing in it but a bed and headed down to the creepy underground parking garage; and saw the rain just a fallin'.  :(  David checked the radar and we watched it as we waited for our window.  After about a 20 minute delay, we pulled out onto the soaking wet roads and managed to find our favorite breakfast spot; Cracker Barrel.

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast since we were waiting for a 2nd cell to pass over, and then hit the wet roads again for the drive south to Roanoke, WV.  The ride really isn't a whole heck of a lot to document.  We pretty much wove back and forth from the interstate to Hwy 19 all the way there.  We started out on 19, and even though I was actually enjoying the ride, David was getting antsy b/c the speed limit not only kept dropping down to 45 and below, but we also kept getting behind some big trucks.

The ride was not really fun if I'm being honest!  It was hot as heck; I was drowning in my own sweat.  We drove down through Pittsburgh, and I was not that much of a fan.  There was this really awesome park we saw pictures of that we wanted to go to, but parking was $13.  Seriously?  $10 to park at Niagra Falls, and you want $13?  Nah.  We went back and forth over a few bridges.  David's GPS was giving him some trouble and we had to do some turning around a few times.  My bike was whining and blowing hot air all over my leg, so I was beginning to feel cranky.  We parked just outside of PNC Park, the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and enjoyed walking around for a few minutes.  Again ... hot as heck. We mounted back up and hit the interstate.

TONS of road construction, lots of grooved pavement, lots of pot holes, and boring, straight riding.  Lol, like I said, not that much fun!  The interesting thing about this vacation is the fact that I'm actually driving.  When we go on vacation, I do not drive, pretty much ever.  So the fact that I'm staying right up with David and tackling all these crazy city interstate interchanges is pretty cool.  We did our last stretch of 19 after waiting out another pop up shower at a gas station; it sucked.  We got stuck not only in school traffic, but also behind a bus.  As SOON as humanly possible, we jumped back on the expressway for a final book it to the resort.  Finally, we arrived!

This place is magnificent.  We checked in, jumped in the pool, soaked in the hot tub, enjoyed a gourmet meal at the on site restaurant, and enjoyed a drink outside by the fire.  Pure heaven!  Turned into bed around 11:30, anxious to see what the next day would bring.

HIghways and Skyways

2nd Saturday began the same time as yesterday; 6:48 am.  I was ready to get up because I fell asleep somewhere around 7:00 pm last night.  Sadly, I woke up with a rip roaring headache; I think a little bit of dehydration had set in.  We checked out our hotel's pathetic excuse for breakfast, then decided to go ahead and layer up and hit the road.

As we pulled a U turn at a steep hilly road to go back to the cool restaurant we spotted, I realized I was pretty overdressed.  I ordered a Sweet Potato pancake with a side of bacon.  Oh my heaven, that was SO good.  I couldn't finish it all, it was soooo huge.  After shedding my 1/4 zip pullover, we hit the road towards New York.  Today's ride became a game of "Dodge the potholes".  The road was seriously BAD.  And then once we hit the state line, it was a chewed up grooved highway.  Fun, not fun.

We veered over as close to Lake Erie as we could get and really enjoyed riding along the edge.  The ride reminded us greatly of the California coast, just without the breathtaking mountains.  Lake Erie does have some cliffs, just none too dramatic.  Traffic was non existent and we enjoyed just riding at our own pace.  Still feeling great!  No sore booties or aching backs.  We REALLY enjoyed riding through Buffalo.  It's a quaint, beautiful little city.  Luckily, David was doing some filming through the city, so I should have some fun still shots captured from the GoPro.

As we followed the GPS, we did manage to find the 'hood of Buffalo; it's like any other city ... just keep on movin' through!  Hwy 5 turned into the Skyway, but it was closed!  We had to take a long, drawn out detour around.  Before we knew it, we were at the entrance to the park.  Amazingly enough, the park is free to enter.  It simply cost us $10 to park.  After locking down the helmets and I changed into my walking shoes, we waded through the mist and the throngs of people to get to the edge.  Niagra is just awe inspiring.  A perfect example of God's handy work.  We took it all in and savored the moment, fought through the crowds in the gift shop NOT to find any stickers, and as we mounted back up, we shed down to minimum layers.  NO rain at all, even for a second, but it was pretty warm.  We both sweated today.

SO thankful I always hit my skin with sunscreen before getting on the bike.  I sprayed all my exposed skin and coated my face with the stuff.  Love riding in a jacket too.  My mesh jacket was a little warm today, but it kept the sun off me, and with the long, straight stretches of high speed interstate just a T shirt will beat me to death.  The mesh jacket doesn't flap around or irritate my skin one little bit.

Haven't had one of these since CA

On the way home, we continued to dodge the awful holes.  I found that consistently the best spot to ride was smack dab in the center of the lane.  I tell ya, the weirdest thing for David and I to get used to is people riding with no helmets.  We always ride in TN/NC and sometimes GA, and those are all helmet states.  No worries, you will ALWAYS see David and I with our brain buckets on.  I believe that the day we're born,  we have a set end date, but what happens in between is up to us.  I don't want to spend my days drooling in a wheelchair.  I choose to protect myself because if  it's not my time to leave this earth and I have an accident, I want to recover fully.  Wearing protective gear gives me the best chance of surviving intact.  So, our helmets have not left our heads unless we're going in somewhere!

Happy to get out of Erie tomorrow.  No desire to ever stay in this city again.  We'd rather stay in Buffalo next time.  Heading down to Roanoke, WV the long way.  Hopefully just a short stint on the interstate; seriously missing our curves!

I love this man!

930 miles so far