Another epic weekend

Our next 2 rides dawned ... wet!  There's this law that states the farther in advance you PLAN any sort of outdoor activity ... the higher the chance of rain!  My in laws organized and "promoted" a quintessential East Tennessee ride, coming up from GA, staying in Pigeon Forge overnight, then back down to GA the next day.  She asked us to ride, and David volunteered to lead.  The plan was head south towards Ocoee to meet up, then ride over to Cherokee, through the National Park to Pigeon Forge, then we head home.  Sunday, get up and start in Pigeon Forge, then wind down to Foothills, the Tail of the Dragon into Robbinsville, over the Cherohala, then through Tellico Plains back down to Ocoee at which point we left the GA peeps and headed back home.  David and I tried to get some of our friends interested, and the in laws tried to get some of THEIR friends interested, but sadly the wet weather scared everyone off.  The ride was definitely a mixed bag!

Love my twin 

Saturday, just David and I headed south to Ocoee.  We met up no problem with the GA peeps, found us a fabulous little hole in the wall "cafe" to eat at, then proceeded out to Cherokee.

During the ride out there, we stopped off at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, which is a hub for outdoor rafting stuff.  We took a much needed break to feel the (ice) cold water, kick our feet up, and horse around a little bit.  LOTS of people out and about enjoying a day on the river; it was fun to watch.

Super fun; all of us!

All was well.  It was hot, but the rain was holding off.  That was a ride the in laws had done once or twice, so no big deal at all.  From Cherokee, we headed through the National Park up to the overlook for a rest and a view.  Slower tourist traffic kept the pace on the slow side, and we pulled up to the overlook with no issues.

Building clouds

The in laws wanted to go THROUGH Gatlinburg to get to PF.  Ugh.  This is where things began to tilt slightly south, lol!  We knew the traffic was going to suck.  And it did.  My clutch hand cramped up, and my right leg was catching on fire from the hot engine.  Khaleesi's fan kept whining and the temps of the engine crept up to around 210.  My Father in Law's bike decided to seriously protest by the time we finally made it into Pigeon Forge, and it began to actually over heat and spit coolant out.  As we sat in the hotel for my Aunt and her boyfriend to rest and tend to the FIL's bike, the clouds began to loom ominously.  We left the Aunt and the MIL/FIL came with us the backroads back to the house.  David kept it pretty straightforward without much curve so we could just get HOME.  By this time it was getting pretty dark, and upon hitting 411 next to my work, a serious storm was kicking up.  David and I sort of left the in laws in the dust.  His reasoning was they knew their way home, and we ride at night a lot.  We thundered into the garage SECONDS ahead of the downpour.  The in laws were a few minutes behind, and David got an ear full for running off.  I definitely see both sides; we didn't want to get wet!

The pony is eager to get going!

The next morning was gray.  And wet.  As we went up through Townsend and Wears Valley Road to head to the Old Mill for breakfast, the wet roads soaked the front of our shins.  We arrived in good time, and as we went in to get seated, we were told they refused to seat us until our full party arrived.  Ugh.  So, the day started out not so great ...the Aunt isn't much of a morning person, and one of the peeps was a friend of David's that was not responding to texts/calls to even let us know if he was coming.  So, the grump began early, lol.  

HOW many of this particular pic do I have??

After an overpriced breakfast, we picked up the Aunt/boyfriend and headed back the way we'd come back into Townsend, then took the FHP across to the Dragon.  It was off FHP that my brave friend L met up with us.  We stopped to make our usual pow wow at the lake before tackling the Dragon.  David gave his usual speech about riding your own ride, and we'll all meet in Deal's Gap for our usual walk across the street to the Killboy shed.  Us and L got a bit ahead of the GA peeps, and wouldn't you know it, but it began to sprinkle.  We cut the speed down a TON, and then got stuck behind a rude group that refused to move over at ALL ... and they were literally going 15 mph.  It was ridiculous.  Ride your own ride, but freaking let people around.  We do it all the time for the crotch rockets that want to ride 65 through the curves.  Anyway, we safely made it, and there was plenty of bikes to be seen at the Gap.  The GA peeps were about 2 mins behind us, and they all safely pulled in as well.  After that pit stop, it was the short-ish drive to Robbinsville and the Hub (Yes again.  It's awesome!)

3 Hondas and the Indisaki!

It was at this point the frustration began.  As the leader, David has a responsibility to not leave his group.  But I do think since the "group" consisted of his parents, he felt they should keep up with him.  In his defense, he was truly only going either the speed limit or 5 over.  But the 55 mph speed limits have wide, sweeping curves ... and he rolls ON the throttle through those curves, not off.  The GA peeps aren't used to that type of speed on those types of roads, and fell behind.  The Hub is just right off 129, so he didn't pull over anywhere and wait, he just went to the restaurant to wait.  The MIL called him a few minutes later and asked where he was.  He told her, and they got there.  Understandably, they got off the bikes and were a bit frustrated.  Understandably, David was also frustrated and they had some cross words.  Poor L.  On the bright side, we spend a LONG time at the Hub b/c David was watching the radar and we waited out a SHOWER, a big one.  L and I got some wonderful conversation in; that's hard to do when you're riding together!  

The Hub

David and the parents calmed their frustrations down, and we finally headed out towards the Cherohala.  It was intermittent rain all the way there, and as we started our trek upwards, the mist shrouded us to the point that David said all he could see in his rear view was my headlight; no body! 

What visibility?

 He was going so slow I kept bogging down in 2nd gear, but it was sort of keeping the in laws in sight.  We finally did get a little ahead of them, but the Skyway is just a straight (curvy) shot.  We put more clothes on, and dealt with the fog/light misty rain that came down.  We all had a slow and safe ride back down to the bottom, and L left us to head home.  We cut off an entire section of ride because of the rain, and the GA peeps headed back south as we headed north.  It rained on us a few more times as we headed home, but thanks to L, I was wearing rain gear!  David and I booked it up 411 straight home, and made it safely into the garage with our filthy bikes.

CHILLY.

I guess the moral of our story is to ride with well matched riders.  Our riding style is just very different from the in laws.  The mantra of "ride your own ride" doesn't really work when the rides are totally different.  I'm sure they have had more fun when they didn't feel pressured to ride hard.  We've had more fun when we didn't feel pressured to take it easy.  A better ride for all of us may be when we go down to GA b/c they know the roads down there, and the curves/mountains are non existent.

Swapped our swag ... my future girl, Arya.

HUGE plans coming up next week!  SOOOOO EXCITED!!!  Y'all will just have to wait and see what we have planned.  Sorry the blog is behind, I'll try and catch up the other rides before next weekend; we have 2 epic rides we did that require the play by play :D

I was DRY!  David got wet, lol!

2nd Saturday

How our day begins, always!

2nd Saturday dawned early again.  Not AS early as the previous day, though :)  Our goal destination was Bell Buckle, TN to the RC Cola and Moonpie festival!  Who even knew that was a thing?  Now we do!  Bell Buckle is southwest, towards Murfreesboro and not far outside Nashville.  Now, you'd think since it's in the same state that it's not that far, but it's a solid 3 hour and change ride for us.  Of course, that's taking mostly interstate, and in a cage which can be filled up once and done.  My SIL and FIL came to the house on Friday to stay over so she could drive the boys to the festival.  We would have had to taken 2 cars regardless since there was 6 of us, so David and I took the bikes!  No rain in the forecast, why not?

We set out due west on our freshly gassed up bikes and our still tender rears feeling refreshed from a good night's sleep and a cold shower.  We took Hwy 60 most of the way there, and it was actually really fun!  No rain this time, and the road is an interesting mix of higher speed straightaways and tight curvy 35 mph sections.  David and I dug in on the curves and twisted those throttles with sheer abandon, leaving the boys (and my beautiful SIL) in the dust!  As we thundered closer to the tiny town square, the GPS sent us down some small back roads which were GREAT.  Some gravel to be leery of, but we always ride with heads on a swivel, and eyes on every possible obstacle.  I was still feeling wonderful, eons more comfortable, feeling very much 'back to normal'.  As we entered the town square, Khaleesi's fan turned on and blew a whined protest of hot air on me as we rode in FIRST GEAR behind a line of traffic.  She does NOT care for slow speeds on a hot day.

We found a church parking lot to duck into and I patted myself on the back for packing a change of clothes in the SIL's car.  Um, that was until I attempted to change in the car, lol!  I exchanged my jeans for yoga capris that was having a VERY hard time pulling over my sweaty legs :D  Oops.  Got them pulled up enough to be decent, slid on my flip flops, then got out of the car so I could do the "yank up your pants to proper positioning" dance.  We were sporting our new Dri Fit IMRG T's, so that part was great.  Exchanged the helmet for a ball cap and off we went!

The festival was cute.  But it was too dang hot ... and there were a LOT of people crammed into a tight place.  The moonpies were melting, and I didn't even want an RC Cola, I wanted ice water.  We will DEFINITELY ride the bikes back to Bell Buckle in the future, but I don't think we'd do the festival again unless it moved to late Fall.  We decided to leave and head towards Chattanooga since the MIL had met us at the festival, and that was the way she needed to go to head back home to GA.  What's convenient to Chattanooga and Bell Buckle?  Lynchburg!  What's in Lynchburg?  The Jack Daniel's Distillery!

I made a last minute decision to leave on the yoga pants, and changed my flip flops for my boots.  I was glad I'd decided to wear the tall boots!  And no, there's no photographic proof!  Topped my T shirt with a 1/4 zip SUPER light weight LS shirt; it's just less heavy than the mesh jacket and allows more air on such a hot, humid day.  I know the LS wouldn't provide much more protection than a T shirt, but my goal was not to get sunburned.  I was wearing my Fox ATV gloves that are 20 years old b/c my motorcycle gloves I got a few months ago are useless in weather that's too cold or too hot; the temps have to be between 65-75 to ride comfortably in those.  The ATV gloves are very comfortable in high temps; they're just old and falling apart w/ not as much cushioning on my knuckles to absorb the vibrations of the throttle.  I'd rather my hands breathe though, so there it was!

We made our way out to Lynchburg.  BEAUTIFUL town!  You could probably talk me into living there, it's very peaceful.  The distillery smelled awful, though!  I'm not sure what it was.  David and I were STOKED to get motorcycle parking right up front.  We walked through the museum for free; we couldn't do any of the tours because of 2 underage children!  That was fine though, we were just there to visit the place b/c it's a Tennessee icon.  I've actually never even tried so much as a single shot of JD; it just smells nasty lol :D  We were getting hungry by this point; our appetites had been fairly low just due to the HEAT.  We opted to hop on the Interstate for the fastest route to Chattanooga, and wouldn't you know the skies would open up and God would rain down a massive thunderstorm?  We darted off to sit under an awning for a few minutes, then just decided to go on.  I was uncomfortable; riding in the rain is not my favorite thing.  We pulled the face shields down and went with it.  Some areas of the interstate had huge puddles of water, so we just navigated carefully through those.  Soon enough, the rain stopped and by the time we arrived in downtown, we were completely dry.  It's amazing how that hot sun will suck the wet right out of ya!

OK, so maybe there IS photographic evidence, lolol!

Switched back to my flipflops in the parking lot, and we ate at Puckett's.  Very good food, they talked us into their drink of the day.  It was sooooo good, smelled way better than whiskey!  We walked for a few minutes over to the little water areas in front of the aquarium, just enjoying our family time.  The boys got in and got a little wet; I was SO grateful to have the chance to spend time with my family AND ride the bikes.  Best of both worlds!

Just a boy and his Pawpaw

You can almost see all of us!

My yoga pants were now sweaty and wet from the water, so I changed back into my jeans!  The ride home was a blur; we stayed off the interstate and took back roads up.  Total mileage for the day was 400, making out 2 day total 800ish miles.  That was our biggest yet!  Someday we'll do an epic riding vacation with a few thousand miles, but that will be either after my Scout is set up a little better, or after I get my Chieftan!  Sunday was a quiet day spent at home.  I thank God for blessing our family with the desire and the ability to own/ride motorcycles.  I thank my FIL for taking me on my first ride and beginning my addiction!  I especially thank God for the safety on the road, and I pray for His continued blessings in that department.  Looking forward to many, many more adventures on 2 wheels!

How our day ended.  So blessed!

Riding the Cherohala Low Way!

Wow.  Yesterday was something else; 440 miles total, combined rides.  And ALL for a cheap little "multi-tool" with the Indian Motorcycle logo on it!

I had been pushing since Wednesday to do a "long" ride on Saturday.  Rain all week was pop up showers, which had prevented me from ANY work rides.  I keep having a hankering to ride out to Rock Island State Park, which is out in the general area of all the other little state parks we've been to.  But then Indian Motorcycle of Marietta had to post their little poster on facebook that not only were they doing the IMC "multi-tool", but they were also doing a key chain.  Soooo, we HAD to head down that way to get both!!

City of Knoxville at midnight

The morning dawned WET.  Lovely clouds, wet roads, and dry people!  We took our 3rd Muskateer with us; he's undecided whether or not he really enjoys the longer rides.  I think he comes along for the food!  We hit trusty 'ol 411 S down to the Ocoee area, where we then hit Hwy 68.  We just took it easy, as the roads were wet enough to be kicking up water and wetting the bottom of our pants.  We went through Suches, which we coined "The Cherohala Low Way".  Dang, that would be a FUN ride on a dry road.  Twists, curves, and twisty little easier switchbacks going DOWNHILL.  Plus, on Hwy 68, we've come UP that way twice, but never down.  Totally different experience going DOWN. 

Barely missing a downpour

I was still shaking off my shakiness.  I have been reassured that my tire is just fine; that back one will be replaced within about another 1000 miles (which, at the rate we're going, will be about a month).  For some weird reason, I'm just in my head.  I don't know why.  I tried to analyze it as I'm riding, and I think I'm downshifting/upshifting in the wrong place in curves, and when I accelerate after the shift, it messes up my trajectory.  I've just gotten in a BAD habit of shifting period IN a curve, and you're supposed to be all set BEFORE the curve.  So, with that self diagnosis in place, I made a conscious effort to fix it, and I THINK it got better.  Once we got down the mountain, there weren't too many more curvy, curvy roads.

Love having our buddy with us

We stopped off at a hiking spot in Suches to stretch, use the potty, and take a pic, and we had NO idea how lucky we actually were!  We'd hit enough rain to that point to have to close our face shields, but it wasn't enough to soak through anything; no soaked thighs.  Like I said, lower legs up to knees were wet, but that was mainly because the road was so wet there were standing puddles.  As we pulled out and began the roller coaster, curvy descent, you could tell a SOAKER had just come through, WOW!

We were uneventful down in to Dahlonega, GA.  It has been forever and a DAY since I've been there.  It is so interesting driving through areas on a motorcycle that you were used to driving through 7+ years ago in a cage.  We hit GA 400 up north to head into Alpharetta, and we just HAPPENED to see our lunch destination on our left; The Varsity.  We had no idea Dawsonville had gotten a Varsity; we were planning to hit the one in Kennesaw.  Whipped a U turn at a light, and enjoyed a delicious lunch of chili dogs and onion rings from a famous Atlanta iconic destination.

Areas not been in in a LONG time!

"What'll you have, what'll you have??"

From there, it was to Indian Motorcycle of Alpharetta, where I ended up schooling one of the employees, lol.  We loved their logo, which is why we even bothered to stop there in the first place (aside from we'd just never been there!).  As we checked out with our "dealer" T-shirts (with the cool logo on the back), the employee said he had no idea why their logo incorporated a train.  Um, hello!  The Polaris take on the Indian Chieftan fairing is BASED off the front end of a locomotive!  So I informed him of that little fact;)  On to Marietta!

Seriously?  Why the train?

We took back roads from Alpharetta to Marietta that I hadn't been on in SO long.  Certain areas were unrecognizable, it's crazy!  We dodged more rain, and finally the skies seemed to really clear up.  By the time we arrived, it was 3:00; 7 hours on the road.  We needed to get in a small hurry b/c the teenager had a party back home at 7 he wanted to attend.  We went in and they still have their race inspired Chieftan; oh, how I LOVE that bike!  When I win the lottery, I will get one, then have Jared Mees autograph it!!  The guys at Indian of Marietta really are awesome.  Super nice, very knowledgeable, and up front with all of their customizable options. 

Lottery bike!

We hit the Interstate up to Emerson; I-75.  Blech!  Crazy Atl drivers ... AND a Braves game.  Driving 80-90 mph on the interstate doesn't bother me at all, but all the stupid cars and idiot drivers make me hold my breath.  My windshield has made ALL the difference in the world, and my bike feels nice and steady at speed with no more head buffeting at all.  We filled up for gas for about the 400th time, then took backroads all the way to Calhoun.  In Calhoun, we hit a NEW road we'd just found in the car, Hwy 225.  It was fun; that area is just beautiful and peaceful.  Not too curvy, but not much traffic either.  That ended back on 411 just below the GA/TN border, and we took 411 home (dropping the teenager off an hour and a half late for his party).  My butt was SORE, lol.  And my glove was rubbing a spot on my clutch hand; and my hands were sweaty b/c these gloves don't breathe.  So I rode with naked hands for a few miles :)  And it got warm enough that I stripped ALL the way down to a Dri-Fit tank top, and my mesh jacket.  Felt pretty good!  Started with the tank top, T shirt, long sleeved technical pullover, and mesh jacket with liner.  Thank goodness David has saddlebags, lol!

First time seeing one of these in person; WEIRD!

Rest stop!

You THINK this story is over now, don't you?  Haha, NOPE!  We hopped in the car, went to the grocery store, stopped to get dinner, then sat at home for about 45 mins.  We then suited back up at 10:30 to get back on the bikes to go pick up the kid ... AND HE WANTED TO GO HOME.  Dropped him off, then David and I thundered off alone ... in the dark ... to who knows WHERE.  We took back roads over to Chapman Hwy, then into downtown Knoxville.  More traffic than I would have expected.  We rode over a bridge and looked to our left to see another bridge that was lit up so pretty; so we tossed in a U turn ... on a HILL ... to go back and get some pics.  By that time, we were so sore and exhausted, we made our way back home.  We rolled into the garage around 12:30. 

Just a pair of crazy kids!

Our longest mileage ride so far.  I don't think we've rolled over 400 in one day at all yet, even on our 2 overnighters.  Iron Butts, we do NOT have!  I can't wait for my Mustang seat to break in; it's really not that comfortable yet.  I still need handlebars and floorboards for my baby before those long rides can be done with no Ibuprofen, lol.  Happy to say ZERO issues.  No sliding stops, no close calls, no drama.  That's what I call a "SUCCESS".  Until next weekend!  Y'all have a great week.

Beautiful!  Never seen this park before!

#drivingthebaby

Last year, I coined a hashtag; #drivingthebaby.  I had JUST gotten my first ride on my FIL's bike and I was hooked; my MIL needed David to ride her bike up to our house due to them wanting to come up and ride the mountains, but she was going to have to drive up, blah blah.  So David had her bike, and he, Kody, and the FIL all rode bikes out to eat ... and I had to drive Colton.  Lol, I felt kind of sorry for myself :D  My sweet MIL has unfortunately had a fall roller skating and broke her clutch arm; so no riding for the summer :(  But it did mean that today she was able to transport the little man so that the boys and I could get in a little wind therapy this mother's day weekend!

Firstly, last weekend was International Ride Day.  Thunderstorms were in the forecast for TN, so I did not ride at ALL.  Turns out, the rain pretty much held off all day, so I was a little bummed, but I'd already planned a Sunday ride so I wasn't too upset.  Sunday, David led me down south to Chattanooga where I met up with 2 facebook friend motorcycle chicks!  I LOVE all the motorcycle groups I'm a member of, because how else would I have met these awesome ladies?  One of them shares my exact name, and the other shares my bike, so what's not to love??  David went off on his own while me and the 2 ladies took a girl ride back up towards my way to eat lunch at this sweet little country restaurant.  It was a great ride!  I stayed in my preferred "drag" location, and it is always fun riding with another Scout.  We will definitely ride again, it was a great ride and great company :)

My excitement for the week was on my #curvesbeforecoffee ride on Tuesday morning!  I took my usual 129 towards the Dragon, then turn to Foothills Parkway, then down 321 into Seymour to work.  Thus far, I've encountered large birds, turkey (I think turkey is ALSO classified as a large bird), and deer.  Tuesday, I encountered my first BEAR!  Talk about make your heart stop!  I was beginning a long uphill, and saw it to my left, on the side of the road.  My head was saying, "Um, that looks like a bear", but my I told myself I was seeing things.  Then, I got closer, and saw that yes, it was a LARGE BEAR!  I got a shot of adrenaline that made my feet go numb; I let off the throttle and downshifted, unsure if the instincts of the bear would cause to to come towards me, or what.  Fortunately, as  I got closer, it turned and ran into the woods.  So very cool!

This weekend, we had no plans to ride.  My inlaws came up, and David talked them into going with us to my mother's day breakfast in Pigeon Forge, then to the Indian dealership to see the Wall of Death show.  By talking them into tagging along, he talked them into transporting the baby!  It was a great day, had such a blast.  Everyone loved the show, so glad we went!

I'm not sure what's going on with me, but I'm experiencing some weird riding feels.  I almost wonder if my tires are causing me to experience some strange wobbles, because my confidence is a little shaky ever since I stopped in the middle of that corner.  I mean, I'm riding fine, but I feel like all of a sudden I'm having trouble setting up my left hand curves to be nice and smooth, it's really WEIRD.  But my back tire, even though it still has good tread, has developed almost like a ridge on the sides of the tire, like a sharp edge.  It's really strange, hard to describe.  I wonder if that's making me feel this ever so slight instability that's affecting my brain.  Also, I feel like the bike's having a hard time finding the lower gears sometimes; almost like the my clutch cable needs to be adjusted.  May be time for a shop service!

I FINALLY rode David's bike!  Even though it's "smaller" than the Scout, in reality it's bigger!  It's wider, heavier, and bulkier all the way around which is what combines to intimidate me, NOT power.  He pulled it out yesterday, so I ran in and put on my boots with my yoga pants, then hopped on and ran around the neighborhood.  I did fine!  Felt shaky through the U turns in the cul de sacs, but that's because I'm an overthinker and don't just go full throttle in a new activity!  Didn't put my feet down until I pulled back in front of the house :D  Just training for when David gets his Chieftan and he lets me ride it!!

Anyway!  Not planning to ride tomorrow as it has gone from too chilly to ride without 5 layers to HOT.  Colton goes next week for his "Grandparents' week", so hopefully we can plan something longer; maybe to Rock Island State Park!  I just have to "inception" that idea into David's head over the next week ;)  Hoping to ride my 2 days to work this week, hope all y'all enjoy!