Tales of the Dragon

[emptysea]

The dates: 4/27-5/3 2014

The route: Chicago to Robbinsville, NC to Nashville, TN and back, with a side trip to Chattanooga for me.

The distance: 1825.7 miles round-trip, but about 1950 for me (side trip to Chattanooga)

The riders: Glen & Laura, Mike & Judy, Matt (me) & Cheryl, and (for a few hours) Mickey

The bikes: White Goldwing (Glen), Black F6B (Laura), Black FJR (Mike/Judy), Black CTX (Cheryl) and Red CB1100 (duh)

Kickstands Up



Sunny day, but a cool ride through the straightest, flattest, and most boring parts of Illinois and Indiana. I-294 and US41 are really boring. US231 and US52 were better.

See? Flat.


Interesting note on fuel capacity and travel distances: I find that I need to fill up at about 150 miles (that's when the gauge panic sets in for me). The other bikes in our group can go as long as twice that far. However, most everyone wants to stretch at about 150 miles anyhow, so the my smaller tank had zero effect on when we stopped. It only impacted WHERE we stopped a few times during the whole trip.

The highlight of Day 1 was an unplanned stop in a little town, Metamora, IN. Historic little town with interesting shops, most of which were closed by the time we arrived. We may have to stop back there some day.

Museum of Oddities. Perfect. lol


Cheryl and Me



Breakfast, Bump Starts, and Beautiful Roads

Day 2 began with breakfast with our guide for the morning, our own The Ferret (aka Mickey). The plan was for him to lead us on a pleasant ride from Cincinnati to Paris, KY where we would have lunch. What actually happened was one of the best riding days I have ever experienced. Mickey gave us a history and geography lesson while leading us down some "awesome" roads. We visited President Grant's birthplace (on Grant's birthday), took a ferry ride across the Ohio River, and discovered the roads that certainly influenced Mickey's love of riding. (Note: Mickey swore me to secrecy about the route we took) You can learn more of that day by reading his ride report titled "by the Sea", but here are a few pictures.

Mickey is quite the charmer


Ferry




Cheryl


Mike (aka Bump Start Mike)


Glen & Laura and my luggage-laden CB1100


After a wonderful morning of riding "Mickey's Route", we parted ways with Mickey in Paris, Kentucky so that we could continue on to Berea, KY and he could get back to the birthday party for his sister-in-law, Good Ol' WhatsHerName. Hugs for the ladies (of course) and handshakes for the men and we were off on part 2 of day 2...some real surprises in store for us in the next leg.... (to be continued)