Men's Fall Trip 2019 Kentucky

[the Ferret]

This years Men's Fall Trip took place in south central Kentucky, based out of Berea Ky. Myself (FJR1300 Yamaha), my son (MT-10 Yamaha) son's FIL (Honda ST 1300) a nephew from Nevada (Honda CB 500X) and my younger brother (Triumph Bonneville 1200). 5 days and a little over 1000 miles for the trip. Hot & sunny each day. Crazy weather for late September

here's a couple of pics

Group before leaving

Big Hill, Ky on Rt 421 in Kentucky our main north-south corridor from the hotel

typical curvy road

We particularly wanted to ride this road Ky 192 between London & Somerset that Kentucky has been advertising in the magazines. It was pretty good, but there are better

the group standing in front of Papa Leno's restaurant in Berea, Ky. Probably the best pizza any of us have ever eaten. We ate dinner there twice it was so good.

Great little ice cream shop around the corner from Papa Leno's

none of us planned on weighing ourselves when we got home lol

Lots of great roads down there ... particularly

192 "the Rattlesnake" from London Ky to Somerset Ky
66 from Oneida to Pineville (this was our favorite..what a road)
89 from McKee to Winchester (second favorite..another great road)
39 from Somerset Ky to Lancaster Ky
25 from Berea Ky to London Ky (probably 3rd favorite..very scenic)
627 from Winchester Ky to Paris Ky (through Ky thoroughbred horse country..beautiful scenery and gorgeous horse farms on both sides of the road)

No issues with any of the bikes, no one fell over or crashed. We did eat too much at a few of the restaurants lol. Stayed at the Quality Inn Berea. Staff was great, hotel was clean & reasonable and the indoor pool felt great after a hot day of riding.

Some of the restaurants we'd recommend

Hitz BBQ Berea
The Dinner Bell Berea
The Bus Stop Boonesville
Papa Leno's Berea
Old Town Amish Store Berea

 

[Stichill]

Couldn't have asked for better weather, even if the afternoons got a bit hot! Looks like a memorable ride, ferret - another one for the books!

 

[Rocky_imp]

Nice ride :biker:

 

[the Ferret]

Stichill, I had wondered if you had ever gotten down to ride the Rattlesnake?

You live in a beautiful state

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Looked like much fun. Dry weather never an ill for the rider.

 

[Stichill]

Stichill, I had wondered if you had ever gotten down to ride the Rattlesnake?

You live in a beautiful state

I don't think I ever did, ferret! Need to put that on the to-do list. Kentucky's very pretty. I wish we Kentuckians would take a little better care of it in some places!

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Stichill, I had wondered if you had ever gotten down to ride the Rattlesnake?

You live in a beautiful state

I don't think I ever did, ferret! Need to put that on the to-do list. Kentucky's very pretty. I wish we Kentuckians would take a little better care of it in some places!

I don't think I ever did, ferret! Need to put that on the to-do list. Kentucky's very pretty. I wish we Kentuckians would take a little better care of it in some places!
I noticed some state highways were well groomed in terms of growth in the center medians and along the sides. Some real effort and care was spent on ensuring the beauty. However, I did notice the same "highway teams" were picking up a lot of garbage, even with "Dumping $500 fine" signs omnipresent. So yes, while cagers (from where ever they come from) were being selfish, the state appears to take care of the natural beauty, especially throughout the hills.

- - -

"Kentuckians", eh? I was wondering how the locals referred themselves as, and that came to mind - but it didn't sound right at the time.

- - -

KY is currently my new favourite state. There is much to explore.

 

[emptysea]

My riding group ate at PapaLeno's in 2014 on our way to Robbinsville, TN. I don't think we had pizza, though. The Ferret lead us on a tour of southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky which included a visit to US Grant's boyhood home and a ferry ride. I think he dropped us off in either Cynthiana or Paris (pretty sure it was Cynthiana) and took KY89 from Winchester to McKee for our first experience with switchbacks and other manner of blind turns. We splurged and stayed the night at Boone Tavern Inn. What a memorable day.

Also ate at Hitz BBQ with a few CB1100 riders, but notably Offroad4x4 who fell in love with burnt ends there.

 

[Cormanus]

Sounds a good ride, Ferret.

 

[Offroad]

Looks like a good ride!

I liked the area so well from ferret's rally held there I went back later that summer (that was last year right? Time flies). I remember mtc had the cigars, stichell had the Kentucky brew...good times!

Rode the rattle snake...rained just as I got there so had to take it easy....like most good roads, it's just too short, the fun ends too quickly.

Plan on hitting that area again next summer.