So I am back from my vacation and I have to say I had a blast. I got a late start due to rain but, except for the last day missed most of it.
Anyway, last Wednesday I packed up my Harley, waited for a break in the rain and headed out. The roads were still wet so I had to take it easy and a good thing I did because I forgot to lock down my saddlebags (grumble) and lost one not too far from the house. Thankfully I was still doing my shakedown inspections and saw it come loose, turned around and got it with little damage to the bag. Quick stop and saddlebags were locked. Usually I leave at 8-9AM but it had rained all morning so I didn’t get started until about 4PM and then after the saddlebags, etc. it was really 5PM before I got going. I almost went back to start in the morning but it’s a good thing I didn’t because it rained the next two days up in Maryland.
Anyhow, I headed out for Tennessee figuring to stop about half way down… well, have to stop every 120-200 miles anyways as my bike only has a 5 gallon tank and gets 40mpg, but hits reserve after about 130-140 miles so I like the 120 mile point to fill up and stretch my legs, get some water and maybe some food… but ended up driving all the way there… 2AM – 492 miles… I made good time.
Find a hotel and get into the room, got lucky, ended up less than a mile from where I wanted to be! Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to tell ya why I was heading to Knoxville in the first place! Well, along with about 20,000 other people, we were heading there for the 24th Annual National “Down Home” HOG Rally. That’s HOG, not hog – Harley Owners Group. Giant party, good food, good people, great party!
The Smoky Mountains are some of the best roads in all of the U.S. of A. for bike riding. Between the “Devil’s Triangle” and the “Tail of the Dragon” it doesn’t get much better if you love lots of curves through some of the most beautiful countryside in these lands. Add to that the Harley-Davidson Motor Company sponsored parties and events, Knoxville Harley-Davidson’s and Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson’s events (World Record Burnout Set) and you have yourself one hell of a great time!
So, enough about that, my Bother came up and met me there Friday morning to party for the next few days and after all that was done we headed down to Chattanooga to see my Dad for a few days. While I was down there I stayed with my bro down in Ringgold, GA.
Monday morning left me wanting to ride a little so I said to myself, “Self, we’ve never ridden our scooter in Alabama, let’s go for a ride!” And we did, we headed out for Huntsville and stopped at the Harley dealer there, but they were closed on Monday. So then I said, “Well, crap, that sucks, now I want to visit a Harley place in Alabama, let’s find one!” and so we did! We drove over to a place called Tuscumbia (That’s about 20 miles from Mississippi, heh!) and found a dealer and I bought a t-shirt. Great ride, even if we did hit a little rain on the way back. Never realized there was that much cotton grown in Alabama.
Anyhow, Tuesday came and I headed back home. Lots of rain and got a flat tire about 120 miles from home, but shit happens. All in all I had a fucking awesome time.
Oh yeah, 1989 miles on the trip, not a bad little ride.
