Out for an Excursion, Though Not a Ride

It was beautiful riding weather this past weekend. The temperatures were perfect near 72F, wide blue skies, slight breezes light enough give you a whiff of the blooming flowers. And we didn't ride.

Of course, people are constantly telling us that there is more to life than riding. I guess I have to agree with them, but that doesn't mean that I always want to do much more with my life than ride.

This weekend was a change. There has been some crazy stuff going on in life lately, and it was a wise idea to have a relaxed weekend and just take the 4 wheeled vehicle some place.

Years and years ago we learned of a place in Alabama called the Unclaimed Baggage Center. This is an interesting business paradigm that purchases the unclaimed baggage that the airlines are not able to get back to their owners. (You can read about the process on their website.) They have discovered some unimagineable items in luggage they have purchased, from African Tribal Breastplates to live snakes. They purchase the bags, catalog and clean the contents, and put them up for sale. (This is legal as the airline has already reimbursed the bag owner for the lost luggage.)

We had never traveled there as it was on the cusp of a day trip vs an overnight. It is about 3 1/2 hours away by car, one way. When we had puppies, I didn't want to subject them to us being gone for that amount of time. So we never went. Of course, by the time we lost our beloved puppies, we had forgotten about the place.

We were reminded of it a couple weeks ago when some friends wanted to go. Again, we agonized over making it an overnight trip. But truthfully, there isn't anything in Scottsboro, Alabama that one would want to see, other than Unclaimed Baggage. Going there for just that seemed a waste of a good weekend. (Though there are a couple of good roads on the way, just add another 2 hours to the trip to get to them.)

We also had to question if we should ride or drive. Riding would be more enjoyable, but the saddlebags are only so big. What if a canoe had come in that just had to come home with me?

Well, we decided last weekend was the one, and instead of staying in Scottsboro, we would hop over another hour to Chattanooga, TN for an overnight trip. Now, to ride or drive? Bah...drive. As much as we would have enjoyed riding, we wanted to relax and spend some time together.

The Unclaimed Baggage Center was interesting. At one time it may have been an hodge podge type place where you could uncover some phenomenal deals because someone didn't know what they had. With the popularity of the internet, ebay, and amazon everything can be discovered quickly and can be priced competitvely. Though deals can still be found on items that are not mainstream yet and people don't know what to look for. (Case in point, our friend found a bluetooth headset attached to a charger. It was placed in with all the chargers on a large peg board. For his knowledge of what the item was, and his eye to actually spying it, he would never have seen the $140 bluetooth headset that was priced for $16 amongst the hundreds of other chargers.) However, for iPad's and iPhones, they darn well know the market price for those and price those items accordingly

Not being a big clothes shopper, or handbag user, much of the place is lost on me. Though even I could see the attaction of some name brand handbags for $2. I am just more attracted to electronics. The bags and bags of chargers wasn't appealing, as I had no interest in sifting through them, so I sauntered over to the camera counter. There were oodles and oodles of point and shoot cameras, mostly just slightly used looking. I love seeing the rows of colorful cameras all lined up like little soldiers. But my passion lay in the DSLR cabinet. You could take your pick of Nikon or Canon. I can't tell you what Nikon models were there as I'm not up on those, but there were plenty of Canon's with many Rebel models well represented. Yeah...unfortunately my eye was captivated by the 7D...

We also went to the Lodge Outlet, makers of fine cast iron cookware. I am a firm believer that all women should own a cast iron skillet. For self defense. ;) (No pictures, I don't know what is with me and my missing camera lately.) I did happen to purchase a skillet for pancakes and a couple jars of jam.

Our only form of sightseeing was this cool bridge in South Pittsburg, TN that Moose thoroughly enjoyed. Moose was less than thrilled to see the Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station. Though it has never produced any electricity and has been sitting for more than 20 years, even supplying spare parts to other reactors in the area.

 

Cherohala

I had to stop and play the last sentence of the conversation over again.  Three grown men, none of whom had children, were talking about sippy cups.  Really?!?!

I believe that many men act like children, but the use of a sippy cup?  Well...yeah.  I guess I can see where it would be beneficial.  But I am way off track.

The conversation was actually chiding Oilburner for not having a cup holder on the RT.  After all,Ken had one on his.  And the discussion at hand was the only way Oilburner would be able to drink while riding with a full fact helmet.  Sippy cup came up, but I think they meant something with a flexible straw.

I didn't care.  I knew Oilburner wasn't installing one.  That is a Goldwing farkle.  So I tuned back out of the conversation and thought forward to the ride that was coming up.

We hadn't ridden to Cherohala or the Dragon yet this year.  With the fall colors coming, and winter not far behind, those roads were going to be busy soon.  Therefore the first "autumn" like weekend of year saw us headed there.

Who knew the first autumn week would have us experiencing 37.4 F (3C) at 12:30 on the Skyway.  But there it was in all its blinking glory on my temp gauge.

Where were the 67 F (20C) highs they had predicted?

Nothing to worry about here though.  Starting out in my winter jacket and four layers of winter clothes showed me that would not be sustainable at freeway speeds.  So I switched the layers to the Gerbings heated jacket directly at the breakfast/meetup location.  Two guys had fairings, and one of them heated gear.  The Harley dude, sans a windshield, had on a down jacket.  We were all prepared.

There isn't much more to say about this day.  It was all about the ride in the company of good friends that were well matched in riding styles.  The twisties were smooth and easy. The side trips were agreed upon.  The route was up for changes.  We were all willing to take a lead.

You can see more images on Flickr.  And you can watch the video that sums it all up.


Cherohala With Friends from Love Of A Motorbike on Vimeo.

The Power of Suggestion

Warning:  If you are susceptible to the power of suggestion I recommend you stop reading now.  To continue reading may set you up for having the wrong song in your helmet for a long time to come.

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Phenomena

Helmet to helmet communicators can be a blessing or a curse.  Of course, I've only ever been connected to hubby.  So he is stuck with my rumblings and rants.  I'm not sure I could do well with "on" communication with anyone else.  I know it would be a connection with friends.  But your friend isn't always in your head to that degree.  And, honestly, do you really want them to be?  I mean, the spouse has signed up for your crazy, but your friend doesn't necessarily know the depth of it.

Do doo do-do

Oilburner and I don't keep up a constant patter of communication.  We have long periods of silence just listening to road noise, engine noise, wind noise.  But the line is there in case we spot something interesting, to warn each other of obstacles, or discuss what's for dinner.

We each have a Bluetooth connection with our own phones.  We can, and do, shut each other off and listen to music occassionally.

Phenomena

Many times I do enjoy listening to music while riding.  It's usually on just as background noise to drown out my wind/helmet noise.  But it is mostly when I ride alone.  I rarely listen while riding with Oilburner.  And he is the same way. 

This isn't a new thing for us.  Many times we will listen to the radio in the truck while driving.  When we are pulling the trailer?  The music is never on.  Pulling trailers is a responsibility.  I think we leave the radio off to tune into the trailer more, and keep alert for dangers.

Do do-do-do

I'm wondering if the same thing is true on the bikes.  Are we keeping the channel open, even though we aren't talking, "in case" we need to communicate in an emergency?  Or are we just concerned the other person will be offended if we didn't want to talk to them?  A way of ignoring each other?

The handful of times we have disconnected from each other was on the super slab and we wanted to make some miles.

Phenomena

So we went on a group ride this Saturday.  It was going to be a long distance day and the first leg was going to be slabbed to get us into Tennessee.  The pace was "spirited".

Oilburner was polite and offerend that I could listen to music if I wanted.  (Now I am beginning to wonder if he was telling me he didn't want to to talk to me, so he could listen to his music??  Hmmm....Why do I never think of these things at the time??) 

I told him I was OK.  I didn't need to listen to music.  I would just sing in my helmet.  Seriously, I really don't know the lyrics to too many songs.  So the default song came in...

It was over.  Oilburner had this song running through his head all day.  Karma for all the time he and his coworkers subtly whistled different tunes each week that their boss would unconciously pick up and hum, whistle, or sing for days.

And just when Oilburner was getting over it?

Phenomena

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I have officially put 30,000 miles on my bike in three years.  I purchased my bike somewhere around this time in 2008, with 9,442 miles on the clock.  I flipped to 39,443 at the Saturday ride meeting location  It was a short lived victory since I went to put on an additional 400 miles that day.  But I'm still happy.  :)

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The Saturday ride took us to places we have never been before.  Not even in a cage.  So it was lovely seeing a brand new area.  The group we went with are people from the local tag games.  So we "know" each other by avatar on the boards.  Some know each other in person as well.  This was our first time meeting most of them in person.  They are some good people.

However, I just don't mesh with their riding style.  I don't mind a spirited ride and allowing people to go their own pace.  I am fine falling behind and catching up, if you are good with that.  But please don't say you are good with that, and then not be in actuality.

Their idea of good riding was fast twisties come hell or high water and whisking along 45 mph roads at 60+ mph.  This involved passing on double yellows and even passing in the twisties.  I'm disheartened to say that I bowed to peer pressure and followed suit...as long as I was positive it was safe.  (Though nothing would have saved me if there had been a police officer.) There came a time when it was not safe and I fell way behind without any way of catching up.  Good.  It allowed me to actually spend some time looking at the scenery that was completely new to me.

The day was meant for the twisties and a minor amount of sightseeing.  Fine with me, except the roads where we were sucked!!  Lots of erosion and heaving, uneven surfaces with poor patch jobs.  There were a few decent areas, but many of the twisties were plagued by uneven drops.  After having read a face plant recently of someone that suffered broken ribs from a very minor 6 inch wide sink hole, I wasn't going to push my speeds on new-to-me roads.

In all, the twisties were fun.  It was wonderful being on new roads and having new vistas to look over.  We managed to make it to a state park with a beautiful waterfall, that we didn't see.  The heat was getting to Oilburner and he wasn't up to walking the trail to the overlook.  So we sat in the shade and hydrated.

It was nearing 2:00 pm by this time and we were 4 hours from home.  We had only progressed one third around the originally planned loop.  Oilburner and I decided it was time to split off and head for home to rescue the puppy and have a leisurely ride home.  We stopped at one overlook for photos.  :)  And the one patch of rain we hit was wonderfully refreshing, dropping temps from 100F to 74F  (38C to 23C).

Barn, Dinosaurs and Military Vehicles

This was going to be a rare weekend.  Not only is our nation celebrating  Independence Day, giving most people a three day weekend, temperatures were actually going to be reasonable!!  Our June temperatures here have been more of what we generally experience in July and August.  We're talking temps in the high 90's with humidity readings to match.  Talk about miserable conditions to do anything in.  But brutal in full gear.  The type of weather that, even if you douse yourself with water hoping the evaporation will cool you off as you fly down the road, it doesn't happen because the air is so saturated with it's own moisture it won't take any of yours!

But not this weekend!!  This weekend was supposed to give us temps in the low to mid-80s with relatively low humidity.  Sixty-four percent humidity is low for us...and we weren't complaining.  So our plans were to definitely get out and ride.

We were really hoping to hit the Tail of the Dragon in North Carolina.  The 11 miles with 318 curves stretch that I have mentioned before?  The road experienced a bit of a rock slide a couple months ago that has shut the route down.  We've heard rumor that cleanup and road repair is basically complete, but the road hasn't been opened for thru-traffic.  Means that motorcycles can approach from the south and ride the 11 miles, but will have to turn around and come back.  Darn the bad luck!!  ;-)

We have also heard rumor that the states (crosses NC and TN) might open it up by the end of the month.  Which means that all the mecca seeking riders, regular cars and infrequent semi's will be back and hitting it hard.  This would be about the last chance to ride with relatively light traffic until cold temperatures and frost keep motorbikes off.

A late Friday night of dinner, shopping at Fry's and hitting Sheridan's Frozen Yogurt hard with friends had us sleeping in on Saturday morning.  For us, the Dragon is a 12 hour riding day.  The earlier you take off, the better.  So our bleary 9:30 rising wasn't going to cut it.  We flopped on the sofa looking at each other and trying to figure out what to do now.  One step outside reaffirmed what an absolutely spectacular day it was and just could not be wasted.  We showered and hopped on the bikes in a half-hearted attempt to pick up the Georgia Tag.

We really didn't have a hope in h-e-double toothpicks of getting the tag.  It has been sitting there for a week or so and this was just one perfect weekend.  But we headed towards it just to give us something to do.  We took back roads all the way across town and into the northwest-ish corner of Georgia.

Since we hadn't eaten breakfast we were keeping our eyes peeled for some little corner cafe or restaurant.  We were simply astounded by the changes that had occurred passing through the city of Ball Ground (no sniggering please).  We haven't been through here in over a year.  Then, it was a quiet, dirty little down with wonderful rock and brick buildings full of...rock...seen through dust grimed windows.  Nothing was open and everything was just dirty!  Now?  The curbs and brick sidewalks have just been installed and look great.  The buildings downtown are being emptied of their rock storage and bringing in actual businesses!

 Downtown Ball Ground.  New sidewalks and curbs!

We spotted one eatery, but it was closed.  Passing the last corner of downtown we hear music blaring from a coffee shop.  Being used to Starbucks and such in suburbia we figured the shop just might have a sandwich or something to nibble.  So we turned around to enjoy the music and a stretch off of the bikes.  We are immediately greeted by a wonderfully smart-a$$ed women that welcomes us in and starts reciting the menu.  Our fuddled minds don't really comprehend what she is saying and we just kinda nod and give her these blank stares.  She catches on that we aren't quite the brightest and questions us with mono-syllabic words.  Now we can get it.  :-)  Mr. Oilburner orders a root beer float and I am steered towards the best chocolate iced coffee I have ever tasted.  Even though this is the first chocolate iced coffee I have ever had, it was still better then the two other flavors I have tried in the past.

She was correct in warning me it would be the best and I would hate it because I live so far away.  This is just beginning to make Mr. Oilburner and I try to figure out how we can get one of our motorbike groups out here to enjoy this.  Did I mention that she has only been in business for a month?  And the shop can be rented for private parties for $10/hr?  She doesn't have a food license yet, but is working on it.  Until then she serves pre-made cake, pies and pastries.  If you are ever in the area please visit The Bus Stop Coffee Shop and introduce yourself to Michelle, the owner.  Oh...and she has live music on Saturday evenings.  GO!!

The owner of The Bus Stop, Michelle.

After enjoying ourselves entirely too much playing cards, swapping smarmy quips and meeting Michelle's mother (proprietor of the flower shop next door) we hop back on the bikes and head for that tag.

We didn't know the exact location of the tag.  We had worked enough clues to know it was on Old Federal Rd in Murray County.  We figured that out because that was stated directly in the clue.  It was the Dennis the Menace reference that didn't mean much just yet.  I managed to navigate us to the beginning of Old Federal, and we just figured we would ride it and see if we could find the tag.  One of the first streets I pass is Dennis Mill Rd and I think I see the rusted barn roof before zipping past.  Hmm...that Dennis the Menace reference seems kinda obvious now.  Yes, we found the place.  We still believe that someone else has already captured this probably, but we didn't care.

Barn Tag on Dennis Mill Rd, Murray County

After capturing our tag pictures we need to decide on a possible location to put the tag.  Just in case we do actually get to tag the barn.  Our desired location was over 150 miles away, but I had an idea for one that would move the tag more towards the center of the North Georgia at least.  We decide on the long way around and head into the mountains.

Since we are passing through Blue Ridge...and Tennessee is only about 10 miles away...and Tennessee sells fireworks...we decide to take another detour...  A restaurant a couple minutes outside of Blue Ridge beckons us since it is almost dinner time.  We just can't pass up some of Pat's Southern cooking at Pat's Kountry Kitchen.  YUM!!  I opt for the trout sandwich and Mr. Oilburner goes for the country-fried steak.

See this huge piece of machinery on the flatbed, ready to be moved.  It isn't even tied down yet!

It was only another 5 miles up to the fireworks.  But one of the big attractions to the place (as if it needed anything else) were all of the military vehicles.  See...we really only went for the vehicles.  No way were we gonna buy the goods they were selling...  :-)

Would be a great truck if not for all of the cancer.

Time is starting to slip by a little fast and we are still 2 hours from home.  We take a look in the store, just to see what they have to offer...  then hit the road.  We still stop by my tag idea, just in case.  You just can't beat some objects left outside of closed businesses...

Just what exactly is this dinosaur doing here?

Looks a little more like a termite from this direction.

We did indeed lose out on the tag.  Since we were expecting it we just figured we had a great day seeing a part of the state that we don't get to very often.

Stats:
251 miles
Perfect 84F with 64% humidity
Actually enjoyed a couple roads we have never been on
A closer look at the dinosaur that I have been passing for months
It may not look it, but we actually did get into Tennessee...but no we didn't buy any fireworks...
Assorted images during the trip can be seen here.