Simon and Deb's Excellent Adventure ........

[simon kuether]

Josh picked us up and off to "titles" (?) . Turns out it was easier to leave it all with Josh as I wasn't a citizen . Anyway , got a plate and all legal . I'd rather it was all in my name in case ................ I think a little more digging is required , maybe .

Off to Competition Accessories to get helmets and riding gear for Deb . Bargain . Payed a little less than half Aus prices . Got 2 HJC's and a full set of Tourmaster gear (2 liners , armour) . Scored some Dju Dju bells as well . They worked good as we never saw a Dju Dju the whole time we were there .

Off for a first tentative ride (solo) guided by Josh . All good . The 750 is a lot more agile than the 'S , but (obviously) is way down on power . Lots of fun playing with the gearbox again . Haven't had to do that so much lately . Picked up Deb and off for a bit of a "sus" it out ride . Good . All good . This is going to be a lot of fun . Bring on tomorrow .

Fuel............... (gas) .
To get fuel in Aus , you pull up to the pump , grab the hose for the fuel you want , and fill your bike . The nozzle can be easily taken from a dribble (topping up) and flat out , and anywhere in between . Not so the Americans . STOP or GO ! That's it . Or I'm an idiot that can't drive a fuel bowser . Deb twigged pretty quick and went straight for the hand towel each time . I spewed the first time it happened . Fuel everywhere . Barstard . Cost's about half of what we pay down here .
You have to pay for fuel by credit card or cash BEFORE you fuel up . That was a pain as some pumps wouldn't accept our card , some would . Had to make sure we kept extra cash was all . Almost unheard of in Aus , though it'll come I suppose .

Rob and Heidi dropped over with a mobile (cell) phone for us to use . Load up some credit and go . Rose set up a Gmail account so we could stay in touch with home . You people are unreal . We wouldn't have believed we could be made so welcome . Stoked .

Back to the motel at 7.30 pm (again with Josh - unreal) . An excellent meal of salmon and lemon herbed chicken , coupla drinks , apple crumble and coffee , coupla drinks and off to bed .

The Blue Ridge Parkway awaits tomorrow ...................

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

[cowboyup3371]

Fantastic. Keep it coming Simon.

[Redman]

Hey, good, the updates comming at a faster rate now. Thanks Simon.

Pre-pay before pumping is common in big citys, or maybe in smaller cities just on the pumps remote from the office.
And most pumps, the first 1/5 travel of the lever is slow, and after that is fast.

MOre, more, want more of the story.

.

[cowboyup3371]

Yea, too many service stations are getting ripped off from people who can't or won't pay so trust is no longer available here. I think it sucks but hey, what can I do?

[DanTheMan]

Most places here in Minnesota they still trust us (don't know why, there are a lot of gas drive-offs here too). Good story, keep 'em coming.

[Dogma]

Hmm. A lot of the pumps around here still have the warning stickers about what they do to people who steal gas. I guess that's not a pre-pay station, then. I dunno, because I like to pay at the pump with the card.

I know what Simon is talking about with the on-off pumps. Even just cracking it, you've unleashed a flood. I've adopted various ways to deal with this including aiming the nozzle into the tank at an angle to keep the splash inside, and giving up on adding just a little more to get it full. Some places have pumps that are easier to control slowly. They seem to be the older pumps without card readers. Then there are pumps that are just plain slow, taking 10 minutes to fill a car.

[Colin Green]

I really must save up some $ so we can join Simon and Deb for the next trip.

[simon kuether]

I really must save up some $ so we can join Simon and Deb for the next trip.

Do it old mate . It's a hoot .

Cheers , Simon .

[Big T]

I really must save up some $ so we can join Simon and Deb for the next trip.

Colin

Just check out any of our rallies - if you contact the organizer, I'll bet they could round up a spare bike for you.

There are several folks that do this here within the States

[simon kuether]

We were a bit slow getting organised the next morning . The cab we booked the night before never fronted . We got to Josh's at about 8.00am .
Shortly there were ..............
Steve Wing AND trailer .
Bonita GS850L
Josh and Rose GS1000GT
Dale GS 1000GT
Brad GS 850GT
and us GS750B





A bit of a mixed crew of ........... persons unknown . Lots of laughs and prestart excitment . Getting to know more people .
Steve fitted all our gear (plus a box of spare parts) into his trailer . All we had , was the tank bag . Brilliant. He also had an Esky (ice box) on board . Interesting . Coupla drinks , I'm thinking . No , well yes , water and soft drinks (soda) . Good thinking , but ..............





Off we go . Dayton (Ohio) to Beuna Vista (Virginia) . The first tank of fuel was on "the slab" . Interesting , again , I thought . A slab in Aus is a box of beer . All would be cleared up shortly .
It took a bit to get used to riding in a group as we very rarely ride with others normally . Steve lead the way with the rest of us in front of Bonita . They had radios so could make sure no one got left behind . Good idea , just not used to it . It may get a bit interesting in the wiggly bits though .

I've got no idea what route we followed . As all the names were "foreign" , they blurred . I'm sure Steve , or Josh could fix you up .

Found "the great Aussie dream" and the connection to "the slab" at our first stop .



Very happy chappy ...........



Cheers , Simon and Deb .

[simon kuether]

We headed on into some solid weather . Quite heavy rain at times . Steve and Bonita had heaps of rain gear so everyone was fairly dry . Legends .


We got onto some nice , smaller roads later . I got into trouble for being naughty and overtaking through some nice bends . A boy's gotta do ............







The last couple of hours into Buena Vista were in the dark . Again , not something we do a lot of these days . We'd had enough stops during the day with our tank being the limit for each stint . We didn't end up needing arse transplants . No sphincter events , just good riding , all day .
So ended the first day's ride . We booked in at the motel then met up with Jim (RageZro) and Kathy and Kurt (Dardoonk) . Kurt had a pile of T-shirts he'd had made for the "Roo Rally" . Unreal . You people never cease to amaze .

What a great day . Wet , dry , highway , "back roads" , scenery , laughs , food , beers , bench racing and lies with good mates , and MORE new ones . Takes some beating .

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. simon kuether,

I wish I had been paying attention. I just opened this thread. It would have been a pleasure to meet you and the missus while you were in the LA area. Sorry I missed you. I hope you are enjoying your visit here half as much as I am. It looks like you are having a terrific time and the GSR community is showing themselves to be wonderful hosts. Ride safely and keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[simon kuether]

Next time Cliff , old mate . Looks like we'll be back and forwards a bit over the next few years .

Cheers , Simon .

[simon kuether]

Up and off to the Waffle House for breakfast . Another "first" for us . We don't eat as much at these (or have that many for that matter) sort of places as you do . We'd , maybe , go to a cafe . We weren't real sure what we'd ordered as lots of things have different names . Biscuits = cookies . See what I mean . We just looked at the pictures and played the "dumb Aussie" thing . Still works . Had a real good eggs and bacon sort of meal .
Fuel , and off to the BRP.................
Deb jumped on behind Steve for the royalty treatment . Chaffeured if you will ........... Got some good pics though .




What a ride . It was difficult to keep my eyes on the road . (Pity the limit wasn't 20mph higher though) .
Vistas dissappearing into the blue on both sides



sheer forests climbing into the sky



magnificent sweeping road



coupla stops ; fuel and on to Mabry Mill for lunch . Great food and service here . Well worth a stop if you ever happen to be lucky enough to be passing . Wandered around the "old stuff" for longer than we probably should , but you get that ........











Saw deer by the road as well . I could see them causing damage . Maybe the Dju Dju bells kicked in because none of us had any close encounters . Money well spent .
We spent the night in Sparta . We were just in time for , but never made it to , the Fish and Taco Festival . Wish we had more time . As we'd eaten (to much) late , we settled for "a coupla drinks" and a few laughs instead . Good diet that . Had a great night talking all manner of things till much to late .

As of today , Friday 17th Sept , we'd ridden in Ohio , West Virginia , Virginia , North Carolina and Kentucky (mythical places) .......... with persons unknown . It still freaks us out . 4 days before , we didn't know any of these people .
I guess that's what adventures are like ....................

We could get used to this .....................

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

[marvinsc]

Simon, I am enjoying your commentary very much, it is interesting seeing what is routine to us Americans seen through new eyes. Hopefully circumstances will allow me to get in on next year's adventure.