2021 Blue Ridge Adventure

[gs scott]

Hello fellow GS’ers.

I wanted to take a ride down to visit an old New England GS’er and fellow Moosehead alumni – Doug (aka, Crag Antler) who now lives down near Asheville NC. At the same time, I could cross off a bucket list item – Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway.

We made tentative plans in 2020 to make this trip – we being Andy B (ALB80-850), Skip (Skip), and Harry/Jim (HJFiske) but COVID made that impossible…

Fast forward to 2021, and Andy started up the idea again, only this year he had plans for a much longer adventure! Of course we lost Harry over the winter (all too soon) and Skip couldn’t get make it this year either, so it was shaping up to be a 2 bike trip. Andy bought Harry’s old GK, and I had bought a new 2018 Gold Wing (GW) and plans were coming together – at least what I could do. Andy had much larger plans!

I live north of Boston, MA and Andy is about 500 miles west of me in western NY, just below Buffalo. We decide to meet in Front Royal, VA – the start of Skyline Drive. And we were meeting Thursday night, May 27. Right before Memorial Day weekend… I wasn’t sure how traffic would be, but I expected a heads up ride for sure.

[gs scott]

I left Thursday morning at 6am on my new GW, and 12 hours and 625 uneventful miles later, I made it to Front Royal and grabbed a room at the majestic Motel 6 (not!) and waited for Andy. Andy was supposed to leave right after work for a 300 miles buzz down to meet me at the hotel around 9 or 10pm. Andy finally arrived at about 6am on Friday morning, but he got there safe and sound, avoiding all kinds of critters riding through the night.

After a few hours napping, Andy was ready to shove off and we started Skyline Drive south to the southern end near Waynesboro, VA. A short day of 107 miles, but beautiful weather, almost no traffic at all and unbelievable views on Skyline Drive...

IMG_1133 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

[gs scott]

Given the late start, short day, and impending rain we decided to stop at the end of Skyline Drive / beginning of the Blue Ridge. We stayed at an equally majestic Super 8 in Waynesboro, enjoying fine dining a short walk away at the Golden Corral.


Saturday morning brought low clouds, a very cool mist, and plenty of fog for the start of the BRP.

IMG_1135 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

IMG_1137 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

However, we soldiered on at a much reduced pace. Given it was already day 3, and we were planning to meet Doug along the parkway this day, we really needed to get some miles in despite the weather. After a few hours with some light showers thrown in, the sun came out and the parkway was virtually empty! I guess the forecast for rain kept most of the tourists away. So even though every corner provided amazing views, we kept rolling along. At about the 3 hour point in the day, we stopped to stretch and striped off our rain gear. It didn’t rain again (at least for a while), but the cool air was unexpected – brrrrr.

IMG_1143 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

[gs scott]

Rolling along, we eventually met Doug about 200 miles north of Asheville. It was so good to stop, embrace our friend, enjoy some chit-chat and catch up on life since the last rally.

IMG_1149 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

IMG_1148 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

[gs scott]

But it was after 3pm and we had 200 miles of the BRP ahead of us, plus the distance to Doug’s house so it was time for the three of us to start rolling again. I was told I had the lead and began pushing our speed up to make some miles, zooming along at 55-60 mph most of the time. It was a very pleasant ride with virtually no traffic, but the cool air stayed with us. We had sunlight for about 3 1/2 hours and easily made 150 miles but the sun finally went down, the air REALLY got cold (and Doug didn’t have his jacket liner – just the mesh!) and, it began raining again. AND, traffic emerged along with the darkness, wet roads, and wildlife potentially darting out. Still, we managed to roll on at elevated speeds, jumped off the parkway for another 50-60 miles to Doug’s house.


We arrived at the “street” leading up to Doug’s house at 9:30pm, very cold and very tired. I am not exaggerating when I say the 20 yard “street” was at least a 30 degree pitch up easing to another 10 yards of only a 20 degree pitch climb, it was also 4 inches deep of loose gravel! Doug had a small 10” wide semi-packed strip along the very edge which he regularly used, but in the pitch black with absolutely no room for error, discretion was the better part of valor and we left our bikes at the bottom of the “street” and carried our gear up the street and into Doug and Donna’s nice warm, dry house. What a relief. (We actually weren’t that smart to do that first, but suffice to say getting up the street to Doug’s – maybe 30 yds - took over an hour, and I won’t go into those details…) Donna was expecting us and laid out a wonderful spread of hot food and drinks, followed fairly quickly by a couple of soft warm beds. So nice after such a long day, such great hosts – Thank you Donna and Doug!!


Sunday morning, another hot meal provided by our wonderful hosts, more catching up, finally repacking the bikes, a quick picture and an escort by Doug back to the main road.

IMG_1156 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

At this point, we stopped for a quick good bye and Andy decided to repack his load, lowering and pushing forward the CG for a more planted front end. Also at this point, Andy began the rest of his adventure continuing to Georgia before heading west to California!! (An 8,000+ mile epic journey on his GK which is Andy’s story).

I meandered south solo into Asheville to grab a comfortable hotel room (more comfortable than the Motel 6 and Super 8), visit a few micro-breweries and catch up on some rest after that marathon ride the day before.

[GSXR7ED]

What a nice story!

Thank you for sharing and providing pictures.

Ed

****

[gs scott]

For me, Monday morning came with no particular agenda and beautiful weather, so I decided since I’m almost at the Tail of the Dragon, I might as well tick that box off as well. I cruised down to Deals Gap and stopped for some coffee. Quite a few bikes (and characters) already there early on a Monday morning!

IMG_1164 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

Finding a relatively quiet slot, I jumped on 129 heading north. While I did the ride on my 750 lb. GW loaded with camping gear at a rather quick pace, I did get passed by two riders who were obviously together and ripping it up!

2021-05-31 TOD 129photos 4 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

2021-05-31 TOD 129photos 8 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

IMG_1222 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

After the ToD, I continued the loop around to the Cherohala Skyway – what a gorgeous ride! After that loop, I headed back north to Cherokee to spend the night and jump on the BRP at the southern end first thing in the morning.

[gs scott]

Tuesday morning was the start of another beautiful day, with no time table to keep and a beautiful ride ahead of me. And off I went with a full tank of gas.

IMG_1170 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

IMG_1177 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

IMG_1181 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

IMG_1185 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

IMG_1186 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

IMG_1195 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

IMG_1201 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

[gs scott]

It was mid afternoon by the time I got low on gas. So, at the next cross road, I’d pull off and gas up. It was about 3pm when I pulled off the BRP at Linville Falls. Within 100 yds, I hit something in the road and heard “Hissssssssssss”. Unfortunately, I had a pretty good idea what that was…. I pulled off the road into a church parking lot and stopped. The hissing was over, rear tire was flat. 40+ years of riding, my first flat.

Borrowing a few bricks from the church sidewalk, I managed to get the GW back over the bricks and onto the center stand and examined the rear tire. Sure enough, something was embedded in the rear tire. Something big too!

My only tool was my credit card and cell phone… I pull out my cell phone – no signal. Wonderful…. It seemed I could get a faint signal for about 30-45 seconds at a time, and after numerous attempts, I finally managed to call for a tow. The “nearest” Honda MC dealer was 65 miles away, it’d be $165 tow charge BEFORE they’d send someone. What choice did I have – I paid the bill and started waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more…I did manage to extract whatever it was I ran over. From what I can tell, it’s part of a truck brake caliper…

IMG_1207 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

At 8:30pm, the flat bed tow truck finally arrived. Finally had the bike secured by 9:30 and started the 65+ miles toward the dealer.

IMG_1205 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

I rode in the cab until we got to Granit Falls, NC. It was 11pm. Needless to say, the Honda dealer was long closed, but the driver was kind enough to drop me off at the nearest fleabag hotel that night and pick me up the next morning when we’d drop off the bike. So Tuesday was roughly a 225 mile day (300 if you count the tow).

[gs scott]

Wednesday morning when we got to the dealer and unloaded the bike, naturally, they didn’t have my tire in stock, and it would have to come from the warehouse in Minnesota. “Should get here in 3-4 days.” (Mind you, there were 4 brand new Gold Wings on the sales floor, but swapping one of those rear tires for mine coming was in no way an option…) FEDEX overnight was less than 3 more nights in the hotel so I paid to overnight the tire.

IMG_1208 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

Thursday morning I hitched a ride to the dealer, and the new tire shows up about 11am. Thankfully, it was the correct tire and I’m back on the road by 1:30. So I slab myself back to 81 and head north making it to Roanoke VA around 6pm thanks to rush hour traffic (200 miles).

A peaceful nights sleep, with a day and a half to get home. I head out Friday morning early and slab it to Hazelton PA, roughly 400 miles and get there and get another hotel.

[gs scott]

Saturday morning, weather is cooperating, and it’s less than 350 miles to get home. I head out early with only a lousy cup of coffee. But fear not – 60 miles or so up the road, I see a Dunkin Donuts sign on 84 and take the exit. The DD is in a large gas station / convenience store and at 7am, the place is jumping! I pull way off to the adjacent parking area and park between the painted lines on the end spot. Prop it on the side stand and walk over to get some hot java. After the 10 minute wait in line, I get my joe and head back to the bike.

What’s this, there’s a guy standing next to my bike. Probably just going to ask about the bike – right? Nope. He starts off “I’m so sorry!” Uh-oh… The bike is still on the side stand, what’s this all about? He backed into the bike, crumpled the front fender, tweaked the fairing and cracked the headlight! Lovely…at least he hung around to exchange papers. But it was a truck from work, and he was sure his boss wouldn’t be too happy. I take a picture of the scene, and his license and the owner’s registration, but then he had to go to work.

IMG_1211 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

IMG_1215 by Scott Rummel, on Flickr

I call my insurance company and provide the details. Next, I call the police and wait for a patrolman. A PA State Trooper shows up. He did a hitch in the Marine Corps, saw my Navy license plate frame, and everything went fine. He wrote up the other guy for improper backing, and gave me a print out of the accident report. I can sort of realign the cracked fender at least for the ride home, but nothing I can do to the fairing except keep my speed down. I finally make it home without further incident. Repair costs to my bike were $4,300 but the owner of the truck that hit me paid the repair bill the day the work was completed so that worked out fine.

[gs scott]

10 days and 2700 miles. All in all, it was a great trip. The part riding was FANTASTIC! The part not riding, not so much...I’d definitely take another ride down the parkway again – but maybe I’ll take the GS next time for better luck

[bonanzadave]

Thanks for sharing your adventure.

[ridesauce]

Great write up and lots of good times I’m sure.