Summer Ride 2009

One of the problems with technology is I want one device that does everything. My iPhone is close but no cigar. I could blog while on the road with my iPhone but I could not upload pictures. Enough digital ranting.

The ride. A little over 8500 miles, 21 states and 1 Canadian providence.
In an effort to fit in family commitments the beginning of the ride was a little broken up. I left home on a Wednesday. My goal was to be in Amarillo, TX two and a half days later. We had a wedding commitment that weekend so I rode to Amarillo, flew back to San Jose for a day and a half, then flew back to Amarillo and picked up the bike and kept heading East.
This is where the ride really began. One of my goals was to ride the in the three states in which I had not ridden in yet. Arkansas was first on that list. By this time it is mid July. I'm riding across Oklahoma. So I know I'm going to be hot. As I near the Oklahoma / Arkansas border it is 108. Within 30 min of entering Arkansas it is raining and 78 degrees. I didn't bother putting on rain gear as I figured the showers would end fairly soon and I would be dry by the time I reached my hotel. An hour and a half later I rolled into my hotel. Dry as a bone and quite refreshed.
My next stop was Natchez,MS. I wanted to ride some or all of the Natchez Trace. I had ridden the Blue Ridge Pkwy from South to North a few years ago and thought that the Trace would be similar.
The Trace is a beautiful ride. Long stretches of well maintained roads. Lots of places to stop and read about the history of the Trace. If you are a history buff then you will want to stop and visit the various monuments.



Here is an example of the scenery.






A quick stop in Nashville. I had promised my wife that I would see Nashville with her so I just looked around town to get a feel for where we might visit and stay when we come back. I did however visit Outdoor World near the Grand Ole Opry.
One of the destinations for this ride was the BMW Rally in Johnson City, TN. So I headed that direction. It just so happens that Deals Gap, The Dragon was on the way to the rally so I made a little detour and rode the Dragon once again. New bike and it needed a dragon decal.
Unfortunately it was raining that morning so the dragon was not rider friendly. It is still a fun ride.
I was reminded of the hazards of the dragon several miles later when I saw flashing lights up ahead, a motorcycle stuffed in the guard rail, EMT's tending to a down rider and his friends standing around looking worried. If you don't treat the dragon with respect he might just bite you.
It was time to actually head for the rally so I continued my ride into TN and got to the rally. I had feared that the rally would be poorly attended due to the economy but it was a good turnout. I had a great time.

I have to say that the coolest thing I saw at the rally was a custom bike trailer. Very cool.
The vendors at the rally were less than normal but I was able to talk with everyone that I was interested in speaking with for as long as I wanted.








Next stop was the Corvette museum in Bowling Green,KY. The museum was pretty good but smaller than I would have thought.
After that I did a little Roots trip up through West Virginia to "Hacker Valley". I don't have a lot of history on my dads side of the family but this is where the ancestors supposedly settled when they first came to America.