October 23, 2016 - Trip to visit old friends

Those of us with some age end up making more and more trips that are not just for fun but combine the joy of travel with the need to see old friends(or is that friends that are old) and having surgery or are sick.  I enjoy seeing my friends but to some extent the visit is a precursor to what I will probably be experiencing in the not to distant future.  So it is with the thought of seeing my friends, one out of surgery and the other very sick in Asheville that I planned a loop up to Pineola, NC then to Asheville, NC making these stops.  But let's not grind out the trip in a car......this calls for a road trip!

I left Cary, NC with the plan to travel non-interstate roads to Lenoir, NC then take Rt. 90 up to Linville/Pineola on a route that should have provided good fall colors and an interesting road through the forest.  I took Rt. 64 all the way into Lenoir through various old NC cities that had to some extent fallen on hard times.  It seems to be the same story all over NC, the youth of today want to be in the big cities, not the small towns.  I saw a lot of boarded up stores in these towns but the route was interesting since I wasn't in a hurry.

In Lenior I took Rt. 90, a small winding paved 2 lane for about 5 miles, very winding then it suddenly turned to gravel.  I had expected the gravel but the start of it was gnarly with sizable rocks in the middle.  Of course, I am on the R12000 GSA with Anakee 3 tires for the road.  It was evident that I should have been on the G650 with TKC70's to better handle the road.  But other than having to constantly pay attention to the rear of the bike trying to slide off the crown of the road towards the ditch the bike handled this part of the road really well.  Little to no traffic with a number of trees down that had pieces carved out for the passage of cars and bikes.  This is really a single lane road so I paid attention to the dust clouds coming in my direction.  The drivers coming down were courteous and slowed to a crawl to let me get by so there were no close calls.  After about 10 miles of this I came upon a little cabin and campground with a crowd on the porch enjoying the beautiful day.

 I think it was called Bruce's and they were having a good time.  Seems I missed the annual Oyster/Shrimp roast and party the day before.  They are known for the tasty hotdogs and beverages.  This stop has been mentioned to me by everyone that I told about my road trip.  All motorcyclists.  I have noted in my calendar that I should plan on this next year.




So I took a break and checked my bags to make sure that they were secure.  I was running a bit behind my planned arrival time so I left.  Another 10 miles of gravel with more trees down and now numerous trucks off on the side of the road.  Seems it is bear hunting season.  But the scenery was beautiful and by now I had adjusted to the gravel on road tires.

I wished I had mounted my helmet cam for some videos but the road up toward Grandfather Man was dusty and I was looking up into the sun most of the time.  Next time I will leave from Lenoir in the morning and get some good pics of the road.  Anyway, my remaining trip up to Pineola was uneventful.  

I spent 3 days and 2 nights visiting my college roommate and his wife sitting on the side of the mountain with a beautiful view.

I had missed the colors by 3 days and the wind had blown all the leaves off that Friday.  After 2 days I call my next stop and found out that due to his health he would be unable to see me and so I planned by route back home.  I took Rt. 181 to Morganton which was a gorgeous twisty road with stunning views of the mountains around.  I had to make a stop at the Brown Mountain overlook.

So Oswald and I headed home on the remaining of Rt. 181 then I-40 east until we got to Mocksville and returned home on Rt. 64.  Still a beautiful trip this time of year!  I will make another trip up to Asheville this fall!

October 6, 2016 - planning begins for the Back of the Dragon and the Claw.......Virginia during fall colors.

Ok, the last trip to Mills River was a bust and I didn't even wet a fly line.  The first attempt at solving the vertigo problem didn't work and a week later I went to a therapist that manipulated my head and I walked out of there all better.  So my attitude is much better and I am now planning my fall trip to the Virginia mountains to do the Back of the Dragon and the Claw.  Hopefully I won't have a reoccurrence of the vertigo episode!  More information will follow.

September 11, 2016 Fishing trip to Mills River

We are packed up again and you would be shocked at the amount of stuff one rider and a pink flamingo can carry on the GSA.  Keep in mind that the fly fishing gear takes up one whole bag.  The weather was good and in the 80's so we were off to WNC.

Since we had such a late start I decided to blast it up I-40 through Asheville by the airport then into the Mills River Camp.  I had recently received a new bluetooth headset that communicated with my Sena Cam on my helmet so this was a chance to test it out on a night ride into the Camp.  It is 12 minutes with the best part the final 5 minutes when I hit the gravel road.  It is too big to upload to Facebook so here is the link:

https://youtu.be/l3iY5e8CFms

On Monday the 12th we worked on the Cabin, finishing up the work we did in the spring and my brother Jay sprayed to kill the weeds along the drive in.  Then on Tuesday we invited some old friends (or is that friends that are old?) for burgers.



My favorite picture is the one of the old barn at the entrance to the property.



I was due to return home Wednesday morning since my wife needed me home and I also only packed enough medicine for the 3 days.  I awoke on Wednesday with a severe case of vertigo and had a serious balance problem.  This is the first time I have ever traveled without a safety net of 2 extra days of medicine (I am type 2 diabetic).  I stopped eating all sugars or white carbs, which I eat little of anyway and started drinking plenty of water.  No riding home today and since there is no cell connection or phone at the cabin it was looking pretty ugly.  It lasted all day and I pretty much spent the whole day in bed.
Thursday morning things felt better.  I was pretty sure that if I just kept my head steady and didn't move it around much that I could get the motorcycle home.  If I could make it down the gravel road and then the winding road to a main road I would be alright on the interstate.  Jay followed me to a diner for breakfast, my first real food in 24 hours.  After breakfast I decided to try it, worst case I have to pull off and find a motel.  
I was in luck, traffic was light and even though in the 90's, with frequent stops for water I made it home.
Lesson learned on packing for a trip!

It is now a week later and the vertigo is moderating.  I have seen a Dr. and he gave me instructions on how to rotate my head before bed to lessen the effects and it seems to be working.  I have had vertigo before, about once every 3 years, but never on a trip.  It is very unsettling!  I could end up stuck somewhere for a long time so I will be prepared next time.

July 12, 2016 Finally, Oswald and I are off on a road trip.

It seems like a number of my trips have been cancelled due to heat or rain but we are off! We are  heading for the BMW MOA RALLY in Hamburg, NY.  That is near Buffalo so the weather should be windy but cool and nights in the 60's so the camping would be great.  I left Cary deciding to bypass I-85 & I-95 in favor of Rt. 15 through the countryside of VA heading to Reston to have lunch with my daughter Megan and her new Puppy, Bailey!  It was a very easy ride on mostly 2 lane roads with a scenic countryside view.  As I approached the Washington area it was clear that traffic was picking up.
We had a great lunch at a local Pasta place and I stayed for a couple of hours to do some minor maintenance and play with the little puppy!  It is great seeing a little puppy.  I love dogs!  But the visit had to come to an end since I needed to get another 150 miles down the road so my Wednesday miles would make for a leisurely ride into Hamburg.  I decided to get on down the road and cross over into PA from MD and find a motel to sleep.  Wow, I lucked out.  I stopped at a Best Western in PA and asked of the cheapest room that they had(you know the cheapest thing on a BMW Motorcycle is the rider!) and the lady said she would give me the room for free!  What a deal.  Guess I had the points! So after a good nights sleep I repacked the bike and Oswald I and were off to the Rally.  We took Rt. 219 through the countryside of PA and into NY.  It is a winding 2-lane road through beautiful countryside seeing many very small towns that have a mill in the middle that employees the people in the valley.  Very pretty ride and reasonable comfortable with temperatures in the 80's.  I was making good time and arrived at the Rally around 3:00 and was told where the chartered club camping sights were staked out.

I was at the Rally a day early and there was a steady stream of arrivals as I put up my tent!  By Wednesday morning the campground was packed!  But first I had to endure a whale of a storm in the middle of the night.  The wind was so strong that it blew an 850 lb bike over on the owners tent and dropped a part of a tree on a sleeping camper so EMS had to make an appearance.  But the good news was all were ok and back at the Rally the next morning.  For the peak 1 hour period of the storm I lay in my tent with the tent collapsed on me and when the winds calmed down the tent popped back up!  No rain leaks and some minor damage to the tent so I guess I will need a new rain fly before my next trip.  I was excited for the next morning because I had made up my mind to add new LED accessory lights and headlights for better visibility but the vendors area was trashed by the storm and six hours later I had my lights installed!I   I will add a number of pictures around the campsite.  The organizers did a great job with good live entertainment overnight and a good beer tent.  Sorry, due to dust I didn't take many pictures of the GS Giants obstacle course.

This was a local dish called Beef on Weck!  It was very good!
The food was provided by the State Fair Grounds Midway!  Not healthy but very good food!







I went into Buffalo to visit old friends.  One night I stayed with Dan Boscarino and the other night I had dinner at the Anchor Bar with a dear friend Suanne Pasquarella, great time catching up!



Well, A great time and 6,500 people mostly camping had to pack up and go home.  So three of us, Ray Hunting, Tom Steves and I headed out to make a 630 mile trip into 1000 miles!  We left around 8:00 Sunday morning and took Rt. 219 down into PA where we decided to see the Flight 93 Memorial.  Very moving and brought up a lot of sad memories in NYC.



We then proceeded to get ourselves lost in PA!  OK someone flip a coin.
t  It was hot and we were all taking a close look at each other at the stops to make sure everyone was ok.  We got to Chambersburg, MD and Ray looks at me and announced "Your Done, we stay here!"Monday morning came and we were off to Front Royal to ride the Skyline Drive through VA and it was in the 90's.  We stopped in Front Royal to pick up sandwiches and drinks for a picnic on the parkway.  Within 4 miles of getting on the Drive the temperature dropped to 75!  I was thinking of staying. But on we went.  Found a nice picnic area and while having lunch we noticed a shining spot on Tom's wheel.  The three of us all got down and examined it to find

 

A nail!  So gritting our teeth Tom pulled it and no air came out.  Whew!

Close one!  We then decided to get of the Drive and head home, not knowing if the tire would hold.  We came down in Charlottesville, VA and the temperature quickly rose to 99 degrees so it was a sweaty ride home.  But what a great time!  Six days and a lot of miles with good friends

It has been a while! I am off tomorrow to the BMW MOA Rally in Hamburg, NY

It has  been a slow year for travel but it is picking up.  I leave in the morning around 6:30 and head for Hamburg, NY.  I expect to make Reston, VA by 1:00 for lunch with my daughter, Megan.  Then after 2-3 hrs I will be off to find a place to stay just in Pennsylvania.  That would leave me with a fairly short ride into the Rally.  It should be a fun 4 days, seeing some friends, and going to a number of the seminars.  The highs should be in the 80's and lows in the 60's with modest humidity so great camping weather.  I doubt I will camp on the trip up or back since I will be booking some miles.  I hope to take some pictures and keep you updated.

February 4, 2016 time for more reflection on the trips and hopefully help out others making these trips.

Let me first go into what I learned from the  two trips this past year.

NC to TN, MS, AR, OK, NM and on to Boulder, CO returning via WY, SD, NB, IA, IL KY, TN, NC

1.  You can almost never pack too light!  My trip out to Denver on the TAT from Tellico Plains, TN was a bust for much of the route from MS to CO.  Massive amounts of rain made enjoying the ride very difficult.  Flooding everywhere and police instructions to stay off secondary roads.
2. Won't do that again in May!
3. Won't go into MS again!
4.  Spend more time in AR with wonderful parks for riding in the NW corner of the state.  I will go back to see this area in the fall when it is dry.
5.  The return from Boulder, CO back through WY, SD, Neb and IA was a blast and I would do that again.  Loved SD with lots to do and see.  The people in NB were very helpful and easy to talk to.

That pretty much sums up the May trip.  5,500 miles over 5 weeks and excited every day getting up and discovering what is out there.  Got to spend a week with my son in Boulder.

NC to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, Quebec and home via OH to NC

1.  Try not to have a final drive fail the day before departure, it caused me to shift the front end 3 days to the back end so no harm done except a lot of stress.

2.  Always build into your schedule some spare days, things happen.  On one or two days I decided to add a day of rest because the riding was challenging that day and I needed to rest and check the bike over.

3.  I think I packed right for the range of weather I could have experienced.  I packed for 4 days of changes planning on washing my clothes every 4th or 5th day.  It worked out perfectly.  Almost every place I stayed had a washer and drier, some even included the soap.  I got this one right.  I would point out that when in Port Hope Simpson, Labrador the lady at the hunting lodge/hotel told me I should be getting on home because winter is almost here......That was Aug 23th.   By the third week of September a blizzard shutdown the TransLab Highway. Timing is everything.

4.  Stay in the B&B's in Canada.  They are cheap, clean and breakfast is wonderful and you meet some incredible people.  A hot shower really makes the next day better.

5.  You really don't need a GPS in Newfoundland and Labrador.  You can't get lost.

6.  Out of Port Hope Simpson I carried plenty of water, sandwiches and snacks.  When I would stop to eat the black flies would be all over me.  When it was cool they didn't come out but as the temperatures rose so did the flies.

What did I miss that might have been fun had I one more week.
 You know you are going to miss something on a first trip.  What did I miss?

1.  Twillinggate - going East to West on CDN 1 in Gander take 330 North to 331 North to 340 on to Crow Head.  Many bridges to many islands and bays.  This is the area you will most likely see Icebergs all summer.  It is a giant loop so take 340 back south all the way to CDN 1.

2.  If you liked the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia you will love Gros Morne National Park.  At the B&B in Deer Lake others there had flown in from Japan and Austria just to see this park.  I am sorry I didn't spend more time there.  Take Rt. 430, the Viking Trail heading North and you go through it.  It is beautiful and I would have loved spending 3 days just touring it.  Rt. 430 will take you on to the ferry to Labrador in Saint Barbe then on to St. Anthony the end of the road.  Centuries old settlements can be seen there.

3.  Between Red Bank in Labrador and Port Hope Simpson is Mary's Harbor on Rt. 510.  There ferries can be taken to Battle Harbor on islands offshore.  These are centuries old settlements where battles took place and original settlers established their new homes.

Of the three, I would go back for Gros Morne.  Remember when crossing Labrador you are all alone unless you have friends traveling with you.  In 300 miles of gravel I saw maybe 5 trucks going in the opposite direction and other than that there was no one and no services.  You are all alone.  But enjoy it, I did!

The New Year 2016 is here and its time to reflect on last year and planfor the New Year!

Reflecting on last year, I did over 13,000 miles during riding season from March (Bike Week at Daytona) and November.  That is pretty good for me and I never felt like I was tired of it.  To the contrary, getting into the daily habit of packing up, talking to the local people over breakfast and planning for the day made me want to continue on the trips.  It is only when I got to the last day heading home that I really wanted to sleep in my own bed.

Thoughts of a rambling rider.

I am frequently asked if I am scared traveling by myself.  Well, I don't think that is in my DNA.  First off, I know my motorcycles and have gone over them a number of times checking to make sure that the bolts are torqued properly and all services performed.  I carry the things that can be used to repair the bike if I am stuck somewhere like a pretty extensive tool set, spare oil, spare spark plugs, spare headlights, emergency equipment like flashers, tire repair equipment and most importantly a first class first aid kit.  Then there is my new addition that gives me comfort and keeps my wife up to date on where I am, the Gen 3 Spot Locator that sends my location to a website every 10 minutes indicating where I am.  It also has emergency buttons that will send for help, either medical or rescue depending on the circumstances.  So I feel pretty prepared. Last summer I was out of cell phone range much of the time but it was there if available.

Conditioning is probably my weakness.  I did spend a good bit of time learning in the dirt and on gravel to get accustomed to the feel and what pressures to set the tires at for best traction.  I went to the off roads park with a very good enduro rider to practice, he also happens to be my internist, so I am not totally crazy.  But things still happen like my fall the first day out in a stream in TN and breaking my ankle.  But I healed.

I thank my mother for my comfort at being independent and traveling solo.  I learned the joys of travel at a young age.  I was young and went to Athens GA to visit my cousins.  While there I got swimmers ear and was pretty sick.  My cousin put me on a bus home and this became a wonderful learning experience.  I was by myself, maybe 12 years old, and I got on the bus and sat next to a well dressed older man.  I was riding with Frank Porter Graham.  He traveled by bus from Athens, GA to Chapel Hill, NC because he didn't like to drive by himself.  We talked all the way to Asheville and I was fascinated with his view of the world and his independence to travel alone.  So to answer the most common question, No I am not lonely traveling by myself.  Had I not gotten on the bus I would have never met Mr. Graham.  Who knows who I could meet on my next trip!

When I travel, people frequently approach me at lunch or dinner just to ask how far I am going and what is the purpose of the trip.  Many come to me to discuss interesting places that I should see while in the area.  The funniest was a man in NE that sat with me while I had coffee telling me how he wished he had done what I was doing when he was younger.  I asked him how old he was and his response was 55.  Then I told him I was 66 and I could see the wheels turning.  I then told him he has 11 years to catch me.  When I went to Nova Scotia in 1974, camping and fishing around Cape Breton, I camped for 3 days at Ingonish Beach.  My first night a lady from the family next to me brought me a half of a homemade blueberry pie, wow fresh fruit for dinner.  The next morning while I was stringing my fly rod an older fellow(at that time everyone was older, not so anymore!) in a pickup truck asked if I wanted to join him since he camps there every summer for a month and fishes everyday.  He took me to all of his favorite fishing holes all three days.  If a person is traveling in a group then socializing tends to be narrowly defined in the group.  A group of motorcyclists is not really approachable to strangers, you tend to travel together and eat together but don't really meet the locals.

I have often speculated that traveling in a group, to me, is more dangerous than traveling alone.  When I am alone I alway ride within my skill level and almost never approach crossing that line.  On group rides there is always someone that is the least skilled in the group and the group psychology will push the pace or challenges in such a way as to force that person to exceed their skill level and place them in danger.

I was told by a number of people that I should be carrying a gun for protection.  I don't really get this one.  I have not yet been in a place where I was afraid for myself.  There was the potential to have my bike stolen crossing through MS this spring but I always checked with the desk clerk about where the video cams were and I always park in front of the lobby if it is manned 24 hrs.  So far I haven't been somewhere where I was worried about being eaten by the wildlife.  Luckily moose are vegetarians but I will have to rethink this next year when I am planning on Alaska 2017!  If someone is set on robbing me, well he will probably have the drop on me so take whatever.  If it comes down to guns I will probably be out gunned and out manned.  So I use my head when I look for places to stop and stay over.

Then lastly, hopefully my ramblings haven't run you off, do you know how hard it is to find someone to ride with over the same route and timeframe.  I was lucky to have my wife, Pattie, join me now on two trips to NS and now Newfoundland for a week each time.  It is a great experience having a pillion rider to enjoy the scenery, food and experiences.  It has been fun for both of us and I wish we had done this earlier in our 35 years of marriage.  But if I can't find someone to do a trip with I am going anyway!  And excited to do so!  Now let the planning for the New Year begin!

Next up...........the plans!