Pigs, A Snake, A Dragon, Particle Acceleration, A Bad Disc And Yankie Squids. 7 Days Aboard My 1200.

[Yokel]

EDIT: This report is Finally DONE.

Day ONE:

Several award nominations will be made throughout this multi-day report. The first nomination goes to ADAM79 for his tenacity for getting this journey underway. Looking at a forecast of rain, all it took was 2 now infamous words, "I'm GOIN'!" to motivate the rest of us to take the proverbial plunge. Any good trip needs a start, and Adam ponied up the guts to make this one get out of the gate. Friday the 29th of March started for me on the 28th when I woke up to go to work overnight. Our "kickstands up" time was 8:00am Friday morning, so I left from the shop loaded up and we met up in a McDonalds Parking lot off of I-35.

In the assortment of bikes was a 6th gen, a 7th gen, then a Concourse 14 and a BMW K1200S.

The sun was coming up and the day looked to be pretty much amazing aside from some rather threatening thunderheads poking up to our east, directly the way we needed to go. Ominous to say the least.

Steve, (or 2thdr to the un-initiated) mapped our route out on Rte 66 to pick up our 5th rider for this leg of the journey on an FJR, then off to Arkansas for some twisty goodness in the company of Gloryracing and his over-talented and gutsy pillion, Ellen.

The route looked like this:

We jetted up I-35 to Route 66, then swung out 16 (which is flat as a cow-flop I might add), and the ride was fairly boring central Oklahoma stuff until Talequah. The sky continued to darken as we turned north and on to some entertaining roads. Steve set the pace at a good clip on damp roads while we meandered along the Illinois river. Fortunately, the river float season hasn't started as there are typically suicidal bus drivers along this road shuttling canoe, kayak and raft folk to the put-ins at speed approaching Mach 2. Instead, we were treated to signs of early spring and very little traffic.

Just before we merged on to 412 there was a state trooper that passed us by on the intersecting highway. His neck must have popped because THAT guy was so busy giving us the stink-eye. In fact, he was kind enough to wait for us on a bridge on 412, then proceed to pull behind our group tailgating me as he ran my plate, then proceeded to split our group and tailgate EVERYONE in turn running THEIR plates. Didn't this guy know we had places to be? Get the heck out of the way so we can speed already man!

Once the LEO was no longer a threat (HOORAY for State Lines!) we picked up the pace a bit. I was getting kind of tired as my day had already been quite long. Typically, my mind wanders a bit when riding on State highways for long periods and inhaling all the exhaust while running sweep for the group might have made me a little more "off" than normal. I'd been eyeballing the darkening sky with trepidation, and for some reason, passed the entire group to pull up next to Steve. I waved up at the sky, gesticulating in ways that made perfect sense to me enough to say "Hey, can you believe it's not s*$tting all over us yet?! Look at those CLOUDS!"

I think 2thdr interpreted it as "Did you know rain makes watermelons?" or something equally stupid. I've never seen such a look of pure confusion from behind a full-face helmet in my life, and that's about the point I realized I may *actually* be more tired that I'd initially feared.

We stopped for a light lunch in Siloam Springs, topped the tanks and made a bee-line for the Ozarks.

I had been in touch with Gloryracing for the few days prior to our ride. I was in a bad way for tires having been completely unaware of how bad mine were getting with an impending 3000 mile ride. The plan was for me to split off and head in to Harrison while the other guys went the more creative way to Dogpatch and the Hub which would become our jumping off point for Saturday. At HWY 306, I waved and broke away (further confusing a few of the guys with my abrupt departure) and headed for Gloryracing's casa and a fresh set of shoes.

Another award nomination goes to Mark for being such a hell of a guy. I sat around peppering him with questions for the better part of two hours and watched him change out the tires on the 1200 for me while he gave me a lesson in torque specs (turn, turn, tuuuuuurn and it's good!), using a no-mar and wheel cleaning.

After Mark finished up, I headed to the Hub for dinner and to scrub in the tires. Mark and Ellen joined us for dinner in the "Hot Tub" at the Hub, and as the sun set Adam's buddy Arion lit a fire for us. We kicked up the feet and swapped some advice and stories for a while. All told, a pretty fitting end to the day and a great start to what will become an epic adventure on my part.

More to come...

[Dutchy]

waiting for more!!! Good to read our OK brethern are doing OK!!!

[Yokel]

Day Two part ONE: The set-up.

So, I've got new shoes courtesy of Gloryracing on the bike, 6 other souls looking forward to a good day carving the twisties and a forecast calling for 2 to 4 inches of rain. We breakfasted at "Country Smoked Meats" down from the Hub (which is a decent source of quality grub if you happen to be in the area), rallied back up at the Hub in time to meet Mark and Ellen on his 1200 and we were off.

The day looked like this:

We boogied out of Dogpatch on 7 with Mark and Ellen in the lead, followed by Steve, Adam, Myself, Adam's friend Arion and Adam's Dad running sweep. The skies were threatening rain, the air was heavy, but the temperatures were good and spirits were high. I wouldn't say the pace was too much, but we did have one rider struggling a bit to keep up. Arion had a pretty raunchy accident a few years ago and was run over by a car. The day before, we stressed to him the importance of riding HIS pace, not ours, and I'm pretty proud of the guy for staying within his limits. There were a few times we had to wait on him to catch us up, but there was not a single person in the group who held that over him in some bad way... in fact, everyone was really supportive of him taking his time. It's really refreshing to ride with people who understand the importance of this.

The fact is, these are roads he wasn't prepared for. About 1/2 way to HWY 341, he decided to call it. He just couldn't get comfortable. Wise decision on his part in my view, but sad none-the-less that he put in the 7 hours the day before to get here only to feel like he needed to wave it off. Nobody wanted to see the guy get hurt though, and it was pretty obvious he was really out of his comfort zone. Way to make the right call, dude. Next time it is!

We split from Arion with instructions to let us know when he got back to the hotel, and we headed for points east short one man.

Push Mountain never fails to entertain me. It's a fun run for those who know it, a series of turns that come in sets of three, with decreasing radii as you progress, set after set after set. The Southern half of the run is pristine pavement, then it starts to get a little rough on the North end. A light mist had started about when we kicked it in to gear. Mark set us a great pace and off we went!

Chasing Mark and Ellen, Adam and Steve was intoxicating. It's like a dance when you're following riders who know what they're doing, following each person flicking into their turns, chasing the same lines, watching the different techniques at work and smelling the exhaust and engine heat from those machines. Around some of the turns, I found it could be distracting as I was so entertained by the dance. I don't think anyone would argue that Mark and Ellen make a hell of a 2-up team, and most of us had to really get down to business to keep the pace up.

At the 1/2 way point, we'd found a good pull-off to re-group and turn around, the mist was turning in to a drizzle by this time, and we were looking for gas and grub. We hit the southern half again from the opposite way. After about 3 miles, I'd lost the three in the lead. Adam drifted back in to sight a bit later, and it was pretty obvious to me that he'd dialed it down a tick. At lunch he'd asked if I'd seen him slip a bit... The back got a bit squirrely on him in one of the turns so he slowed a tad. At the base of push, we opted for lunch and booked it over to Angler's past the town of Fifty Six, nestled right on the White River. The drizzle was coming down pretty good by this point, but we dialed up the pace and cooked right on over.

One interesting thing about this part of Arkansas is the gas pumps. They are all from circa 1970. Very few if any have card readers on them. The ones at Anglers were out of everything but 87, and you have to actually flip a lever to get them to run. (I did think for a few minutes that Adam might panic. He's a "by the book" owner and cringed at filling up on 87 octane.) We topped up and hid the bikes under the roof to keep the seats from getting too wet.

Lunch was phenomenal The waitress was a bit of a doofus, (sampled a beverage herself, then served it!!!) but they served up some mean fish and sandwiches, and the soup was amazing. BLT soup. Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato. Tasted like a well-tweaked potato soup to me and went terrific with the trout and hushpuppies.

Everyone from Oklahoma is an amateur meteorologist, so we took a good long look at the radar and judged that we could thread the needle getting back to the hotel if we waited a few minutes based on the current map. Perfect time to find a park-bench and hang around for a bit.

Arion checked in via text, said he'd gotten back to the hotel okay, but had been totally drenched in a toad-choking downpour and had to pull over for 15 minutes for the worst of it to pass.

After half an hour, we noticed the drizzle letting up. Saddling back up, we set out again on the back roads. Within 5 miles, the sun was out. 10 miles later, the roads were dry! GAME ON!!!

A few hours later, we pulled back in to the Hub. The guys actually let me lead for a bit which was a treat! I was having an absolute blast out here with the group. When we stopped for a bit, Steve pulled up next to me and paid me a compliment that I really appreciated. He said, "Well, I think you get the award for the most improved rider, Jon. That was the fastest pace we've run all day!" I wasn't even paying attention to my speed, really. I just took the turns comfortably and was really in the groove. Talk about making a guy feel good.

The plan was to take a bit of a break then to hammer HWY 123, which is one of the best damn routes in the area. We were hoping to get Arion to join us, but he'd already built up the campfire and tapped into some beverages. We sat around a bit and chatted with him regarding technique for riding the area, and some sound advice for loosening up a bit on the controls.

I think Mark gave him the best advice, which I also took to heart for the remainder of my journey... Basically, it was something like this: "Remember, that bike WILL do it, you just have to lean man. Get into it and just LEAN. Lean until you fall over." I'm putting that on a t-shirt. Stay off the damn brakes in a turn, Jon you idiot. Just LEAN UNTIL YOU FALL OVER. That's a bad habit of mine I'm STILL trying to break, feathering that front brake when things get hot. I KNOW I'm not supposed to do it, but I still DO.

A few of us decided to go ahead and hit 123 before calling it a day, but that will have to wait a bit.

Day Two Part Two will be up later today, It's time for bed.

[huntinggunns]

Ok Jon, now I am super jealous. Sounds like you guys had a blast. Me and the wife are going to try and break free to hook up with argsxrlady and her group in mountain view and eat some pizza and do a little riding. Hope some other local riders can make that one. It would be good to see y'all.

Sent from my crazy hand held thingy using Tapatalk 2

[2thdr]

So, secret meeting with AR riders...when is this happening???

Ok Jon, now I am super jealous. Sounds like you guys had a blast. Me and the wife are going to try and break free to hook up with argsxrlady and her group in mountain view and eat some pizza and do a little riding. Hope some other local riders can make that one. It would be good to see y'all.

Sent from my crazy hand held thingy using Tapatalk 2

[huntinggunns]

So, secret meeting with AR riders...when is this happening???

Ok Jon, now I am super jealous. Sounds like you guys had a blast. Me and the wife are going to try and break free to hook up with argsxrlady and her group in mountain view and eat some pizza and do a little riding. Hope some other local riders can make that one. It would be good to see y'all.

Sent from my crazy hand held thingy using Tapatalk 2

No secret Steve :lol:. I think you posted a reply on her thread. I think it was in June. Let me dig up the thread and I will send it to you.

Sent from my crazy hand held thingy using Tapatalk 2

[huntinggunns]

Here is the thread Steve. Adam looks interested and Jon is always up for a ride. Sorry for getting sidetracked Jon. Waiting for the rest of the ride report.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/74272-mountain-view-ar-june-21-23/#entry882684

[Yokel]

Saturday afternoon turned out to be absolutely gorgeous. We took a bit of a break at the Hub getting rested and watered, then Adam, Steve, Mark, Ellen and myself decided to take a run up HWY123.

Here's the route:

It’s a fantastic road, and it can be pretty technical as it’s a mix of sweepers and 90 degree turns, uphill switchbacks and 5mph corners. We geared up and headed out for fuel. That is when disaster struck.

Adam had left his wallet near Mountain Home where we had lunch. It’s only 2 hours to the East. He bailed on us, so that took us down to 3 bikes. South on 7 we went, then jumped to the fast sweepers on 74 with Steve in the lead.

A note about tires: The roads here chew them up. It’s chip and seal surface which is akin to riding on Velcro, the trade-off being reduced tire life. I think Mark said he gets about 800-1500 miles on a set. I have never in my life seen someone riding on tires as bald as Mark and Ellen were on that day. His attitude about it was hilarious saying, “Well, you know what’s under cords, right? More rubber!” I think the man has tire life down to some spooky voodoo art. We get to the top of the run and I’m looking at his tire on the back saying, “Mark, I think I see some threads in there.” He says, “Ah, it’s good for another run.” Understandably, going through so many tires makes you want to get all the miles that you can out of a set, and for what it’s worth, I never saw them slip.

When I was out in AR the first part of the month, I’d noticed some gravel that had been tossed out for the winter through some of the turns. I’d assumed that most of it had washed off the road. Headed up the mountain on 123 there are a series of fantastic switchbacks. I was getting a bit tired and had slowed down some, and after I came around the first turn I saw Mark and Steve pulled over. On Steve’s back tire were some marks of pretty heavy evidence of sliding, and his bike had died. I didn’t see it happen, but from what he was telling me, he found some of the gravel that had washed back into the roadway, and the bike got sideways on him. Thankfully, Steve was able to stave off a highside, but the forces were abrupt enough that it seemed to have tripped the tip-over sensor and wouldn’t let the bike start! Scary stuff!

We ran up to the top of the route and turned around to run it in reverse. By this time, I was just worn out, and after nearly blowing the 2^nd turn in a row, I decided to relax a bit and do some sightseeing. It was a beautiful afternoon, having heated up to around 70 degrees or so. We stopped for a quick break at a small café in Mt. Judea (Judy) and were rewarded with the proprietor filling us in on all the horrid accidents from that road last year and the story of a local girl who can sing every hymn in the book for their karaoke night that night. Nicest guy, but it’s just bad form to tell motorcyclists about all the wrecks in an area… why do people insist on doing that?! It’s like walking up to someone on a diving board and saying, “Hey, my friend knows this guy that snapped his neck jumping in on this very board last week. Crazy, huh? Have fun!”

We left this guy after politely waving off his offers to place bets on the hymn-singing 5-year-old prodigy, (“I’ll lay a five dollar bill on the table that she doesn’t miss a verse!”), and headed back to Dogpatch, the Hub, dinner, some ibuprofen and a campfire.

The stories are always pretty good with groups like this, and we had some great laughs in front of the fire as the night cooled off with the sunset. Arion informed us of the finer uses of 500-mile-an-hour tape on commercial aircraft, and how sometimes if a lever doesn’t lock on an emergency door, they’ll still stick the plane up in the air anyway!

I think I managed to gross everyone out pretty well with my reasoning behind wearing full-face helmets. You’ll have to ask sometime to get the full version if you ever find yourself on a ride with us, but suffice to say, it had to do with an exploding Opossum, no front fender and a mouthful of gore.

Hearing Adam describe dodging 8 fl. oz. of vulture poo was also pretty laugh worthy. Pterodactyl I think was the word he used to describe the bird.

So, the sun set on our Saturday. Sunday the group was breaking up as I was going to spend the next week aboard my bike and everyone else was headed back to Oklahoma or their normal lives in Arkansas. Adam and his group had the long ride as they needed to go 2 hours East before heading West to OK to get his wallet! Think they rode 12 or 13 hours, but that will have to wait for day 3.

Here's a pretty shot of 74 connecting to 123. Beautiful day to ride.

More to come... Day 3 in the works.

[Yokel]

Sunday- the lead-in to a hell of a ride.

Sunday dawned with large storms popping up around the area to our west, and a forecast calling for one hell of a week for the southern U.S., not particularly what I was looking forward to weather-wise. Snow was in the forecast for Harrison on Tuesday, which left me a small window to fart around Sunday then do some serious mileage out East on Monday to stay ahead of the worst of it. I was up in time to see off the Okies to their various directions. The sky was relatively clear, and after all the guys split I took some time to talk to a couple of Harley riders that had trailer'd down from Minnesota to get some early season riding in. When I caught up to them, they were washing their bikes in front of the hotel and whispering sweet apologies to their hogs for getting them dirty in the previous days mist.

Never fails to baffle me.

However, the guilt soon overwhelmed me, and the chiding of the guys regarding the condition and "patina" on my VFR caused me to break out the sponge and wash of the worst of the schmutz off.

\

There it is, ladies and gentlemen. Proof that my bike is actually water-resistant. You have to love a hotel that provides all the necessary ingredients for an good washing.

I spent some time chatting with Randall (the owner of the hotel) about routes to Nashville, which I'll map out for your benefit later. Happy the dog also took a bit of my time Easter morning as she needed some good quality scratching. After that, I suited up and zipped around some of my favorite local roads stopping at a small sandwich shop in Jasper for lunch.

This is the place, right at the 90 degree turn on HWY 7.

It's a good spot. Each day the cooks lay out what style the sandwiches will be... the day I was in they were served on tortillas. Quite the spot! Cheap too, as an added bonus.

I stopped and chatted with a couple from Wisconsin while I was there and proffered some advice on some roads they should check out on their cruiser. I hope they lived, as I suggested the most twisted and maniacal roads in the area. Maybe they'll wise-up and buy a 'wing.

I didn't take many pictures of the area, but here's a few that I got that day.

The roads were just simply empty.

They normally are, which is one of the reasons I really love riding this area. It's totally normal to be out riding hell-for-leather for an hour and see maybe one car. The locals are polite for the most part, and have a tendency to let you by with a wave as long as you're not a total ass. They seem to understand the importance of the tourism dollar and are delighted to have people in the area.

In fact, at one pull-out I stopped at, some other northerners on bikes stopped alongside and chatted for a bit. This was their 3rd annual trip down to the area and they love it here as much as I do! They were also pretty curious about some of the roads I suggested, so we compared map routes before I took off back to the hotel. All told, not much to report on Easter Sunday, since it was a day of rest. Headed back to the Hub and turned in early as I wanted to jet out early Monday morning to points East.

More to come... and this is finally where the story gets interesting... If you're still reading along, you might actually get a laugh or two the next few days as I get the rest of this report written.

[2thdr]

Great write up Jon...can't wait for our next trip...

[Yokel]

Ok Jon, now I am super jealous. Sounds like you guys had a blast. Me and the wife are going to try and break free to hook up with argsxrlady and her group in mountain view and eat some pizza and do a little riding. Hope some other local riders can make that one. It would be good to see y'all.

Sent from my crazy hand held thingy using Tapatalk 2

That's the point! Motivation!

Great write up Jon...can't wait for our next trip...

Oh for sure! Starting to really look forward to the September meet!

Here's what's in store for day four... 500 miles, the longest one day ride I've ever done.

Hopefully, I'll get this written today.

[Yokel]

Continuation:

I awakend on Monday to a beautiful pre-dawn morning. It was cool out, at 36 degrees, but the sky was clear. A large storm system was forecast to be moving in to the area early in the week which was my que to get a move-on. I started so early knowing that this would be the furthest I'd ridden yet in a day. I had a cup of joe with Randall, bundled up as warm as I could, and headed up through Harrison to catch 7 to Peel's Ferry across into Missouri.

Traffic was light, as per usual in the area and I made good time right at daybreak. The roads up to the ferry are pretty un-inspiring to say the least, but I was hopeful about Randall's route recommendation once I was in to Missouri. He called it a roller coaster. About 2 miles from the Ferry I was clipping along at a nice 60 mph and looking at trees, the dawn and the scenery... when I looked back to the road, I had a deer and two fawns in my face!

Thank GOD for the brakes on the 7th gen. It's like throwing an anchor off the back of the bike, and the ABS was likely a life-saver for me. I left two black marks and some feces in the road as the deer split around me bounding off in to the treeline. There is now also a distinct tear in the vinyl on my seat in a perfect circle shape. This was far and away the closest I'd come to hitting a deer and scared the hell out of me. A few minutes later, I pulled up to the ferry.

I couldn't help but think I was going across the Styx. I was still pretty shaken up by the deer.

The boatman had a good recommendation for breakfast on the north side of the lake, The "Dinner Bell". I guess it's a husband and wife, the Bells, that own this building. He does boat repair, "The Diving Bell" and she does the cafe, "The Dinner Bell." Clever and kind of punny. (Too much?)

After a warm-up of coffee and a waffle, it was on to the REAL riding of the day.

I caught HWY 160 East, and Randall wasn't kidding... it was a roller coaster. It's a little odd to get a fully-loaded sport (touring) bike airborne coming over a hill, but I did it repeatedly. The 1200 handled it fine despite the 100lbs of cargo and my fat tookus.

The rest of the day past Poplar Bluff was cold and boring. It didn't warm up over 43 degrees the entire day according to my thermometer. I need to just disable that thing as I'd almost rather not know. I was dressed warmly, but once you get that chill it's hard to shake off at 75mph.

Crossing the Mississippi was a landmark for me... it was kind of neat leaving the ground in Missouri, landing in Illinois, then up again to land in Kentucky all within 1/2 hour. The views from the apex of the bridges were beautiful, but traffic dictated that I couldn't easily pull off to get any pictures.

The plan for the remainder of the day was to make it all the way to the east side of Nashville so that I wouldn't have to fight rush-hour the following morning heading to Knoxville. I have to admit, when I got to Paducah, I really thought about calling it for the day. I'd ruptured a disc in my back a few years ago, which actually was the injury that lead me to the VFR's more "neutral" riding position. Normally, it does pretty well, but after about 300 miles it was really starting to hurt to the point that my eyes would tear up after a bad ripple in the pavement. I decided to push it.

The burn down 24 from Paducah to Nashville was a great lesson in dealing with pain. It was all I could do to try and push it from my mind, especially as temperatures started dropping after sunset. I made myself stop and stretch every 45 minutes or so, hoping that keeping my back moving would stop it from locking up, or my muscles spasming... it was a close run thing.

On the outskirts of Nashville, I chatted it up with a guy driving a fuel truck who's family was from Oklahoma City. He was walking past my bike, noticed my plate and said, "You're a long way from your bed, man!" This was well after dark. I told him I was gunning for East Nashville and he offered some directions when dealing with the Nashiville highway system to speed me on my way to the destination for the night. I really appreciated his advice, it cut a good 15 miles off my planned route!

I finally pulled in to the Motel at 11pm, 16 hours after I'd started for the day. I was cold, exhausted, really hurting and ready for about a 3 hour hot shower. I made horrible time with all the stops to help my back, but clicked in just over 500 miles. I didn't get many pictures this day, but was really focusing on making some distance.

More to come.

[Yokel]

[Yokel]

Tuesday dawned with one goal, limber my back up enough to crawl to Deal's Gap. The day would primarily be slab, but at least I-40 out of Nashville to Knoxville is pretty with a couple curves to keep me from going to sleep and allow me a chance to alter my body position some.

I stopped for breakfast out of Nashville at the finest establishment America has to offer for the job...

Breakfast down, it was time to head out. I was blessed again with sunshine and was ready to get to my goal. I've got to hand it to Tennessee, they really take the time to make their highway system nice. They've got some of the best-kept slab in the US as far as I'm concerned. The ride was fairly uneventful through to Knoxville as was expected. I dropped on to HWY 129 from Knoxville and headed south to N. Carolina.

This is a piece of road I'd been looking to ride for basically my entire adult life. I was about to experience first hand the fruition of a 15 year dream. The first bit from Knoxville is typical city grind, but I could see the mountains looming like old men huddled over a chess table in the distance inviting me over for a game. I finally started to remember to get some photos about the time I started getting closer to my goal.

This is a pull-out off of 129, the first real chance I had to get a decent shot. The highway curls up alongside a small lake for about 10 miles... it's absolutely beautiful.

Through the trees you start to see the motorcycling related businesses start popping up... "Dragon's pit BBQ," the Harley shop that sews patches while you wait. It's pretty obvious I've meandered in to Motorcycling Mecca for the Easterners.

Bathrooms are hard to find however... and I stopped in at a boat ramp to handle some business. Inside I found an Easter Egg of toilet graffiti that I couldn't resist sharing. It was one of those chemical toilets we all hate so much.

If you are having a hard time reading it, it states: "To prevent chemical splash-back, lower all BIG TURDS by hand. Thx, Management"

I just about fell in laughing so hard.

Back on the bike and ON to Deal's Gap!

[Yokel]

Those of you who have been paying attention have to have noticed by now the unholy abomination that I've attached to the back of my bike... The aluminum TRAX boxes. Sure, it makes the 1200 look like a Ryder truck from the back. They ride well, hold more than you could ever want to carry and are secure and waterproof. I can't complain too much. Riding in to Deal's Gap from the North requires you to ride into the Dragon before you arrive at the hotel just over the border into North Carolina. I was feeling fresh enough today despite the tightness of my back to kick it up a notch on that road to enjoy getting in for the night. It's a different piece of asphalt for sure.

Many of the corners are canted in such a way to really compress your suspension. Flicking the big girl into the turns showed me one really severe drawback of my luggage I hadn't noticed yet...

It's the first thing to touch when REALLY digging in deep in a corner.

Some of you guys drag your pegs... I drag my bags. Scared the ever living bejeezus out of me about 4 miles in to the Dragon when I heard this God-awful scraping and the chassis got really upset. I guess I was clipping along a little faster than I thought!

The road is crazy. It's like the engineer chucked a piece of spaghetti against a wall and mapped that for a route. It's the hands-down twistiest piece of asphalt I've ridden in my life.

This is where I pulled over to see what the hell I was dragging in a turn... Figured I'd get some beauty shots.

I finally pulled in to Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort at about 4pm local time. The first thing that greeted me was a good wake up call to caution.

Ladies and Gents, that was a NEW 2013 Ducati 848. More on that in a bit.

I pulled in to the place I'd be staying, checking in to my room and unloading the VFR, then headed to their restaurant and shoved a burger down my gob.

The accommodations are basic, but clean. They'd done a renovation lately, but I just couldn't really justify what they charge there. $60/night buys you a prison cell with a ceramic john in lieu of a stainless one, but that's about it.

The rooms are TINY! It didn't help that they shove a bunk bed, AND a full-size bed into the main room. There are no tables at ALL, but you do get a baker's rack to shove all your crap on to. The nicest thing was the curbing to butt your back tire against to keep the bike from rolling down the hill.

Naturally, I did have to stop at the store and get a commemorative pin...

I EARNED that puppy.

More to come.

[Yokel]

The one feeling I had about Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort was that it was really a well-marketed tourist trap. The staff is great for the most part, but you still get this sneaking suspicion that they really don't like motorcyclists.... or they're just sick of the hype. It's all about DRAGONS around here. They have DRAGON everything.

Guys, it's asphalt. The only time asphalt ISN'T asphalt is Laguna Seca. That's a legend. This is ASPHALT with TRAFFIC on it and very VERY few signs to show upcoming corners, lots of trees right off the roadway, cliffs, semi-trucks in your lane and locals that are fed up with a$$holes on 2 wheels.

Don't misunderstand, I've wanted to ride this piece of road for a long time... but it is, in the end, a piece of road. It doesn't breathe fire. I was mildly disappointed that it didn't breathe fire.

I did have to get a photo of the VFR (pristine) next to the "Tree of Shame".

(There's a windshield up there that says, "Never try to follow the Repsol." Love it.)

I pulled my phone out to call home and let the family know I made it in okay.

Hmm... no signal. Checked Wi-Fi networks... nothing.

Crap.

Down to the office I went.

"Excuse me, Ma'am," I said to the lady at the counter. "Where can I go to get a cell signal."

"What network are you with?" She asks.

"Uhm... Verizon?"

"Ah, okay. If you need to send a text, head back north 10 miles on 129 to the top of the mountain. There's a little scenic pull-off 1/2 way down the road that has enough signal to send and receive a text message. If you need to make a call, head south to Robbinsville about 20 miles. There's a booster out there that gets good reception."

You're joking. I knew this place was out in the sticks, but this is FRIGGIN' AWESOME! I went back to the bike to head to Robbinsville, and my new neighbor was just pulling in on his CBR XX. We chatted for a minute and when I mentioned that I was headed to Robbinsville, he gave me some cash with a request to replenish his cigarette supply. No problem dude! In Robbinsville, I checked in with the family, letting them know not to worry if they didn't hear from me for a couple days... if things got TOO crazy, they'd get a call from either the local Sheriff or the local hospital or morgue. (A word of advice, not the wisest thing to say to your mother.)

Back at the Motel later as the sun was setting, another group pulled in for the night down from my neighbor and I. Dave is the guy with the XX, and I can't recall the other dude's names. Dave was from Nashville, the other guys from upstate New York.

More to come....

[crakerjac]

Great ride report! Cannot wait to read more. Did you lose your top case midway through the trip? It looks like you started out with a top case and windshield attachment... but in the last few pictures they are missing. I'm looking at taking a trip to New Mexico in August on the VFR. After the ride report, let us know what worked and what didn't on the bike during the trip.

[Yokel]

Great ride report! Cannot wait to read more. Did you lose your top case midway through the trip? It looks like you started out with a top case and windshield attachment... but in the last few pictures they are missing. I'm looking at taking a trip to New Mexico in August on the VFR. After the ride report, let us know what worked and what didn't on the bike during the trip.

I actually left the top-case in Arkansas... found that loaded as much as it was I developed a "unique" handling characteristic of the bike trying to shake off those ugly bags! The topcase was loaded with camping gear, and with my back feeling like it was, I opted not to sleep onthe ground, so I left it at the hotel in Arkansas to pick up on my way back home.

The windshield attachment in the group photo shot is actually of Gloryracing's rig... a different VFR1200F.

The kickstand stopped working... that was the only failure. More on that as I get it written.

[Yokel]

Night ONE at Deal's Gap.

There were only 6 of us staying in the Motel this early in the season, and one brave soul from Wisconsin camping in the campground. Deal's Gap rolls up the carpets at 6pm, and with no cell-phone reception, plenty of beer and some park benches out front, it's pretty condusive to bullshitting at night.

The players:

Myself, the Yokel from Oklahoma. (VFR1200F)

Dave, the ex-track day instructor from Nashville. (CBR1100XX kitted for touring)

The Four Amigos, some dudes in their mid-twenties from upstate New YAHWK. (2013 CBR1000RR, 2013 Ducati 848, 2012 Ducati HyperMotard, 2008 Buell thing.)

The Nameless Adventure Dude on a completely Beverly-Hillbilly'd out Wee-Strom. (2008 V-Strom 650)

Part of what I love most about this passion of ours is that you can toss 7 people who don't know one another in this situation and we all have a blast. We were from all walks of life, all incomes, all lines of work and we laughed until we cried. (I think the only legit tears were from the kid who chucked his Italian Mistress off a cliff.. he has some pretty good bruises from the rock that stopped him, the bike was stopped by a strategically placed tree.)

The lads from NY State were the highlight for me... they were drinking like fish and smoking something HIGHLY suspect. Not my cup-o-tea in the least, but hey, it's legal in two states now, right? I asked one of them what he does for a living.

"I'm an electrician I guess you'd say."

Come to find out, some of these guys run a particle accelerator for theoretical physics and manage and maintain the magnetic systems responsible for suspending the electrons on their trips along the ring. You've got to be kidding me.

They load up their bikes once a year and ride hell-for-leather out here in the early season. The kid on the rashed Duc took a wicked tumble on a mis-judged turn. Frankly, he's lucky in more ways than one. A tree stopped the bike from sliding down a cliff, and he seemed to think that the frame was okay... he might be the potential owner of the first "Streetfighter" 848 in NY soon. Every bit of that machine is scratched, scraped, bent or broken except the seat. They were JUST able to get a rope from their truck to the front wheel of the Duc and yank it back up the cliff-face. Gear likely saved this kid from a trip to the local hospital with more injuries than some bruises and a bruised ego... He was pretty darn stiff limping around the Gap.

The assortment of machines was equally as unique as the people who rode them. The lads were fairly stock, but I think their bikes fit their personalities pretty well. Dave's XX was TRICKED out. Full suspension setup, Givi stuff, sick LED brake-light setup, HID deer lights, a horn that would make the angel Gabriel blush and a ridiculous seat. He'd put Motorcross bars on it, and they made the riding position of that missile just prime. The guy on the V-Strom had a full compliment of heated gear, 3 hard-bags, tank bag and a dry bag strapped across the pillion the size of a World War II army duffel with TWO GPS systems... one for turn-by-turn and one for trail waypoints.

Dave and I kind of hit it off, I guess my tobacco peace-offering trip to Robbinsville made me a friend. He and I decided to team up Wednesday and he'd show me around the area as this was all virgin territory for me.

I cashed in around midnight with my 1000mg of Ibuprofen and called it a day.

More to come... this time with some photos.

[Yokel]

Wednesday dawned beautifully once again.. the temps were good for a change which was welcome.

Dave and I set out about 9am. We looped up North on 129, back in to Tennessee. I put Dave out front as he was an unknown quantity and seemed to be more experienced based on the conversations from the night before. Good call on my part, he was fully loaded to head home and was keeping a pretty good clip.

We decided to have breakfast in Tellico Plains this morning, then zip down the Cherohala Skyway.

Killboy caught us in the a.m.

Tellico was a beautiful little town.

Breakfast was great.

Here's some shots from the Skyway. In my opinion, this is a better road than the Dragon. The Gap simply wears you out, especially muscling that fat 1200 around the tight turns... The skyway BEGS to be ridden fast. There was still snow in the upper elevations, but the road is smooth, the vistas are beautiful, and you'd be able to drag a peg for several hundred yards at a time through some of these sweepers. There was also significantly less traffic.

Scenery Porn:

This was on the Skyway.

Incredible views... Worth the trip for that alone.

I parted company with Dave after the Skyway run... we stopped in Robbinsville and then back to the Gap for a rest. Later that afternoon, I went alone down to get some pictures along the river.

Astute observers might notice a couple new stickers... one on the windshield and one above the Honda emblem on the side fairing.

I imagine that the area in the height of spring is just astounding. Talking to the locals though, it sounds like I picked the right time to come out as the prime of the riding season is a complete mad-house. People are crawling all over themselves on 129, wrecking right and left. One local gal in Robbinsville said that she hits an AVERAGE of 1 bike a year when they blow a turn and cross centerline. I hope she was kidding, but I fear she wasn't. She said you just jam the brakes and hope the bike misses your car, 'cause if you swerve to avoid them, you'll take out 5 other bikes.

Not. Fun. Thoughts.

More beauty:

Wednesday was in the books. No damage to my bike, all my fingers and toes in my position, and a grouchy back. I headed back to the Gap.

I stopped by the Killboy shop across 129 from the Hotel to check out some of their swag earlier in the day... Have to share this, thought it was pretty neat.

Bought my stickers there to support what they do. I get HOURS of entertainment from their website when I'm stuck at home on rainy days or need motivation to plan a ride.

I shared a couple beers with the guys from New York, listened to and told some good war stories of the motorcycling variety, sold them on the idea of trying Arkansas next year and went to bed.

The forecast for Thursday, the day I was headed back west, was looking REALLY poor. A cold front was coming in, and a rainstorm from the Gulf Coast up to flippin' Ohio was coming East...

More to come...

[Yokel]

Thursday dawned with the most absolutely piss-poor weather I could dream up next to snow and ice.

It was 36 degrees and POURING rain.

I'm familiar enough with my riding gear to know a 30 minute shower isn't that big of a deal, I'll stay dry. 31 minutes and I'll be soaked to the bone. I dropped by the store and bought some Frog Toggs.

Those. Are. Amazing. Just sayin... money VERY well spent.

I had a 14 hour ride ahead of me today.. the goal was to go to Jonesboro at the least.

I loaded up the VFR, put on 6 layers of clothes, and set out west.

Riding the Gap in the pouring rain with numb hands is not something I'd recommend unless you're looking for stress-cramped shoulders. If you ARE looking for that, I highly recommend it. I stopped about 90 minutes later, dropped my kickstand and set the bike over.

It almost fell over. Craaaaap. I investigate further and my kickstand is ONE thread on the bolt from falling off. Yougottabekiddingme! I've had this bike for a year and a half, and this is the ONLY issue I've even remotely had pop up. All my tools are buried in a side case under some rather foul laundry, it's POURING out, I can hardly feel my effing fingertips since my gloves are NOT waterproof, I'm on the side of a highway 1200 miles from home...

... Could have been worse. It COULD have fallen off and been 50 miles down the road. Shame on me for not doing a pre-ride check. Lesson learned.

I balanced the bike on my knee and finger tightened the bold holding the kickstand/shifter assembly with the intention to pull over somewhere a bit more dry (read: gas station) to do a proper fix on this issue so I didn't lose bits the whole way home. I did think enough to shove a piece of chewing gum on the head of the bolt to help keep it from working loose. Tightening the gum up in the threads of the bolt looked like it might buy me a few miles...

I got back on my faithful steed, thumbed the engine to life and started back towards Knoxville.

This trip turned from Glorious at the beginning, to insistently painful mid-way to practically un-Godly for the ride home. I was very non-plussed.

As I rode, I took honest stock of my situation. I'm looking down the barrel of another marathon day. My back is killing me. My bike is needing some attention. I can't feel my hands at all. It's going to be raining the ENTIRE stinking day no matter what route I go, and if I just give in and get a room for the night, I'll have to do TWO back to back back-breaking days instead of three more manageable ones... and my 35th Birthday is the next day.

I felt a lot like this.

More to come.

[Yokel]

Those of you who know me and the story of my vehicular lifestyle understand that I sold my car in February.

This was the third time I'd gone bike-only. 8 months in 2012, I lived with only the VFR, 12 months in 2008 I lived on my CB600F. It's not unusual for me... I get by just fine.

I cried uncle.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, MY SALVATION.

When I got to Knoxville, I pulled in to the first dealership I came to that sold Toyota's. I had sold cars for over 10 years before my current career, and these guys didn't know what the heck to think when some drowned, frozen Okie pulled up on a bike that looked like it was about to fall over when he set it on the sidestand. Credit to them though, they did bend over backwards for me.

Happy 35th Birthday to ME, baby. It's got a HEATER! Who would have thought?!!?! There's all these really cool tie-down spots in the bed, it's a 4x4 for when we get snow and ice, it's a 4 cylinder for the gas mileage (even though it won't get out of it's own way power-wise), it's got mirrors, speakers, WINDSHIELD WIPERS, it doesn't drool oil like my Jeep with 250k miles on it...

I put the first scratch in my new pickup 30 minutes after I took delivery when I was loading the VFR (No, I didn't sell the bike, thanks) in the back and the ramp came off the tailgate stranding my motorcycle high-centered on its catalytic converter 1/2 in and 1/2 out of the bed of the truck. Dammit.

I had planned to wait until the 2014's came out to get another grand or so off a truck like this, and had decided on these for the resale and reliability (had an old Toyota pickup I SUNK and it wouldn't quit running), but this trip made me re-think that plan and ratchet the time-frame up a few months. Besides, it's a better story over a beer to say that I rode 2000 miles across 6 states to simply buy a car, right? Better than saying I was stuck in a pickle and shucked out the dough for this to bail my potentially crippled spine out of more torment?

Loaded up, drying off, laughing like hell at the situation, I started slogging back to Arkansas. (I was rained on for 10 more hours, and the temperature never broke 40 degrees.)

I took the same route back to the Hub that I had taken to North Carolina, arriving amid FLOCKS of deer. There must have been 200+ that I spotted after the sun went down in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.

I called Randall and Debbie, letting them know I'd be back at the hotel a day ahead of schedule. I told them I'd be in LATE. Debbie (bless her) told me what room I'd be in, that they'd leave the key in the door and we'd settle up in the morning.

I finally pulled in at 3am, the break-in finished on my new pickup.

The next morning was gorgeous.

I took a good, hard look at the bike in the clear sunlight and made another executive decision. It was time to spend some time wrenching on the bike. She was starting to show some signs of neglect. Things were loosening up... throttle cables etc... She's due for the valve inspection and some permanent wiring adjustments for the 1st, 2nd gear issues. Having used the VFR so hard for so long was starting to show...

Nothing too bad, but she was asking for some time. I drove her to my old man's shop, unloaded her where she is awaiting a couple good weekends of beer and wrenching. I'm going to do all the fluids, put on some speed-bleeders perhaps, some new valve-stems, do the valves, replace the filters, and basically pay some attention to her. I think I pushed me, and the bike, ALMOST too far on this trip...

But was it ever worth it.

Until next time, ride safe. (and check your kickstand bolt torque.)

-Jon

[Yokel]

Oh... on a side note.

Figure I may as well do a road comparison seeing as how I hit some of the prime real estate out there that's East of OKC.

"So, Yokel, where are the GOOD roads?"

Yes. They're all good.

I prefer the signage in Arkansas though... seems like they take more time to mark their turns and it's VERY helpful in clipping along on unfamiliar roads. That was a constant fear in Tennessee and N. Carolina for me, the markings didn't seem to be as reliable.

For me, I'd say I prefer the roads in Arkansas to what I saw in TN and NC. There's way less traffic, far fewer LEO's, and the tarmac is comparable if not better. The views in TN and NC stomp the heck out of what the Ozarks have to offer. There's just a grandeur in the smokies that you can't escape.. and it's got a smell to it that is just sublime. The locals in Arkansas also seem to kind of WANT you there, whereas the locals around Deal's Gap just kind of shake their head. I dunno, maybe it's just in my imagination. Naturally, my opinion may be marred by the fact I'm just simply more familiar with what Arkansas has to offer, so am more relaxed there. People DO have their favorite roads, though.

Just my $.02 if you're basing a ride off of any of the photos etc... that I've posted up.

Also: Shout out to Switchblade and JeffinFranklin, sorry we couldn't get together guys... thanks so much for all the help you gave getting this planned and the offers for support in case something broke. Very VERY appreciated.

[Switchblade]

"Dave, the ex-track day instructor from Nashville. (CBR1100XX kitted for touring)

I have met this guy before, nice setup on the CBR.

[Switchblade]

Me too I had plan on that Thurs and Fri but the weather would not cooperate oh well come to TMac and will try again !!!!