Just Ride.

Should this ride thread be just a.... well, thread? Or should there be a dedicated Forum topic?

  • Yes, it's own topic in the Forums

    Votes: 19 90.5%
  • Nah... threads good enough.

    Votes: 2 9.5%

  • Total voters
    21
  • Poll closed .
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Old barn hidden off the road and it's owners.
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Trucked my bike up to NJ last month, then after the monsoons stopped, I took the back roads from High Point, NJ up to the Catskills, then down 9W along the west side of the Hudson River. About a 260 mile day trip! Man, what a comfortable seat and a beautiful day.
This is a Pepacton reservior somewhere in upstate NY. My new ride! 96 Virago xv750.
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I've been spending FAR too much time working on getting my shop set up. I'm waiting on a couple of items to finish up the furnace and compressor install.

It's 68°, wall-to-wall sunshine, Fall colors just starting to show up.

It's time. If I take any pictures, I'll post 'em up.
 
I'm baaaack.

Just short of 140 miles, perfect weather, roads varied from fairly decent to brand new asphalt, traffic was only an issue a couple of times and I had fun passing them like a big-assed bird!

I was having too much fun riding to stop and take pictures but I did stake out a couple of spots that will make GREAT pictures when the color comes on.

I feel MUCH better now...
 
I recently drove down to Florida (The Villages) from our home in East Tennessee to help out when my mom had hernia repair surgery. On both the trip down and the trip back, I decided to go "the back way," avoiding Interstate 75 as much as possible. As my wife might have needed a car while I was gone, and as she can no longer drive a manual transmission, I took the Miata (leaving her the E-Class).

My trip on the backroads got me thinking about how the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System did irreparable damage to the small towns of America. Until the highways replaced the spider's web of smaller roads draped across the US, the roads passed through small towns and burgs. The hotels, motels, restaurants, and other businesses patronized by the travelers were owned, operated, and staffed by people from the local communities through which the roads passed. The locals also patronized these businesses, and people tended to know those who owned and staffed them.

Then the interstates took over, bypassing all those little towns and their businesses. The towns were replaced by rest stop businesses, franchises and company stores, owned by people far from the communities which supplied the workers who staffed them. Even then, the workers came from no single community, but were drawn in from miles away, few knowing those with whom they worked. Meanwhile, the small towns died.

And now we are left with traveling through places as homogenous, and anonymous as tapioca, everything the same, with nothing left but a frantic urge to get to our destination before the indigestion sets in from yet another fast food sandwich in one hand while the other aims the car down another stretch of highway indistinguishable from the last.

I didn't take any photos on the trip down, but did so on the way back.

My first detour, after having left The Villages, was to Micanopy, Florida, a small, artsy town where they filmed "Doc Hollywood" staring Michael J Fox and Julie Warner.
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Along the way, I stopped at a great little restaurant where the nice lady at the cashier's window said, "you know it's rib day. Just took them out of the smoker about a half hour ago."

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The life of a writer...

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So many of the roads were just beautiful!

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Took the opportunity to get a good shot of the Miata at this roadside Coca-Cola advertisement (I think this was in Micanopy).

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Listened to a little 4-piece at a stop for food.

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Got a big ole headache and stopped at a great little bookstore/coffee shop.

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Saw some interesting roadside 'attractions'

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And stopped for gas at a place with a better view than that from by own backyard.

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And the best part was, despite having to take the trip in two days because of the added miles and time, I arrived at my destinations much less fatigued than I had ever been when taking the highways.

Hope you enjoyed the trip!
 
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I got back yesterday from a three day ride to hang out with the VYR crowd, a British Car Show and a run up the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Friday morning it was a three hour ride up to to Iron Horse Motorcycle Lodge with the temp hovering around 45* and limited visibility. Once there I went on an all day ride with 12 other Rally attendees. It was a good day and fun ride. Came back and rode another 1 1/2 hrs to a hotel in Waynesville. The next morning rode an hour (after looking for a place that was open for breakfast; no mean feat) to Asheville for the West Carolina British Car show. I talked my self hoarse to other Triumph owners, had a beer at the brewery and then took off to hit the Parkway. If you have never been on the Parkway then you owe it to yourself to ride it at least once. I had a great time although I have to admit I was a little aggressive passing people. It's hard not to when you are astride 145 HP and stuck behind a tourist doing 30 MPH. Even though it was Saturday with perfect weather I was by myself for probably 85% of the ride. When I hit 1/2 full on my tank I turned around and went South. On the way back I decided to take it easy and not pass anyone. Well, that lasted until I was behind a guy on a scooter barely doing 30 MPH. So I scooted by at double the limit and that's when I met Officer Friendly! He let me off with a warning as long as a I promised to take it easy going back which I did. Then back to Waynesville for dinner at a brewery, another night at the hotel and then three hours home on Sunday.
A note about small towns. I love going through them and stopping and talking to the inhabitants, admiring the architecture and patronizing the businesses. Southern hospitality is a thing in North Carolina for sure.
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Drove in to Deep Homo today to pick up some more plywood (ouch...) and there was an older couple - my age at least, probably older - on a Royal Enfield with a side hack. Dad, Mom and their Brittany Spaniel. We yakked a bit and I suggested a couple of local rides they might like. They're up from Florida in their RV and use the Enfield as their around-town vehicle.

Bike and hack were red over white, said he's had it for about a year and put a couple of thousand miles on it.

Pretty cool!
 
Slimy Crud run today. WJL got the nod and treated me fine.

Ran into lots of fellow riders I know including several XS'rs, though WJL was the only XS I saw at Leland.
Ducati 250?
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Ending up eating lunch with the trike rider. Nice guy, wife has back issues, trike with the big floor boards only thing she can get aboard. They rack up lots of miles on it.
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Really sharp paint, look close it's a trike.
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Vincent in "daily rider/survivor" shape being ridden how rare is that?

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Three classics!
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only 23K
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You'd think we were in church but just talking about WJL, :unsure:
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Perfect day for a Fall ride. Middle 60's, not a cloud in the sky. These pictures are off Route 9 (The Airline) that runs East to West across the entire state, from the Canadian border at Calais/St. Stephen to the New Hampshire line. The section I rode is about 25 miles long between Clifton and Beddington. Clifton is near Bangor, Beddington is dead center of the middle of nowhere in the Washington County blueberry barrens. From there I can duck down a back road South to Route 1 and be within 20 miles of home.

Shade over 100 miles total.
 
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Perfect day for a Fall ride. Middle 60's, not a cloud in the sky. These pictures are off Route 9 (The Airline) that runs East to West across the entire state, from the Canadian border at Calais/St. Stephen to the New Hampshire line. The section I rode is about 25 miles long between Clifton and Beddington. Clifton is near Bangor, Beddington is dead center of the middle of nowhere in the Washington County blueberry barrens. From there I can duck down a back road South to Route 1 and be within 20 miles of home.

Shade over 100 miles total.

Oh man! What pretty country and with the fall colors starting, nice! :thumbsup:
 
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