Yankees Invade the Confederacy

[nicrosato]

My friend Frank and I arrived at my daughter's home in Cumming, GA Friday night after 3 days of riding, covering nearly 1200 miles. It was, of course, interesting. i will post details a little later. I couldn't post while in transit because the wireless in the hotel we stayed in the 2nd night didn't work, and I was too tired the first night to even think of going online.

The quick pluses: The Monster got close to 50 miles per gallon and behaved flawlessly. It was not unco0mfortable; the only physical discomfort I experienced was that my aging knees would start to ache as the day wore on. That had less to do with the riding position and more to do with 65-yr old knees.

Costs were reasonable. Frank has some type of employee discount card for Quality Inn/ Comfort Inn, so we paid about $30 a night total for lodging.

More to follow.

[nicrosato]

Day 1- Despite getting up at 5AM, I didn't get on the road until 7:15, meaning I had to creep through the NY morning traffic: LIE to BQE to Williamsburgh Bridge, across lower Manhattan, Holland Tunnel to Jersey City. I got on I-78 and headed west. I stopped once in Phillipsburg, NJ to fuel up. I-78 merges with I-81 about 25 miles northeast of Harrisburg, PA. I met my buddy Frank at a diner outside Harrisburg. Total mileage from Huntington, Long Island to Harrisburg was 210; total elapsed time about 5 hours. Frank had ridden his 2000 Honda Interceptor from Ithaca, NY on Tuesday night.

When we met, Frank noticed that my headlamp lens had a hole in it, probably from a rock, though I didn't recall it being hit. This was the only bike issue on either machine on the trip down to Georgia.

From Harrisburg, we took Hwy 15 to Gettysburg and on to Emmitsburg, MD. Quaint & very quiet little town. Nobody on the street. It was HOT- high 90's and humid.We stopped at a small engine repair shop and covered the hole in the headlamp with clear packing tape. We meandered through western Maryland and crossed into Virginia at Knoxville, MD, near Harper's Ferry. We actually crossed into W. Virginia and then headed to Front Royal, VA., our first day's planned destination.

I ended up doing a total of about 360 miles the first day. The Monster got about 48 miles per gallon and behaved perfectly. I crossed some of the major rivers of the Northeast- the Hudson, the Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, Shenandoah.

I was tired, as much from the heat and not getting enough sleep the night before as anything.

[nicrosato]

We were tired Wednesday night and slept later than we planned Thurs morning. We didn 't get on the road until 10:00. Front Royal is at the northern end of Shenandoah Nat'l Park and the Skyline Drive. It is about 105 miles to the end of the drive in Waynesboro, VA. The ride took us close to 4 hours, with the 35 mph speed limit (which we occasionally exceeded, but not by much), the traffic, and our stops at the scenic overlooks.




It was a beautiful ride, even at lower speeds.

[Mars]

It appears that this was a beautifully, scenic, but very slow ride. Those are the best rides! Meeting up with Frank from Ithaca? I believe that is central New York, Cornell University comes to mind. I'm familiar with NY since being from upstate Rochester NY. Nice picture in Shenandoah! It sounds like your getting good gas mileage running the stock exhaust on your monster. I'm curious to find out what my gas mileage will be on the Termi's after the break-in period. From various things I've read about the monster gas mileage, the more miles on the bike (preferably 7000 or more) gas mileage tends to peak at its best. How was the comfort factor over so many miles? My Monster just had it's first 600 mile service and has not seen a lenghthy road trip. It takes a while to build trust between man and the machine. I'm curious about the gas, comfort, and handling on a long trip. My cruiser does very well on out of state trips, but I guess that is what they are built to provide.

We were tired Wednesday night and slept later than we planned Thurs morning. We didn 't get on the road until 10:00. Front Royal is at the northern end of Shenandoah Nat'l Park and the Skyline Drive. It is about 105 miles to the end of the drive in Waynesboro, VA. The ride took us close to 4 hours, with the 35 mph speed limit (which we occasionally exceeded, but not by much), the traffic, and our stops at the scenic overlooks.




It was a beautiful ride, even at lower speeds.

[nicrosato]

Mars- Frank actually worked at Cornell until a few years ago (a CPA, he was the business mgr for Cornell Athletics). He and his lady friend now own several houses in Ithaca and rent them to students.

Those are Termi's on my '01 M900Sie- they were on the bike when I bought used from a guy on The Old Board.

I found the bike to be as comfortable as can be expected from a machine tasked for a mission it's not exactly built for. As I said earlier, the only physical discomfort I feel is my knees towards the end of the day- and we put in 10 hour days, 14 hours on Friday. And I attribute that more to the fact that they are 65-yr old knees. Arms, shoulders, back, butt- no aches. I weight 220 lbs, so the Sargent seat would be fine for someone lighter.

Handling? Hey, it's a Monster and its siblings are Superbikes.

[nicrosato]

Thursday, continued: We got to Waynesboro, VA about 2:00. Hot and humid weather in the mountains means afternoon thunderstorms. Over lunch, we decided to take I-64 west and then I-81 south to Roanoke. The storms were west of us, moving east, so we wanted to get as far south as we could quickly.

Over bottled waters at a Quik-Stop in Roanoke, we made plans for the final destination for the day. We needed to do this so Frank could call his lady friend Pat who would set up a motel reservation at a discounted rate.

Taking the advice of a famous North Carolinian, Cloner, we decided to head for Mt. Airy, NC. Pat got us a room in Pilot Mtn, NC, about 10 miles south of Mt. Airy.

We got on the Blue Ridge Pkwy in Roanoke and sped south. It was late afternoon, there was little traffic and the BRP allows faster riding than the Skyline Dive. We hit 65 mph in stretches. Great stretch of riding. We exited the BRP at Rt 52 and immediately were headed downhill for several miles in a relentless series of switchbacks. Nice.

Mt. Airy, as Cloner informed me, served as the model for Mayberry on the old Andy Griffith tv show. In fact,. as we approached town, Rt 52 became the Andy Griffith Pkwy. Onto Pilot Mtn., check in to the Quality Inn and grab a burger at 9:00 in the motel restaurant. I resisted telling the waitress that we were successful adult video producers from NYC taking a motorcycle vacation, but keeping our eyes open for new talent.

Wireless internet didn't work. Passed out by 10:30.

[Cloner]

Sounds like you're having fun, Nic.  That's the purpose of motorcycles, though, isn't it?  I hope you got to hit of few of the twistier roads on my list, but if not maybe you can pick them up on the way back north.  The BRP is a blast, but the 45 mph speed limit can get cumbersome after a while....not that it means much to some of us.....but those triple-digit blasts for extended distances can draw unwanted attention.   

Keep the old girl on two (the Monster, not Barbara) and have a blast!

[nicrosato]

Friday morning started with one of the best stretches of the trip. We took NC Rt 268 from Pilot Mtn to N. Wilkesboro. 2-lane road through mostly a farm country of rolling hills, the road ranging from sweepers to tighter turns. Not too much traffic  and lots of friendly waves from the people we passed. Passing through N. Wilkesboro, we continued onto Boone and eventually got back on the Blue Ridge Pkwy and headed for Asheville.

We had lunch in Asheville and ended up waiting an hour for a severe thunderstorm watch to end. We decided to take Rt 19 to Bryson City. There were some great sections on this road, including another downhill sequence of seemingly-endless switchbacks for miles. But we also encountered construction delays and the absolutely bizarre town of Cherokee: Reservation land with Native American-themed strip malls. And, of course, a casino under construction.

We got to Robbinsville, NC, the NC side of the Tail of the Dragon at about 6:00. After dawdling for 45 minutes at a Quik-Mart, talking bikes and riding with 2 young Canadians, we decided to postpone riding the Dragon until our return trip. The main reason is that US129 is closed at the Tennessee end, so if you ride it, you need to turn around and come back. It would have been most likely 8:30 before we headed towards Georgia. So, off we went on 129 towards Tennessee.

After dodging rain for 2 days, it finally caught up with us. We pulled over, donned our rain gear, and continued southwest. We were lucky not to ride through much actual rain, but the roads were wet.

Crossing into Tennessee, we passed the turn for Blairsville, GA, finally turning south and passing through Blue Ridge, GA. From there it was 70 miles of straight highway driving on Rt 5/I-575 to Cumming. We pulled into my daughter's garage at 11PM. We had started riding at 8:15 that morning.



So, it's Sunday night and tomorrow we're headed north.




   

 

[Duck-Stew]

Nice read and sounds like one helluva a ride too!     [moto]

[El Matador]

Woot! Congrats! Sounds like you guys are having fun 

We were really lucky in that we didn't encounter any police officers during the BRP or Skyline runs. You can't really enjoy those roads properly at 35mph. We enjoyed them thoroughly 

[nicrosato]

We didn't get on the road till 10 AM Monday, lolly-gagging with my grand kids. We headed north on Georgia 400/18. This brought us to the jumping off point for the best ride of the trip- Route 19 from Dahlonega to Blairsville, GA. About 30 miles of twisties without much traffic. Beautiful day, great scenery in the north Georgia mountains.

After that, the Tail of the Dragon was anticlimactic. After a nice 17 mile ride on US 129 through the Nantahala Nat'l Forest, we crossed into Tennessee- 30 mph speed limit, a parade of cruisers, and state troopers' with radar guns in hand. So, it was slow. I'm sure that detracted from the enjoyment. 11 miles into Tennessee, and we had to turn around where the road was closed by rock slides earlier this year. Stopping at the next scenic overlook, a thunderstorm hit and we rode most of the way back in the rain, trailing another parade of cruisers.

It would be nice to ride the Tail under the same conditions we had going from Dahlonega to Blairsville.

Anyway, we headed back to Asheville without more rain, then took I-26 to Johnson City, TN for the night.  We got to our motel about 10 minutes before a downpoar began.

[nicrosato]

Gor back home today at 2PM. 2315 miles after I left last Wednesday at 7:15 AM.

Yesterday was I-day, as in Interstate. We left Johnson City, got on I-81, and rode about 480 miles to Harrisburg, PA. We both needed to be back home today, so we were painting the white stripes. We left Harrisburg today on a clear morning- Canadian high blowing the heat and humidity south before it. It was in the low 60's and a little chilly in summer riding garb. We rode through the central Pennsylvania Mts, and split up near Hazelton where I-81 continues north and I-80 goes east.

Some thoughts: For any of you who have not seen the eastern part of the country, it is beautiful. The Shenandoah Valley, Western Carolina and the North Georgia Mountains are some of the most scenic places I've ever been.  And there are lots of roads for good riding.

Add the James River to my list of well-known rivers crossed.

Both bikes- my '01 M900Sie and Franks '00 Honda VFR 800- behaved perfectly. We both got about 50 miles per gallon. I haven't gone through the gas receipts yet, but I'm guessing we averaged about $2.70/gallon for 87 octane.

I endorse my Nelson-Rigg tank bag: Large capacity, good magnets, easy to both get at compartments and take on and off the bike.

My Frog's Toggs rain suit is OK. I need real rain boots and gloves if I'm going to ride in the rain. It did do its job of keeping most of me dry.

There are pretty women all over this country.

[Cloner]

Glad you got home safely, Nic, and glad you had fun, too.  You are correct in all of your assertions....especially the one about beautiful women being everywhere.   

[nicrosato]

Postscript:

I have an undergraduate degree in American History and one of my proclivities is occasionally to spend a month or two reading Civil War histories. For the holidays this year, Barbara's son gave me a text. "Shenandoah 1862" about Stonewall Jackson's campaign that spring. Having finished that, I decided to read a book given to me by my sister during one of the periods that I was not reading about the Civil War, "I Rode with Stoneway", written by one of Jackson's young staff officers.

What made these texts hit home was that I had covered a lot of this area in our ride south last year. It was very interesting to read the first-hand descriptions of the Valley after having seen it for myself.

Oh, did I mention that the Shenandoah Valley is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in this country?

[Cloner]

Postscript:

I have an undergraduate degree in American History and one of my proclivities is occasionally to spend a month or two reading Civil War histories. For the holidays this year, Barbara's son gave me a text. "Shenandoah 1862" about Stonewall Jackson's campaign that spring. Having finished that, I decided to read a book given to me by my sister during one of the periods that I was not reading about the Civil War, "I Rode with Stoneway", written by one of Jackson's young staff officers.

What made these texts hit home was that I had covered a lot of this area in our ride south last year. It was very interesting to read the first-hand descriptions of the Valley after having seen it for myself.

Oh, did I mention that the Shenandoah Valley is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in this country?

I, too, used to read histories for my personal gratification.  If you haven't read it,  you might try "Three Months in the Southern States" by Colonel Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle.  He was a British officer who came to tour the South during the Civil War whilst on leave.  It's a very interesting read.  Fremantle met many of the more well known Confederate officers including Polk, Bragg, Hardee, Lee, Stuart, Longstreet, Pickett and several other officers and personalities including Jefferson Davis, himself.  His description of the events of July 1863 at Gettysburg, PA is extraordinary, as are his writings about the area around Vicksburg, MS earlier in his travels.  Fremantle began his tour in Texas and worked his way northward during his three month visit.  The book is written in the form of a diary, of sorts, and is remarkable in its detail.  A book worth reading if one is interested in the history of the time. 

I might have to go back and reread this one, as I've forgotten much of it and am now beginning to recollect just how much.    Next time you're out we should look through my books to see if you'd like to borrow any.  I know I've shed a significant portion of my colleciton of books of this genre, but I think I still have a good biography of Lee and another of Longstreet, and maybe a few others.  Some books of this type are quite dry, but I think I kept a few of the better written ones.

The Shenandoah is, indeed, a beautiful bit of real estate.  I'm glad you got to experience a ride through it first hand.