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Where do I begin? It was such an awesome few days...........
Link to all the pics... these are not all the ones I took, but many of them..
Donna and I packed up Sunday morning and got on the road about noon to head to the mountains. Got caught in a freakin downpour from hell on the way, but no issues since I had things bagged up in the back of the truck "in case" and most of the crap was in the cab anyways. Rolled into Cloud 9 (http://www.cloud9relaxation.com/) about 5:30 or so, cracked open a beer, and unloaded the truck.
For those that have never been, Cloud 9 is a fantastic place! Quiet, scenic, secluded, owner is great, and within 10 minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway. What more can you ask for?
Cloud 9 entrance....
Guardian of the house!
View from the back porch....
Fire pit....
Only ones there so far were Sean and Moe, with Dan, Ester, and Alex due to show up within an hour or so. This was to be the crowd for a next couple days until others showed up the same day Donna and I were to head back home, so things were low key with no psychos to worry about and no drama. Just good times and good company!
Beverage of choice for some......
Canadian smokes. Now, it seems to me that this would make me wanna stop smoking......
Hangin out in the kitchen.... Moe, Donna, and Sean....
Donna hooked up a kick @ss dinner and the hot tub felt great, but the winds kept picking up and crap was blowing all over, so no fire Sunday night. Crashed out late and a bit buzzed, so the sleep came easy.
Got up Monday morning and since everyone was kinda chillin out, I got dressed and rode over to Rick's place for a bit, where he was busy building shocks for KLR's, and when I got back to Cloud 9, we had some breakfast and then everyone seemed ready for a ride, so we all headed out. Sean was going to ride the ZZR 250, but the wind was still blowing like crazy, so he went back on got the Bandit instead and we took it pretty easy. Hit up the Parkway and checked out 151, which was a debris field with sticks, leaves, and branches all over the place, so we took things pretty easy and tried to dodge stuff, but we turned around at the bottom and went back up to the Parkway and headed towards 276 to check out that piece of heavenly road. We ended up stopping in at the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground and hanging for a few. I enjoyed that place when we stayed there before about 5 or 6 years ago!
Breakfast... Thanks Ester!
Sean with the baby ZZR...
Waiting for Sean to get back from getting the Bandit....
BRMC...
After the BRMC, we headed back up 276 and crossed over to the south side and stopped off to take some pics at a waterfall area.
Sean...
Donna...
Miss "I ain't going down those stairs!" Ester!
We geared up to head out again when Alex point out that my rear tire looked low, and sure as hell.......... Somehow I managed to catch a freakin stick right in the center of the rear tire. I had less than 80 miles on this tire! That really sucks! I always come preparred with an air pump, so I tried getting it to take some air, and Donna hopped on with Sean while I tried to limp the 50 miles home. I ended up stopping on the Parkway and stuffed two plugs in the hole and got it to hold air, so I went straight to Rick's where he made a call and got me hooked up with a rear tire, so I headed out to pick that up and then changed it out at Rick's and was back in bizness! The place I got the tire had some wicked cool older bikes though!
WTF?
That night, while the girls were hooking up chow, we started doing some suspension set up on Sean's Bandit, which ended up with the typical Spring Fling rebuild in the garage! Turns out Sean measured the fork oil wrong, so the forks had to come apart to remove some oil! (btw..... Bring your own turkey baster next trip. I would not use this one if I were you!)
Sean..... How the phuck does this go together, eh?
More beer and story telling (swapping lies and such!) followed in typical fashion, with another great night of sleep as well!
Tuesday started off pretty late, and the intention was to end up doing the Gap and Skyway, with some of my other secret routes thrown in, which was gonna make for a long day, and with the late start, I was optimistic that we were going to manage all of the route, and as it turned out, we had to drop the Skyway portion of it, but we did do the Parkway from Cherokee to Ashville, 28 from Franklin to the Gap, Deals Gap, and a few other roads that I don't like to name since no one really knows about them! I set a decent pace, but not blistering at all, just fast enough to keep Moe from crawling up our azz with the buzzing ZZR 250! He looked like he was having a blast on that thing though!
Somewhere off the Parkway.....
Moe is ready to rock the ZZR 250!
Alex and Dan...
Moe and Sean...
Streetfighter!
Touring Bandit...
Trying to hide the 250!
Fontana Dam area.....
Couple of Bandits....
Everyone looks a bit tired....
Donna was absolutely beat........
Here is a fitting sign for the Canadians!
Sean at the Dam..
Alex and Ester...
Cool decal on Alex's streefighter Bandit....
Somewhere on the Parkway...
Lunch at the Crossroads of Time Cafe at the Gap.....
Overlook at the Gap........
I did kinda screw up and went through Cherokee to get to the Parkway and the way back, which added on probably 30 minutes or so, but we pulled out about 330 miles and got back LATE, which translated to a late night and dinner! Donna made Jambalaya for everyone which was excellent! Course, just about anything goes with beer!
Wed, I got up early since I was suppose to meet a buddy at the Pisgah Inn on the Parkway, so I was on the road by 8:40 and ripping up the Parkway to the Pisgah. Never did see my buddy, so I left there by 10:30 and headed back, which was decent timing I guess. Bad part was that some weather started moving in and it started raining, so we just chilled at the house until the afternoon. It cleared enough for me to get a bit restless, so I headed out by myself and headed north on the Parkway. I tried a few offshoot roads and found one absolutely KILLER section of road! After doing that road, I kept north on the Parkway and it was closed down near Craggy Gardens, but I went around the barricades and took off anyways. Nothing quite like knowing you have the whole road to yourself for the next 12 miles! On the other side of the closed section, I went to Hwy 80 and headed south on it for about 15 miles and MAN, what a great piece a road 80 is! It was drizzling a bit at this point though, so I headed back the same route and got back just in time for a SWEET dinner!
We hung out at the fire until damn near 2am after dinner and just had a blast!
Check out the pillion perch on this old BMW I saw at the Pisgah...
Outside the Pisgah Inn....
Closed Parkway......
Craggy Picknic area
I love seeing signs like this! SWEET!
Crazy hairpin on Hwy 80!
Somewhere on the closed section of the Parkway......
Why they call this the Smokies!
Thursday was gonna be our last day, so I got up and immediately got ready for a ride before packing. Dan and Alex decided to go with me, so I basically retraced my Wed solo ride without the Hwy 80 part, and we just had a blast! After getting back from that, Donna and I packed up and headed out.......
Dan on the Parkway....
Ron and Alex
Ron and Dan...
We had a great time and we are thankful for the experience. Got to see some faces that we had not seen for years, and others that we will be seeing at the track come Sunday, but more than anything, we enjoyed the company that only good people can provide!
Link to all the pics... these are not all the ones I took, but many of them..
Donna and I packed up Sunday morning and got on the road about noon to head to the mountains. Got caught in a freakin downpour from hell on the way, but no issues since I had things bagged up in the back of the truck "in case" and most of the crap was in the cab anyways. Rolled into Cloud 9 (http://www.cloud9relaxation.com/) about 5:30 or so, cracked open a beer, and unloaded the truck.
For those that have never been, Cloud 9 is a fantastic place! Quiet, scenic, secluded, owner is great, and within 10 minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway. What more can you ask for?
Cloud 9 entrance....
Guardian of the house!
View from the back porch....
Fire pit....
Only ones there so far were Sean and Moe, with Dan, Ester, and Alex due to show up within an hour or so. This was to be the crowd for a next couple days until others showed up the same day Donna and I were to head back home, so things were low key with no psychos to worry about and no drama. Just good times and good company!
Beverage of choice for some......
Canadian smokes. Now, it seems to me that this would make me wanna stop smoking......
Hangin out in the kitchen.... Moe, Donna, and Sean....
Donna hooked up a kick @ss dinner and the hot tub felt great, but the winds kept picking up and crap was blowing all over, so no fire Sunday night. Crashed out late and a bit buzzed, so the sleep came easy.
Got up Monday morning and since everyone was kinda chillin out, I got dressed and rode over to Rick's place for a bit, where he was busy building shocks for KLR's, and when I got back to Cloud 9, we had some breakfast and then everyone seemed ready for a ride, so we all headed out. Sean was going to ride the ZZR 250, but the wind was still blowing like crazy, so he went back on got the Bandit instead and we took it pretty easy. Hit up the Parkway and checked out 151, which was a debris field with sticks, leaves, and branches all over the place, so we took things pretty easy and tried to dodge stuff, but we turned around at the bottom and went back up to the Parkway and headed towards 276 to check out that piece of heavenly road. We ended up stopping in at the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground and hanging for a few. I enjoyed that place when we stayed there before about 5 or 6 years ago!
Breakfast... Thanks Ester!
Sean with the baby ZZR...
Waiting for Sean to get back from getting the Bandit....
BRMC...
After the BRMC, we headed back up 276 and crossed over to the south side and stopped off to take some pics at a waterfall area.
Sean...
Donna...
Miss "I ain't going down those stairs!" Ester!
We geared up to head out again when Alex point out that my rear tire looked low, and sure as hell.......... Somehow I managed to catch a freakin stick right in the center of the rear tire. I had less than 80 miles on this tire! That really sucks! I always come preparred with an air pump, so I tried getting it to take some air, and Donna hopped on with Sean while I tried to limp the 50 miles home. I ended up stopping on the Parkway and stuffed two plugs in the hole and got it to hold air, so I went straight to Rick's where he made a call and got me hooked up with a rear tire, so I headed out to pick that up and then changed it out at Rick's and was back in bizness! The place I got the tire had some wicked cool older bikes though!
WTF?
That night, while the girls were hooking up chow, we started doing some suspension set up on Sean's Bandit, which ended up with the typical Spring Fling rebuild in the garage! Turns out Sean measured the fork oil wrong, so the forks had to come apart to remove some oil! (btw..... Bring your own turkey baster next trip. I would not use this one if I were you!)
Sean..... How the phuck does this go together, eh?
More beer and story telling (swapping lies and such!) followed in typical fashion, with another great night of sleep as well!
Tuesday started off pretty late, and the intention was to end up doing the Gap and Skyway, with some of my other secret routes thrown in, which was gonna make for a long day, and with the late start, I was optimistic that we were going to manage all of the route, and as it turned out, we had to drop the Skyway portion of it, but we did do the Parkway from Cherokee to Ashville, 28 from Franklin to the Gap, Deals Gap, and a few other roads that I don't like to name since no one really knows about them! I set a decent pace, but not blistering at all, just fast enough to keep Moe from crawling up our azz with the buzzing ZZR 250! He looked like he was having a blast on that thing though!
Somewhere off the Parkway.....
Moe is ready to rock the ZZR 250!
Alex and Dan...
Moe and Sean...
Streetfighter!
Touring Bandit...
Trying to hide the 250!
Fontana Dam area.....
Couple of Bandits....
Everyone looks a bit tired....
Donna was absolutely beat........
Here is a fitting sign for the Canadians!
Sean at the Dam..
Alex and Ester...
Cool decal on Alex's streefighter Bandit....
Somewhere on the Parkway...
Lunch at the Crossroads of Time Cafe at the Gap.....
Overlook at the Gap........
I did kinda screw up and went through Cherokee to get to the Parkway and the way back, which added on probably 30 minutes or so, but we pulled out about 330 miles and got back LATE, which translated to a late night and dinner! Donna made Jambalaya for everyone which was excellent! Course, just about anything goes with beer!
Wed, I got up early since I was suppose to meet a buddy at the Pisgah Inn on the Parkway, so I was on the road by 8:40 and ripping up the Parkway to the Pisgah. Never did see my buddy, so I left there by 10:30 and headed back, which was decent timing I guess. Bad part was that some weather started moving in and it started raining, so we just chilled at the house until the afternoon. It cleared enough for me to get a bit restless, so I headed out by myself and headed north on the Parkway. I tried a few offshoot roads and found one absolutely KILLER section of road! After doing that road, I kept north on the Parkway and it was closed down near Craggy Gardens, but I went around the barricades and took off anyways. Nothing quite like knowing you have the whole road to yourself for the next 12 miles! On the other side of the closed section, I went to Hwy 80 and headed south on it for about 15 miles and MAN, what a great piece a road 80 is! It was drizzling a bit at this point though, so I headed back the same route and got back just in time for a SWEET dinner!
We hung out at the fire until damn near 2am after dinner and just had a blast!
Check out the pillion perch on this old BMW I saw at the Pisgah...
Outside the Pisgah Inn....
Closed Parkway......
Craggy Picknic area
I love seeing signs like this! SWEET!
Crazy hairpin on Hwy 80!
Somewhere on the closed section of the Parkway......
Why they call this the Smokies!
Thursday was gonna be our last day, so I got up and immediately got ready for a ride before packing. Dan and Alex decided to go with me, so I basically retraced my Wed solo ride without the Hwy 80 part, and we just had a blast! After getting back from that, Donna and I packed up and headed out.......
Dan on the Parkway....
Ron and Alex
Ron and Dan...
We had a great time and we are thankful for the experience. Got to see some faces that we had not seen for years, and others that we will be seeing at the track come Sunday, but more than anything, we enjoyed the company that only good people can provide!
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