Smokies Motorcycle Ride

A group of motorcycle friends from Louisiana arranged their annual ride in the Smokey Mountains. Tony and I were invited to come along, so we rode up to join them for a couple of days.
After we got there and they got back from their day's ride, we sat on the porch.

Pat rides a custom bike he built himself.

Gene rides a regular bike. Except for the flags and bear.

This is the house we stayed in.

In the morning, an elk family wandered by. This is the baby.

During the night, some stealthy person wrapped Milford's Gold Wing with crime scene tape. After Milford cut it all off, it somehow found its way into Tim and Rick's side bags.

Bob and Chris and Tony waited for time to head to breakfast.

Afterwards, we stopped by a store so Alvin could shop for a replacement helmet.

The whole group. Except we seem to be missing one.

Pat.

Gene.

We got to sit and wait for the one-way ferry truck at a road repair job.

We had lunch at a really good restaurant in Hot Springs, NC.

Getting ready to ride after lunch.

Another road repair.

We visited another store, which sold Indian motorcycles and Polaris Slingshots.

On our way home on Thursday, we stopped by Cherokee to visit Wilder, one of Tony's students. He is running the sound system at the outdoor drama "Unto These Hills".

We had a very enjoyable time.

Mena to Clemson Ride and Visit

On my way from Mena to Clemson, I went through Huntsville, Alabama. NASA has a lot of stuff there, including a full stack Apollo/Saturn 5 vehicle.

Mentone has a nice art gallery/cafe.

They made a delicious veggie omelette.

When I arrived in Clemson, Julie and the boys surprised me with a cake. (Apparently, someone had a birthday.)

The boys always enjoy climbing on the 'spider web' at Clemson City Park. We found a geocache, too.

We found another cache at ?? Park. There was a lot of climbing and leaping, too.

We got to meet Kerri for lunch, and she gave us a VIP tour of her lab. The showpiece is a 'cell printer', used in their biology research lab.

I got to enjoy walking with Fly. Most of the time, he enjoyed going. But occasionally, he would decide he didn't want to.

Fly really enjoyed getting food pellets from his treat ball.

Thanks for a great visit, Julie & Tony & John & Christopher and Fly!

(I didn't take any photos on the ride home.)

Ride to Mena

In May, some motorcycling friends invited me to ride to Arkansas with them - Syd and Hayden, Thomas and Richard. They planned to spend a couple of days riding around the Mena area. I decided to ride on over to visit Clemson.

About half way along the Talimena Scenic Byway, we encountered a group of people riding "Gravity Vehicles" down a long steep hill.
There were skateboarders - up to about 45 mph. (A local sheriff's deputy was there with his radar gun, providing traffic control for the riders.)

And there were street luge riders - 84 mph!

The luges were quite sophisticated.

After they all came down the hill, they loaded up in a U-haul truck for the ride back to the top. They do this here once a year.

Our destination was Iron Mountain, the CMA campground at Hatfield. The other guys stayed in one of the cabins.

Like this.

Fortunately, they ran out of beds and I got to stay in the 'toy box' trailer.

Nice and roomy! And quiet!

Motorcycle Trip

I was invited to join a group of riders from the Slidell, Louisiana area on their trip to northern Georgia. My first stop on the way to meet them was at a Dairy Queen in New Boston, TX.

When I got into Georgia I came upon this establishment.

They boil 'em the authentic, wood-fire way. He says it gives the nuts a smoky flavor.

There were a pair of wild chickens that had started hanging around.

After a while, they found the hen had been laying eggs in their storage area.

Here's the "cabin" where the group stayed.

Since I arrived mid-day, the only ones to greet me were the camp dog and cat.

Another view, after everyone got back from the day's ride.

We were a fairly peaceful group of bikers.

Here's Gene fueling up.

We spent quite a bit of time at gas stations.

Most of the group, after a bbq ribs dinner. Can you tell by the satisfied looks?

The last big ride day took us up to the famous "Deals Gap", terminus of one of the curviest, funnest bike roads in America.

Here's Gene on his way up to the top of the Dragon's Tail.

Ray fell down a little bit when he hit some grass clippings near the edge of the pavement - in the very last corner...

At the end of the week everyone loaded up for the trip home. Gene's new riding companion was ready to go.

It was a good trip, a great bunch of guys, and a fun time for me.
Glad I went.