starting odometer ; 17721
Left home about 10:30am on October 4...headed west on I-70 then south from Columbus. Arrived at the Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort around 6:30pm, checked in, removed the top case and made a few passes on the "Dragon" before it got dark. I asked another rider at the resort what the options were for a meal in that area, he pointed me towards the Topoco Resort a couple miles further south on Rt 129.
The Topoco resort was very nice...the type of place I'd like to take my wife to. I had a burger, ate on the patio, could hear the river rushing by...too dark to see much. I went back to my room...which was small and sparse...yet quite adequate and clean and retired for the night.
Monday morning; As I wiped my bike down, the light morning fog cleared so I thought I'd make another pass or two on the Dragon before continuing my trip to the Gulf Coast. As I was heading back to my room to collect my gear I saw that photographers were setting up canopies in several locations....(I thought that the pictures of people riding were done with automated equipment....like a game/trail cam or something), anyway, the pictures are taken by real photographers...so, I made a couple more passes to make sure I had a few good pictures to choose from to commemorate the day. Turns out, I had 42 pics to choose from...bring up US129photos.com , click on October 5 and that's me under the heading of touring/sport touring.
I put the top case back on my bike, took a couple pictures, bought a jacket, a couple stickers and a decal checked out and headed south. Stopped in Robbinsville, NC for breakfast and gas then continued south on a 2 lane highway through rural western NC crossing into GA. The closer I got to Atlanta, the faster the pace. I stopped for lunch at a Arby's just south of Atlanta, The "Natural" burger looked good in the picture on their menu board so I ordered it....in real life, the burger looked like it had been stepped on...so that was lunch, it started raining while I was in the restaurant so I put my rain gear on...the rain was light and didn't last long, I would have been ok with out the rain gear which I took off at the next fuel stop. When traveling on I-65 from Atlanta to Mobile you'd better be willing to twist the throttle...I had the NT humming along at about 5500rpm most of the way...if you don't, you risk getting run over! I reached my uncle's house in Gautier, MS just after sun down.
Oct 6;
My uncle and I road down the coast, he on his 95 Triumph Thunderbird 950, me on the NT. we checked out the old cars that were in the area for the annual "Cruisin The Coast" event...lot of nice old cars, a couple of junkers...lot of old cars for sale too. Probably one of the biggest antique car shows in the country...people had lawn chairs set up along the road side in Biloxi to watch the cars cruising by...neat stuff.
Oct 7, 8 and 9; nothing worth writing about, detailed the bike including some plastic restore stuff...looks great!
Oct 10; Three of us drove over to Mobile and met my cousin for dinner, always enjoy seeing that girl!
Oct. 11;
Left at 8:30am....heading north. Terrific weather, clear and cool. Got caught in a big traffic jam in northern Alabama...saw another silver NT going south ...there's no mistaking those panniers.
Stayed at the Super 8 across from the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY...didn't tour the museum again, on a mission to get home. Got to give the ole derriere a break on I-65 as a wreck near Florence had the north bound lanes shut down for about an hour...at least I didn't roast...been there done that before!
Stopped in Pickerington, OH...just outside of Columbus and waited for my son to get off work. Visited with him, got to see his motorcycle puzzle laid out on his garage floor...he's putting it back together after he low sided it a few weeks ago. A light rain started as I was leaving his house. Decided to chance it with out the rain gear....worked out ok...got home at 10:15pm.
Overall, it was a good trip, the bike performed flawlessly, the new handle bar position is perfect, the air cushion worked good...but after a day and a half I still had to move around to keep the blood flowing.
This would have been a great trip if I had had someone traveling with me....
ending odometer : 19813 (2092 miles)
Left home about 10:30am on October 4...headed west on I-70 then south from Columbus. Arrived at the Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort around 6:30pm, checked in, removed the top case and made a few passes on the "Dragon" before it got dark. I asked another rider at the resort what the options were for a meal in that area, he pointed me towards the Topoco Resort a couple miles further south on Rt 129.
The Topoco resort was very nice...the type of place I'd like to take my wife to. I had a burger, ate on the patio, could hear the river rushing by...too dark to see much. I went back to my room...which was small and sparse...yet quite adequate and clean and retired for the night.
Monday morning; As I wiped my bike down, the light morning fog cleared so I thought I'd make another pass or two on the Dragon before continuing my trip to the Gulf Coast. As I was heading back to my room to collect my gear I saw that photographers were setting up canopies in several locations....(I thought that the pictures of people riding were done with automated equipment....like a game/trail cam or something), anyway, the pictures are taken by real photographers...so, I made a couple more passes to make sure I had a few good pictures to choose from to commemorate the day. Turns out, I had 42 pics to choose from...bring up US129photos.com , click on October 5 and that's me under the heading of touring/sport touring.
I put the top case back on my bike, took a couple pictures, bought a jacket, a couple stickers and a decal checked out and headed south. Stopped in Robbinsville, NC for breakfast and gas then continued south on a 2 lane highway through rural western NC crossing into GA. The closer I got to Atlanta, the faster the pace. I stopped for lunch at a Arby's just south of Atlanta, The "Natural" burger looked good in the picture on their menu board so I ordered it....in real life, the burger looked like it had been stepped on...so that was lunch, it started raining while I was in the restaurant so I put my rain gear on...the rain was light and didn't last long, I would have been ok with out the rain gear which I took off at the next fuel stop. When traveling on I-65 from Atlanta to Mobile you'd better be willing to twist the throttle...I had the NT humming along at about 5500rpm most of the way...if you don't, you risk getting run over! I reached my uncle's house in Gautier, MS just after sun down.
Oct 6;
My uncle and I road down the coast, he on his 95 Triumph Thunderbird 950, me on the NT. we checked out the old cars that were in the area for the annual "Cruisin The Coast" event...lot of nice old cars, a couple of junkers...lot of old cars for sale too. Probably one of the biggest antique car shows in the country...people had lawn chairs set up along the road side in Biloxi to watch the cars cruising by...neat stuff.
Oct 7, 8 and 9; nothing worth writing about, detailed the bike including some plastic restore stuff...looks great!
Oct 10; Three of us drove over to Mobile and met my cousin for dinner, always enjoy seeing that girl!
Oct. 11;
Left at 8:30am....heading north. Terrific weather, clear and cool. Got caught in a big traffic jam in northern Alabama...saw another silver NT going south ...there's no mistaking those panniers.
Stayed at the Super 8 across from the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY...didn't tour the museum again, on a mission to get home. Got to give the ole derriere a break on I-65 as a wreck near Florence had the north bound lanes shut down for about an hour...at least I didn't roast...been there done that before!
Stopped in Pickerington, OH...just outside of Columbus and waited for my son to get off work. Visited with him, got to see his motorcycle puzzle laid out on his garage floor...he's putting it back together after he low sided it a few weeks ago. A light rain started as I was leaving his house. Decided to chance it with out the rain gear....worked out ok...got home at 10:15pm.
Overall, it was a good trip, the bike performed flawlessly, the new handle bar position is perfect, the air cushion worked good...but after a day and a half I still had to move around to keep the blood flowing.
This would have been a great trip if I had had someone traveling with me....
ending odometer : 19813 (2092 miles)
