[ST] Trip Report

["Rupert Galea" <rupert@xxxxxxxxxx>]

For those with ADD here are the pictures,
http://www.rgalea.com/photos/rcr2004/

Day One - 419 miles (MA-NY-PA)
We left Mike's around 9am and did 60 miles on I90 to get out of the
Boston area. The rest of the day was back roads. Late morning we hit
rain but by late afternoon we were in the sun again and had dried off.
We arrived at Rickett's Glen state park at a reasonable hour. Seconds
after we picked a camp site the skies opened. We pitched our tents in
the pouring rain and not long after we finished the rain stopped. If
there is a God he has a sense of humor. Luckily the next morning the
weather was good and most of our stuff dried out before we left.

Day Two - 389 miles (PA-MD-VA-WV)
We did not get moving until 11am after a late breakfast. For some reason
we decided that we still had time to stop in Gettysburg. We looked at a
map and decided on
118W->487S->254W->147S->45W->235S->35W->333S->75W->74S->34S. The weather
was good all day and we hit some great roads. Somehow we ended up on 333
going north instead of south. This turned out to be a lovely 12 miles of
road and we rode it the other way to get back on track. We had lunch in
Gettysburg at 4pm but did not have time for anything else. Riding out of
town past all the fields/monuments the history of the area hung in the
air. We did not make it to Seneca Shadows until around 11pm but at least
it was not raining when we pitched our tents.

Day Three - 366 miles (WV-NC)
We got an early start and put in 60 miles before breakfast. I tried
biscuits and gravy for the first time and may now have an addiction
issue. As Mike promised this was the best day of riding and the weather
was great all day. 28S->39SE->92S->60S->I64E->311S->42S->460S->8S led us
to the Blue Ridge Parkway. On one of these roads a bird hit Mike's visor
hard enough that the visor touched his nose. We rode the BRP in glorious
weather for 95 miles. Since the limit is 45mph and supposedly it is well
patrolled we kept it at a relaxed pace. 35 miles after exiting the BRP
we arrived at Riders Roost (a motorcycle resort and campground). This
was my favorite campground. I was able to setup my tent beside my bike
with a river in the background. We had a few beers and some good
conversation and crawled into our tents.

Day Four - 278 miles (NC)
We woke up to some inclement weather. We lazed around and got a late
start. I had more biscuits and gravy for breakfast. We headed back to
the BRP. This time we were greeted by rain and spotty cloud cover. We
briefly got off at Little Switzerland in an attempt to find an orchard
that the parents of a friend of mine own. The rain was really coming
down. We did not find the orchard but did ride the loop. Back on the BRP
conditions were worse and my gloves were soaked from Little Switzerland.
We decided to get off the BRP at Asheville and find another route. About
five miles before the exit my speedo stopped working. This was the only
time my bike misbehaved and I put it down to a Lucas ghost. We ate a
late lunch in Asheville and when we got back on the bikes my speedo was
working again. Not wet enough we decided to blast 25 miles the wrong way
up 70 into the rain. We arrived at the Iron Horse campground for the RCR
just before dark and pitched our tents in the rain on a rather wet
field.

Day Five - 176 miles (NC-TN)
After a relaxed morning we headed off and ran Deal's Gap in both
directions and then Cherohala Skyway in both directions. Deal's Gap was
as crowded as you would expect on a June Saturday. Hanging out
people/bike watching at the bottom was fun. Cherohala was a blast and
following Mr. Pou was a great way to ride the road for the first time.
We got back to Iron Horse around 4pm and then
relaxed/bullshitted/ate/drank.

Day Six - 1025 miles in 18 hours (NC-TN-VA-VW-MD-PA-NJ-NY-CT-MA)
For breakfast I had biscuits and gravy which helped soak up the Wild
Turkey. I had wanted to ride the stretch of the BRP that we had missed
from the southern end to Asheville and then continue on to see the
Biltmore. However the weather was not cooperating. I decided to join Bob
for the ride home. The plan was to ride highways for the day to cover a
lot of miles and get above the bad weather. Then if we had covered
enough miles we could hit some back roads on Monday. A few hours into
the trip we came across Fred and joined up with him. Fred and Bob were
talking about seeing how far they could get. About 680 miles in Bob
decided to find a motel. Fred and I continued on and ended up riding all
the way home. The only problem I had was hitting the kill switch while
moving my hand around to try and give it a rest. Annoyingly I had the
paperwork with me for a Saddle Sore 1000 but did not keep track of
anything as I did not plan to do 1000 miles.

Rupert
99 ST



     *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
      The ST/RS Mailing list is sponsored by Jack Lilley Ltd.
          http://www.TriumphNet.com/st/lilley for more info
   http://www.TriumphNet.com/st for ST, RS and Mailing List info

=-=-=-= Next Message =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

End of st-digest V2004 #349
***************************


 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

                      End of Triumph ST/RS Digest
            ST/RS Digest is sponsored by Jack Lilley Ltd.
          http://www.TriumphNet.com/st/lilley for more info
   http://www.TriumphNet.com/st for ST, RS and Mailing List info

          This digest Copyright 1999-2002 TriumphNet.com