I hadn't really planned a report, but Sue's been bugging me about one and Rob Nye's report looked kind of fun. So here's a few pics and text.
I've never really been interested in Bike Week. Sue had ridden down there a couple times without me and had a good time, but I never had the urge to go until this year. Things really fell into place, since I had a bit of vacation time to spend, a gracious spouse who didn't mind sitting home with baby, and a retired riding buddy who could change plans without much advance notice.
We originally talked about trucking our little bikes down to ATL and riding on from there, but when the long-range weather report looked favorable, we decided to pack the big bikes and give it a go. Things were looking darn nice on Sunday the 29th of Feb.
Temps were in the 50s and it was nice and sunny. We rolled out of Chicago at noon and stopped in Evansville, IN for the night about six hours later at a fairly scary-looking Motel6 located at the end of the municipal airport runway. I think only four or five of the rooms were occupied that night, so it was pretty quiet until the airport runway fired up the next morning at 6am.
We picked up the Pennyrile Parkway and headed down to I-24 in a light misty rain. About an hour out of E'ville, the rain ended and we decided to grab a bite at the motorcyclist's favorite eatery.
We were out on the road an hour later, and had a pretty uneventful ride until the skies opened up at Clarksville. The rain stayed with us off and on until Nashville, when it cranked up again going thru town. But a few miles east of Nashville, the skies cleared and that would be the last serious rain we would see on the trip.
We had to make a stop at my favorite gas n' boom on I-24, serving the finest in fuel and noisemaking devices. The whole concept just cracks me up.
The remainder of the day was pleasant, with warm temps and light traffic until we got to that miserable hellhole called "suburban Atlanta."
We managed to find our hosts' home without too much trouble, and had a wonderful time getting reacquainted with a couple of folks we hadn't seen for awhile. Some of you might even recognize the old geezer at the top of this pic sharing his road knowledge.
He couldn't ride with us because he had to work. Work? Shoot, it was only the second day of the trip and I'd already forgotten I had a job.
Tomorrow we head to FL.
I've never really been interested in Bike Week. Sue had ridden down there a couple times without me and had a good time, but I never had the urge to go until this year. Things really fell into place, since I had a bit of vacation time to spend, a gracious spouse who didn't mind sitting home with baby, and a retired riding buddy who could change plans without much advance notice.
We originally talked about trucking our little bikes down to ATL and riding on from there, but when the long-range weather report looked favorable, we decided to pack the big bikes and give it a go. Things were looking darn nice on Sunday the 29th of Feb.
Temps were in the 50s and it was nice and sunny. We rolled out of Chicago at noon and stopped in Evansville, IN for the night about six hours later at a fairly scary-looking Motel6 located at the end of the municipal airport runway. I think only four or five of the rooms were occupied that night, so it was pretty quiet until the airport runway fired up the next morning at 6am.
We picked up the Pennyrile Parkway and headed down to I-24 in a light misty rain. About an hour out of E'ville, the rain ended and we decided to grab a bite at the motorcyclist's favorite eatery.
We were out on the road an hour later, and had a pretty uneventful ride until the skies opened up at Clarksville. The rain stayed with us off and on until Nashville, when it cranked up again going thru town. But a few miles east of Nashville, the skies cleared and that would be the last serious rain we would see on the trip.
We had to make a stop at my favorite gas n' boom on I-24, serving the finest in fuel and noisemaking devices. The whole concept just cracks me up.
The remainder of the day was pleasant, with warm temps and light traffic until we got to that miserable hellhole called "suburban Atlanta."
We managed to find our hosts' home without too much trouble, and had a wonderful time getting reacquainted with a couple of folks we hadn't seen for awhile. Some of you might even recognize the old geezer at the top of this pic sharing his road knowledge.
He couldn't ride with us because he had to work. Work? Shoot, it was only the second day of the trip and I'd already forgotten I had a job.
Tomorrow we head to FL.
