Numerous ones of us got soaked on the way there
...
It started raining pretty steady for me when I was going from
NC to TN on I-26. It got where cars were pulling off...
It got to where I couldn't see... it got to where the BFGPS went
into "dark mode" because it thought it was night time. An exit sign
appeared through the blinding gale and I pulled off and got under shelter
at a gas station, a wet rat.
It went back to just raining a little and I took off on back roads from Erwin Tennessee
towards Marion Virginia. I went past the Shady Valley store, and it was open
in some capacity and had customers. I went past this thing:
The Confederate soldier looks over Marion's Memorial Day treatment for
the County Courthouse...
The congregating had already begun when I got to the motel... I got a hot shower
and dry clothes just as a stack of pizzas arrived.
Joe asked me if I'd put a route on the BFGPS (the new improved(?) Redbook) and
I said yes. He mentioned it to everyone and so the next day, in spite of
everyone being warned that I was lost before I left the parking lot, I led a
ride. We went some good places and had to turn around a few times...
After a while I came to a straight piece of road with a good shoulder
where we could all pull over just as Randy caught up to us. He'd been
"chasing us for a long way" - Larry had crashed and was knocked out!...
Back we went, here's where we went back to...
Larry's reaction to all this was that he wanted to continue on with
the ride. One of the first responders warned us that there was no
way to get out of the place I had led us that didn't go to gravel,
some with steep uphills. He pointed over to a gravel road we
could see and told us that if we took it we'd get back to pavement
soonest and easiest. So off we went...
We pulled over pretty soon to check: Larry was holding his own...
We ended up at The Back Of The Dragon's answer to the Deals Gap store...
Lots of other motorcycles were there too, including two M109s(?) a Fanta orange
one and a yellow one. As I look at M109 pictures, I think they were something else...
Two huge bright colored fast looking motorcycles. Also a BBQ truck out back,
many of us ate there. From there, the way back to Marion was
The Back Of The Dragon. We made it back just as rain started, but only
for a little while. Pizzas got ordered. Mexican food got consumed. Hair
got cut.
I made it home dry. I got drizzled on some on 215 between Canton and Rosman,
and rode on some wet roads, but stayed dry the whole way. I rode with
Christy and Rick for a while, back to Erwin Tennessee. I just followed
my static blue line of a route again. We only had to turn around a couple
of times
... I think the BFGPS is a powerful tool, my problem with
it right now is mostly that when I'm zoomed way in on a place where
there are only "tertiary" roads, my screen is full of white lines on a
baby blue background... all I can really see some of the time is my route
and whether or not I'm on it. The times I was not on it, those are the
times we turned around :-) ...
I had a great time, even the part about getting soaked...
-Mike
