I left Friday morning @ 7:00 to meet up with Joe and Paul and Terry at Resaca Georgia around 10:30...
Rain was forecast and it was in the low 40s...
layer weather, I figured, I didn't even think of bringing the
heated vest and gloves... it started raining a little on me in Clayton, a lot of the road was good for only
30 or 35 mph because of the fog, by the time I got to Resaca, I was frozen...
Joe and Paul were there, Terry had to stay behind... then off we went to Birmingham to meet up with Mac...
Overnighted in Mississippi, and on to Texas... I don't usually ride 500 miles a day down the crowded
Interstate (stuff starts hopping around Baton Rouge), it reminds you that these Valkyries can really roll!
Here's a 18 mile long bridge over the Bayou, the vegetation on the side is the tops of tall trees...
We detoured to the beach at Galveston and rode the ferry across to get to the motel, instead of passing
next to Houston on the Interstates. When we left, early on Sunday morning, our Louisiana friends lead us
back out of Houston on a maze of nearly empty toll-free 8-lane freeways back to I10... When I saw all the
interchanges and tangled overpasses, I sure was glad I didn't have to search my way through there in
Friday afternoon traffic... anyhow, here's some ferry pictures...
Here's Joe, looking over at me, to make sure I'm taking pictures of the dolphins jumping out of the water...
"You getting this?" to which I replied, "Oh yeah, I'm all over it
"
Birds fly all around the ferry, people stand at the stern and throw peanuts and stuff up and the
birds hover there in a flock and grab food. The also fly along side the boat, just out of reach,
pacing the boat's speed, it's almost like they're just floating there...
Hung out at the pool on Friday night, Lori was there, she had hurt her back (?) and
had taken some kind of muscle relaxer, and it had gone to her head - we pried the location
of the next InZane from her: Paris, France...
The next morning we took off to Hg&Fb's, it is an easy trip that doesn't require the Interstate.
I think these mirrors explain everything:
The sign:
Most of us headed out from Hg&Fb's on the ride that Wizard lead to the beach... passed through
a lot of different countryside, waited on trains and drawbridges, had lunch at a seafood place,
and other crazy stuff....
Our bikes were the dirtiest ones there until Daniel Meyer got there...
More pictures from ground zero... Mac asked me to take a couple of pictures
of the cooker, Mac, I've got some more detail pictures too...
Here's the first Rocket Roadster I've seen yet... it has, to me, all the good stuff they ever put
on a Rocket, all in one package... footpegs in a good place (rather than forward boards), two
headlights (only one on the Tourer, and the Tourer had that icky tank instrumentation...), one
pipe on each side (instead of two on one side, one on the other) so that good bags can be added,
it is
souped up (like that was needed
) I bet it is a good bike!
Pictures during the raffling off...
We left out of Houston, with Louisianans for guides, around 8:00 Sunday morning, not much traffic
in Houston by then, I'm glad, what little I saw on Friday afternoon made me think of Atlanta, only
Texas sized...
The Baton Rouge bridge over the Mississippi river is a pretty cool part of the ride...
The hospitality was first class at every stop along the way, had fun blasting down the highways, had
fun hanging out with my riding buddies along the way, this was just a great way to spend five days...
We ran from all the bad weather on Monday, I kept poking fun at Joe and Paul since it looked like they
were going to get wet, but not me
... As soon as we split up, it started sprinkling on me,
and at different points around Ellijay it was raining and giant lightning bolts filled the sky between
me and the rain-shrouded mountains... but mostly when it looked like it was going to get awful, the
twisty road I was on would start heading in the only general direction where there was clear sky...
I made it home by seven, dry...
I saw something just a few miles before I got back home that reminded me of how fragile we all
are, and I'd like to take this opportunity to praise God for every one of us that made it back home
safe....
-Mike
