InZane started on Friday the 21st for me... My buddy Jim from work followed me up
to the little gas station where 28 merges with 19/74 near Bryson City, NC...
... Then Wimp showed up...
We headed out to see The Road To Nowhere...
Wimp had been before, but not me or Jim...
We ate at a sandwich shop in Bryson City, and then Jim headed back, he wasn't going
to InZane... me and Wimp headed over the Dragon (what a traffic jamb that place
can be) and then to Joe's house on a non-direct route
Wimp headed home,
and me and Joe and Charlie the Land Elephant went to eat at a steakhouse in
Joe's
Minivan.
You can see this bit of Fontana Lake along the way to the end of The Road To Nowhere...
As we started out on our Ride from Knoxville to Nashville, we only had a few riders...
Santa was there when we got to the meeting place in Nashville...
Mac was one of the next riders to show up, he saved us from riding
I40 from Nashville to Memphis by showing us hiway 100... we
had a bunch of riders by the time we burned up 100, I'm impressed with
West Tennessee, the drought burden seems minimal there, stuff is green,
there a lot of nice farms, woods and rolling open land.
My forks seemed like there was a leak starting when I looked last week. I
figured (hoped) it would slowly leak. It fastly leaked, all over stuff, the air
wings, the motor (and then I could smell oil fumes as I rode)...
On the way to InZane the little camera mostly took pictures of fork oil
When we rode I40 from Knoxville to Nashville, it was overcast and even
rained a little... it was a really nice ride... all the rest of the ride, there
and back, and while we were there, was really hot. The drought became
obvious in Tennessee near Memphis, and Arkansas seems like a disaster
area. We stopped to rest in the shade many places...
We rolled in on Sunday. On Monday I rested and visited tech talks and
started asking around for fork seals and other stuff I might need in
order to change my leaking left fork seal. The rest of the folks I rode up
with went out for an all day ride and continued sauteing their bodies in
the sweltering heat and sun.
By Tuesday noon, I had two bags of tools, a motorcycle lift,
twosets of fork seals, fork oil, and a pan to drain the old oil in. If I tried to list
everyone one who helped me, it would end up being most of the attendee
list
thanks again everyone. I began to remove parts... I got
the forks drained and wiped down enough to work on...
As I was on the road, I didn't have the special chairs and plumbing parts I use
at home to rebuild forks:
So Joe (Stude31) jumped in with his Honda fork tools and zip-zap-zoop,
as quick as that, he pulled the old seals out and expertly inserted the
new seals, gathering lots of interest along the way.
The next day we rode off to the Joe Boyd picnic at the dam... there's a nice
swiming area, some guys even went in with their jeans on, I wished I'd
had shorts or something. It was hot
.
Arkansas has lots to offer. But they need rain bad. A really good strong rain came
right as the bike show started
After all the Inzanity, a bunch of us took off for Memphis. Near the end, on 64,
a crop dusting plane gave us a wonderful show. He was dusting crops right beside
the road, swooping down over and over, perpendicular to the road, and only
just a little over our heads when he crossed the road. He looked like he
was swinging from a pendulum, and did all these gymnastic twists and rolls
at the top of each swing. After we thought it couldn't get any better, he
started hitting a field parallel with the road. Several of us saw him coming
in our rear view mirrors (
that would have been a money shot!) and
then ZOOM, right past us. In case he was spewing out too many harsh
neuro-toxins or anything, I held my breath... Terry has some pictures
while he was doing the perpendicular passes...
We were roasted as we approached Memphis, here's the final gas stop
of the day...
We stayed at a small motel near where we stayed on the way there. They fetched us
to a Memphis BBQ joint in a van. The next day some of us headed down 40 to Nashville,
and me and Allen burned up hiway 78 to Tupelo Mississippi. It is a divided hiway,
not too much traffic, signs say that soon it will be I22. When we got near there, we
rode down the Natchez Trace a mile or two and drank water in the shade...
This stuff was growing where we stopped, leaves kind of like dog wood, what is it?
We left there and wondered into the heart of Tupelo and ate good eggs and grits at
a busy diner. Allen took off maybe down 45 and I headed out of town on 78.
Switched over to 74 right after I passed into Alabama... a real good road...
Drought evidence lessened, and everything was growing and green again
in North Alabama... Stopped at the Natural Bridge... it cooled down nicely
after I passed through the gates and went down into the woods...
I continued on through here and there and passed into Georgia near
Fort Payne...
I stopped for one more night in a motel as it started raining a little near
Calhoun Georgia... it was glorious as I rolled home through the cool green
North Georgia mountains this morning... after all that broiling heat. It was
hot by noon or so, but I left early. A fellow on a Harley at a gas stop told
me he'd recently sold his Valkyrie, and he missed it...
Thanks to everyone who put up with me on the ride, everyone who helped
me rebuild my forks, and everyone who made InZane possible
-Mike
