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This is a little thing they do each year at Quaker City.
I am sorry to say that I am currently afflicted with a terrible case of bronchitis. I have called off from work and going to the doctor to try to get some kind drug that will cure me, so while I wait for my appointment I figure I should do an update.
I took bill- not davis and Prozac down to Cabelas for one of my favorite rides down WV88. The guys were ready to head home after Cabelas but I went ahead and went further south. In all the times I have been through Moundsville I have never gone and seen the mound, so I checked it out. Across the street from the mound is the former West Virginia State Penitentiary. Really all I did was pull into the parking lot and take a couple of pictures. My favorite type of sightseeing is the kind where you can take a picture without even getting off the bike and then move on.
Last Thursday was the first bike night at the new Quaker Steak and Lube. I saw this interesting bike there. Everyone asks how the bike night was and I just have to say that it is a bunch of motorcycles in a parking lot. Bike night is bike night. Credit goes to Mark for the picture because I did not have my camera with me.
Last Saturday Mark planned a ride to Breezewood, PA to check out Rt.30. The turnpike has all kinds of signs warning trucks not to take this road so we thought it would be a very excellent road. It turns out it is a nice road, but not really worth 400 miles of turnpike to ride. We headed down into Maryland and rode scenic rt. 40, and from there we went to Mt. bill- not davis, the highest point in Pennsylvania. Credit for that picture also goes to Mark because he took a much better picture than I took. If you go to Mt. bill- not davis, walk the short trail to Baughman Rocks. There is a body in the rocks.
I have given myself time to cool off, but I got really mad when we left Mt. Davis. It turned out that the road was a pretty fun road and before long we had caught up to three guys on cruisers. The last guy in the group waved Mark around and he started to pass, then the front two guys gassed it up. There was very little passing room on this road and they were coming up on a blind hill and the two in front actually moved to the center to prevent Mark from pulling into the right lane. Mark gassed it up and got around them safely, but it could have ended bad. Now there was no way in the world these guys were going to let me pass them. They would go 15mph in the turns and then gas it up on the short straights. This aggravated me to no end. At a place like Deals Gap slower traffic should give room and allow faster traffic to pass. Here I do not expect assistance to allow me to pass, but I really get angry when they try to prevent me from passing them. This creates a dangerous situation in two ways. The person who wants to pass gets aggravated and unless they are as well balanced as me (!?) sometimes will take a unnecessary chance to get past them. Watching these guys trying to keep me behind them was actually kind of scary because it was obvious they were riding well over their heads.
Well, I was supposed to be riding to Cabelas this morning but it is raining all over Ohio and West Virginia so instead I finished my Deals Gap update.
Let me say first that this trip would not have gone so well if it were not for Xtreme Suzuki in Bellaire, OH. I was having problems with my high pressure fuel filter and kept putting off buying one because Gollans wanted $235 for it. That is a lot of money for a fuel filter. I tried blowing it out with compressed air and all kinds of other things but nothing worked. As usual, I put off ordering it until the last minute. Xtreme sold it to me for $190 and I included in the order that I needed it by Friday. Thursday I called them and found out I would not be getting it until Monday. It really was not a problem to get it on Monday so I said that would be fine, but the guys down there felt bad and offered to meet me in East Liverpool with it so I could have it in time. One guy even offered to take it home with him and I could pick it up at his house. These people seem like real good people and a great place to order OEM parts at a decent discount. I got Suzuki OEM oil filters for $7.00 each.
Just before I left for the gap I got my pictures from Zee Photo of my May trip down. Click here to see the pictures. She does a great job out there so be sure to check her site out when you are looking for some pictures from your trip.
This was my second trip to the Gap this year and it was Skidplates first trip to the Gap this year. Last year she was still pretty new to riding and really did not have too good of a time with the ride. This year was another story. She felt much more comfortable in the curves this year and actually had a really good time. Such a good time that we are trying to set up another ride this year over Labor Day weekend.
We got a good start to the ride on Friday evening at my favorite place to eat!
We spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights at the Gap. As usual, we were treated very well. The girls working in the grill were attempting to kill me by feeding me larger and larger pancakes each morning. I’ll be the first to admit that lots of people are faster than me on the Gap, but one thing I am sure of is that nobody can eat more pancakes on the Gap than I can. I did not care how big or thick the pancakes were, I ate them all. I have to admit they almost beat me down on the third morning, but I summoned up all my will power and ate every bite . The two pound hamburger may have beat me, but nobody will beat me with pancakes.
We had rain every day, but usually it was at night or in the evening and did not affect us too much
Here is the Yellow Wolf Gold Wing. This guy really flies.
Skidplate did a 6AM solo run. The road is nice to ride at sunrise, you usually have it all to yourself.
We stayed in room 3
Cades Cove
There are some big improvements at Deals Gap this year. All of the rooms have refrigerators and microwave ovens in them. It really is nice to have a fridge. The fire ring is finished and it is just great. It is much nicer to have one big community fire and get to know some of the people a little bit. The rain did interfere with the nightly fires quite a bit but Saturday night we had a nice fire and it made for a very enjoyable evening.
We spend Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Pisgah Inn. This was a really nice place with a great view. Each room has a balcony on the back with a great view of the mountains. We checked out some of the sights in Pisgah National Forest and headed south into South Carolina for lunch. A local in the area told me to try out 151 off the parkway and it really was a great road. Very much like the Gap but not as wide and not as long. We checked out a fish hatchery and Looking Glass Falls.
Thursday we left the Pisgah Inn and headed north on the Parkway again. We took a little side ride down Rt. 80 and Skidplate ended up crashing her motorcycle in a turn there. Luckily, there was no damage to the bike and she only suffered a few bruises. As soon as we got her and the bike picked up and out of the road it began raining. I don’t just mean a regular rain either. It was just dumping rain. We decided we had enough adventure for the day and decided to spend the night in Little Switzerland. It turns out this was a good thing because we ended up spending the night at the Big Lynn Lodge. This was a really nice place for a reasonable rate. Our room cost the same as our room at Pisgah but both dinner and breakfast was included. The next morning we went to one of the many gem mines in the area and we actually had a lot of fun there. We went to the Emerald Village mine and took the tour and did the “find gems in a bucket” thing. Honestly, the mine tour was kind of a waste of money because you really don’t see any more than you can see from the road. We did have fun digging through our buckets to find rocks.
We went to the top of Mt. Mitchell and grilled some hamburgers and they were good. I think we may do more of this cookout on motorcycles thing.
Welcome to the Blue Ridge Parkway
Mt. Mitchell Picnic
View from room and parking lot of the Pisgah Inn
Blue Ridge Parkway tunnels are dark and scary inside!
My favorite sign on the parkway!
Gem hunting
Here is an old building we found in the South Carolina forest
Friday night we arrived in Fancy Gap just as a massive rain storm was hitting. We never rode in the rain, but we got just as wet unloading the bikes in the rain. Right next to our motel was a really cool place to eat, the Mayberry Station. Fancy Gap is near Mt. Airy which is all about Andy Griffith. Mayberry Station is a place to eat that is all about Andy Griffith and it is a very strange place. It is actually a little dumpy and cluttered, but it has a LOT of character. The food is really very good. Anytime you are in this area it is mandatory you at least stop and see this place if not eat there.
From Fancy Gap we went into West Virginia and checked out the New River Gorge Area. We spent the night in Clarksburg, WV. On the way to Clarksburg my motorcycle rolled over 50,000 miles so I bought it a cake to celebrate in Clarksburg. The next morning heading home on US250 just outside of Cameron I saw a bike parked along the road that was just like Marks. Turned out it was Marks! Isn’t it amazing that even though Mark and Jim did not actually go on the ride we ran into both of them while on the ride? I don’t thing anyone in this world loves to ride more than these two guys.
We bought my motorcycle a birthday cake in West Virginia
Skidpate and I are home from our trip to Deals Gap and the Parkway!
We met Jim at Deals Gap and hung out with him for a few days. Crazy thing was, coming home today up US250 near Cameron, WV we passed Mark sitting on the side of the road! That’s why these two guys are the true life blood of this crew. Nobody loves to ride like these guys!
I have many pictures and videos to post from the trip, but since I am tired and lazy it will probably be a few days until these get posted. It will probably be a few days until I catch up on my email also, so if you sent me one I am not ignoring you, I have just been on the road for the last 10 days and now I am tired and cranky.
In the meantime, I am posting the best video from the trip. Skidplate wanted me to get a video of her riding the gap. She is getting much better and I will be really ashamed when I can no longer keep up with her. Anyway, as we were taping we came across one of the infamous 18 wheelers on the Gap. Believe me, it does not look nearly as scary in the video as it was in real life. Thank goodness we were not running it too hard or this would have been court room evidence. Watch this video and remember the next time you are out riding that if you are running at 100% you have no room for the unexpected. Always leave yourself room for the unexpected.