roanoke

took a ride to roanoke this weekend... what a great ride, what a great weekend...

an informal reunion with college friends was the reason for riding to roanoke. it seems every couple of years we seem to get together - sometimes it's a happy occasion, other times it's sad... the last time we got together as a group was probably four years ago to celebrate a wedding... i guess we were due for a get together - this time it was possible because of the efforts of frank, russell and chief. i'm not sure who, but someone had the idea of getting robbin thompson. the robbin thompson band was a big part of our college lives - i can't remember how many times we saw him... i know it was a lot... as usual, it was great seeing the gang again - catching up on what's going on in everyone's lives... the only thing that could have made it better for me was to have my wife there - i really missed her...

okay, so i rode the bike to roanoke... i think i left around 9:30 in the morning... took some back roads up to danville, caught 58 to martinsville and 220 up to roanoke. it was a nice ride, the morning was a little cooler than i expected - which basically means i wasn't sweating like i was when i was packing my bike. i stopped outside of danville to fill up the tank, stretch my legs and call my wife. about 15 minutes later i was back on my way to roanoke. don't know why, but roanoke was closer than i thought - took me about three and a half hours total. the second half of the trip was a bit warmer - i started feeling the heat. still, i'd rather be on the bike than in a cage.

the trip back was good too... after having breakfast (thanks frank) with some of the gang, it was time to roll back home... i was thinking of taking the blue ridge parkway south into nc and then cutting east back home. but since my wife wasn't feeling great, i decided to cut a trail home... took the same route home - stopping on the other side of danville this time. it was a good trip except for the damn cage that wouldn't stay off my ass from roanoke to martinsville. i couldn't figure it out - there was hardly any traffic, this guy could have passed at any time (hell, we were on a four lane road - two lanes in each direction!!). no, he had to ride up on my ass, stay there for a bit. then he'd drop back to a reasonable distance for about thirty seconds and then back on my ass... i tried slowing down to force him to pass - did he?? no... i sped up, nope - must have had a rubber band on my ass keeping him close... it wasn't until i picked up 58 that he went in a difference direction... once he was gone - the rest of the trip was nice...

just a quick note to you cage drivers - please have some courtesy around bikes. give them some room - riding on their asses isn't going to make them ride faster. either pass them of back off - i don't care, but do something other than stay on their ass...

i've passed through a couple towns on this trip and an earlier one that i want to go back and visit with my wife - oxford, milton, hyco lake. although i didn't hit it this time, i'd also like to go back to yanceyville. it's amazing how much more you see when you're out on a bike than when you're in a cage... if you've ridden a bike before, you know what i'm talking about...

as always this trip would have been nicer if my wife was with me... i love her so much and miss her when i'm gone. no matter how great it is while i'm out riding, it's always better getting home and seeing her... one of these days we're going to take a trip together - i can't wait...