it's over...

hard to believe another year has passed... i did more riding this year than i thought i would and, as always, not as much as i wanted. i guess the good side of that is i always have something to look forward to...

the weather around here has been good but i haven't been able to ride lately. i should say i haven't taken the opportunity to ride lately. between trying to catch up on stuff that needs to be done around here, traveling for the holidays and just spending time with family, it didn't leave much time for riding. maybe next week...

in the meantime, as it seems to be tradition this time of year, a little recap of this past year... in no particular order.

peace...

reunion ride...

26 October 2008

i think this will 'bout bring me up to date on the rides so far this year. and with only about two weeks left, don't know if i'll be able to squeeze any more in...

back in october, i had a chance to ride with my wife and about fifty of our closest friends... actually, didn't know too many people on the ride!! most of the riders were fairly new riders with little experience - some with no group riding experience. it was put together by one of the motorcycle instructors and was a "reunion" of students he had taught over the years. the cool thing is he's also a member of the blue knights so we kinda got an escorted ride...

the day started out a little chilly and i was a little worried about my wife getting cold, so i hooked up the 'lectric gloves before we took off. we headed off to shelton's in durham to meet up with everyone...

when we got to shelton's we were surprised by the number of people already there. and more showed up as we waited for departure. right before we left, we got a pre-ride brief...

we rode up to clarksville to have lunch at the lamplighter. good food and it seems to be a popular place to stop for two wheelers... while eating lunch, we made a couple new friends. after lunch, it was time for a group photo and the scenic ride back.

on the way back, the weather warmed up and my wife decided to try her hand at taking some pictures while we were riding... since she would have to ride without gloves to take the pictures, i was worried about her hands getting cold. thankfully it had warmed up enough that it didn't turn out to be an issue... she got tons of great pictures of people riding their bikes and some scenery...

one final stop at the dam to enjoy the view and reflect on the wonderful ride...

it turned out to be an awesome day for a ride. no incidents (other than the ol' man tipping over his bike as we were leaving the last stop).

it was great to spend another afternoon riding with my wife. i can't wait to be able to take more rides like this with her - just heading off, grabbing some lunch somewhere and sharing each others company. what a great day we had...

a final shot from the day...

(i know what all you are asking - how to the ugly guys get the hot chicks??)

early christmas...

got an early christmas present in the mail the other day from america rides maps... they were thoughtful enough to send me one of their latest maps, best roads north and south of asheville, nc... an excellent way to share the spirit of the christmas season...

what's really nice is they've been making improvements to the maps. they've added road mileage for the roads on the map. that's really nice to have when you're trying to plan out a route or two for the day. they've also improved the detail and resolution of the maps. it makes quite a difference compared to the older maps - gives you a better idea of the area... and finally, a must have for bikers, recommended places to eat. the improvement to the maps is remarkable.

i really like this particular map for two reasons. one, it joins several of the other maps, making a series on the blue ridge parkway. two, it will fit in nicely if i can pull off my plans to ride the blue ridge parkway with my father-in-law next year.

looks like i'm going to have to head over to their web site and order a couple more maps to complete my collection of the blue ridge parkway series...

whodunnit??

another test to take... whodunnit?? and in case you missed the first one, you can find it here...

how observant were you??

blue ridge parkway...

29 September 2008

very late on this post...

after visiting appalachian state, we decided to take the long way home - along the blue ridge parkway... since we were leaving a day earlier than originally planned, we figured we could afford the time. if it got late, we'd just pick some where to stop and pick up the next day.

it was interesting riding along the parkway. it was sunny and warm on one side of the mountain and cool, cloudy and threatening rain on the other. depending on which way we were heading, we'd either be in the nice warm sun or contemplating pulling over to gear up in our rain suits. the conditions would change with each turn we took. thankfully we never hit the rain...

our first stop along the blue ridge. the pictures just don't do it justice...

our second stop at the e.b. jeffress park. again, beautiful and the pictures don't do it justice.

at the park, there were some trails leading down to a waterfall. we decided to spend a little time and check it out...

there were so many overlooks and centers to visit. if we would have stopped at each one, it would have taken us a week to get home.

we did decide to stop at the blue ridge music center. not sure what i was expecting, but this wasn't it. although it was interesting and introduced me to the origins and history of the music in the area.

after getting off the parkway, our final scenic stop was lovers leap in stuart, va. this picture doesn't give you a good feeling for the drop off just over the wall...

a quick stop for some food and fuel...

we ended up making it home that evening - a little late and a lot chilly. but definitely worth going out of our way. this trip has bumped up the priority of riding the whole blue ridge parkway... maybe i can swing it next year...

to wrap things up, a map of our path along the blue ridge parkway...

support our troops...

got a letter in the mail yesterday from the support our troops organization... they're trying to get specialty plates printed in north carolina to support our troops. in order to start printing the plates, the state dmv requires at least three hundred applications for the plates. at this point, they have one hundred fifty applications.

the organization has decided to foot the bill for the other one hundred fifty applications. that's right, free!!! all you need to do is print an application and mail it in. support our troops will pay for the first one hundred fifty they receive on a first-come first-serve basis...