uhhh, sure Rick.....[:'(]

We'll check those joints out tga, thanks.

 

Enjoy your trip, ride safe, take pictures.

 

I so wish I was you right now,I am pumped for you.

 

Well just got back home last night. Totaled over 1500 miles in a week. All in all it was awesome. The Smokeys are breathtaking We took several hundred pics and I will somehow get them on here soon enough. The worst thing was the traffic in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Outside temps were in the mid to upper 90's and traffic went at a crawl with lots of time spent waiting for traffic to move. Damned near got into it with a Gat cop. Only thing stopping me was the fact we were leaving the next morning and I didn't want to spend the next few days in jail....

The bed n breakfast we stayed at in Gat was very cool. Ice cold in the room, big comfy KS bed, all you sould eat breakfasts, and the guy was a biker as well. He is a retired cop from Ca. who loves making runs with guests. He knows the area and steered us away from most of the crowds.

Never got on the Dragon, it was shut down the only 2 days we could go due to a semi dumping his load of all things, toilet paper!!!. I reopened Sat, but the cops were keeping traffic down to one lane, so we went to a place called Cades Cove instead. The road out had plenty of tight curves and beautiful scenery, so settled (if you can call it that) for that run instead. We did go up and over the Smokeys into N.C. A major Thunderstorm blew in so instead of going around through NC we decided to go back over and still got caught in some major precip. Those roads get quite slick when water is washing over them in torrents.....but I managed to keep the rubber side down. We were supposed to meet Steve (the b & b owner) over in NC but with the storm and the fact that Nextell was down we never hooked up with him over there. But I guess my riding skills must be ok because he came back over the top of the mountains maybe 30 minutes after us and he went down and nearly over the edge. Glad he didn't get hurt nor did his bike.

The ride coming out of Marysville acorss 68 was also spectacular. Ran into lots of riders along the way, from all over. They kept telling me I had an accent....I said naw, you are the ones with the accent and we all had some good laffs. The ride out of Cookeville and northwards to Shelbyville, Ky was also great, its just that once we left the Smokeys we ran into that scorching heat and every mile was sun drenched and God awful hot. Drank gallons of water and made way too many stops but had to to keep from getting dehydrated. Found many little bar joints and had glass after glass of $1 drafts in tall ones. Seems most found out we were on two wheels and offered us some big discounts...lol These stops made the trip legs take much longer but without them we would have had to stop earlier.

The final leg was a ride from Shelbyville Ky all the way home. Left about 11:30 AM Ky time and got home about 8:30 pm home time. This included all the stops for gas, liquids and lunch and dinner. Sure slept good last night......

Oh and thos rainsuits we got, the Overpass II's from HD are the cats *** as are those HD gaiter boots. Once we got them on, we were dry as dust. inside and they breath great as well. Got caught 4 or 5 times when we had to don the rain gear. One thing, those T bags are great but the rain covers are not meant to go on a bag thats filled to the max and strapped to a bike. It wouldn't hardly fit over the bag, and where the bag goes over the sissy bar, the rain cover definitely would not go over. Where the top roll bag is suppsoed to strap on there are no holes to allow the straps to go through, and the bag would not go over the t bag with the top roll on, so you have to have a separate bag for the top roll but cannot use the straps to strap it to the t bag because of the lack of holes for the straps. Very poor desig

 

Hey Mike, good report, glad you had fun!! you know it isn't really a trip unless your rained onso it sounds like your trip was a successful one. was down that way in 06, awsome place, want to go back again someday.

 

Great report, Mike. The wife and I are leaving in the morning for Gatlinburg, got a cabin waiting for us with a hot tub, pool table, and a jacuzzi.

How about giving us the name and contact info for the B&B where you stayed.

Sounds like you found out like I did, that when it comes to rain gear, you get what you pay for. When you really need it, saving a few $$$ is secondary. Glad you had a good trip.

 

Still waiting on the mail for the 2 cd's of pics we took. We were packed so tight that everything we bought was shipped back home via USPS and UPS, plus we snail mailed the 2 cd's. Get this-the 2 packages were here when we got home but we haven't seen the cd's yet. Maybe thats why they call it snail mail....

The b & b we stayed at was called the Old Tudor English Inn, heres the link, http://www.oldeenglishtudorinn.com/

Gives bikers great rates, is owned by a retired LEO/biker and is just plain a great place to bed down in. Walking distance to downtown Gatlinburg as well. We stayed in the 'Bears Den', which has a separate entrance. If you call there, the owners name is Steve Pickle. Just tell him Mike Belt sent you, the guy on the silver and black Harley from Michigan. Just over $300 for 4 nights beats anything else based on my findings....

 

wow,,, sounds like ya had a good time.
did ya chew any gum?

 

Thats a big 10-4 on the gum rick. Ears got so plugged I could hardly hear the bike running, even chewing on gum! Speaking of exhaust, just before we left my son told me he thought my exhaust was getting mighty loud, that with him running straight pipes and me running a 2-1 V & H pro pipe, heck I though he was nuts. Sounded the same to me. But long about 2/3's the way through my trip I think I blew most of the baffle out because that baby really cracks now. So much when we stopped for gas in Ky and guy I had passed stopped to check out my exhaust and to see what I was running! lol. Said it sounded so good he was going to get the same thing for his Harley. Now I'm not so sure I am going to replace the baffle....lol, but it did take a day for my ears to stop ringing and buzzing...

 

heres some



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