Brasstown Bald ride report
#1
10-24-2011, 12:42 PM
Brasstown Bald ride report
Just for you Ken!
Speaking of Ken, he was supposed to be at home guarding his bank account but Mary grew tired of him walking around with his shoulders shrugged so late Friday night the ole Hawg himself lets me know he's a going and to meet him for breakfast, which was good but with very poor service at the Huddle House in Cumming. We looked at the clock and it was 9:50, Paul had set KSU for 10am sharp so I called Dewayne and told him me and Dawn were running late and we would be there by 10:30, he laughed and said Dona wasn't even ready yet so he would let Paul know.
We fired up the hogs and attempted to make up some time on the road, until we came upon a group of bikes and cops, at 1st thought it was a funeral because everyone was pulling off the side of the road. I remembered there was a LEO ride event going from Fraziers to Cartersville and ending at Atlanta HD, escorted the whole way by the state patrol. We finally got the the Chevron and Dewayne had this look on his face since he didn't know Ken was going. That look was like what the hell is he doing here, I don't want no crow sandwich this early in the morning. Bout that time I see this fellar pull up with no helmet on, Harvey was his name. Super friendly guy, had tried to flag me down at Thunder Beach in PC earlier in the month. He was supposed to have joined us but one of his friends bikes was having trouble so he hauled *** back to Murphy to help, that says alot about what kind of friend he is. Finally got to meet Paul, y'all weren't lying, Paul is a great guy!!!
So we hit the road, I almost get killed by a Dodge Intrepid that cut into us leaving the parking lot, I have had a run in with this imbred bunch before in my Mustang more than once. Took a casual cruise into the greater Jasper metropolis and boogied up Burnt Mountain rd, which is one of my favorite close to home rides. Its a chilly ride but not overwhelming, lots of bikes and nice cars on the road and even though he was 2 bikes ahead of me, I can hear Ken's stereo over mine and Dewaynes stereo! Dammit man, I am jealous. Made a quick pit stop in Dahlonega for a few moments, nothing like local watching in the mountains!
We head north at a nice pace going over Blood Mountain it cooled off nicely and it made us all think of Beav and his nice heated gear, panties and all. Coming down the mountain I notice we are kinda going slower than usual, I look up and there is a red Harley trike that is assing along at a snails pace, we were stuck behind him for a few miles, when suddenly I hear Pauls stomach growl, I hear the glide downshift and he and Hog pass the guy, Dewayne see's its clear and goes for his shot, now its my turn and speaking of turns there is a curve ahead. I said screw it and dropped down a gear passed the guy who was barely breathing and I had to cut him off with the quickness for my own safety purposes, oh well, share the road which in my mind means get the hell out of the way. Less than 2 miles we arrive at Pappy's, never been there before, all kinds of neat touristy shops and an eatin joint as well. We pull in, shed some layers since it is warming up, I turn around and see our ole friend on his trike. I was waiting for him to come over and say something to us, but he never did, meanwhile Paul, Ken and Dewayne were getting there monies out and putting the money on the guy in the walker, for the right price I would have thrown the fight and went down with my pride still intact.
Well we head into the restaurant only to see alot of people out front waiting, we figured we would be there for awhile. Nervously Paul kept looking at his watch because he had to be back home at a certain time but he was not going to miss a meal and I was right there with him! Obviously the people at Pappy's recognized who we were and we were seated about 1 minute later. All morning Dona kept talking about a burger, then Ken would chime in and my hefty self was foaming at the mouth to try one. Even though Pappy's has alot of BBQ on the menu, Dona has warned us that it was for crap, I really like her for that because nothing is worse than bad BBQ! We shot the breeze, Paul talked alot of the Ocala rally, which y'all will have a blast. Next year we will partake in this, sounds like my kinda fun! The subject of Beav came up more than once, in good ways. Then my big ole burger was put in front of my mouth and I ate like a fat man possessed and it was very damn good, enough said.
Finally Paul has to high tail it out of there and we were ready to do what baggers do, TOUR! So we gave the lead to the fastest bagger in the land, KEN! Headed to Brasstown Bald and wow, what a road leading up there, Dawn got some pretty cool pics of the road and us on the road. Once to the top parking lot the place is buzzing with tourists from all lands, we parked, found a shuttle and went to the top. 36 years I have lived in GA and never been to this place, boy was I missing a pretty site. We hung out, took pictures, told of wild tales when we were younger. There was actually ice on the observation deck and my father told me on the news it had snowed up there on Friday, crazy damn GA weather.
Its getting to be around 4pm now and I had to be in Cumming by 6pm to get my truck from the dealership before they closed. We were gonna run the Richard Russell pkwy but Ken was looking out for me and we put the bikes into the wind. Going down Blood Mountain we kept seeing bikers pat their helmets and cars flash their lights, that means trouble ahead, luckily our fugitive was not with us at the time. We finally see about 12 or so state patrol cars and they are waiving bikes to the side. They ask for our licenses and this one trooper has his eye on me. Asked me to take my helmet off so he can look at it. Never did he even look at my license and honestly I wasn't paying attention to see if he even checked anyone elses helmet, I know he didn't check Dawn's helmet. He asks me if the helmet is DOT approved which when I bought it, it said it was and there was the DOT sticker that was on the back of it. I told him I would remove the sticker I had put over it to show him, he told me that was not neccesary. He looked at the tag inside the helmet and told me the helmet was "arguable" whether or not it was DOT approved. I was kind of miffed at what he meant but I interpret that the trooper really had no clue whether it was DOT or not. He went on to tell me Dewayne's helmet was much thicker on the inside and mine is a novelty which I still argue is not. He then told me that on Jan 1st they are going to start writing tickets because of a new law, which I have yet to find specifics on anywhere, gave me a flyer that really said nothing except you have to have a license to ride in GA, protective headgear and some form of shield for your eyes. The officer was cool about it, rattled me a bit, they were towing another guys bike because he did not have a license. We proceeded on southward and after this unscheduled stop there was no way we were making it to Cumming by 6pm. We stopped for gas and Dawn called the dealer and arranged for us to pick up the truck after hours so it was all good.
The last part of the ride was uneventful until we got below Dawsonville on 400, traffic came to a stand still and luckily we hopped some back roads and all made our separate ways, I was tired after that ride but we had a blast. One thing I noticed on this trip was Dewayne was getting a workout by pointing out all the roadkill with his boots to me!!!
I cannot say enough about this group, we have had a blast the past 2 weekends and we look forward to many more rides in the future. I was telling Ken, we have a boat on Lake Guntersville on the Tennessee River in North Alabama. Its a 35 footer and we rarely use it but we figured it would be fun next year for a bunch of us to ride out there as a group and enjoy the lake for a weekend. There is a Best Western in town that is nice, has a restaurant and bar and is very bike friendly.
Is it time to ride again yet?
Speaking of Ken, he was supposed to be at home guarding his bank account but Mary grew tired of him walking around with his shoulders shrugged so late Friday night the ole Hawg himself lets me know he's a going and to meet him for breakfast, which was good but with very poor service at the Huddle House in Cumming. We looked at the clock and it was 9:50, Paul had set KSU for 10am sharp so I called Dewayne and told him me and Dawn were running late and we would be there by 10:30, he laughed and said Dona wasn't even ready yet so he would let Paul know.
We fired up the hogs and attempted to make up some time on the road, until we came upon a group of bikes and cops, at 1st thought it was a funeral because everyone was pulling off the side of the road. I remembered there was a LEO ride event going from Fraziers to Cartersville and ending at Atlanta HD, escorted the whole way by the state patrol. We finally got the the Chevron and Dewayne had this look on his face since he didn't know Ken was going. That look was like what the hell is he doing here, I don't want no crow sandwich this early in the morning. Bout that time I see this fellar pull up with no helmet on, Harvey was his name. Super friendly guy, had tried to flag me down at Thunder Beach in PC earlier in the month. He was supposed to have joined us but one of his friends bikes was having trouble so he hauled *** back to Murphy to help, that says alot about what kind of friend he is. Finally got to meet Paul, y'all weren't lying, Paul is a great guy!!!
So we hit the road, I almost get killed by a Dodge Intrepid that cut into us leaving the parking lot, I have had a run in with this imbred bunch before in my Mustang more than once. Took a casual cruise into the greater Jasper metropolis and boogied up Burnt Mountain rd, which is one of my favorite close to home rides. Its a chilly ride but not overwhelming, lots of bikes and nice cars on the road and even though he was 2 bikes ahead of me, I can hear Ken's stereo over mine and Dewaynes stereo! Dammit man, I am jealous. Made a quick pit stop in Dahlonega for a few moments, nothing like local watching in the mountains!
We head north at a nice pace going over Blood Mountain it cooled off nicely and it made us all think of Beav and his nice heated gear, panties and all. Coming down the mountain I notice we are kinda going slower than usual, I look up and there is a red Harley trike that is assing along at a snails pace, we were stuck behind him for a few miles, when suddenly I hear Pauls stomach growl, I hear the glide downshift and he and Hog pass the guy, Dewayne see's its clear and goes for his shot, now its my turn and speaking of turns there is a curve ahead. I said screw it and dropped down a gear passed the guy who was barely breathing and I had to cut him off with the quickness for my own safety purposes, oh well, share the road which in my mind means get the hell out of the way. Less than 2 miles we arrive at Pappy's, never been there before, all kinds of neat touristy shops and an eatin joint as well. We pull in, shed some layers since it is warming up, I turn around and see our ole friend on his trike. I was waiting for him to come over and say something to us, but he never did, meanwhile Paul, Ken and Dewayne were getting there monies out and putting the money on the guy in the walker, for the right price I would have thrown the fight and went down with my pride still intact.
Well we head into the restaurant only to see alot of people out front waiting, we figured we would be there for awhile. Nervously Paul kept looking at his watch because he had to be back home at a certain time but he was not going to miss a meal and I was right there with him! Obviously the people at Pappy's recognized who we were and we were seated about 1 minute later. All morning Dona kept talking about a burger, then Ken would chime in and my hefty self was foaming at the mouth to try one. Even though Pappy's has alot of BBQ on the menu, Dona has warned us that it was for crap, I really like her for that because nothing is worse than bad BBQ! We shot the breeze, Paul talked alot of the Ocala rally, which y'all will have a blast. Next year we will partake in this, sounds like my kinda fun! The subject of Beav came up more than once, in good ways. Then my big ole burger was put in front of my mouth and I ate like a fat man possessed and it was very damn good, enough said.
Finally Paul has to high tail it out of there and we were ready to do what baggers do, TOUR! So we gave the lead to the fastest bagger in the land, KEN! Headed to Brasstown Bald and wow, what a road leading up there, Dawn got some pretty cool pics of the road and us on the road. Once to the top parking lot the place is buzzing with tourists from all lands, we parked, found a shuttle and went to the top. 36 years I have lived in GA and never been to this place, boy was I missing a pretty site. We hung out, took pictures, told of wild tales when we were younger. There was actually ice on the observation deck and my father told me on the news it had snowed up there on Friday, crazy damn GA weather.
Its getting to be around 4pm now and I had to be in Cumming by 6pm to get my truck from the dealership before they closed. We were gonna run the Richard Russell pkwy but Ken was looking out for me and we put the bikes into the wind. Going down Blood Mountain we kept seeing bikers pat their helmets and cars flash their lights, that means trouble ahead, luckily our fugitive was not with us at the time. We finally see about 12 or so state patrol cars and they are waiving bikes to the side. They ask for our licenses and this one trooper has his eye on me. Asked me to take my helmet off so he can look at it. Never did he even look at my license and honestly I wasn't paying attention to see if he even checked anyone elses helmet, I know he didn't check Dawn's helmet. He asks me if the helmet is DOT approved which when I bought it, it said it was and there was the DOT sticker that was on the back of it. I told him I would remove the sticker I had put over it to show him, he told me that was not neccesary. He looked at the tag inside the helmet and told me the helmet was "arguable" whether or not it was DOT approved. I was kind of miffed at what he meant but I interpret that the trooper really had no clue whether it was DOT or not. He went on to tell me Dewayne's helmet was much thicker on the inside and mine is a novelty which I still argue is not. He then told me that on Jan 1st they are going to start writing tickets because of a new law, which I have yet to find specifics on anywhere, gave me a flyer that really said nothing except you have to have a license to ride in GA, protective headgear and some form of shield for your eyes. The officer was cool about it, rattled me a bit, they were towing another guys bike because he did not have a license. We proceeded on southward and after this unscheduled stop there was no way we were making it to Cumming by 6pm. We stopped for gas and Dawn called the dealer and arranged for us to pick up the truck after hours so it was all good.
The last part of the ride was uneventful until we got below Dawsonville on 400, traffic came to a stand still and luckily we hopped some back roads and all made our separate ways, I was tired after that ride but we had a blast. One thing I noticed on this trip was Dewayne was getting a workout by pointing out all the roadkill with his boots to me!!!
I cannot say enough about this group, we have had a blast the past 2 weekends and we look forward to many more rides in the future. I was telling Ken, we have a boat on Lake Guntersville on the Tennessee River in North Alabama. Its a 35 footer and we rarely use it but we figured it would be fun next year for a bunch of us to ride out there as a group and enjoy the lake for a weekend. There is a Best Western in town that is nice, has a restaurant and bar and is very bike friendly.
Is it time to ride again yet?
#2
10-24-2011, 05:41 PM
Good report Johnny!!!
You guys kick and stomp a feller when he's not there to defend himself huh?
J/K!
Layers?
What layers? A tee shirt, jacket liner (heated of coarse,) and coat... heck, your all set. Don't really need the coat...it's just wind protection for the liner. If'n ya get a little too warm, turn that **** to the left a little.
Sorry I missed the ride... but not the checkpoint!!! Aint' this still America?
You guys kick and stomp a feller when he's not there to defend himself huh?
J/K!Layers?
What layers? A tee shirt, jacket liner (heated of coarse,) and coat... heck, your all set. Don't really need the coat...it's just wind protection for the liner. If'n ya get a little too warm, turn that **** to the left a little.Sorry I missed the ride... but not the checkpoint!!! Aint' this still America?
#3
10-24-2011, 05:46 PM
Good report Johnny!!!
You guys kick and stomp a feller when he's not there to defend himself huh? J/K!
Layers? What layers? A tee shirt, jacket liner (heated of coarse,) and coat... heck, your all set. Don't really need the coat...it's just wind protection for the liner. If'n ya get a little too warm, turn that **** to the left a little.
Sorry I missed the ride... but not the checkpoint!!! Aint' this still America?
You guys kick and stomp a feller when he's not there to defend himself huh?
J/K!Layers?
What layers? A tee shirt, jacket liner (heated of coarse,) and coat... heck, your all set. Don't really need the coat...it's just wind protection for the liner. If'n ya get a little too warm, turn that **** to the left a little.Sorry I missed the ride... but not the checkpoint!!! Aint' this still America?
I am still pissed off about the checkpoint thing, ask Dawn!!
#5
10-24-2011, 05:56 PM
Yeah gonna be alot cooler this weekend as well!
#6
10-24-2011, 06:46 PM
Beav
#7
10-24-2011, 06:56 PM
Beav, Beav, Beav, it was merely a statement so you would not forget your heated gear whilst we ride! I'm fine with my 3 layers and just ordered me some glove liners for $7 that will warm my hands fine in my gauntlet gloves!
Ya know if your heated gear ever fails when you are out on the road and you have a t shirt on and jacket, you might as well call the wrecker
Just sayin
Ya know if your heated gear ever fails when you are out on the road and you have a t shirt on and jacket, you might as well call the wrecker
Just sayin
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#8
10-24-2011, 07:01 PM
Cruiser
#9
10-24-2011, 07:03 PM
Cruiser
Just for you Ken!
Speaking of Ken, he was supposed to be at home guarding his bank account but Mary grew tired of him walking around with his shoulders shrugged so late Friday night the ole Hawg himself lets me know he's a going and to meet him for breakfast, which was good but with very poor service at the Huddle House in Cumming. We looked at the clock and it was 9:50, Paul had set KSU for 10am sharp so I called Dewayne and told him me and Dawn were running late and we would be there by 10:30, he laughed and said Dona wasn't even ready yet so he would let Paul know.
We fired up the hogs and attempted to make up some time on the road, until we came upon a group of bikes and cops, at 1st thought it was a funeral because everyone was pulling off the side of the road. I remembered there was a LEO ride event going from Fraziers to Cartersville and ending at Atlanta HD, escorted the whole way by the state patrol. We finally got the the Chevron and Dewayne had this look on his face since he didn't know Ken was going. That look was like what the hell is he doing here, I don't want no crow sandwich this early in the morning. Bout that time I see this fellar pull up with no helmet on, Harvey was his name. Super friendly guy, had tried to flag me down at Thunder Beach in PC earlier in the month. He was supposed to have joined us but one of his friends bikes was having trouble so he hauled *** back to Murphy to help, that says alot about what kind of friend he is. Finally got to meet Paul, y'all weren't lying, Paul is a great guy!!!
So we hit the road, I almost get killed by a Dodge Intrepid that cut into us leaving the parking lot, I have had a run in with this imbred bunch before in my Mustang more than once. Took a casual cruise into the greater Jasper metropolis and boogied up Burnt Mountain rd, which is one of my favorite close to home rides. Its a chilly ride but not overwhelming, lots of bikes and nice cars on the road and even though he was 2 bikes ahead of me, I can hear Ken's stereo over mine and Dewaynes stereo! Dammit man, I am jealous. Made a quick pit stop in Dahlonega for a few moments, nothing like local watching in the mountains!
We head north at a nice pace going over Blood Mountain it cooled off nicely and it made us all think of Beav and his nice heated gear, panties and all. Coming down the mountain I notice we are kinda going slower than usual, I look up and there is a red Harley trike that is assing along at a snails pace, we were stuck behind him for a few miles, when suddenly I hear Pauls stomach growl, I hear the glide downshift and he and Hog pass the guy, Dewayne see's its clear and goes for his shot, now its my turn and speaking of turns there is a curve ahead. I said screw it and dropped down a gear passed the guy who was barely breathing and I had to cut him off with the quickness for my own safety purposes, oh well, share the road which in my mind means get the hell out of the way. Less than 2 miles we arrive at Pappy's, never been there before, all kinds of neat touristy shops and an eatin joint as well. We pull in, shed some layers since it is warming up, I turn around and see our ole friend on his trike. I was waiting for him to come over and say something to us, but he never did, meanwhile Paul, Ken and Dewayne were getting there monies out and putting the money on the guy in the walker, for the right price I would have thrown the fight and went down with my pride still intact.
Well we head into the restaurant only to see alot of people out front waiting, we figured we would be there for awhile. Nervously Paul kept looking at his watch because he had to be back home at a certain time but he was not going to miss a meal and I was right there with him! Obviously the people at Pappy's recognized who we were and we were seated about 1 minute later. All morning Dona kept talking about a burger, then Ken would chime in and my hefty self was foaming at the mouth to try one. Even though Pappy's has alot of BBQ on the menu, Dona has warned us that it was for crap, I really like her for that because nothing is worse than bad BBQ! We shot the breeze, Paul talked alot of the Ocala rally, which y'all will have a blast. Next year we will partake in this, sounds like my kinda fun! The subject of Beav came up more than once, in good ways. Then my big ole burger was put in front of my mouth and I ate like a fat man possessed and it was very damn good, enough said.
Finally Paul has to high tail it out of there and we were ready to do what baggers do, TOUR! So we gave the lead to the fastest bagger in the land, KEN! Headed to Brasstown Bald and wow, what a road leading up there, Dawn got some pretty cool pics of the road and us on the road. Once to the top parking lot the place is buzzing with tourists from all lands, we parked, found a shuttle and went to the top. 36 years I have lived in GA and never been to this place, boy was I missing a pretty site. We hung out, took pictures, told of wild tales when we were younger. There was actually ice on the observation deck and my father told me on the news it had snowed up there on Friday, crazy damn GA weather.
Its getting to be around 4pm now and I had to be in Cumming by 6pm to get my truck from the dealership before they closed. We were gonna run the Richard Russell pkwy but Ken was looking out for me and we put the bikes into the wind. Going down Blood Mountain we kept seeing bikers pat their helmets and cars flash their lights, that means trouble ahead, luckily our fugitive was not with us at the time. We finally see about 12 or so state patrol cars and they are waiving bikes to the side. They ask for our licenses and this one trooper has his eye on me. Asked me to take my helmet off so he can look at it. Never did he even look at my license and honestly I wasn't paying attention to see if he even checked anyone elses helmet, I know he didn't check Dawn's helmet. He asks me if the helmet is DOT approved which when I bought it, it said it was and there was the DOT sticker that was on the back of it. I told him I would remove the sticker I had put over it to show him, he told me that was not neccesary. He looked at the tag inside the helmet and told me the helmet was "arguable" whether or not it was DOT approved. I was kind of miffed at what he meant but I interpret that the trooper really had no clue whether it was DOT or not. He went on to tell me Dewayne's helmet was much thicker on the inside and mine is a novelty which I still argue is not. He then told me that on Jan 1st they are going to start writing tickets because of a new law, which I have yet to find specifics on anywhere, gave me a flyer that really said nothing except you have to have a license to ride in GA, protective headgear and some form of shield for your eyes. The officer was cool about it, rattled me a bit, they were towing another guys bike because he did not have a license. We proceeded on southward and after this unscheduled stop there was no way we were making it to Cumming by 6pm. We stopped for gas and Dawn called the dealer and arranged for us to pick up the truck after hours so it was all good.
The last part of the ride was uneventful until we got below Dawsonville on 400, traffic came to a stand still and luckily we hopped some back roads and all made our separate ways, I was tired after that ride but we had a blast. One thing I noticed on this trip was Dewayne was getting a workout by pointing out all the roadkill with his boots to me!!!
I cannot say enough about this group, we have had a blast the past 2 weekends and we look forward to many more rides in the future. I was telling Ken, we have a boat on Lake Guntersville on the Tennessee River in North Alabama. Its a 35 footer and we rarely use it but we figured it would be fun next year for a bunch of us to ride out there as a group and enjoy the lake for a weekend. There is a Best Western in town that is nice, has a restaurant and bar and is very bike friendly.
Is it time to ride again yet?
Speaking of Ken, he was supposed to be at home guarding his bank account but Mary grew tired of him walking around with his shoulders shrugged so late Friday night the ole Hawg himself lets me know he's a going and to meet him for breakfast, which was good but with very poor service at the Huddle House in Cumming. We looked at the clock and it was 9:50, Paul had set KSU for 10am sharp so I called Dewayne and told him me and Dawn were running late and we would be there by 10:30, he laughed and said Dona wasn't even ready yet so he would let Paul know.
We fired up the hogs and attempted to make up some time on the road, until we came upon a group of bikes and cops, at 1st thought it was a funeral because everyone was pulling off the side of the road. I remembered there was a LEO ride event going from Fraziers to Cartersville and ending at Atlanta HD, escorted the whole way by the state patrol. We finally got the the Chevron and Dewayne had this look on his face since he didn't know Ken was going. That look was like what the hell is he doing here, I don't want no crow sandwich this early in the morning. Bout that time I see this fellar pull up with no helmet on, Harvey was his name. Super friendly guy, had tried to flag me down at Thunder Beach in PC earlier in the month. He was supposed to have joined us but one of his friends bikes was having trouble so he hauled *** back to Murphy to help, that says alot about what kind of friend he is. Finally got to meet Paul, y'all weren't lying, Paul is a great guy!!!
So we hit the road, I almost get killed by a Dodge Intrepid that cut into us leaving the parking lot, I have had a run in with this imbred bunch before in my Mustang more than once. Took a casual cruise into the greater Jasper metropolis and boogied up Burnt Mountain rd, which is one of my favorite close to home rides. Its a chilly ride but not overwhelming, lots of bikes and nice cars on the road and even though he was 2 bikes ahead of me, I can hear Ken's stereo over mine and Dewaynes stereo! Dammit man, I am jealous. Made a quick pit stop in Dahlonega for a few moments, nothing like local watching in the mountains!
We head north at a nice pace going over Blood Mountain it cooled off nicely and it made us all think of Beav and his nice heated gear, panties and all. Coming down the mountain I notice we are kinda going slower than usual, I look up and there is a red Harley trike that is assing along at a snails pace, we were stuck behind him for a few miles, when suddenly I hear Pauls stomach growl, I hear the glide downshift and he and Hog pass the guy, Dewayne see's its clear and goes for his shot, now its my turn and speaking of turns there is a curve ahead. I said screw it and dropped down a gear passed the guy who was barely breathing and I had to cut him off with the quickness for my own safety purposes, oh well, share the road which in my mind means get the hell out of the way. Less than 2 miles we arrive at Pappy's, never been there before, all kinds of neat touristy shops and an eatin joint as well. We pull in, shed some layers since it is warming up, I turn around and see our ole friend on his trike. I was waiting for him to come over and say something to us, but he never did, meanwhile Paul, Ken and Dewayne were getting there monies out and putting the money on the guy in the walker, for the right price I would have thrown the fight and went down with my pride still intact.
Well we head into the restaurant only to see alot of people out front waiting, we figured we would be there for awhile. Nervously Paul kept looking at his watch because he had to be back home at a certain time but he was not going to miss a meal and I was right there with him! Obviously the people at Pappy's recognized who we were and we were seated about 1 minute later. All morning Dona kept talking about a burger, then Ken would chime in and my hefty self was foaming at the mouth to try one. Even though Pappy's has alot of BBQ on the menu, Dona has warned us that it was for crap, I really like her for that because nothing is worse than bad BBQ! We shot the breeze, Paul talked alot of the Ocala rally, which y'all will have a blast. Next year we will partake in this, sounds like my kinda fun! The subject of Beav came up more than once, in good ways. Then my big ole burger was put in front of my mouth and I ate like a fat man possessed and it was very damn good, enough said.
Finally Paul has to high tail it out of there and we were ready to do what baggers do, TOUR! So we gave the lead to the fastest bagger in the land, KEN! Headed to Brasstown Bald and wow, what a road leading up there, Dawn got some pretty cool pics of the road and us on the road. Once to the top parking lot the place is buzzing with tourists from all lands, we parked, found a shuttle and went to the top. 36 years I have lived in GA and never been to this place, boy was I missing a pretty site. We hung out, took pictures, told of wild tales when we were younger. There was actually ice on the observation deck and my father told me on the news it had snowed up there on Friday, crazy damn GA weather.
Its getting to be around 4pm now and I had to be in Cumming by 6pm to get my truck from the dealership before they closed. We were gonna run the Richard Russell pkwy but Ken was looking out for me and we put the bikes into the wind. Going down Blood Mountain we kept seeing bikers pat their helmets and cars flash their lights, that means trouble ahead, luckily our fugitive was not with us at the time. We finally see about 12 or so state patrol cars and they are waiving bikes to the side. They ask for our licenses and this one trooper has his eye on me. Asked me to take my helmet off so he can look at it. Never did he even look at my license and honestly I wasn't paying attention to see if he even checked anyone elses helmet, I know he didn't check Dawn's helmet. He asks me if the helmet is DOT approved which when I bought it, it said it was and there was the DOT sticker that was on the back of it. I told him I would remove the sticker I had put over it to show him, he told me that was not neccesary. He looked at the tag inside the helmet and told me the helmet was "arguable" whether or not it was DOT approved. I was kind of miffed at what he meant but I interpret that the trooper really had no clue whether it was DOT or not. He went on to tell me Dewayne's helmet was much thicker on the inside and mine is a novelty which I still argue is not. He then told me that on Jan 1st they are going to start writing tickets because of a new law, which I have yet to find specifics on anywhere, gave me a flyer that really said nothing except you have to have a license to ride in GA, protective headgear and some form of shield for your eyes. The officer was cool about it, rattled me a bit, they were towing another guys bike because he did not have a license. We proceeded on southward and after this unscheduled stop there was no way we were making it to Cumming by 6pm. We stopped for gas and Dawn called the dealer and arranged for us to pick up the truck after hours so it was all good.
The last part of the ride was uneventful until we got below Dawsonville on 400, traffic came to a stand still and luckily we hopped some back roads and all made our separate ways, I was tired after that ride but we had a blast. One thing I noticed on this trip was Dewayne was getting a workout by pointing out all the roadkill with his boots to me!!!
I cannot say enough about this group, we have had a blast the past 2 weekends and we look forward to many more rides in the future. I was telling Ken, we have a boat on Lake Guntersville on the Tennessee River in North Alabama. Its a 35 footer and we rarely use it but we figured it would be fun next year for a bunch of us to ride out there as a group and enjoy the lake for a weekend. There is a Best Western in town that is nice, has a restaurant and bar and is very bike friendly.
Is it time to ride again yet?
he's a little winded folks...
#10
10-24-2011, 07:09 PM