Redfish Hunter
Gone Fishing
Just a short Ride Report of a short ride from South Louisiana to the Smokies and back.
A good friend and co-worker of mine and I have been talking about taking a trip somewhere but we never seem to find the time. We all know how that goes. But we also know that living with the regret of shoulda woulda coulda after it is too late can be painful. So we made the time. Of course, Redfish does not go on a motorcycle adventure without Pop.
My friend rides a very nice, very well set up '14 HD Street Glide. His riding style and tastes are a bit different from mine but I really wanted to show him the Deal's Gap area and we figured compromises could be made. I think it was worth the effort and I hope after 6 days of riding he agrees.
We had Mom's homemade biscuits filled with egg, sausage, and home made strawberry jam and set off.
I like to stay on secondary roads as much as possible and my routing is a source of great pride to me. I actually did 4(!!!) miles of interstate in a 2034 mile ride and that was just for convenience.
We left Port Vincent, Louisiana at 7:15 am and had lunch in Wagarville, Alabama.
We kept to back roads and spent the night in Alexander City, Alabama.
Morning found us on the Talladega Scenic Byway:
Yes, those are mountains and yes, that is Alabama.
Pulling out of that scenic overlook I messed up and almost pulled out in front of a car. It was impossible to see anything until my front wheel was out in the road. Pop was trusting me to go and when I did not he was caught off guard and dropped his bike. I was very upset with myself but at least the frame sliders and bag protectors did their job. I am still irritated with myself. I only mention it here because drops do happen but we seldom admit it.
We weaved our way into North Georgia and had a nice lunch in White, GA at Wes-Man's Restaurant. There was an unfortunate incident in the back parking lot with an unexpected elevation change. The Harley stayed upright but sadly the kickstand spring was crushed and lost its life on the uneven asphalt and gravel. I am still impressed that HarleyMike managed to stay upright.
Not so impressive was my performance on my knees in that gravel lot trying to get that damned spring back into its holes.
We ate our lunch and it was excellent.
As luck would have it, just 3 miles up Hwy 411 was Southern Devil Harley. To my eternal amazement, they sold Mike a new spring for $7.34. I was so impressed that I bought a Harley T-Shirt for another friend while we were in there.
After several failed attempts and some very beat up front paws, I had failed to get the new spring installed. The service dept. guy told Mike to try it with the kickstand up... I can tell you that lying on that asphalt parking lot under the side of that big Harley getting my butt kicked by that spring was not the high point of my trip. But, we got it done. I lost some hide and some blood to that asphalt but we were back in business.
To be continued.
A good friend and co-worker of mine and I have been talking about taking a trip somewhere but we never seem to find the time. We all know how that goes. But we also know that living with the regret of shoulda woulda coulda after it is too late can be painful. So we made the time. Of course, Redfish does not go on a motorcycle adventure without Pop.
My friend rides a very nice, very well set up '14 HD Street Glide. His riding style and tastes are a bit different from mine but I really wanted to show him the Deal's Gap area and we figured compromises could be made. I think it was worth the effort and I hope after 6 days of riding he agrees.
We had Mom's homemade biscuits filled with egg, sausage, and home made strawberry jam and set off.
I like to stay on secondary roads as much as possible and my routing is a source of great pride to me. I actually did 4(!!!) miles of interstate in a 2034 mile ride and that was just for convenience.
We left Port Vincent, Louisiana at 7:15 am and had lunch in Wagarville, Alabama.
We kept to back roads and spent the night in Alexander City, Alabama.
Morning found us on the Talladega Scenic Byway:
Yes, those are mountains and yes, that is Alabama.
Pulling out of that scenic overlook I messed up and almost pulled out in front of a car. It was impossible to see anything until my front wheel was out in the road. Pop was trusting me to go and when I did not he was caught off guard and dropped his bike. I was very upset with myself but at least the frame sliders and bag protectors did their job. I am still irritated with myself. I only mention it here because drops do happen but we seldom admit it.
We weaved our way into North Georgia and had a nice lunch in White, GA at Wes-Man's Restaurant. There was an unfortunate incident in the back parking lot with an unexpected elevation change. The Harley stayed upright but sadly the kickstand spring was crushed and lost its life on the uneven asphalt and gravel. I am still impressed that HarleyMike managed to stay upright.
Not so impressive was my performance on my knees in that gravel lot trying to get that damned spring back into its holes.
We ate our lunch and it was excellent.
As luck would have it, just 3 miles up Hwy 411 was Southern Devil Harley. To my eternal amazement, they sold Mike a new spring for $7.34. I was so impressed that I bought a Harley T-Shirt for another friend while we were in there.
After several failed attempts and some very beat up front paws, I had failed to get the new spring installed. The service dept. guy told Mike to try it with the kickstand up... I can tell you that lying on that asphalt parking lot under the side of that big Harley getting my butt kicked by that spring was not the high point of my trip. But, we got it done. I lost some hide and some blood to that asphalt but we were back in business.
To be continued.
