thirdgenlxi

So you transfer your costs for fun onto unsuspecting people that open their homes to you?

Wow. I need some friends like you.

Wow.... awfully quick to pass judgements from such little information, huh?? You're quite wrong actually.

Hotels would generally run me $50-100 per night. So instead I stay with somebody for a night, does it really cost them $50-100 for me to sleep on their couch for a night?? I fail to see how I'm "transferring my costs" onto them. Please explain...

When I stay with someone I offer to buy dinner if we go out to eat to at least try and show my appreciation, or I go to the store and cook dinner myself. Although many times they refuse and won't let me buy them dinner. More times than not, I don't even ask about crashing for the night, we just meet up and they offer. I don't do this just to save myself a few bucks, I do it because I enjoy meeting and hanging out with new people, and they seem to enjoy doing the same with me, so it's a win/win for both of us. If they didn't, I doubt it would work out as well as it does. I also make sure they're well aware that my door is always open to them as well should they ever be passing through my area

Sooo yea... your logic = FAIL!

Holy shit thats awesome. Amazing how you just bummed with different forum members all over the place. Almost like couch surfing.

Yea I always try and just meet up with people along the way..... not only do I get a place to stay for the night, but also get to meet alot of great people out on the road. Soooo much better than staying in a hotel, and alot cheaper too! My first big roadtrip I did (the 2006 deals gap trip) I was gone for 18 days and spent every night in a hotel, other than the nights I stayed with my family. I'll tell ya that freakin adds up!! Between gas, food, and hotel expenses, I spent nearly $1800 on that trip! Now that I've made it a point to stay in as few hotels as possibly, most of my trips now run me $200-300, most of which is gas and a little bit is food (I take snacks and stuff in my tankbag)

Check out my "july meeting new people" roadtrip to see a perfect example of the above at work!

Thanks for all the compliments everyone... glad you enjoyed the pics!!

@thirdgen: Thanks for sharing all the pictures with us!

I can't wait to see the pictures you take this year

Anytime!! I'm really hoping to get some more roadtrips in year... I start to go nuts if I go too long without a roadtrip, lol

Thats cool man! Thanks for sharing.. Poor guy come home and your Dog is like "whatever" haha.

Hahaha yea she's a rather emotional little muffin. She pouts just like a human child... seriously! Everytime she doesn't get her way or I do something she doesn't like, she'll grunt and groan, then sit on my right foot and look directly away from me just staring at nothing. Then after a few minutes she'll slowly turn her head around and glare at me out of the corner of her eye for about 5 sec or so (the death stare), then turn back away and stare at nothing again, looking directly away from me..... still just sitting there on my foot. She'll do it exactly the same every single time... it's freakin hilarious, hahah. She was all better the next day though

Some really great pics kinda feel like i was right along side you..

Thanks!! That's always the effect I try to incorporate into all of my ride reports

Invisi rep for the SR-71 and A10 pics. I <3 Warthogs. Top 3 coolest planes evar!

Hell yea... SR-71 is my far one of my fav airplanes, and the A-10 is no joke either! SR-71 was so long I almost couldn't get it in one picture! I was backed up completely against the opposite wall in that building just trying to get the shot

Thanks for all the compliments everyone... glad you enjoyed the pics!

Cool trip & writeup

Who's the "we" you keep referring to?

My whole family was there.... it was my aunt and uncles 40th wedding anniversary and had been long time planned, so everybody was out there. I was sharing the hotel room with my dad, and then when we were out and about it was me, my dad, and an old time friend of his

Looks like a fun time. I don't know how you do it with that riding position.

Yea I had a blast on this trip!! Loved meeting all the new people, can't wait to do another like it!

As for the riding position... it's really not as bad as you might think. F4i is actually pretty upright compared to most supersport bikes. Clip-ons are on top of the triple tree compared to underneath like the 600RR and many others, and the footpegs are much lower, so it's actually pretty comfy. The seat does get a little hard after awhile (stock Honda plank, lol), but I've learned ways to move around and still keep my ass from hurting too bad. Last roadtrip I went on in my car my ass was hurting worse after a couple hundred miles and after a couple hundred miles on the bike... maybe I just got more used to it, hahah

That's why I love this bike so much though... I sit and ride so many other bikes, and first thing I say is... absolutely no way I could ride this the way I ride my F4i. It just fits me perfectly

so which state had the honor of earning that 105mph top speed?

I don't remember exactly, but most likely... west Texas. Once I got west of Abilene it was soooooooooooo boring I wanted to slit my wrists, lol. Straight flat highway, one exit every 40-50 miles, and nothing but windfarms and oil rigs in between. 80 mph speed limit and there was absolutely nothing in sight. Was prob only for a sec though, I generally ride at a pretty easy pace, especially on a long trip. Mental fatigue is a bitch!!

Then we went back to the Canada bridge we were at the night prior in Port Huron

Canada, eh?

To Canada

To USA

After that... lunchtime! No, we didn't go to CC's, just the food court inside the mall, hahah

Later on that night, Coreys mom and grandma treated us to an awesome dinner at this really nice restaurant right on the water in St. Clair. Really good food!

Thursday afternoon... time to head out. Corey had to leave for work, so I thanked him for his hospitality and he was on his way. I hung out for a little while longer, snapped a few pics, then headed out myself

Corey has a kick ass little house right on the river.... beautiful property!

Made a gas stop before getting back on the highway... saw this truck pull in and had to snap a pic. Never in my life, in all my travels, have I ever seen trucks/trailers with this many axles until I came to Michigan. Trucks like this were all over! Vinny was telling me these trucks are illegal to drive on the roads in Ohio... not sure about other states

Making my way back to Vinnys in Columbus..... got stuck right at the beginning of this slooooowww moving freight train along Old Rt. 23 in BFE, Ohio, lol

Vinny was at work until 11pm, so in the meantime I met up with Nick from cbrjunkie.com. We met up at Iron Pony Motorsports cuz he wanted to look at some new gear. After that we headed out to get something to eat

After that I went back to Vinnys for the night.... he came home and we watched an iridium flare go across the sky... it was pretty cool!

Friday morning I had to head out and make my way back towards Atlanta, Georgia. I left Vinnys about 9am, and decided to take the scenic route home. Alot of it is still interstate highway, but I-77 is a freakin awesome interstate through WV and VA compared to I-75... straight and booooorrrring. I made my way down Hwy 33 into the southeastern part of Ohio... there's really some nice areas here!

Shortly after I crossed the Ohio river and into West Virginia. Oddly enough, right after I crossed the bridge and followed the road around to the left, the first thing I see after crossing into WV is a big old run down trailer park.... go figure! hahah

Whoa... who would have thought we could get one of the most abundant elements on the planet... for FREE!! (hint of sarcasm.... I hate places that charge for air)

Kanawha Falls, West Virginia... right along the Midland Trail (Hwy 60)

Then I get to where I REALLY wanted to go! This is the New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville, WV. This is the longest arch bridge in the western hemisphere... 3,030 ft long

In case you're wondering just how big and deep this gorge really is..... look at the full sized school busses

Some more info on the bridge

New River Gorge Bridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stopped in Fayetteville for a nutritious dinner at Sonic, lol. It was 6pm at this point and I was still in the middle of West Virginia, I was starting to wonder if I'd make it all the way back to Georgia that night or not

Got a little bit of rain while going through the mountains in Virginia... no biggie though it was real light

Then later on as I was going through North Carolina, I got a pretty good rainstorm. I hate having to stop and waterproof everything and dig out my rain gear! LOL Oddly enough, right after I left here it stopped raining, and a few miles down the road it was completely dry, go figure. So it all came back off shortly after

Finally made it back home safe n' sound just before 2am

Ending odo shot

Stats..... just a hair over 3400 miles in 13 days

And that's all the pics I got.... had a freakin awesome time!! I love meeting new people on roadtrips!

Made a stop at a truck stop in Dayton, Ohio.... I couldn't believe it, for a decent sized truck stop.... 4 gas pumps

Made it out to Columbus, Ohio just a little after 9pm and met up with my buddy Vinny from cbrjunkie.com

Didn't do too much sunday night.... Vinnys roomate cooked us some dinner using deer meat, it was actually really good! Hung out for a little bit then went to bed... we were both tired

Monday morning we got up and headed over to one of our favorite breakfast spots

After breakfast, we headed here

This place is freakin awesome!! The building is an old Big K-Mart building, so you can imagine how big this place is, and it's allllll motorcycle stuff. Real good prices too! Clearance section rocks! But we had a reason for coming here.... Vinny's GF was taking the MSF class several days later, so she needed to get some riding boots

We caught Vinny doing a little modeling action.... ROFL

A little later on in the afternoon Vinny and I went for a little ride.... he said there were some really good roads not too far away. He was right! Ohio, especially in the southeastern part, has some kick ass little roads! I was quite surprised

He took me down to Hocking Hills, near Logan, Ohio. There's a state park there along with some kick ass roads... had a great time! We stopped at a gas station right before we got to Hocking Hills and we switched bikes... Vinny let me ride his '09 Phoenix 600RR through the twisties....awesome bike!!

We stopped at the state park to take a short break, switch bikes and then head back home

We were trying to be back home by around 6-6:30 or so because Vinny had a leak in his tire. He found a guy in town that would put a mushroom patch on it, but we had to be there by no later than 8:00. The Hocking Hills trip ended up taking a little longer than originally planned, and we didn't get back to Vinnys house until a little after 7:00. We still had to take the wheel off the bike and drive over to the guys house, so we hauled ass trying to get the wheel off (it's alot easier on my bike... errrr). But we get it off by about 7:15, wash up and we're on our way

Dude was real cool and got the tire all fixed up no probs. We get back and get the bike all back together. We had a hell of a time getting the rear axle to go back in, only to find out the chain was waaaaaaay too tight (from the dealer... he hasn't touched it since he bought the bike a few months ago)

Sunday night... hungry again. Vinny and I head into downtown Columbus and get some pizza at Hound Dogs Pizza. We were both starving, but apparently both of our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, we were stuffed! Bungee cord to the rescue, no food wasted!

Vinny gave me the grand tour of downtown Columbus, then we headed over to where he works at to meet up with one of his co-workers. She just got an '08 Ninja 250 not long ago. So we're all sitting there hanging out in the parking lot talking, and Vinny says to his co-worker.... "hey Jared has never ridden a two-fiddy before, can he take your bike for a ride??". She kinda looked around for a second, then said "uhh yea I guess so". I just rode it around the parking lot (it's a huuuuuge parking lot). Holy crap was it alot different than what I'm used to! LOL Totally gutless, but very lightweight. Would still make a kick ass mountain toy

Tuesday morning Vinny and I found ourselves back at Bob Evans for breakfast. MmmMmm pot roast sandwich... good stuff!

After breakfast we relaxed for a little bit, then I took off from Vinnys and headed north

I met up with Corey from cbrjunkie.com in St. Clair, Michigan. I was so happy, I made it through Detroit without getting shot!!

After taking a break for a lil bit, we headed out later on to get something to eat. We headed up to Port Huron, and were gonna go to a Mexican restaurant, but we couldn't find it so we went to Dennys down the street instead. After dinner we went over to the big bridge that crosses over into Canada for some night shots

There's me too

Wednesday afternoon Corey took me out to show me some of the local roads. There's not a ton in the area, but there are some nice spots. We made a stop here... apparently this is where people come to do downhill mountain biking. Guys are freakin crazy... this place is very steep, very rough, very rocky! No thanks! LOL

Ok last one, I promise! Well, for tonight at least, lol (yes, there's more, these 6 are just the main ones with decent pics. Other ones aren't that great)

=================

And man did I ever meet a lot of new people on this trip... it was great!! Had an awesome time, got to meet some great people, and even added a new state to my "visited on my bike" list, bringing my total up to 19 so far

Anyways... on with the pics

Saturday June 27th... Old Faithful is all packed up and ready to hit the road. I wanted to try and leave early cuz I knew it was gonna be super hot that day. Didn't end up leaving as early as planned, but left around 6:30 so it wasn't too bad. I had wanted to try and avoid the mid day heat, but it ended up being up to roasting temps by 10:00 anyways so it didn't make much difference, lol

Always a beginning odo shot at the start of every roadtrip

Just south of Paducah, Kentucky.... it was so hot (around 95 + humid) I had to stop and take a break for awhile. I was getting hungry anyways

Made it to my dads house in Decatur, Illinois (central IL) by late afternoon/early evening. Was I ever ready for a nice cool shower when I got there! hahah

An air compressor that takes credit cards?? Definitely the first time I've seen that

Now here comes a big gaping hole in pictures.... I went up to Bloomington, IL monday night to meet up with some guys and hang out and ride for a lil bit. Stupid me, ran out of the house and completely forgot to bring my camera...doh! Anyways, I met up with Kurtis from 600rr.net and he brought his friend Matt along too. We rode around for awhile then went and met up with his brother and we all rode around for awhile, then went back to his place and hung out and relaxed for awhile. They had to take off, so I left and got ahold of another guy there in Bloomington, Justin from cbrforum.com. I had tried to meet up with him when I was up there back in November, but he was busy with schoolwork and couldn't meet up then. But this time he had nothing going on, so we met up and went and grabbed something to eat and hung out until about 1am. Good times!

Tuesday afternoon I was supposed to meet up with another guy from 600rr.net in Decatur, but I couldn't get ahold of him and he never returned my call, so we never got to meet up. So I made my way up to northern Illinois to see my mom. I took the rural route and went through some of the old towns I used to live in along the way. I made a stop in Sandwich, IL and met up with Bill from cbrjunkie.com. We hung out for a lil bit then headed over to the SantaFe Mexican Restaurant to get something to eat

Continued on route and made my way into my moms, closer to Chicago

Wednesday night... yea unfortunately there's another big gaping hole of pics here too.... stupid me for got my camera at home, again! I went and met up with a guy from chicagolandsportbikes.com in Palos Hills, IL and we rode to Portillos in Elmhurst for bike night. Once we got there I also met up with Tony from cbrjunkie.com. Bill (from the night prior) also came out too, and brought a friend as well. We all hung out at bike night and had a great time

Stayed there for a few days and pretty much just relaxed and helped my mom with a few things. Friday the 3rd I started to make my way back down to central IL back to my dads place. I took a detour over to Henry, IL and met up with Larry from 600rr.net

After we rode around for a lil bit, his friend Dan met up with us and we all rode around a little more, then went over to get a pizza

Dan had to take off after that, so Larry and I rode over to Roanoke, IL. They were doing their fireworks show on the 3rd, plus having a classic car show as well. We get there just in time for the fireworks, so we grabbed a drink and watched those. After they were all done, everybody was getting up to leave and somehow (I didn't see it happen), 4 people ended up getting run over by a car. This whole big crowd of people just started running down the street over to this car, and a group of guys picked up the whole side of the car and yanked the people out from under it. Since all the emergency personnel was already right across the river where the fireworks show was, it was only a minute or two before the street we were on was flooded with ambulances, firetrucks, police cars, etc. We decided it was time to get outta there, lol

A storm came through later that night, and it ended up raining alllllll night long and most of the day saturday. It was late when we got back so I just stayed the night at Larrys place friday night. We get up saturday morning and we're sitting there eating breakfast, and his phone rings.... it's a friend of his... "hey.... I kinda got a problem"

So we finish breakfast, then leave and go over to get his 4x4 truck, and head over and meet his friend over by Peoria, who was quite happy to see us. We get there, and find the problem to be....

This:

This is the ravine down below.... it was a good 15-20ft drop and straight down

If you look closely, the ONLY thing holding the truck there is that little tree stump it's pressing up against. Had that not been there, the truck would have slid down into the ravine. The RF wheel was dangling over the edge. This mud was super slippery and with deep ruts, even the 4x4 truck was sliding all over the place. The Ranger was a 4x4 as well, but it wasn't working so it was essintially a 2wd, lol

Luckily, we had a winch (this guy pulls people out all the time, or himself sometimes, lol). Absolute lifesaver, and saved the day for sure!

WooHoo! Success! Only damage was a bent up licence plate... no biggie

But we still had to get out.... it was a good 1/2 mile or so to get to the paved road, and this muddy road was in absolute hellacious condition, with huge ruts and holes everywhere. We were bouncing and sliding all over the place even in the 4x4. We went first and the Ranger followed so that we could pull it if need be. It got stuck a few times along the way, and we thought we were gonna have to hook the strap up and tow it

But they were able to rock it some and it made it out all on it's own

Success once again!

This was the road going in.... pretty nasty since it rained pretty hard the entire night prior, and all day that day so far

I went back to my dads in Decatur later saturday afternoon after the rain stopped. Sunday afternoon after washing and waxing my sisters car for her, I left my dads and made my way out to Columbus, Ohio

Anybody remember my roadtrip up north back in November?? For those that don't.... it was freakin COLD!! I was doing this exact same route, and I made a stop in Montezuma, Indiana around 1:30 in the afternoon, and this was the highest temp I saw all day

So since I was taking the same route, I made another stop in there to snap a pic. Most definitely a little more comfortable of a trip this time! haha

Our Master Chef Mitch fired up the grill and got to cooking. Him and Kerry brought all the food for the meet, and lots of it... we were eatin good!

Ok so I will confess... I absolutely LOVE Darrens bike. It's always been my favorite color combo for 1000RR's. It was sitting there, and the background was right... I couldn't help myself but to snap a pic

After a little while, some dark clouds began to move in, and it started to rain. Not a hard rain, just some light rain... we all stood under the overhanging trees and stayed perfectly dry

After the rain passed and the sky began to lighten up again, I figured it would be a good chance for me to snap a few pics of my bike

I just can't get enough of the view!

All day we were waiting for this one parked car to move so we could line all the bikes up along the edge for a picture. They FINALLY left, and before we could get the bikes moved a guy in a Jeep Wrangler pulls in and parks just a few spots down. Somebody in our group ran out and politely asked him if he would mind parking a little further down because we wanted to get some pictuers, and he not only kindly oblidged, but then offered to take some pictures for us as well... sweet! Turns out the guy does photography for a hobby (freelance photographer maybe??). After we got the bikes all lines up in formation, he busted out his huge ass Nikon camera, tripod, and a bunch of different lenses and went to town taking pictures. I think he was as excited as we were! He actually thanked us for giving him the awesome photo opportunity. We were thankful as well, and offered him some food. He gave us his website address and said his pics will be up by Wednesday

So in the meantime, I snapped some pics myself

I even climbed up this fairly steep hill in the wet grass and stood on top of a rock to snap a few more pics, lol

Last one, I promise!

Unfortunately, the day was coming to an end. One by one people had to start heading home, so the group was slowly dwindleing. Mitch wanted to take his wife for a ride on the bike, so Mitch, Darren, the dude on the red 600RR (I forgot his name) and myself decided to take a quick ride through the park before we headed out. The remaining group waited at the picnic area until we got back. We headed up the road and found another pull off to stop at. On the way we saw several deer and several black bears as well, right along the road

We hung out there for a few minutes, then headed back to the picnic area. I had to get a picture of the 3 F4i's together before we all went our seperate ways. There was one other F4i too (yellow), but he had left already

And there's me..... I have such a stressful life, as you can see, lol

Darren, Jason, and Dominique

After that we all left and made our way down the mountain. I was staying the night with Mitch in Richmond, VA that night, so Mitch and I split off from the rest of the group about half way down to take a different road. After that it was just Mitch and I, and his wife Kerry in the truck the rest of the way back to Richmond

We made it to Mitch's house around 9:30 pm.... both of us pretty much exhausted

Monday morning I woke up to the wonderful smell of bacon and eggs. Mitch and Kerry made up a nice breakfast to get me started for my trip home back to Atlanta

They knew my soft spot.... I'm most definitely a dog lover, so I had to snap a few pics of their doggies

Awww why the sad face??

After hanging out for a little while, I had to get on the road before it got too late. Got the bike all packed up yet again and ready to head out

Mitch gave me a doggie bag of brownies to take with me...... sweeeet!!

Again not too many pictures of the ride home, as I was once again trying to make some good time. Having to work the next day, I didn't want to get home too late. The weather was nice up until the middle part of North Carolina... the sky got dark and I hit a good chunk of rain. Got through it in about an hour though so it wasn't too bad, then the sky cleared and the sun came back out, and it was beautiful once again. Boy was I glad to pull over and get out of my rain gear!

Gotta be an exciting town.... I mean come on (hint of sarcasm, lol)

It was getting late in the day and my stomach was once again growling. All I'd eaten since breakfast was some of Mitch's brownies, so I had to stop and get an actual meal. Can't go wrong with Cracker Barrel

Now here's the weird part.... I had stopped for gas about 20 miles back. While there I had called another member of our forum that had just moved to Anderson, South Carolina and gotten into town the day prior. I called him up to see if he wanted to get something to eat, but he was dead tired and said he had to pass this time. Well it turns out, the Cracker Barrel was right next to the hotel he was staying at (he couldn't get into his new place until the next day). He had walked out to his truck to get something, and it just happened to be the exact time that I was pulling in and he saw me. He came over and said HI and we talked for a few mins (we'd never met in person before). Talk about a weird coincidence!

Made it home safe n' sound just a little after 10 pm, and got the bike all tucked away for the night

Ending odo shot

And why my GPS thinks this trip was 10,458 miles.... I honestly don't have a clue, lol

And that's all the pics I've got. Had an absolutely awesome time with some of the best people you could ever meet.... can't wait to do it again!!

Well this past weekend was simply awesome, to say the least! On saturday 5/16 I left the Atlanta area and headed northeast.... one of the CBR forums I'm on had it's first official 'meeting', and it went off without a hitch. We had a pretty good turnout... I believe I counted 15 bikes and one guy in his car, which isn't bad for a first meeting of a forum that's only 6 months old. We all had an awesome time, and plan on making this an annual event for memorial day weekend every year due to the great success of this meet. Might also do something in the fall too!

Anyways... on with the pics

Saturday morning, bike is all packed and ready to roll. I had initially wanted to leave friday night and get a headstart on saturday, buuuuutt of course that never happens. Had too much stuff to finish up friday night, so I figured I'd leave real early saturday morning... thinking 5 or 6am-ish. Well after finally getting to sleep at 4am fri night, the early thing didn't happen either, haha. I woke up at 9am, and pulled out of the driveway by 9:30. Way later than I had planned on, but not tooo bad. I filled up with gas and had a quick breakfast at McD's, then hit the road. Destination: my buddy Jasons house in southern Maryland

Always a beginning odo shot before every trip, hehe

I didn't stop to take many pics on the way out there because I was trying to make good time, having left way later than planned. I really wanted to get out to Maryland before dark, so I could have some time to spend with Jason and go do a local ride or something

Shortly after getting into North Carolina my stomach was growling. No time for a sit down lunch, so the lunch of champions had to do!

I must say, they do have very nice rest areas in North Carolina! Definitely alot nicer than the ones along I-10 in the middle of the desert in New Mexico, hahah

I crossed the Gov Harry Nice Memorial Bridge going over the Potomac River from Virginia into Maryland just before 8:00.... woohoo! This was my first time ever visiting Maryland, so I got to add it to my list as my 18th state visited on my bike

As I made my way over to Jasons house, I was looking at my GPS and noticed something wasn't quite right. Keep in mind I reset the trip odometer (bottom set of numbers in the ovals) when I left my house, and it was only a 600 mile trip. I think my GPS is a little confused! Note the total miles, total moving time, and average speed. Yea... somebody figure that one out! haha

Also notice the kick ass fuel economy!

I made it to Jasons house safely by about 8:30, where I met him and another forum member, Darren. His girlfriend Dominique wasn't home from work yet

I was freakin starving by this point, having eaten only McD's for breakfast and 2 donuts for lunch, lol. So after chatting for a few minutes and getting to know each other, we all headed out to get something to eat

After we got done eating, we went out for a little local ride down to Solomons Island. There was a concert going on so we couldn't get to where we wanted to, so we just hung out for awhile and BS'd. Oh yea and that van was going pretty fast! hahah

Darren on the left (blue/yellow '06 1000RR) and Jason on the right (red/white '01 F4i)

Got back to Jasons house, and Darren and I both had to lube up our chains before the big ride the following day. I think this was one of the first trips I've been on where I get to my destination and somebody actually has a rear stand... thank god! LOL

After that we relax and hang out, and play some games on Jasons Wii. I ended up having a little too much fun creating my character, and ended up with this. And no, I wasn't trying to be serious.... and would you believe his mustache is actually his eyebrows moved down really far?? Serious!

Saturday morning came way too soon, being that I was still exhausted from the day before. But excited about the meet, we all got up at 8am, got ready and headed out the door shortly after. We went to the gas station near Jasons house because one of the guys needed air in his tires, and to wait for anyone else that was gonna show up at that meet spot

Nobody else met us there, but we'd pick them up on the way to our next meet spot just across the Potomac River into Virginia. We headed over that way, picking up the other riders along the way

Our group was starting to grow!

Had to do a little license plate repair... it almost fell off going down the road. Zipties to the rescue!

Hey there's Mitch

And his wife Kerry.... with the food truck! Ohhhhhh yea now we're talkin

We were waiting on one more guy who wasn't able to make it on his bike.... when he arrived, we were ready to roll. We headed out around 11am or so

Destination: Skyline Drive

We made our way on all backroads over to Skyline Drive, Virginia, which runs through the Shenandoah National Park .... made it there roughly 2 hours later. We all payed the entrance fee, then grouped up to make sure everyone was accounted for

We stopped at the first overlook going up Skyline Drive, which was yet another meet spot where we'd meet several more riders who had gotten there earlier in the day

It was here I caught some hooligan trying to steal my bike!

We continued to make our way up Skyline Drive, enjoying the absolutely breathtaking views the entire way up. There were storms in the area, so for awhile there was an awesome view of this black storm cloud, nearly level with where we were, hovering over the valley just beside us. Darren took us on the scenic route, accidentally going past our picnic area where we had planned on stopping at. But that's alright, with the view we had I sure wasn't complaining! Shortly after turning around, we got to our picnic area

All I can say is... WOW!!! What a freakin view!

Monday morning.... woke up nice and early, knowing I had to leave early cuz the timezone changes were NOT going to work to my advantage travelling east, lol. Got on the road by just a little after 6am. Made my way through Tucson morning traffic, which really wasn't toooo bad. Got a little ways down the road and found a nice photo op spot

And from there I just made my way back east. I cheated on the NM picture... took it the same time I took the AZ picture as I was coming in. Good thing cuz there were some hitchhikers sleeping under the sign on the way out... didn't want to get a pic of them

Soooo.... is this where all the pimps hang out or what?? Looks pretty.... empty

Stopped at a rest stop in New Mexico.... middle of freakin NOWHERE!!

Made my way to Las Cruces once again to meet up with Grayson (Raven on cbrjunkie.com) and get some lunch. He was coming from a ways up north, but we both get into town at relatively the same time, but go to 2 different gas stations. After we get in contact with each other, he heads over my way. As I wait, I see a pretty sweet car roll into the gas station. Not bad.. I'd rock it!

Met up with Grayson and we headed over to Applebees to get some lunch. Nice guy!

After a nice relaxing lunch, I hit the road once again. UGH... noooooo not Texas again!!!

And 2 days later, lol

Finally made it home safe n' sound by 11:45pm wednesday night

YAY!!

Stats.... 3,727.4 miles total.... in 5.5 days. I ain't gonna lie.. I was tired!

Ending odo shot

I gave her a pat on the tank for a job well done, and rolled her into the garage to rest for the night with her siblings

I go upstairs and damn.... could you at least pretend to be excited to see me?? Maybe sit up or something?? hahah oh well

And that's all the pics I've got. Sorry for soooooo many pics of the bike, but I always try and get a good shot of her when there's a cool background. Oh yea and I ended up fixing my high beam headlight while I was out in Tucson.... my HID relay took a dump, and it just so happened I had a spare universal mini relay in my toolbag so I used some space connectors and a piece of extention cord to splice the new relay in.... worked perfect!

All in all... it was a great trip and I had a really good time! Despite being cramped for time, I always enjoy going somewhere I've never been before and seeing all the new sights, and travelling on some new roads. Still planning on my big roadtrip out west next year, but for now this one will do. Bike ran absolutely flawless the whole way.... gotta lover her! My chain did start to kink up though (it was on it's last legs already), so now I gotta replace that. No biggie though

Sweet! This place is the shizzle... I took tons of pics, these are only a few of my favs

Alright who's gonna be the first to fly it?

Pretty small for a dual rotor heli

Ohhh man this is one of my all time favorite planes!! Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.... this is one BAD plane!!

No squids here

SR-71 engine

Large sea planes are cool too

Wreckage recovery

Might be ugly, but still a bad plane!

YEA!! That's what I'm talkin about!

Both my parents used to fly gliders like this one back in the day

This thing was huge!

I would surely end up sick if I had to take this spot, lol

Alot of these old airplane engines are an inverse design... never seen that before

Old Allison (GM) liquid cooled 12 cylinder engine

More wreckage

Constellation - These were cool old planes

Beechcraft Starship full composite airplane

OMG this thing can actually get off the ground?!?!?

This is a bad boy right here.... B-52 bomber

Old Blue Angels plane

Did I mention this place was huge??

As Inspector Gadget would say.... Wowzers!! It really is rocket science!

Pretty beastly fire truck

Can't really see much here, but this was as we were leaving. Some of you may have heard about the huge airplane boneyard out in AZ where all the old retired/wrecked/whatever planes go to be dismantled/salvaged/parted/etc. This yard is freaking HUGE!!

Driving back to the hotel.... pretty cool cuz there's almost always a good view from pretty much anywhere in Tucson

Well the thursday before last (Apr 2nd), I set out on a near cross country adventure, taking me through 5 new states I've never been through before (bringing my total to 17 visited states on my F4i). I left thursday morning from my house about 45 miles east of Atlanta, Georgia and headed west, on my way to Tucson, Arizona, and arrived there saturday afternoon. It was quite an adventure to say the least!

Anyways... on with the pics!

This was the route..... unforunately since I was on some serious time constraints, I had no choice but to do all interstate superslab the whole way there and back. Booooring, but hey at least I got to see alot of new sights and places along the way, even if it was highway. Took I-20 all the way across from Atlanta to about 100 miles away from El Paso, TX where it meets I-10, which I took the rest of the way

Some storms the previous night had me leaving a little later than I had originally wanted to, but still not too bad. Got the trusty F4i all packed up and ready to go! Rolled out about 9:00 am

I was excited to try out my new GPS!

And yea I've learned from previous roadtrips... pack light!

I punched in my destination address, and ready to roll! The top number is the distance remaining to my destination, number below it is miles travelled

Beginning odo shot on the bike

Then for whatever reason, my camera mysteriously stopped working for the entire day. I stopped at the Alabama state line to take a pic, and it was completely dead. Pretty uneventful though... I hit some nasty weather soon as I crossed into Mississippi though... that band of nasty storms that was moving from Texas and eastbound (predicted heavy rain, tornados, large hail, 70 mph wind, and the like... radar map was red from almost Texas to Birmingham, AL). Anyways, I went through a little of that, but luckily it was moving east FAST and I was moving west, so between the two of us I got through it pretty quick. But man it POURED for a good 20 mins or so, and the wind picked up something furious!

Anyways.... by thursday night I had made it to Lindale, Texas and decided to stop for the night. I find a room, and sure enough my camera decides to start working fine again... weird! But I tuck her away for the night and catch some Zzzzzz's

Next morning we were both ready to roll again! More Texas fun...ugh, lol

Next stop.... Abilene, Texas

Met up with Brandon (rangerscott from cbrjunkie.com and other forums). Really nice guy... bought me lunch too!

I'm liking this guy already, hahaha

I guess it's no big secret where or where I might be here

It was getting later in the day and I was cruising down the highway, when I saw a sign that caught my eye. The exit simply said "Meteor Crater". I thought to myself.... "hmmm... now I've just gotta check this out". I get off the highway and follow the sign that points to the left for Meteor Crater, which says 2 miles down the road. I cross under the highway and head south, which leads me out into the middle of a field... literally. I was going down this little podunk road with nothing but open fields, oil rigs, and one kinda creepy tiny family cemetary that was blocked off with gates. A couple miles later I finally get to this place.... all by it's lonesome out in the middle of a field. Apparently it's a museum of some sort, but they were closed so I couldn't see anything there

I ain't kidding when I said this place was out in the middle of a field!!

I get back on the highway and go along my way for a little while longer. I love travelling west because you get to sit and watch the beautiful sunsets from start to finish. The sky was perfectly clear except for this one bunch of clouds right where the sun was setting... I thought it looked cool so I pulled off for a few pics

I made my way across the rest of Texas, and as I approached El Paso, I could see the Mexico border right next to the highway. It was kinda cool at night because you could see this dark area right next to the highway, then the wall and BAM tons of lights... could see right into Mexico. I could see the border on my GPS where it would come closer and farther from the highway, and look over and sure enough it did the same... pretty cool! By about I midnight arrived in Las Cruces, New Mexico where I decided to call it a night and find a room. I had a hard time finding a ground level outside room, so I ended up taking the grand tour of downtown Las Cruces at midnight... fun fun! Finally ended up staying at some ghetto motel right in town. Kind of a weird place, but hey it was cheap and I was able to sleep, so I don't care, lol

Being that it was nighttime when I arrived in Las Cruces, I was completely unaware of the surrounding terrain since I couldn't see anything the night prior. As I headed out saturday morning, I found myself surrounded by somewhat distant mountains... awesome! A little scenery, especially after just coming through Texas, was definitely a nice surprise to start the day. I went up the road a few miles then got off to fill up with gas... took a few pics too

A little further into New Mexico.... definitely not much out this way

WooHoo!! Success!

Once I got into Arizona the scenery got pretty nice. I got off to refuel about 70 miles from Tucson, and found it to be a perfect spot for a photo op! Just had to go over a cattle grate and up a dirt road a little ways, and BAM... perfect view! It was here I noticed my high beam headlight wasn't working... uh oh

Arrived safely at our hotel in Tucson right at 3:00 pm

Phew... fun stuff!

The bike turned 150k on the way out there, right after I crossed into Louisiana

The hotel we stayed at was pretty nice!

We had my aunt and uncles anniversary party saturday night.... lots of people there and lots of family members I haven't seen in some time.... good times!! Awesome food too!!

Then on sunday, my dad wanted to take me back to where he went on saturday before I had gotten into town. Ohhhh man I'm excited.... my 2nd love!

Spent about an hour or so outside in 30* temp with wet cleaning wipes and buffing rags getting her all spiffy again. Got her looking clean again though, for the most part at least

Tuesday night... went and met up with 2 members from cbrforum.com. From left to right: Ceasar, Mike, and myself. Super nice guys.... had a great time!

Made my way back down to Decatur, IL back to my dads house on Wednesday afternoon. I called another one of the guys from cbrforum to try and meet up with him on the way back down, but he was busy with school work and we weren't able to meet. Got down to my dads house and it had just started snowing again. Stayed at my dads for a couple of days, then headed out friday morning, Dec 5th to head to Columbus, Ohio. Got up about 8:30 or so, looked out the kitchen window.... ahhh yes, this will most definitely be a rather frigid 350 mile ride. I didn't head out until about 11am, so it had warmed up a little bit to about 18*

Stopped to take a break in Montezuma, Indiana, about 75 miles west of Indianapolis. This was at 1:45pm, which should be around the time the temp should be highest for the day. Yea.... that's it. Though it did change from 16 to 17 right when I got off to take a pic! It was snowing off and on here, and very windy too

As I approached the Ohio state line, the sun had gone down and it was now dark. As I went on down the highway, one problem started to arise (beside my feet being frozen and numb!!). That's not fog... that's ICE buildup, on the inside of the visor. I had to pop it open every now and then, and try and break up the ice with my thumb. Then when I stopped for a break I'd just take it inside with me and wipe it down with a warm damp cloth, then dry real good

Made it to Columbus, Ohio at 9pm on the nose. Met up with Vinny, another one of the guys from cbrforum. After dropping my bike off at his house and changing clothes, we went over and got some din-din at Longhorn. Good stuff! It's a good thing I got to Columbus when I did, cuz it snowed like crazy all night friday. Saturday morning (or afternoon rather, I think I slept until 1:30pm) we went over and got some kick ass breakfast at Bob Evans. There's Vinny and his beastly cage with some kick ass new tires

We then went to this place called Iron Pony Motorsports, which is like a huge wal-mart sized store, but ONLY for bike stuff... kick ass!! We roamed around there for quite awhile, then headed back to the house. We flushed the front and rear brake fluid and put new stuff in on Vinnys bike.... it was due

After a few minutes, Vinny was a master brake bleeder

Stayed with Vinny for one more day, waiting for the snow to clear a little more so I don't end up slip n' slides on the way home. Monday morning Dec 8th.... got up about 8:30, had some breakfast and got all my stuff packed up and ready to go. Had to get a few more pics before heading out

Awwww they're almost twins!

Time to head out... it was a nice brisk 24*

I thanked Vinny for his generous hospitality, said goodbye and off I went on my 668 mile journey back towards Atlanta, GA. He snapped my pic on my way out, lol

Had a nice little band of freezing rain to go through along the way between Columbus and Cincinatti. It was almost like riding through a mini hail storm... little ice pellets bouncing off my visor, hahah. Didn't last all too long though, no biggie

Once I got about 30 miles into Kentucky, the clouds gave way to a bright blue sky with plenty of sunshine, and the temps rose to around 50 degrees. I stopped for gas and some lunch, and it felt like summertime! I could walk around outside in just my sweatshirt, and my fingers didn't feel like they were gonna fall off, it was so nice! I even saw another sportbike (Yamaha R6) headed the other way on the highway.... he gave me a nice big full arm wave, which of course I returned. Making my way through Tennessee, I was so happy to see my beloved mountains again. This isn't a good pic... there was no place to safely stop to snap a pic during the good stuff

Finally made it back home to north Georgia safe n' sound right at 10pm on the nose. It was 1 day shy of two weeks... I was tired, and needed a hot shower

So I tucked my trusty beasty away in the garage next to her younger sister for the night

Oops I completely forgot to take a beginning odo shot. But it was right around 2,500 miles total

And last but not least.... I walk in the door, and the welcoming committee was....uhhhh.... passed the f**k out! LOL I really missed Piglet though... I was happy to see her again, and gave her a big hug anyways (sometimes she gives me one back). Funny thing... she knows the sound of my bike! There's a guy that lives in our neighborhood that rides a sportbike (600RR I think) and goes flying past our hosue each and every day like clockwork. My roomate said that the entire 2 weeks I was gone, every time that guy would ride by (every day), Piglet would run to the front door and sit there and wait for me to come in. I felt kinda bad..... she's such a sweet pup

And that's all I've got. Had a great time on this trip, despite the snow and cold temps. I think my next trip will be somewhere warm though, and with a little less roadsalt (my leather jacket and pants are still filthy!)

Well as many know I recently went on a nice 2 week long roadtrip, from north Georgia to central Illinois, then to northern Illinois (Chicago), back to central Illinois, then to Columbus, Ohio, and then back to north Georgia. All in all covered roughly 2,500 miles with barely a temp over 40 degrees the entire trip, until the last day.... it was up around 50 once I got down into Kentucky. Got to ride through all kinds of fun stuff.... snow, slush, roadsalt, freezing rain, and heavy winds. Overall though trip went very very well... no problems whatsoever, got to spend time with family, see some old friends, and even meet some new ones too!

This was the overall route... pretty much made a big circle, with a couple little tails on each end, lol

I don't have too many pics of the ride up there... lack of my own digicam limited some of the pics, plus that digicam broke halfway through so I ended up having to use 2 disposable cameras (sucked!!), and then my dad gave me his digicam to use the rest of the trip. You should be able to tell which are which... sorry for all the ones that are kinda blurry (disposable)

Anyways, I left on Tuesday Nov. 25th at about 7:15 am. Had a nice uneventful ride up to Decatur, Illinois where my dad lives. Got there around 7pm. When I got there I thought this was cold.... little did I know 2 weeks later, this temp would end up feeling like summer, lol. Got in my dads Envoy to go and get something to eat, turned the heated leather seats on high... ohhhh man did that feel good!

First thing on the agenda for wednesday.... new boots! My feet were freezing on the way up, mainly because I was wearing steel toe boots with not the greatest insulation. Once you got going down the road for about 30 miles or so, those steel plates turn into ice cubes on your toes. No more!! These boots solved that problem... nice and toasty

New boots... beautiful day.... ready to roll

Headed up to my moms house in Wheaton (Chicago suburb) on Wednesday afternoon. My sister Jodi joined us thursday night with her 2 boys, Garrett and Clinton (and that's my mom on the right)

Yours truly.... I really have no idea which one is which. They both look the same to me

MmmMmm turkey dinner... good stuff!!

Saturday was an absolutly BEAUTIFUL day to be out riding!! The temp wasn't that bad at all (probably close to 50). A big snowstorm was in the forecast for the next day, so I had to get out and ride today. I met up with a guy named Vern from the chicagolandsportbikes/chicagoriders forums. Super nice guy.... we met up in downtown Chicago, and he took for through downtown (which I've never ridden through before) which was pretty cool. We tried to go over by the Adler Planetarium to get a kick ass picture with the Chicago skyline in the background (awesome photo op spot), but the PoPo were there chasing everybody away, so we couldn't stop and take any pics

As we made our way north on Lake Shore Drive, we made a stop in Wilmette, IL. We stopped at this place... it's called the Baha i Temple (I can't do all the little funky characters. It's a multi denominational temple of sorts. I'm not too much of a religious person, I just thought it was a really cool building. There are only 7 of these in the world, one on each continent if I remember correctly, so this is the only one for the north american continent. The construction of this building, which was finished in 1953, took more than 30 years to complete. They didn't have the fountains going, but still cool. We went inside and it's absolutely beautiful inside!

There's me

Vern... that blue suit he's wearing is fully heated, so he just plugs himself in and stays toasty warm. I'll tell ya that brick street left ALOT to be desired in the road quality dept! haha

It's a good thing I got a nice long ride in on saturday, because sunday was a different story!

We ended up getting about 4-5 inches on the ground when all was said and done

Had to use one of these little doo-hickies on my moms car. It was about this time I remembered exactly why I had moved south, away from the great white north, lol

Come on now I'm not THAT mean!

Monday afternoon.... ahhh f**k it, good enough for a ride

Gotta let her warm up for a bit though... she was cold!

Ohhhh man... SLIDERS!!! That's just bad news right there

It wasn't that bad out.... just had to be careful

O-M-G!!!! Pulled the cover off tuesday morning and almost started to cry. I don't think she's ever been this dirty! Well maybe except that one time back in 2005 when I rode in the pouring rain for 13 hours straight (yea that sucked, btw)

Bingo! And back to Deals Gap I go! But first stop along the way... one of my favorites. What an awsome road!

The Joyce Kilmer scenic forest was very cool

Overlook on top of the Skyway... it was about 65-70 degrees up here... felt sooo good

Same bridge I stopped at last year... still a favorite

And here I am yet again... gotta get one last run in

WTF?? Kawi ZRX-1200

Found a little suspension bridge on my way back down 129

As weird as this sounds, I found all these rocks quite interesting. Looking at the way they were eroded, most all of them were very smooth and rounded, and had huge holes in them. A few others were perfectly flat and HUGE

Made my way back to Athens, GA to meet up with Mike from georgiasportbike. I got ahold of him to make sure he was gonna be around and he said come on over

I loved the driveway

This dog was freaking HUGE!! Great Dane I guess... it was about as tell as my bike (literally)

Saturday 9/8

Sad to say it's time to start heading home. I leave Mikes house about 10:30 or so and make my way towards Macon. I had called a guy from cbrforum in Augusta, GA but he was busy and couldn't meet up, so I called another guy from cbrforum in Macon but he was at work. So I continued on my way.

Stopped in Cordele, GA for gas and some lunch. After filling up, having not looked at the total amount while filling, I look after I'm done filling. Yup, it's a sign, I'm headed in the right direction to go back to hell...errr south florida

Hot sunny 90 degree day + black non-perf full leather suit... what could be better to eat than some greasy Popeyes chicken!

Now this was just downright depressing (the sign that is). Talk about a buzz killer

It's starting to get dark as I roll into the Orlando service plaza. I call my buddy Calvin who lives in Orlando so I can go meet with him

Having previously crossed the FL state line, I found it only appropriate to make this my next stop

LOL actually this was just next to the 7-11 where I was waiting for my buddy at. My buddy showed up a lil while later and I went back to his place, then we met up with a few other people and his brother and all went out to eat

Sunday 9/9

Calvin and his new wheels

Calvin builds the real deal flight sims, so he took me over to his work and let me play with these bad boys

Future stunna

6:00 pm... time for me to head out. Only 3 more hours until I'm home

Thanks KP!

Finally made it back home safe n' sound about 9:00 pm

Ending odo shot

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For the rest of the pictures, click the link below to see the album

thirdgenlxi/2007 GAP Trip - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

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Well there you have it, my week in pictures! Hope I didn't put anyone to sleep, lol. Freakin awsome trip though... can't wait until the next!

Absolutely beautiful scenery... no pictures, videos, or words can due it justice

This WAS a really nice little twisty and hilly road until.... Uh oh BRAAAAKKKEEESS!!

So I decided to do a little offroading... saw this little road and was curious where it went. It didn't look bad at the bottom... didn't know that in the middle it had some spots that were damn near 40 degree incline

Interesting trees they have here

Top of Brasstown Bald Mtn, the highest point in GA (4,780 ft)

This little section of Rt. 52 was absolutely breathtaking

I want to live.... HERE

The sun was going down as I made my way back across Rt. 52. Made for a beautiful mountain-scape

I then made my way to Dalton, GA where I'd meet up with Aaron from cbrforum later that night after he got off work. I met up with him and followed him back to his house in Chattanooga, TN

Tuesday 9/4

He has a '93 F2 that's he's doing a full body swap with an '01 F4i, gauges and all. We went and picked up all the bodywork from the painters, and worked on all the wiring and custom work that was needed to make everything work

Wednesday 9/5

I left Chattanooga, TN and headed to Athens, GA where I was supposed to meet up with Mike from georgiasportbike.com. Hit up lots of nice twisties on the way there, and went through the thriving metropolis of 'Talking Rock'

Don't blink or you might miss downtown!

More overlooks

Got to Athens, but then wasn't able to get ahole of Mike. After waiting for about an hour, I left and just found a hotel for the night. Ended up in Lavonia, GA (almost to SC). This was the only night in a hotel the whole trip

Thursday 9/6

I had my job interview in Winder, GA. I slept in that morning cuz I really needed it. Left the hotel at 11:00 and made my way to Winder. Got some lunch and then went to my interview, which went very well (I got the job). After that I call up another one of the guys from georgiasportbike.com, who happens to have the same name as me (same spelling too), as well as the same bike though different year. So I make my way over to Suwanne, GA over closer to Atlanta and meet up with him

We planned on hitting up a huge well known bike night in downtown Atlanta at a place called "The Vortex". But first we meet up with a few other people. Most of these people were with another group and they all left before we did... it was a pretty big group! Guess this is the gas station everybody meets at

After hanging out for a bit we head downtown ATL

First stop is a place called "The Varsity". I guess everybody goes here first and hangs out before heading to The Vortex

Unfortunately we never made it to The Vortex. The other guy I was with was having some intermittent charging issues with his bike. He thought it'd be alright, but soon as we got to The Varsity, his bike was dead as a doornail. Wouldn't even bumpstart. Luckily somebody had cables and I had tools, so we jumped his bike off of mine. Luckily it started charging, but we both thought it best to just head home rather than risk getting stranded somewhere. We made it back to his house without incident

Friday 9/7

He had to leave for work at a ridiculously early time in the morning (6:30), so Just got up early and head out somewhere. It was my last day up there before making my way back south, so I had to make the best of it. I left his house in Suwannee about 7:15 am

And where do you think I headed?? Come on, take a guess!

Well here they are.... these are not all of them only a select few. For the album click the link at the bottom of the thread. There's 319 pictures total. This is gonna be really long!

Enjoy!

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Friday 8/31

(A little background info)

I finish up getting the bike ready and all my last minute packing way later than expected, but got out the door by 2:30. A nice warm 90+ degree sunny day.... perfect weather for a black non -perforated leather suit!

Beginning odo shot

Meet time was between 5:00 and 6:00 in Orlando. Plan is to meet up with a new group I hadn't met before from cflriders.com. I arrive there at about 5:45 and I'm the 3rd one there. I introduce myself and meet Brad and Kevin. Shortly after that Jason arrives (we were at his house). But we're still missing our last guy, Chris. Apparently he's quite notorious for being late. We all do last minute tire pressure checks and lube our chains, and fill out our emergency contact info sheet while we wait. I took a few pics

7:30 comes and still no Chris.... everybody is getting on edge as we watch the sky and see dark rain clouds getting closer and closer in the direction we're headed. 7:45 Chris finally arrives. It's now starting to rain, so those that had rain gear put it on as well as put our luggage in garbage bags to protect it from the rain. 8:00 we're off.... we make our way to the turnpike and head north. Our first stop will be Gainesville, FL to pick up another member of the group, Rich and his GF.

We get up to Gainesville and meet up with Rich. His GF is driving her Ford Escape, so Chris' GF and Jasons' GF hop off their pillion seats and the 3 girls ride together in the car the rest of the way up. We grab a bite to eat and get back on the road, about 10:00 pm now.

This pic was taken several days later, but just to show the group. Oh yea and the best part... ALLL HONDAS!!! The guys from left to right:

-Chris and GF - silver '03 VFR

-Rich and GF - silver '05 F4i

-Brad - red '99 F4

-Kevin - red '98 VFR

-Me - red/black '04 F4i

-Jason and GF - black '04 VFR

Not pictured above are several riders we'd pick up later... Jeremy (red '02 VFR) and Kevins dad Bob (blue '04 ST1300)

We made our way north... boring super slab getting out of FL and southern part of GA. We make a stop for gas in middle of nowhere GA somewhere and take a lil break... it's getting late and we're all getting tired

Yup, it's that time

Jasons bike took ALOT of gas!!

Ooooooookkk mobile church, lol

We keep heading north, getting very tired we start the countdown... "ok 2 hours left"... "ok 1 hour left"... "ok 30 minutes left". We finally arrive at Kevins parents house in Canton, GA (north of Atlanta) at 5:30 am and dead on our feet. His parents were just getting up when we pulled in the driveway, and came out to greet us. His mom told us to get some sleep and when we got up they'd have breakfast waiting for us. And that we did! Hauled all the gear inside and went right to bed.

Saturday 9/1

Woke up about 11:00 to the smell of eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and even some pastries and OJ. Geared up and got ready to head out for the day. Destination: Deals Gap, the scenic route

We check and adjust tire pressures and lube chains again before we head out

Kevins parents.... his dad joined us with his ST1300

And OMG Dixie is the FATTEST BEAGLE EVAR!!!

Jeremy joins along with us as well (white/grey leathers)

We head out and hit up some twisties. We stop at this little store once we get to the top of Blood Mtn going up US129

It has a nice overlook too

We continue on our scenic route to the Gap, hitting up some more twisties. Then.... UHH OH!

She clocked Jason at 64 in a 45. She was cool though, and we all were trying sooo hard not to laugh as we sat and listened to him feed her this whoooole line of pure BS. But one way or another she let him off with just a warning

I didn't even realize the name of the road where we got pulled over at.... weird coincidence

Started raining in the afternoon, so we stopped for lunch in Helen, GA

Taking a little break after Warwoman Rd, leading to Rt. 28. Damn that's a nice road!

We finally make it to our cabin at Fontana Village Resort a little after dark (this pic taken the next morning)

Sunday 9/2

Todays destination... The Dragon! We arrive at the CROT about 9:00

Yours truly

Had a quick breakfast at the CROT

As we're eating breakfast Jeremy tells us there was just an accident on the dragon. "Oh great, now there's gonna be popo for sure", we all thought. A few minutes later we see this guy come down from the dragon with his truck and trailer, and what used to be an R1. He jumped gravity cavity and ate it, but somehow managed to walk away from it

But we head up anyways, keeping an open eye for the popo. Ended up being only 1, and he didn't bother us. At the overlook

What a beautiful view!

I thought this was kinda cool.... parked in the same spot facing one way I get the TN sign, and facing the other way I get the NC sign

Official dragon water... I wonder if it makes me faster (LOL)

Going up the Cherohala Skyway

Stopped here and by pure coincidence, met up with a small group of sportbikes who also happened to be from Orlando

Made it back to Kevins parents house just before dark

Monday 9/3

Everybody else in the group is getting ready to head back to Orlando. I'm not going with though, I'm staying in the area for another week

So what do I do?? My ass is headed back to the mountains!

Well... I'm bored tonight, and missing my bike like crazy not being able to ride it, I was going through looking at some old roadtrip pictures. Figured I'd post them up here as well. I'm a total photo whore, so there's alot of pics... be warned!! And hopefully I won't exceed my photobucket bandwidth, lol

This is pretty much how I spend virtually any freetime I ever get... nothing I love more than hopping on the bike and just riding... wherever the road takes me, and meeting lots of new people along the way!

Enjoy!

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(copy/paste from previous post)

This was back on the 12th of May, 2006. I loaded my bike down with luggage and hit the road on an 18 day adventure, which took me for 5126.3 miles, and through 10 states. Believe it or not this handful of pictures are only a few from the 376 that I took. Of course I couldn't post them all so I just picked out a few from different places along the way, and then all the rest of them are in an album, which the link is at the bottom.

Ok where do I start... Oh yea, at the beginning!

Friday 12th, at my dads house in SoFla. Bike all packed and ready to go!

Rt. 129 in NC

Some guy riding by on a bicycle saw me taking pics and offered to take mine

Met up with all my SoFla peeps at Fontana Village Resort. They had done a trackday at Barber the weekend prior

Overlook at the top of the Dragon

I think this was along Foothills Parkway somewhere

Top of Cherohala Skyway... it was COOOLLLDDD!!! 42 degrees here, on and off rain, and in the middle of a cloud

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Cheseapeake, VA

The next little "island" in the background is the continuation of the bridge, connected to the one I'm standing on by an underwater mile long tunnel right underneath where that big boat is about to go over. Pretty cool to ride through!

Met up with Travis from my Accord forum in Hampton, VA

Overlook right at the VA/WV state line

Went and saw my friend Joe in Columbus, OH

Then went and saw my mom up by Chicago, IL

Went and had breakfast with some old family friends out in north central IL

Then down to see my sister and her husband in central IL

Then met up with Fred from cbrforum.com in southern IL

Top of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN

Then met up with Saba from cbrworld.net in Atlanta, GA

Finally home at last

5,126.3 miles later....

And last but not least... my official Dragon keychains!

For all the rest of the pictures, click the link below for the album. Note: you do NOT need to have a user ID or password, just click the picture and it'll go into the slideshow.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=rcr8ryu.b857kh2&x=0&y=-sfaurn

I can't wait to do another trip like this! I'd love to do a cross country trip all the way to Hwy. 1 in Cali, but this damn going to work thing 5 days a week keeps getting in the way of my fun, hahah. In the meantime, weekend trips will have to do! Don't forget to check out the kodak gallery link above too, lots more pics :jiggy

Well I (finally) made some good progress today!

Beginning

Then...

Rafters and ratchet straps to the rescue

Oh and milk crates too

Success!

She's dirrrrty

Poor thing

But, this was the biggest part of the job that I needed to get done, so it definitely won't be long now! Gonna take it down to my buddies in Greenville, SC next weekend and he'll be able to tell me if it's salvageable or not, and we'll go from there. Either way, I should be back on the road again here soon!

... I'd have no luck at all, seriously! LOL

Had a great ending to my work week late friday afternoon.... just finished working on this customers truck (2007 Ford F-250 super duty... nothing major, just a bunch of maintenance stuff) *and they were on their way to pick it up. *The weather was getting crappy, and it was my last job for the day, so I finished it up and last thing I had to do was take it for a quick drive to make sure everything was good, then pack my tools up and haul ass home.

So I head out, turn right onto the main road in front of our dealership, get about 0.2 mile down the road and going pretty slow cuz the roads are slick (about 25 mph or so), and all of a sudden out of the line of cars going the opposite direction, this old brown Chevy truck starts to fishtail, rear end slid way out to the right, and he comes straight across the road and t-bones me right in the drivers side. *I saw him coming and tried to move over to the right as much as I could, hoping it would maybe buy me an extra second or two to get out of the way, but it was no use.... he plowed me dead center across the drivers front door, rear door, and truck bed. *Spun us both around 180 degrees and off into the grass

A few pics... gotta say the Super Duty held up a bit better than the old Chevy did! hahah. *I was driving the white F-250 in the opposite direction of the way it's pointing

Oh well... that's what insurance is for, right? At least nobody was hurt, and no other vehicles got drug into it. *He was honest and admitted that I had done nothing wrong and was completely in my lane and in control, and he was the one that came over and hit me, so that's good at least.

Finally got back to the shop about an hour or so later after having to get the truck towed back. *By that point the weather had gotten pretty bad and the roads were pretty much solid ice, and there were wrecks everywhere so pretty much every road was a parking lot and I really didn't want to drive the nearly 30 miles home, and risk another idiot hitting me in my own car (I'd be screwed). *So since I had to work again the next morning, I just drove (very carefully,lol) about a mile down the road to a hotel and got a room for the night

Gotta say, I got a pretty damn good deal on this stuff!! Guy I work with has been racing for the past few years, but is getting out of it for a little bit so he can finish school and whatnot... he just sold his R1 and sold his GSX-R 750 not long before that, and now he's selling off all the rest of his bike stuff. Him and I are pretty good buddies so he made me a hell of a deal

Here's what I got....

Teknic 1pc suit. I know it's the wrong color, but I don't care... the price was most definitely right! I had to sell my last suit a few months back after I had lost my job, and been wanting to get another... this one fits me perfectly! It's in perfect condition, never been down... the knee pucks are toast though, lol

Spine protector... used twice

Lockhart Phillips rear swingarm stand

Pit Bull front triple tree stand

Total for everything: $260!!

At first he just told me about the suit and said $150 for that, but then said he had this other stuff too, and $260 for everything. Gotta say, really can't argue with that!

So, hopefully this year I can finally do a friggin trackday or two, hahaha

177000 miles on a bike...

And in 5 years too!! hehe

I bought the bike brand spankin' new 10-17-04 with 3 miles on the clock. Took these pics soon as I got home from the dealership.... she was all of 30 minutes old here

Poor thing.... she will run again!! Soon as I get everything finalized with the insurance company, I'm gonna start tearing her apart. The cosmetic damages really weren't that bad.... a couple plastics, mirrors, and a shift lever is about it. Got some scratches on the swingarm but I'm just gonna sandblast that and maybe powdercoat it clear. The biggest job in the whole ordeal is to get the engine squared away. I'm gonna drop it out and see what it's gonna take to fix it, and get to work on it

Well... just a lil update on this

Insurance company came out this past Thursday and looked at the bike, they said it would prob be a few days and I'd be getting a call from the claims office. So hopefully I hear something from them this week, and can get a check and really get going with the rebuild.

I finally got the flywheel off today... I was hoping for the best, but was sadly disappointed. Crankshaft is indeed bent pretty good at the end... enough that I not only can easily see it's bent just by looking at it, but it's also still keeping the engine from turning. I've got a buddy who's boss does machine work, and said he should be able to straighten out the crank without any probs, so hopefully he's right! If not, then I guess another crankshaft is the next plan. Also gonna see just how bad the damage is when I split the cases open. If the inside of the case is pretty tore up, I may end up looking for a good used engine. We'll see though....