Skyline Drive Memorial Day meet... lots of pics! (5/6)

[thirdgenlxi]

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!

[thirdgenlxi]

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!!