thirdgenlxi Posted June 2, 2010 Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 Well I had a blast this past weekend!! The cbrjunkie.com forum I'm on had it's 2nd annual east coast Skyline Drive meet, which went off without a hitch just as last years meet. We had it the same time last year (Memorial Day weekend) which worked well since most had a 3 day weekend. I rode out to souther Maryland saturday morning, hung out with everybody saturday night and had a great time, then we all went to the meet on sunday, then made my way back to western NC on mondayAnyways, on with the pics....Saturday morning... 8:30 am, a little later than I wanted to get going, but bike is now all packed and ready to goMade my way up and over Old Fort Mountain on some familiar backroads (my daily commute route to work and back everyday)Stopped in Morganton, NC to fill up with gas before jumping on the highway to slab it the rest of the wayAlso had to get a little something to eat.... it's the breakfast of champions!!Made my way NEI stopped in Ironto, VA and met up with Jeff.... he's on the sportbikes.net forum, but I invited him along so we met up at this gas station along the wayA very nice Daytona 675 he has!And from there we made our way east. Slabbed it for awhile then jumped off the highway for the last 2 hours or so and took some backroads. It was definitely a nice break from the highway! Crossed the big bridge over the Potomac river, and into MD about 7pmAs we're headed down Rt. 234 towards Lexington Park, we're probably 20 mins away and come up on a row of stopped trafficFrom what we can gather, that white F-250 sitting there apparently spilled a load of some sort of seafood all over the road (oysters??). They looked white, and hard and made clanging noises as they were sweeping them off, lol. Firetruck was there spraying the road down with the firehose and sweeping them all off the roadAfter about 10-15 mins waiting there, they got it all cleaned up and we were free to go. We made it safely to the Days Inn in Lexington Park where everyone else was staying. Shortly after checking in we found 2 of the other guys in our group, Regis and Garrett.... both of them rode down from Pittsburg, PA. There was also another member staying in a different part of the hotel... we found him shortly afterSaturday night the rest of the crew came over to the hotel, we all hung out there for a few mins then headed out and rode over to Solomons Island to hang out and have a good time, grab some food and a few drinks. Don't have any pics of that, but had a great time!!We were all pretty wiped and wanted to get some sleep, so we made our way back to the hotel by around midnight. Being that we couldn't get ground level rooms, and the hotel wasn't exactly in the greatest neighborhood, we had to get creative in locking the bikes to each other, lolWe ended up staying up until after 2am just hanging out outside the room BS'ing about all kinds of random things. Saw this minivan get pulled over in the parking lot behind us, and 4 popo's ended up showing up.... had to watch and see what happened there. Nothing too exciting though....Sunday morning... phew, our bikes were still there!We all took advantage of the hotels free breakfast and grabbed a bite to eat before heading out to meet the rest of the groupMade our way down to the first meet spot, just a couple miles down the roadEven though it's technically a CBR meet, we always still have a variety of bikes that join inMade our way across the big bridge and out of MD in VA to the next meet spot where we'd pick up a few more peopleAfter Kevin led us all on some great backroads the entire way from the last gas station, we make our 3rd and final stop before we got to Skyline. We were supposed to meet up with a couple more people here, but they never showed. I believe they joined in later. We were all pretty hot by now, so taking a break in the shade for a bit and grabbing some drinksShortly after we arrived at the Front Royale entrance to Skyline DriveAs much of a gear nazi as I usually am, even I too have my squidly moments, lol. We were inside the park where it's only one road, and 35mph at the most.... I had to take it off for a bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdgenlxi Posted June 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 But that also allowed me to get some action shots as we were riding along. Which is a good thing I did, cuz damn near half the overlooks were closed for construction, so we never did get to pull off and line up all the bikes for picsThere were lots of bicyclists out going both ways. This particular one was going uphill.... very slowly, lolLooks like Team Mini Cooper was out there this weekend tooStopped at the little rest area to grab some lunch and cool off for a bitAnd back up Skyline a little furtherIt was getting later in the day, so we decided to jump off Skyline Drive at Hwy 211, which is a fun little road going out of the park. Went down the road about 50 miles or so and we made this our final stop before we all parted waysWe got some stranger lady in a Toyota to snap a bunch of pictures for us. What a great group of people this is.....We all hung around for a little while longer and chit-chatted for a bitAnd snapped more pics too.... can never have too many of those, right??It was getting late by now, and we all still had a decent ride home (most of the guys were headed back to MD). I was planning on finding a place to stay somewhere in the area there. Kevin lived not all too far from there though, and said he was headed to the DQ just down the road for some ice cream, so I tagged along.... after a hot day, I couldn't say noOreo Blizzard FTMFW!! Thanks Kevin!We said goodbye and went our separate ways. I got back on Rt. 29 south and rode for a little while longer. Right as I was coming into Culpeper, VA I was able to catch a beautiful sunset right in front of meShortly after I found a room in Culpeper and called it a night. Had to leave the bike outside, but this place was out in the middle of nowhere so I wasn't all too worriedMonday morning.... had intentions of getting on the road early, but that didn't happen, lol. Guess I was pretty tired, more like 10:30, got her all packed up again and ready to rollThe first part of the day was absolutely beeeaauuuutiful!!After a couple hours on the highway, I took a little break and jumped off to explore some of Virginia's beautiful backroads. This was near Natural Bridge, VAMy buddy in Greenville, SC had sent me a text earlier in the day saying to be careful as I may be running into some nasty weather on my way back. While it was bright and sunny at the time, several hours later that would change. I could see the clouds ahead and started to get a few sprinkles, so I pulled into this gas station to put on my raingear. There was a HUUUUGE group of Harleys at this gas station as wellSaw these guys pulling out.... why does this not surprise me in the least......?? The sky was definitely NOT looking in my favor, lolI pulled up the radar map on my phone to look at what I was headed into. The red pin is me at the gas station that I stopped at, and what I'm headed into. Ahhh the joys of travelling on two wheels.... but, I wouldn't have it any other wayGotta admit I sure am glad I wasn't headed towards Charlotte.... that's what they were getting....yikes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdgenlxi Posted June 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 I left the gas station and it was just sprinkling a little bit, got on the on ramp right next to the gas station, and by the time I merged onto the highway (maybe 0.2 mile), it was POURING. Guess I picked a good time to put the raingear on, haha. Made it through the rain no prob... it didn't last too long, then it was just sprinkles after that. Stopped to take one last break at a rest area in Marion, NCUmmm.... WTF?? Where's my bar end?? Pretty sure it's in Virginia... somewhereSky still wasn't looking too appealing, so I left the raingear onMade my way back to Asheville, NC.... had to make a quick stop at Best Buy and pick up a new laptop so I could post my pictures up when I got home. My poor old Sony Vaio finally kicked the bucket last weekI didn't need anything fancy at all, so I just picked up a cheapo netbookHey whatever works, right?? Cargo net = best $5 I ever spent, lolMade it home safe n sound by just after 8:30 pm... gave her a pat on the tank for a job well done and tucked her away for the nightEnding mileage (I forgot to take a beginning shot). I reset the trip B odometer when I left, and it rolled over so in total it was 1,312.7 miles for the weekend. Bike ran like a champ... not a single problem!That's all the pics I've got. All in all, had a great time and always love hanging out and riding with these guys!! Can't wait to do it again next year.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravedigger Posted June 2, 2010 Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 Looks like a nice trip. Nice write up, thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drew95gt Posted June 2, 2010 Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 Nice ride report, I always look forward to your pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywood3586 Posted June 2, 2010 Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 wow!! I'm totally gonna do this one day... Take a long trip on my bike sounds like the adventure of a lifetime..Glad you where safe and no one got hurt..I myself got stuck in some memorial day rain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cdubyah Posted June 2, 2010 Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 Nice writeup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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