Chuck Boylan, riding his FJR and I,
on my Vstrom departed Metaire at 6:30 am on Thursday, July 20th
in order to avoid the morning traffic thru New Orleans and get some
miles in before the temps were uncomfortable. Our day one
destination was Blairsville, GA taking interstate highways for 400
miles to Gadsden, AL and then two lane roads the rest of the way. It
was a typical hot day in July, although we were able to avoid the
late afternoon liquid sunshine that hits on so many days. We made it
to Gadsden for a mid-afternoon lunch and cool down. The air
conditioning felt good with the outdoor thermometer at 97 degrees.
After our break, we headed East on roads with a lot less traffic and
a lot more curves than the interstate highway. Four hours of riding
brought us to Blairsville, GA for the night. The Best Western Hotel
was clean and had a quiet clientele. Security for the bikes was not
an issue, since they were parked right outside our first floor door.
We finished the day after a total of 625 miles with a good dinner at
Monet’s Italian Grill located across the parking lot from our
room.
Both of us were looking forward to
day two as we knew the roads would be good all day long. We headed
southeast toward Helen and then up to Clayton, GA were we picked up
Warwoman Road (one of my favorites in that part of GA). We got on
Hwy 28 thru Highlands, NC with smiles on our faces and continued
north to pick up the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way to Little
Switzerland. Traffic was petty light on the BRP and we had a good
time riding at a sporting pace. A Harley escorted us for 10 miles
and we were both impressed with his ability to handle the curves. We
pulled into the Big Lynn Lodge @ 2:30 pm and 20 minutes before a
passing shower washed down our bikes. Our mileage for the day was 247
miles on great roads. Registration at the Lodge and rally was smooth.
After getting the bikes unloaded and a refreshing shower, we took a
ride down the mountain in search of an adult beverage.
The rally has been at the Big Lynn
Lodge for the past eight years. Accommodations were rustic cabin
style rooms and separate cottages. It was nice to open the windows
and feel the cross breeze thru the night. Quite rare for us to not
sleep with air conditioning in July, but with the overnight temps at
63 and low humidity, it was very comfortable. The Big Lynn Lodge
advertises proximity to the BRP and that is the accurate. Sitting on
the porch of our room, we could watch the traffic drive by.
(Big Lynn Cottages)
Included in the cost of the room is
a full service breakfast and evening meal. It is a good thing that
meals are included, as the restaurant availability in this area is
pretty limited. Seating in the main dining room was by room number,
making for a great way to get to interact with other rally attendees.
The food was all prepared on-site and was quite good. I was
impressed with the lodge staff’s ability to accommodate the 85
rally riders. After dinner on Friday night a four piece band played
for a couple hours. Doug Pippen created a dozen routes (gps &
paper maps) varying from 4 hours to all day long. After getting his
input, we narrowed Saturday’s ride down to either the “5000
Curves” or the “Twisty West” route.
At breakfast on Saturday morning, a
couple riders advised that we ride with caution on either route, as
some of the roads are challenging for even local riders who know the
area. We headed out on the Twisty West route and found out why Doug
called this one Twisty. We had some great roads, with more
switchbacks than I have ever ridden. We rode for over three hours
and stopped for lunch at the Main Street Café in Marshall. We
were ready for a break, but in a really good way. Both of us were
impressed with the technical challenges of the route that Doug
created. He certainly knows the roads and can put a great route
together. Be advised that navigating his route without a GPS would
be near impossible tho. After lunch we picked up on the route and
two hours later arrived back at the Big Lynn Lodge. Mother Nature
was good to us again, as we only got sprinkled on for five minutes,
but a strong downpour hit about a half hour after we got to our room.
Before going to dinner we rode down
the mountain on and essentials run and about a half mile from the
lodge came upon a black bear by the side of the road. Nice seeing
wild life, but not something you want to come too close to on a
cycle.
For several years, a very skilled
massage therapist from Asheville has been present to work out the
kinks on rally attendees. Chuck used her services a couple times and
I watched her work on someone else. I was impressed with her skills
and in awe of her ability to work on patient after patient for 30-45
minute sessions. This was deep muscle and tissue work requiring a
lot of leveraging and manipulation. This therapist lives by the
motto that she works on people truly in need!
(View from the back of the Big Lynn
Lodge)
After another good home cooked meal
in the main dining area, the rally committee provided updates on the
rally, discussed rider safety concerns (there were two separate
injury accidents), conducted annual business, and presented door
prizes. The prize committee went all out with almost every attendee
receiving a door prize. After the formal part of the meeting broke
up, we met with Doug to discuss the good roads to hit on our return
toward Alabama & Mississippi. After experiencing his routes, we
knew he was a great resource to use for finding great roads.
On Sunday we started South on the
BRP to avoid travelling thru city traffic in Ashville. From the BRP
we took Hwy 215 down to 178 into South Carolina before heading West
into Georgia and on toward Alabama. Doug gave us some fun roads that
were both scenic and void of traffic . . . exactly what we were
looking for. By the afternoon when we were out of the mountains, the
heat and humidity starting coming back.
We made it back to Gadsden, AL and
hit the interstate highway. Heading South to Meridian, MS we spent
Sunday night at the LaQuinta Inn.
The weather outlook Monday morning
called for rain on some part of our final leg. We rode a couple
hours until the rain was imminent before donning the rain gear. We
ended up riding in some of the heaviest rain I have experienced on
two wheels. Fortunately the worst part only lasted for 25 miles. We
rode in wet conditions for about 60 miles before hitting the
Louisiana state line and made it home without incident by mid
afternoon.
Final thoughts on this ride …
The long ride to and from the rally was worth the three days of very
good roads. Don’t be surprised by the number of people who
trailer a bike to the rally. The GPS routes Doug creates will put
you on some roads you would not try or even consider on your own. If
you go to this rally by yourself, link in with some like-minded
riders (for your own safety). I had a blast in the mountains around
Ashville and am looking forward to returning! Our total round trip
miles ended up at 2000.
Brent Herold
with Chuck Boylan
The 3rd quarter of 2017 has been no less eventful personally than the previous one. As MSTA webmaster I have been working feverishly to insure a
seamless transition to a new server, mostly treading water way over my head. For labor day week, Stacie and started one of our few non-motorcycling vacations. Civilians mostly consider our bi-annual mototreks
foolhardy, dangerous endeavors. But believe me, they are a walk in the park compared to flying to an island in the path of a monster hurricane. We were two days into a weeks vacation in Key West when
we realized we had to get out of there. Our original flight home was scheduled for Saturday. Monday night I managed to get that rescheduled for Thursday evening. Tuesday we got word of mandatory tourist evacuation effective Wednesday morning.
We hopped on the scooters we had rented for the day and rode to the airport where we got confirmation that there were no seats available on any airline or bus and no rental cars.
At 7:00 pm we got a three hour,160 mile UBER ride to Miami. There, after a good nights sleep we rented a car and drove the 900+ miles home. I unwound by spending the next weekend at Barber Motorsports Park on my new Ducati Multistrada 950 watching the final races of the MotoAmerica season.
