Spending a week riding in the mountains this past fall was probably the most fun I’ve had while fully clothed. Since the moment I arrived home I have been waiting for Spring to come so that I could do it again, and for the past month I’ve been scouring the Internets for a gathering to attend…
Last week I finally decided on a late-April meet-up in northern Georgia. Richard (Tom’s dad) will join me for the scheduled weekend activities and I’m going to take the following week off to roam on my own. On the last trip I barely got to experience what northern GA has to offer so I am hugely looking forward to that, and being at the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains puts most of the great motorcycle roads of the East Coast within a few hours ride.
Most likely I will ride out of GA to the Tail of the Dragon, then return to eastern Tennessee to repeat the EOM-5 route — my favorite ride of the previous trip — in the vicinity of Big Stone Gap in the Jefferson National Forest, do at least one run through Shady Valley, and then turn south to hit as many fun roads as I can find on the way back home.
Of course, now begins the expensive process of getting my motorcycle ready for another long trip. For the most part the mechanicals and my electronic gizmos pretty well sorted at this point so I just need to make my wiring permanent and tweak some mounting bits. The lock on my cheap top case broke so I’ve ordered something more on the premium side to replace it, with brake light flashers and an alarm built-in. I’ve also got a much nicer jacket on the way that should be better suited to varied weather conditions. The jackets I have now are ok in the wet but are lousy when it is cold. I’ll probably replace the tires again before this trip — by late April the rear will be approaching the miles I put on the last one and I do not want to repeat the last trip’s experience of driving like a mad man on a corded tire to get to the only dealership within 100 miles open on a Saturday before they close.
There went a thousand bucks…
Also need to pick up a Verizon pre-paid as AT&T’s coverage in the mountains sucks. And I still need a new netbook. And I’m giving serious thought to getting a SPOT Satellite GPS tracker, tho I’m not entirely convinced of its usefulness in a solo emergency — if I’ve gone down and am seriously hurt, how will I activate the “Send Help” button?
