Day 1 - 2013 Appalachian Trail-ish Epic Ride

July 07, 2013

Saturday - July 6, 2013

Departure Location / Time: Dan's Cabin in Suches, GA @ 9:15AM

Weather: 70 and Rain

Total Miles Traveled: 313

Trip Odometer: 841

Today's launch was greeted by heavy N. Georgia rain and dense fog.  There's something about starting a big trip in crappy weather that pushes a rider to make a choice.  Option A - bitch and moan  Option B - embrace it and push on.  Luckily our group chose Option B.  We did get a good laugh when we all got suited up and Dan's KTM 990 wouldn't start.  Nothing a quick hook-up of Joe's SAE jumper cable didn't fix.  We plugged it into Dan's Powerlet Adapter and the SAE Battery Tender plug on my Super Tenere. (Joe is an electrical wizard and his skills come in very handy) Without this jumper cable we would have been delayed a good 30 minutes getting to the battery on the KTM.  Thanks Joe!

[caption id="attachment_3148" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]2013 Appalachian Trail-ish Epic Ride - Dan's Cabin 2013 Appalachian Trail-ish Epic Ride - Dan's Cabin[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3146" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]2013 Appalachian Trail-ish Epic Ride - N. Georgia Fog Machine N. Georgia Fog Machine[/caption]

 

We traveled on 90% 2-lane twisty backroads today.  5% interstate and 5% dirt roads.  At one stop, I told Joe that he set the bar high with the quality of  the tarmac roads and I was would be disappointed if the rest of the trip wasn't as good.  We were on some roads today that would give the Dragon a run for it's money.  Average rain fall must be way up this year because several of our planned routes were blocked by this....

[caption id="attachment_3152" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]2013 Appalachian Trail-ish Epic Ride - Small Creek Crossing Small Creek Crossing[/caption]

 

We got on the Blue Ridge Parkway for about 15 miles and went through Maggie Valley, NC.  (shout out to my Spyder friends who were just there).  In fact, I saw state signs for Georgia, N. Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia - not bad for one day.   There were no issues today except for my allergies.  The flow from my nose made the inside of my Shoei looking like war zone of slime.

We arrived at the Courtyard Marriott around 5:30 and found Justin waiting for us on his fancy new BMW GS.  We all had a great dinner at Outback and quickly discovered that Justin is going to fit in great to our little group.  Welcome aboard Justin!

[caption id="attachment_3156" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]Justin Mills on his high tech BMW. Justin Mills on his high tech BMW.[/caption]

Today the Boeing 777 crash landed at SFO.  Very scary stuff. I am consciously aware of the risk associated with a trip like this but at least I have some control of the risk dial.  Sometimes we turn it up but we turn it down as well.  The folks on that plane didn't have any risk dials to turn.

I'm looking forward to the rest of this Epic Ride.  Feel free to post comments or ask questions on the blog.  Thanks for reading.  JE

 

 

Link for real-time GPS Tracking of Trip.  |  Link to Joe Morris' Blog

 

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