Simon and Deb's Excellent Adventure ........

[Guest]

We headed on into some solid weather . Quite heavy rain at times . Steve and Bonita had heaps of rain gear so everyone was fairly dry . Legends .

We got onto some nice , smaller roads later . I got into trouble for being naughty and overtaking through some nice bends . A boy's gotta do ............

The last couple of hours into Buena Vista were in the dark . Again , not something we do a lot of these days . We'd had enough stops during the day with our tank being the limit for each stint . We didn't end up needing arse transplants . No sphincter events , just good riding , all day .
So ended the first day's ride . We booked in at the motel then met up with Jim (RageZro) and Kathy and Kurt (Dardoonk) . Kurt had a pile of T-shirts he'd had made for the "Roo Rally" . Unreal . You people never cease to amaze .

What a great day . Wet , dry , highway , "back roads" , scenery , laughs , food , beers , bench racing and lies with good mates , and MORE new ones . Takes some beating .

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

 

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. simon kuether,

I wish I had been paying attention. I just opened this thread. It would have been a pleasure to meet you and the missus while you were in the LA area. Sorry I missed you. I hope you are enjoying your visit here half as much as I am. It looks like you are having a terrific time and the GSR community is showing themselves to be wonderful hosts. Ride safely and keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Guest]

Next time Cliff , old mate . Looks like we'll be back and forwards a bit over the next few years .

Cheers , Simon .

 

[Guest]

Up and off to the Waffle House for breakfast . Another "first" for us . We don't eat as much at these (or have that many for that matter) sort of places as you do . We'd , maybe , go to a cafe . We weren't real sure what we'd ordered as lots of things have different names . Biscuits = cookies . See what I mean . We just looked at the pictures and played the "dumb Aussie" thing . Still works . Had a real good eggs and bacon sort of meal .
Fuel , and off to the BRP.................
Deb jumped on behind Steve for the royalty treatment . Chaffeured if you will ........... Got some good pics though .

What a ride . It was difficult to keep my eyes on the road . (Pity the limit wasn't 20mph higher though) .
Vistas dissappearing into the blue on both sides

sheer forests climbing into the sky

magnificent sweeping road

coupla stops ; fuel and on to Mabry Mill for lunch . Great food and service here . Well worth a stop if you ever happen to be lucky enough to be passing . Wandered around the "old stuff" for longer than we probably should , but you get that ........

Saw deer by the road as well . I could see them causing damage . Maybe the Dju Dju bells kicked in because none of us had any close encounters . Money well spent .
We spent the night in Sparta . We were just in time for , but never made it to , the Fish and Taco Festival . Wish we had more time . As we'd eaten (to much) late , we settled for "a coupla drinks" and a few laughs instead . Good diet that . Had a great night talking all manner of things till much to late .

As of today , Friday 17th Sept , we'd ridden in Ohio , West Virginia , Virginia , North Carolina and Kentucky (mythical places) .......... with persons unknown . It still freaks us out . 4 days before , we didn't know any of these people .
I guess that's what adventures are like ....................

We could get used to this .....................

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

 

[marvinsc]

Simon, I am enjoying your commentary very much, it is interesting seeing what is routine to us Americans seen through new eyes. Hopefully circumstances will allow me to get in on next year's adventure.

 

[Dogma]

I'm looking forward now to the part of the story I missed. I wanted to get where I was going, but I didn't want to split off from these people either.

 

[Guest]

If any one has more pics , please put them up . We didn't take as many as we thought we had . Got a bit confused with others we'd seen . I know Bonita and Kathy have LOTS . And Kurt had an interesting thing going on .
I think it was a bit of an adventure for all of us , so ..........

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

 

[Steve]

I've got no idea what route we followed . As all the names were "foreign" , they blurred .
I'm sure Steve , or Josh could fix you up .

This is the route that was planned. There were a couple of minor changes, but not many.
(Different color for each day.)

The first map was an early proposal. This is what we actually did.
We pushed a few miles farther on the first day to put us closer to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
We stopped at a different motel at the end of the second day (much nicer motel).
We also made a change to the stopping point at the end of the third day, due to Simon's bike acting up a bit.
We then changed the route for the fourth day to take them through the area where we had the Red River Rally a month earlier.

This fourth day was done in 'luxury' in our van. While the rest of the group checked into the motel, my son and I booked on home. (It only added 285 miles to what we had already done for the day. :-\\\) I caught a nap then took my van and trailer to pick up Simon's bike. Mrs. Steve decided to put her bike on the trailer, too, so we had Simon & Deb, Rose, Mrs. Steve and me in the van and two bikes on the trailer behind it. Not the way we intended to end a riding trip, but it was great socializing.

.

 

[Guest]

Well there you go .................. Thanks Steve .

Saturday , 18th Sept.
Left Sparta at about 10.30am . Nobody had the liver mush for breakfast though . Again , a bit of a hit and miss with what we thought we ordered . Good fun though . And good food .

Dale and Kurt left us to ride other roads .

Jim and Kathy were to part at Meadowview .

Followed some nice backroads that had a good surface and would be better than most in Queensland . Got into some nice twisties the equal of the Putty Road . Same length but without the straight open bits . Twisties with an unguarded cliff into a river . Beautiful .

I was pretty impressed with how quick Steve , and Rose , was with the trailer . Sort of , kept catching him though . He had our only "close shave" with an oncoming car . Go the Dju Dju's .
The country is magnificent . Steep wooded "mountains rising up each side of a river . One side with a strip of road and a single row of houses . Hard to get lost in these towns . Front porches with rocking chairs . Bet they sell a few banjo's up this way .
Deb and I followed Josh for a "bit of a run" out front so we weren't "pushing" Steve . Great wiggly roads through to Grundy . (Still chuckle at that - Grundy's = undies - underpants town ) . Filled up at Vansant and almost straight away the bikes running like a dog . Cough , miss , go , 2 pots . Figured we'd got some crook fuel . We stopped at McDonalds and ate while Josh charged his phone so we could contact the others as we'd missed each other somehow . Ichecked a few things and found the oil was getting a bit low . Bought a quart (.97 litre) for $2 . Could have got Castrol GTX for $4 . TWO DOLLARS . $12 to $15 at home . TWO DOLLARS .
Couldn't get phone coverage and the bike started ok , so off we go . It started coughing again shortly but we press on to somewhere the phone will work . First decent hill and we were rooted . We stopped in the emergency lane , going up hill , 4 lanes , hot , no tools .
Roger Coleman was sitting on the back porch of the only house for a few miles .
"Come on over here , I've got a few tools and such " .
"Such" amounted to some welcome cold drinks , the use of a goodly amount of tools , the use of his phone to contact the others , and lively , jovial conversation . Josh was a bit pi$$ed about the bike , but Deb and I were having a great time . The stuff of adventure ...............

With the return of Steve and co , (and a fast failing Rose) , the problem was quickly determined to be a dodgy set of points . We had spares for almost everything else , but not ............... (aint that always the way) . We decided I'd nurse the 750 into Pikeville , to a motel , and we'd sort it from there . Rose was getting real crook by now (some tummy bug) so she and Josh bolted ahead to get her onto a shower and bed .

Running on two pots and with Deb on behind Steve , we "limped" to the Holiday Inn .

Roger Coleman . Marine , coal miner , grandfather , samaritan and gentleman . We thank you humbly for your hospitallity and help to strangers and travellers . There's good people out there .
We hope our small gifts bring you a smile every now and then .

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

 

[Guest]

Kat took all the shots we have, I won't go into details as this is Simon & Deb's story so here you go...

Day 2; after breakfast at Waffle House, on the way to the BRP.


First nights motel, not great but not bad, we learned how to carry a pizza while riding two up from Simon & Deb here!


Getting ready to enter the tunnel on the BRP


Don't know the name of this river we crossed...


When you get a break in the trees this is what you see.


The deer that you heard about earlier, yes they were that close as the group rode by..


I don't want to overload this thread with photos so let me know if you want more...

 

[Steve]

I don't want to overload this thread with photos so let me know if you want more...

In a thread like this one, there is no such thing as "photo overload".

Besides, we have it from the original poster ...

If any one has more pics , please put them up . We didn't take as many as we thought we had . ... Cheers, Simon and Deb .

.

 

[Guest]

Load away by all means . Like Steve said , no such thing as photo overload .

Cheers , Simon . :clap:

 

[Redman]

...
....
....I don't want to overload this thread with photos so let me know if you want more...

Yah, Yah, more, more.

And Simon says more, too.
Simon says more.

But maybe dont want to get ahead of his narrative.

.

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Great stuff! Keep it coming! Thanks!


Ride safely everyone.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Guest]

By the time we got booked into the motel , Steve and Brad had packed , eaten , and gone . Back to Dayton . 5 hours ride , at night . Steve figured we needed a trailer for the 750 , so .....................
He arrived back at lunch time the next day , Sunday .
What a man . Sure made the trip "home" more comfortable (rather than "nursing" 2 cylinders back to Dayton) , thanks man .
Funny thing . We didn't try the Telapia or the catfish at Captain D's that night . Both these fish are vermin in Aus . I don't think you'd find an Aussie that would "tuck into a feed" of catfish . Must be different varieties here . And who'd drink a gallon of tea ?

The bike started first hit the next morning . Dodgy . Josh "warmed" it up a bit , but it dropped it's bundle again . Good thing probably as it would've failed later . Probably no where near Roger's house .

Trailer it was , along with Bonitas bike . Josh rode "home alone" while the rest of us travelled in luxury . Steve and Bonita kept a lively banter going and we had a great day .

Sorry Bonita , but Bruen's at Stanton is not my favourite eatery . Again , no idea what we'd ordered , but it was drowned in gravy . Everything . Glad I didn't order a salad .

We did a tour of Steve and Bonita's end of town and were back at Josh's by nightfall .

Rob had already gotten another set of points and in very short order , the 750 was running smoothly again . You don't get warrantee and service like that at a stealership .

Champagne and laughs till midnight . (Rose had come good by now . Glad I didn't catch it) .

Josh and Rose had asked us , before the BRP, to stay with them for the rest of our trip . An offer we gratefully accepted .

It had been a big day (4 days really) . Mythical places on the other side of the world , with persons ............. unknown . Great stuff .

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

 

[cowboyup3371]

Kewl...I hope you aren't done yet right?

 

[ddaniels]

I could come close to drinking a gallon of tea, but then 2 gallons would exit the other end.

Seriously? Aussie's don't eat catfish? Weird. Do they swim on the other side of the pond?

 

[Guest]

Catfish! No way! I'd go the flounder though, but not sure about having it fried...

 

[Rick65Cat]

I just opened this thread and read from the 1st post til where it ends. Awesome reading and great pics!!!
And here I am waffling about whether to drive my `78 GS1000 from Alberta to Ontario and back. You guys rock!!!

As was said earlier about what we take for granted, then seen through others eyes....so true.

 

[Guest]

Ok more ride shots, Kat & I didn't run the same route as Simon & Deb the 3rd & 4th days as we continued into Tennessee and back through the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky then home.

Here is a music center we passed along the route


Deb & Simon


The sun was blinding at the end of our last day on the BRP


Sunset on the BRP


The Allegheny Motel in Sparta, last morning with the group


The last ride with the group on Day 3 heading back into Virginia