Vacation Ride Day 7
Day 7 - June 20
I wake up after just 5.5 hours of sleep to find Becky had already left to take Alexander to his swim meet. Deciding to beat everyone to the punch, I jump in the shower to wake myself up and try to get moving earlier than normal. One by one, everyone emerges in nice order to grab a quick bite, some coffee, a shower or whatever as the rest of us pack. We load up the bikes (Kevin and Karen choosing to leave a few things to retrieve later) and prepare to head out. We unfortunately don't get to say a proper goodbye and thank you to Becky as she was a spectacular hostess for our time there. We will just need to repeat it online and often! :)
Once everyone is packed, we gas up and head out, up Afton mountain and down (literally down) Rt. 6. It is a spectacular drive! We pass no less than 4 wineries on the way down which gives promise to another return trip pretty soon. The ride down 6 was fantastic! There were lots of twists and turns and areas that were just beautiful! Everyone is in a good mood. Kevin is the only one with a clean bike as he gave it a once-over the day before but his throttle wasn't sticking like it was and things were going great.
We begin to pass a lot of cyclists and coming upon a gas station, I decide I need to gas up and a snack is in order! As we were going about our business, more and more cyclists kept coming through. Kevin finally started a conversation with one guy who explained that it was a tour group that had over 2,000 cyclists from 48 states. I'm completely blown away! Especially since some of the guys there were probably close to 90 years old! Karen gets some Cheerwine and Malted Milk Balls and another lady pulls up asking about John's Dakar. After some conversation, she says that her friend was having trouble with her bicycle. Kevin, being the bike mechanic and good summaritan he is, took a look (without removing his backpack no less) and fixed the lady's bike in no time.
We finally saddle back up and head back down 6 as it would eventually turn into Patterson. We don't get too far and end up in Scottsville. It's a small town but really awesome. We ate at a "locally grown" foods market and wandered to the "Flying Pig Art Center" where we looked at the gallery area and checked out the studio spaces above. I'm not a huge "small town" type person but I think I could totally live here. The BBQ place smelled so good, Kevin and I swore that it was worth another road trip, just for the riding and the good eats! We will do that trip. Hopefully sometime in the not too distant future.
Hitting the road back to Richmond, the path becomes quite a bit less interesting. The hills begin to straighten out and the curves vanish. We stop to fuel up for the last time before getting into Richmond and there is a... discussion, as to how close Karen is following me. The distance she kept didn't bother me. In my experiences, scooters travel at similar distance at such speeds. There was some disagreement on following distance, that I didn't feel qualified enough to comment on, as a scooter has superb stopping ability over a large motorcycle which weighs much more. Whether it was that or that Karen had more than enough of just barely going the speed limit is unimportant. She took off ahead of the group, content to keep her own pace, while the rest of us followed hampered by my speed restriction.
Being out of the major hills, the Rattler was able to keep closer with the posted speeds and we soon found ourselves back in Richmond. We turned off of Patterson onto Malvern and took Meadowbrook over to Brookland Parkway to Kevin & Karen's place. We get there a bit after 4pm. Everyone goes in for a break and some relaxation. About 4:30 I decide it's time to head home and bid my farewells wishing John and Kristen a safe journey back to Va. Beach.
I get home, greet Ann, and promptly go take a nap! I wake up for the Ultimate Fighter finale then crash out again until 10am the next day.
This trip was a dream! I had a blast the entire time, even when the rain and cold was making it rough on us. It also gives me much more respect for what Ewan and Charlie did in Long Way Round/Down as we only had a week and they had 3 months for each adventure. What a challenge!
I take away many lessons from this trip. One is riding as a group of motorcycles is very different than a group of scooters. The average speeds are higher making communication more important and difficult. Also, every trip like this needs a clear leader. Decisions are sometimes not best made in a group, and are often time consuming. Also, scheduling is lame. The freedom we had to explore was awesome but we could have probably done more if we didn't feel quite as much responsibility to one another (quite an endearing thing, actually).
I can't wait for the next planned venture we come up with on two wheels! I know we'll have more interested parties next time around. Josh, Devin, Anthony, and others. I'm positive a promise of a beach trip will tip the scale in favor of another road trip really soon! (speaking of beach road trips... anyone interested in scooting/riding down for Kristen's beach party weekend? let me know!!!)
This was a fantastic experience. One that I will want more and more. So... next big trip? East Coast? Va Beach, Nags Head, Ocracoke, beach camping? Late August/early September, I'm totally down. Hit me up!!!
I wake up after just 5.5 hours of sleep to find Becky had already left to take Alexander to his swim meet. Deciding to beat everyone to the punch, I jump in the shower to wake myself up and try to get moving earlier than normal. One by one, everyone emerges in nice order to grab a quick bite, some coffee, a shower or whatever as the rest of us pack. We load up the bikes (Kevin and Karen choosing to leave a few things to retrieve later) and prepare to head out. We unfortunately don't get to say a proper goodbye and thank you to Becky as she was a spectacular hostess for our time there. We will just need to repeat it online and often! :)
Once everyone is packed, we gas up and head out, up Afton mountain and down (literally down) Rt. 6. It is a spectacular drive! We pass no less than 4 wineries on the way down which gives promise to another return trip pretty soon. The ride down 6 was fantastic! There were lots of twists and turns and areas that were just beautiful! Everyone is in a good mood. Kevin is the only one with a clean bike as he gave it a once-over the day before but his throttle wasn't sticking like it was and things were going great.
We begin to pass a lot of cyclists and coming upon a gas station, I decide I need to gas up and a snack is in order! As we were going about our business, more and more cyclists kept coming through. Kevin finally started a conversation with one guy who explained that it was a tour group that had over 2,000 cyclists from 48 states. I'm completely blown away! Especially since some of the guys there were probably close to 90 years old! Karen gets some Cheerwine and Malted Milk Balls and another lady pulls up asking about John's Dakar. After some conversation, she says that her friend was having trouble with her bicycle. Kevin, being the bike mechanic and good summaritan he is, took a look (without removing his backpack no less) and fixed the lady's bike in no time.
We finally saddle back up and head back down 6 as it would eventually turn into Patterson. We don't get too far and end up in Scottsville. It's a small town but really awesome. We ate at a "locally grown" foods market and wandered to the "Flying Pig Art Center" where we looked at the gallery area and checked out the studio spaces above. I'm not a huge "small town" type person but I think I could totally live here. The BBQ place smelled so good, Kevin and I swore that it was worth another road trip, just for the riding and the good eats! We will do that trip. Hopefully sometime in the not too distant future.
Hitting the road back to Richmond, the path becomes quite a bit less interesting. The hills begin to straighten out and the curves vanish. We stop to fuel up for the last time before getting into Richmond and there is a... discussion, as to how close Karen is following me. The distance she kept didn't bother me. In my experiences, scooters travel at similar distance at such speeds. There was some disagreement on following distance, that I didn't feel qualified enough to comment on, as a scooter has superb stopping ability over a large motorcycle which weighs much more. Whether it was that or that Karen had more than enough of just barely going the speed limit is unimportant. She took off ahead of the group, content to keep her own pace, while the rest of us followed hampered by my speed restriction.
Being out of the major hills, the Rattler was able to keep closer with the posted speeds and we soon found ourselves back in Richmond. We turned off of Patterson onto Malvern and took Meadowbrook over to Brookland Parkway to Kevin & Karen's place. We get there a bit after 4pm. Everyone goes in for a break and some relaxation. About 4:30 I decide it's time to head home and bid my farewells wishing John and Kristen a safe journey back to Va. Beach.
I get home, greet Ann, and promptly go take a nap! I wake up for the Ultimate Fighter finale then crash out again until 10am the next day.
This trip was a dream! I had a blast the entire time, even when the rain and cold was making it rough on us. It also gives me much more respect for what Ewan and Charlie did in Long Way Round/Down as we only had a week and they had 3 months for each adventure. What a challenge!
I take away many lessons from this trip. One is riding as a group of motorcycles is very different than a group of scooters. The average speeds are higher making communication more important and difficult. Also, every trip like this needs a clear leader. Decisions are sometimes not best made in a group, and are often time consuming. Also, scheduling is lame. The freedom we had to explore was awesome but we could have probably done more if we didn't feel quite as much responsibility to one another (quite an endearing thing, actually).
I can't wait for the next planned venture we come up with on two wheels! I know we'll have more interested parties next time around. Josh, Devin, Anthony, and others. I'm positive a promise of a beach trip will tip the scale in favor of another road trip really soon! (speaking of beach road trips... anyone interested in scooting/riding down for Kristen's beach party weekend? let me know!!!)
This was a fantastic experience. One that I will want more and more. So... next big trip? East Coast? Va Beach, Nags Head, Ocracoke, beach camping? Late August/early September, I'm totally down. Hit me up!!!