06 Far East Ride - Day 6 -TN to VA

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This is the sixth part of a series about the ride I took on my 2005 883 Low Harley Sportster ‘Effie’ from Kansas City to Novia Scotia and back. This was part of my vacation from 4 to 20 AUG 2006

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Wed 9 AUG 06

The banners were not out for the rally last night, so I will wait for registration to start and go over to get my picture. Checkout is at 11AM so I am using this time to catch up on this log and clean and dry out my gear. The hotel had free breakfast this morning, but I forgot to walk around the corner this morning to get it, they had BISCUITS and GRAVY! That’s my favorite breakfast. I was up, I just plain forgot about it. Argh!

The TN HOG Rally was pretty neat or should I say the people were really neat that came to it, I didn’t stay for the rally. They were all friendly and I had some great conversations as I waited for registration to open. Registration for the rally opened at 12 noon. So I waited patiently outside for the banner to be put up. As I am waiting a sporty pulls in that has the same gas tank as mine. It’s the only other one that I have seen. She and her husband stopped and we had a great chat. She had the 06 custom sportster. I put one of the custom tanks on my bike because they hold another 1.2 gallons of gas. She had just gotten her bike in June and was excited that she had 2K miles on it. I was proud of her as that is a lot of miles for a beginner and some experienced riders. It was funny because when they originally came up and started talking, they recognized the gas tank, but thought the bike was something other than a sportster. The husband said it looked like a bigger bike. They recognized it as a sportster when they saw the 883 plate on the air filter cover. LOL.

I went to the dealer and got my 2 t-shirts. Other than the Dragon t-shirts I bought these are the only shirts I bought this trip. It was around 12:30pm when I left Johnson City and headed to Boone NC. I was eager to get Boone as what I had for my ABCs was a Booneville and that wasn’t a perfect match for my Boone county. Although on Tuesday I did try to get Boonesborough in KY. There was a sign on the interstate and I headed for it. Luckily it only took 3 miles to find out that Boonesborough isn’t a town but a state park. But scoring the actual Boonesborough would have been great.

The highways leading to and away from Boone were great. I ate lunch in Boone, it’s a college town, lots of long hair weirdo’s and tie dye. Anyway I ate at a pizza shop (Capones) that had a parking spot right in front. The waitress had to be burned out from drugs. Its 2:30 in the afternoon, I am the ONLY patron in the establishment. I finally just told the cook what I wanted to eat when I got up to go the bathroom. Then she asked me 3 separate times what kind of salad dressing I wanted. Couldn’t remember I was drinking Dr Pepper and never did bring me a check, I just went up and paid. She had not entered my order in the computer. I would hate to be there if there was a crowd, or even 3 patrons. I had a personal pan pizza (that was really good), side salad, and Dr. Pepper for $4.80 (includes tax). What a deal. This also gave me time to fill out some postcards I had bought at Deals Gap NC, but hadn’t had time to them write them up and mail them. It was good to get some filled out as I waited for service at the pizza joint, I mailed them at the next post office I saw. I travel a lot and for extended periods so I have developed the habit of sending postcards back home to family and friends to let them know I am still alive and thinking of them.

Getting back on the interstate I made some good time across VA. Last year when I made this trip I traveled the length of VA at night, in the rain. Bristol was having races and every motel half way up the state was filled. It was like 3 AM before I found a motel that had a room. My rain gear was crappy, I was soaked to the bone and walking in 3 inches of water in my boots. It was the beginning of end for the trip. I would only make one more day in those conditions before I called it quits at the Delaware state line and turned toward home. Katrina’s aftermath had kicked my butt. Today it was really pleasant, I think the best weather I have had this trip. I did not suffer from the heat at all today. I only sweated when I was loading the bike. LOL. I am not as far along the route as I wanted to be though, but there is plenty of time. The MA/RI HOG starts on Friday, its only Wednesday night.

Tonight I am at the City Tourist Motel in Winchester VA. It is run by a very pleasant Chinese man, he doesn’t look like my old boss Spencer, but he had the same mannerisms and speech pattern as Spencer. $46 for the night and Effie is in all but a garage. This is one sweet guy.

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Photos

TN HOG Rally ABC Picture
Waiting for the banner to be brought out ended up being a nice time as I struck up conversation with others waiting for registration to open.