Chicken Rallly Huntsville AL

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May 21, Thursday

Dennis and I were up by 7, and breakfasted and packed read to go by about 8:30. Dennis headed back to Indy, and I headed first for Morristown to talk to Laura about vans. Unfortunately, even though she was more than willing to donate the vans, the weekend of the national is also a national guard weekend, so all the van’s were already reserved. Dang it. Laura gave me a number for the Abington VA Enterprise, and maybe I can make a deal with them. After that disappointment, I rode down the west side of the Great Smokey Mtn NP, , rode the Blue Ridge Pkwy a short distance, went through Cherokee NC, caught the Cherihola Skyway for a bit, and then rode north on US 129 through the “tail of the Dragon” and on north and west to Interstate 74, thence on to Huntsville and Ditto Landing to the “Rocket City Rally” better known as the chicken rally. I got Agnes all set up and then it started to rain. What great timing. I had a nice visit with Helen Two-Wheels under her new badge making tent, then into my own tent for a catch up on this blog.

May 22, Friday
This was a hang around the rally day. No riding except a short one in towards town to buy some fruit and 2 inch webbing to fabricate the new lamb's wool seat cover. I then stopped at an alterations shop, where the Asian ladies informed me that they couldn't sew the webbing on to the thin leather. They told me to go to a shoe repair shop. Two blocks south was a shoe repair shop, so I spoke to the lady there. She started out by saying it would be very simple. Then when I mentioned shortening the straps an inch, it became a much harder operation. She told me to write out exactly what I wanted her to do, then come back in two weeks. Obviously this was a dead end. So I returned to the rally site and ate some dead chicken.

May 23, Saturday

Another laze around the rally, talk to people who were interested in the bike, the Micatech bags, the tank panniers, the cover, and the trip- day. I made a run to Wal-mart for better needles, a seam ripper and a thimble, then worked on the seat cover while my laundry was washing. Back to the rally, more chatting with folks, more chicken, and finished the seat cover. Now the only repair left is to replace the delrin slider on one Kermit Chair bag. I may wait until I get to Joel's house in Iowa to sew that up. The loose plan is to depart tomorrow and head generally towards the Hiawatha rally in Minnesota, visiting Joel along the way, and to visit brother Dave after the rally. I better let him know I may be in the area. After that, I'll head generally towards British Columbia, where Deb is preparing to rejoin the adventure, probably heading south along the pacific coast, then cross through Arizona, New Mexico and on to the MOA National Rally back in Johnson City TN.

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