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Published: July 26th 2009
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July 12, Sunday
Tennessee is a long state west to east, and we continued on back roads to the Knoxville area, then after a short stint on Interstates, we turned northeastwardly on to US 11 E ( as opposed to US 11 W, which does not mean direction of travel, but rather a relationship to each other ) and aimed Bear for Panther Creek State Park, just northeast of Jefferson City ( as opposed to Johnson City ). This is a pretty little park, and the sites were nice, though the "lower" bathhouse was out of order which entailed a long hike uphill to the washrooms and showers. We met and chatted with several biker fans, and one gentleman pulled up on a Laverda, an Italian brand similar to a Ducati which I'd not previously known. He mentioned that he also owned a BMW RT, a GT and an LT, as well as a 1980's model airhead which he thought he might ride to the National. Hope he will.
July 13, Monday
I dried out the tent a bit on the hard top campground road, then we packed up and headed for the National. This year the rally
is being held in Gray, TN at the Appalachian Fairgrounds. We arrived in the early afternoon, I choice a tent site and set up Big Agnes for the week. Deb parked herself in a motel in Johnson City, a few miles south for a well deserved chance to "chill out" and get a chance to mentally prepare for the crowds to come. I'll be picking her up again and taking her to the rally on Wednesday. After dropping her off, I made a few stops for supplies, then pink-taped off a section of the camping area for the Indy club folks that were coming. Wayne had a list of 51 attendees, so I made the area pretty big. Later that evening, a team of fair-ground workers came by with two picnic tables on a trailer behind a John Deere. I humorously advised them they could drop one off beside my tent. We all chuckled, and they continued on their way. 20 minutes later, they returned with a third table, and asked "Where do you want us to put this one?" Shazzaam, our club had a picnic table !
July 14 - 18 Tuesday through Saturday
This week was
all about the rally and for me, all about making sure the Rally Shuttles worked out. Many volunteers helped out at the rally, in fact for the shuttles I needed 72 slots to be filled, and but three slots were handled as desired. I want to thank everyone who assisted in helping with the shuttles, especially Wayne and Peggy Garrison for helping me pick up and return the trucks and trailer, and Dave Stech for invaluable advice and for lending a hand, unasked, many times. The Indy team really came through for this "chairman". We had lots of Indy folks show up, I lost count as to how many tents were erected inside the pink-taped confines of the "Indy Compound", but I think everyone had a great time. Saturday evening awards ceremony was a treat for me, since I won the "Grand Tour Award" for riding the most miles to get to the rally, with at least part of the ride outside of the USA and/or Canada. I had ridden 23,445 miles since leaving on January 31, 2009, including parts of the USA, Mexico, Belize and Canada. I think Deb missed the longest distance two-up by less than 100 miles.
In fact, since I just looked it up, she missed it by 88 miles. Dang. The odd part is that the winner wasn't even from Canada. Whidbey Island WA is further away from the rally then Vernon BC, Canada ! I sure would have bet against that one.
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