Full Throttle Touring - 150 through the Rocket City

It was good meeting and riding with you. The ride to and from dinner as well as the night ride were great

And now on to Sunday.

I woke up early and wandered around a bit then had breakfast. I had planned on getting up early and doing the cooler run before traffic hit the roads but I had checked that block on Saturday so I was lazy and just hung out and took a few pics.



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Then it was time to head back home. I pretty much did the route I took here in reverse. It's a pretty nice ride with some dirt, but mostly paved back roads. I did get one pic on the way back. This is Dougherty Gap Road on western GA.



This was my first time moto camping on the KLR. I recently added the tail trunk so that I could put my camping gear in a bag on the rear seat. The saddlebags are over 30 years old. I first bought them and put them on an 83 Yamaha Vision. They have been on several bikes since and have traveled a lot of miles.

This ride Back to the N. GA MTNS reminded me why I have loved going to the area since my first trip there in 1990. The roads are just fantastic. I love curves and there are plenty there. The Shinko 244s on my KLR stuck to the roads like glue. I also enjoyed the Forest Service roads in the area. Although I am considering replacing my KLR, it is a just about perfect bike for that area. It runs like a sportbike in the tight curves but also does well on the dirt/gravel roads in the area.

Another thing I love about going there is that I always meet people at TWoS (formerly TWO). This time was no exception as I caught up with several old friends and met some new ones. I just need to make the time to get back there more often.

Looks like a fun weekend, Win.

I thought you might show up at BRMC.

That was me with you guys on the night ride. What a blast. It's another world when the sun goes down.

I starting out by running over a snake, most likely a rattler, just as we left the pavement. I was flipping my visor up and saw the snake at the last second. Hopefully, he just has a good story to tell his friends.

You are right about that red sky. The pictures cannot convey how brilliant the color was.

Running the gauntlet of drunk Zombies on the bridge was also a new experience. Kinda spooky if you've seen a few too many scary movies.

Lot's a fun. Thanks for coming up with such a good route and leading us through the dark night.

Hope to see you up at Two Wheels of Suches again soon.

My original plan was to come to BRMC but some stuff came up to take care of on friday. On top of that, the chain on my KLR was looking pretty bad and I didn't know if I should chance a 900 mile ride with it so I decided to do the shorter ride to Suches. I am going to try to head up in your direction, or maybe BRMC in the next month or two.

Thanks for suggesting the night ride. It certainly was cool I wish I had stopped to get a good picture of the red sky.

As for the Zombies, it gave us a much more interesting story to tell. I wish I had thought to take a pic.

Hopefully it won't be to long before I make it back to Suches.

Nice to see others scooter dualsporting. I always get laughed at when I offroad on my PCX.

The night dualsport ride sounds fun. We did similar once on our KTMs, but me and the guy I used to ride dirt with both had SXes with no headlights. Night riding with a flashlight only was interesting to say the least!

Always good riding around Suches. I might be up there this weekend. Enjoyed all the RRs in this thread, definitely subbed to it.

Thanks for checking in. I was hoping to ride with you on the LRC ride saturday but it got cancelled. Did some of you go anyway?

I guess I have been neglecting this thread. Over a month since my last update. I HAVE been riding. I'll try to catch up.

I did another trip to Suches, this time with my wife. It was her first time camping in about 20 years.



We caught the 4th of July fireworks in Suches. It was only a short walk from the campground.



Debbi ended up going white water rafting on the Ocoee while I went riding.



And I met Elvis:



More riding:



Chasing some Sport bikes down Blood Mountain.



More details are here: http://bamarides.com/ride/ride-reports/minimalist-camping-in-the-n-ga-mountians-for-the-4rth/

Went for a dual sport ride in the Wheeler Wildlife refuge with a couple of other riders.






This was most likely my last dual sport ride on my trusty old XT. I'll explain why in a bit.

Full ride report is here: http://bamarides.com/ride/ride-reports/7-12-14-exploring-wheeler/

Myself and one other rider took our 150cc scooters out riding with over 20 others on much bigger bikes.





It was a very interesting ride. We were not sure how far we would lag behind although we knew they would wait at all turns. It turns out that we weren't the slowest riders on this ride. We did fall behind most of the group on long straights but had no problems keeping up in the curves.

A few pics showing the diversity of riders & bikes on this ride.


















There's a lot more pics here: http://bamarides.com/ride/ride-reports/slowroad-ride-report/

Picked up a new toy on Friday






The garage is pretty crowded now and I really don't have the time to ride 5 bikes so I'll be selling the XT soon.

I got a great deal on the Versys. It's a new 2012 model. I got it for $4899 / $ 5464 OTD

sweet!!

Congrats on the new ride !
Sounds like a heck of a deal.

Congrats Klav' ! It looked great in person Saturday. Side note, thanks for posting the pic of me and my FZ-07 on BR.

That new FZ-07 of yours looks real good too. Considering that it's a brand new model it seems like you got a real good deal on it too.




A note for anyone in the southeast looking for a new Japanese bike. The two dealers in Decatur Al have some killer deals on new bikes. I got my Versys at Cycles Unlimited. They also sell Honda and Suzuki. The pic above was at Allsports Powersports which sells Yamaha. Both dealers are run by nice folks. No high pressure. No young kids who don't know squat. Both dealers had some bikes marked down by as much as $3000. There might of been a Yamaha or two marked down even more.

I hate selling my bikes, especially those that I have really become attached to. I have a lot of really great memories on my XT350. It's the bike that got me riding off road. I bought it at the same time I bought an XR70 for my son. We had a lot of great rides together. My first time on an MX track was on this bike. My first group dual sport ride. It was even a great sportbike on a tight twisty road. I lost count of how many sport bikes i passed on it. I have three offers on it so I took it out for what may be my last ride on it this morning.

I didn't take me long to get a little dirt on the new toy.




















Then it was time to say goodby to an old friend:



At least the new owner is also an inmate here. Some of you may recognize Norton73.

It's always cool to meet a fellow inmate. In this case it was someone who is on two different forums with me. I'm sure many of you will recognize this character:



Then I rode some nice twisty roads in Morgan County. The Versys really handles well and is a blast on twisty roads. I can't wait to get it up into the mountains.

Something caught my eye in Priceville so I stopped to get a few pics.

29 years ago I learned to fly. This was the plane I learned in.






I also flew a twin engine version of this for a couple of years:

at least it went to a good home

Went for a ride with the local scooter trash. Went up Monte Sano:



Hung out for a while at the Lone Goose Saloon.



This mural was on a nearby building.