August 20, 2008

Greetings to all...

Lots of things to talk about here lately... and most of themj great fun..

The NC draught has created havoc with our water supply for sure... but it’s been great for motorcyclists to enjoy the sunny weather.

Last weekend I was in Boone for the 31^st Carolinas BMW Club Rally.  We had such a good time and the turn-out was incredible.  Lots of great food on hand all weekend... terrific raffle prizes and twisty roads to ride that were as always... big time fun.  And all comers seemed to have a great time... KOA in Boone is a great facility for such an event and the owners there were so accommodating it made it all worth while.   

Then on Monday... Debbie and I headed out towards Eastern TN and WNC to try and finalize our routes to Indy for the September event.  These exploring trips are always interesting even if they aren’t necessarily productive.  This time we met some great folks in Rugby, TN at the Grey Gables B&B... Linda the proprietor....without a doubt makes the best Biscuits and Gravy I have ever tasted...  It’s worth the trip there to have the food.

We also discovered great roads around there called the Devils Triangle and US 52 towards Livingston, TN  We weren’t able to enjoy them but they are worth checking out for sure..

Leaving Rugby, we headed over to the Cumberland Gap.. a new adventure that was really breathtaking.  TN hwy 63 from I 75 over to Cumberland Gap, TN was beautiful.. and you rally got the sense of how the settlers felt when they came through there in the beginning.  For a CA veteran, it was pretty amazing to see the mountains go on-and-on-and-on... and on... Steep and beautiful.

Leaving Cumberland we trekked east across US 58 to VA 70 at Jonesville and headed south to Asheville, NC.  Wow... Wow.. that is a road to discover... we went for at least 30 minutes and never saw another vehicle... car... truck of course.. or anything.  Check it out it was really one of those roads you want to turn around and ride again..  We stopped in Marshall, NC for lunch and some looking around.  Several great places there... The coffee and lunch place at the stop light in front o the Court House.. and the new Bistro across the street.  This town is a real time warp and lots of fun to cruise through and imagine the history... and history it has... all the way back to the war times... with some really gruesome stories of things that took place right there in the town square of Marshall.

Roads from Marshall to Asheville are both interesting and boring... the French Broad follow the road... and you can also just expedite the whole process and head over to US NC 25/70 that connects with I 26. Don’t miss Marshall if you are anywhere close... as the roads to and from there are also worth the ride out...

Take care... and don’t leave you rglasses on our bike after putting your helmet on... they break when they fall off!!  Trick of the day... Always put them on top of your glove... as you never ride off with out your gloves.. After 5 years wearing a Schuberth... I never took mine off.. Now wearing a Scorpion 700 which I really love... still have to put my glasses on so that is the “trick of the day”

August is a very lovely time to be riding around in Kentucky and Indiana...  Especially this year with all the rain they have had... you can see it in the form of really healthy crops!!  Being an Iowegian myself... going back to my days of riding a Whizzer, i remember the old saying ... "knee-high by the 4th of July" was a sign of a good crop year.  Today... I think that the crops were shoulder high by the 4th!  A pleasant sight to see at any rate.

The "Road to Indy" is going to be quite a lot of fun... winding through the hills of NC and up into Kentucky you really get a chance to see th changing landscape .  Equally so as you leave Kentucky and cross the Ohio River into Indiana the scenery starts to change again... and about the time you get as far North as Indy... you know you are back in the Mid-west!  Crops and more crops!  Rolling hills that meander along are still fun to ride.. but not like the mountains for sure.  The other interesting thing about Indiana is the amazing number of covered bridges still standing ... some of them still in use and many are set aside just for viewing a time gone past.  The town of Columbus, IN which is an architectural wonderland also has a re-constructed bridge in a park just off the City Centre which is worth the trip around if you ever get there.

Riding along in Indiana... having lived for the past 35 years in CA and now NC.... it still strikes me oddly to see so many people riding without helmets. not to speak of some very unusual riding apparel.  To each his own..  Leaving Indiana heading back to NC, we meandered along route 52 to the east through the village of Metamora that once was the home of canal boat traffic... some of which you can still see today.. The old mill building was not only still there, but still grinding away at corn and flour with the help of power from the canal fed water wheel.  Great coffee place there if you ever get there.  Roast his own beans for Espresso Fantistico!  

Once across the river into Kentucky right where Kentucky Speedway was getting ready to drop the green flag on their Indy Car race was another amazing visual oddity!  The World's largest Flea Market... Garage Sale.. or whatever you may call it.  Believe me.. 25 miles of more junk along the side of the road and traffic crawling along like they all knew there were gold coins in there somewhere.. Maddening.. but what a spectacle. 

On through Kentucky.... and through the eastern part of the state where you start to see the making of more "coal country" before dropping into VA and the lovely little town of Abingdon... welcome nite's rest there for sure.  Next time we must go see or do the Creeper Trail that starts in Abingdon and finishes up the mountain in Damascus... quite an attraction and people were there from all over the eastern US.  Always something for next time...  Dinner at The Tavern is also something not to miss.

I'd say one more trip and we should have this route pretty much nailed down for the www.bluestradatours.com trip to The Red Bull GP at Indianapolis.

All for now..

Enjoy the ride.... keep the rubber-side down

Bill Kniegge