Monday 2008-09-15 Mountain Ride Report
September 15th, 2008UPDATE: Some people have asked what camera I used during this trip - I used two different cameras:
- Casio EX-Z80 was used for all videos (see them here) and very few of the still photos.
- Nikon D50 with Tamron AF 18-200mm lens was used for most of the still photos.
- I will take the Nikon D300 and Nikon 18-200 VR lens next time. Nothing wrong with the D50, just that the D300 with that lens is so much better.
Yesterday morning, 7:00AM, Rick’s awesome Nissan Titan is loaded and rolling out:
The trip from my house in Deltona took exactly 11 hours to reach the Cherohala Motorcycle Resort. Rick and Tom stayed here last year and couldn’t say enough good things about the place. Now that I’m here, I wholeheartedly agree. Mark and Renee have worked very hard to put together a most excellent place for mountain loving motorcyclists to relax. And they have wireless internet access here too!
5 minutes into the ride today, I realize I’m nearly out of fuel - so a quick (fun) detour to a gas station. I knew I was forgetting something on my pre-departure checklist 
- with scenery in the background to hint at what’s in store for later today:
An hour after the fuel stop, we arrived at the “New York Restaurant” in McCaysville for a good breakfast:
The weather report had us prepared to get soaked today, so we were looking forward to trying out our new “Frog Toggs” rain suits. However, the rain gods smiled down upon us thanks to Rick’s sacrificial offering of his license plate which fell off somewhere on hwy 30 southwest of Tellico Plains.
This is part of the reservoir at Hiawassee Dam:
My camera was “big enough” for Rick to fit my fat ass into this picture:
As you can probably see in this picture, Tom is having another miserable day:
Another shot of the beautiful scenery at the dam:
Today’s ride covered 328.61 miles, including a number of miles on a super-top-secret road Rick knows about in North Carolina. This road was, without question, the twistiest piece of truly rideable asphalt I have ever been on. I am sworn to secrecy.
My apologies for not posting videos yet. The laptop I have with me doesn’t have video processing software I want to use. Videos will be posted when I return home.