I can't speak for all the riders, but I know that stimmer (Jim) and I returned home safely and enjoyed the day!
I rode a total of 222 miles with a moving time of just under 8 hours. The weather was almost perfect. Yes, it was a touch hotter than perfect and the dust--oh WOW the dust. There is a huge advantage to leading the ride--no dust!
6 riders and 5 motorcycles made the journey. Mr. Wizard (Jim Foley & Terry) were 2-up on his KTM 990. Stimmer was on his 990. KLRed on his, well...KLR. Daryl & I on our F800GS's.
Here are the photos I took.
https://picasaweb.google.com/1001914714 ... e_20110827
I think all are in agreement that Miss B's Cafe in Louisburg is a winner. They open at 6 AM and serve breakfast until 2 PM. They have a large dinner menu, too, and I hear it's good. My omelet was excellent and KLRed's big breakfast with pancakes looked great. I'll definitely be going back. It was a great way to start the ride.
We basically ran 100 miles East in a line somewhat parallel with Louisburg. (100 miles of riding--not as the crow flies.) Our return route meandered slightly North of the outbound route.
We could have named the ride "The Closed Bridge Ride" because we came across 3 closed bridges and more than a couple dead ends. Re-routing on the fly is part of the adventure.
At about the 90 mile mark, everyone but stimmer & I broke away to head home. I think bikes and riders ingested more than their fair shares of dust!
stimmer & I picked the speed up a bit and hit several miles of twisty pavement--you guys missed it! On our Westward trip, we cut out a lot of the route and just kept going straight West until a road would T-bone, then find the next road West. Stimmer & I traded bikes for 20 miles or so, which was fun until the rear tire on the 990 went flat. Stimmer rode it home at about 30 MPH the 10 miles to his house while I followed. We were lucky and had very little traffic to contend with. That tire was toast at the beginning of the ride!
Thanks all for a great time! I needed that ride.
