Columbia, SC; Leaving Sunday at noon

[jnerges]

Hi Y'all,

Leaving from Columbia, SC at noon on Sunday, if anybody would like company, please let me know. I plan to arrive either late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Google says the trip is about 980 miles on highways. Add at least 100 for taking small red map lines. Plan is to knock down about 250 to 300 on Sunday, 400+ on Monday, 400+Tuesday, finish up on Wednesday. As usual, everybody who knows me knows my plans are subject to change.

Will grab hotels or camp sites on the way out.

Look forward to seeing you there, my first rally since I just retired from the Army at a Looooooonnnnnnggggg time.

See you there,

John

[maacova]

My buddy and I are staying at the Nashville Sheraton on Union St Sunday night.
Then two days of barbecue and blues in Memphis at the Westin on Beal St. Heading out early Wed for the Rally. Have some nice looking roads picked out in Arkansas and Missouri for the ride in.
Ken Denton

[2bikemike]

Hi Y'all,

Leaving from Columbia, SC at noon on Sunday, if anybody would like company, please let me know. I plan to arrive either late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Google says the trip is about 980 miles on highways. Add at least 100 for taking small red map lines. Plan is to knock down about 250 to 300 on Sunday, 400+ on Monday, 400+Tuesday, finish up on Wednesday. As usual, everybody who knows me knows my plans are subject to change.

Will grab hotels or camp sites on the way out.

Look forward to seeing you there, my first rally since I just retired from the Army at a Looooooonnnnnnggggg time.

See you there,

John

You got a route laid out? How'd them two bikes get knocked over?

[ltrider]

John,

I too live in Columbia. As usual, I'm still up in the air about going. I can't leave as early as Sunday. I may leave Tuesday or Wednesday (if I go). Have a safe trip! Contact me if you want to ride sometime.

[kgadley01]

I'm about 90 miles east of you guys. (just south of Florence) We were planning on attending till the latest heat wave hit. I just can't get over how HOT it was last year in Pa. I don't want to do that again. We will be in Boone, N.C. for the Daniel Boone Rally in Aug. Maybe we will see some of you there...

[jrgporsche]

I'm in Aiken and probably will not decide until Monday. Do I go to the hot ride in Sedalia with BMWs, vendors, seminars or the cooler mountain ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway? Decisions, Decisions...

[jnerges]

You got a route laid out? How'd them two bikes get knocked over?

Don't have a route yet, the Weather Channel will help me map it out. I am open to any and all suggestions. Finding company on the road would be awesome. Solitude is great until it becomes isolation.

I am surprised at the intensity of responses about last years heat. I was not there but it must have been pretty bad.

As far as the bikes getting knocked over, there is a great story there. in 2007, my wife's brother and I rode from Seattle to the Arctic Circle. I had planned this trip for years. Come zero hour, nobody in the group can get their act together. I wanted to be on the road at 6 AM, its like 2 PM and I am losing my cool, really angry that all these little ankle biters are slowing us down. My wife sensing there is a storm brewing between her husband and her brother tries to lighten the mood by climbing on the GS for a photo op. She didn't know about the high center of gravity, swung a leg over and the bike just followed her. My bike knocked his bike over and my helmet rolled 100 feet down a hill like a bowling ball. She was hanging off the kick stand, which had slid up her shirt and was dangling her from her bra strap. It was F'ed up in the max. Most thought I was going to lose my cool but something clicked in that moment. If something had to happen, it happened at mile zero. We had a perfect trip, no mechinicals, no crashes, just an amazing time.

I looked at the incident like a Talisman, almost superstitious. After I helped her up and saw she was going to be OK, we left. Call it what you will, coincidence, magic, divine intervention, a moment of clarity; it worked and we were safe.

I have thanked my wife many times for keeping us safe.

That's the story.

[jnerges]

I'm in Aiken and probably will not decide until Monday. Do I go to the hot ride in Sedalia with BMWs, vendors, seminars or the cooler mountain ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway? Decisions, Decisions...

Or..... You could do both.

This answer has helped settle many arguments in my house over china, furniture, dresses and other things

[JDOCKERY132445]

I lived in Columbia for 26 years. When people from SC start complaining about the weather, I have to laugh. Trust me, the rally will be cooler than either Florence or Aiken; and especially cooler than Columbia. Hell, even the Indians would not stay in Columbia in the summer. The trail to the mountains was called "Two Notch", because it was marked by cutting 2 notches in the trees from the Congaree River to the Blue Ridge. The road that follows the old trail in Columbia is called Two Notch Road.

Now stop whining like a pack of woos boys and get in the saddle.

I am leaving VERY early Sunday and riding straight through.

[jnerges]

I lived in Columbia for 26 years. When people from SC start complaining about the weather, I have to laugh. Trust me, the rally will be cooler than either Florence or Aiken; and especially cooler than Columbia. Hell, even the Indians would not stay in Columbia in the summer. The trail to the mountains was called "Two Notch", because it was marked by cutting 2 notches in the trees from the Congaree River to the Blue Ridge. The road that follows the old trail in Columbia is called Two Notch Road.

Now stop whining like a pack of woos boys and get in the saddle.

I am leaving VERY early Sunday and riding straight through.

One more funny story about the heat in COLA. I did a tour in Iraq in 2009, during the deployment, I found out my follow on assignment was going to be Fort Jackson, SC. I worked with an Iraqi guy who had traveled much of the US and had been to SC. I told him I was head to SC, he tipped his headress to me and said: "You know it's hot there!"

[2bikemike]

Don't have a route yet, the Weather Channel will help me map it out. I am open to any and all suggestions. Finding company on the road would be awesome. Solitude is great until it becomes isolation.

I am surprised at the intensity of responses about last years heat. I was not there but it must have been pretty bad.

As far as the bikes getting knocked over, there is a great story there. in 2007, my wife's brother and I rode from Seattle to the Arctic Circle. I had planned this trip for years. Come zero hour, nobody in the group can get their act together. I wanted to be on the road at 6 AM, its like 2 PM and I am losing my cool, really angry that all these little ankle biters are slowing us down. My wife sensing there is a storm brewing between her husband and her brother tries to lighten the mood by climbing on the GS for a photo op. She didn't know about the high center of gravity, swung a leg over and the bike just followed her. My bike knocked his bike over and my helmet rolled 100 feet down a hill like a bowling ball. She was hanging off the kick stand, which had slid up her shirt and was dangling her from her bra strap. It was F'ed up in the max. Most thought I was going to lose my cool but something clicked in that moment. If something had to happen, it happened at mile zero. We had a perfect trip, no mechinicals, no crashes, just an amazing time.

I looked at the incident like a Talisman, almost superstitious. After I helped her up and saw she was going to be OK, we left. Call it what you will, coincidence, magic, divine intervention, a moment of clarity; it worked and we were safe.

I have thanked my wife many times for keeping us safe.

That's the story.

You're right, that is a great story. I'm not leaving until Tuesday a.m.