Subject: Ride Report RCR IX From: Michael Weaver Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 11:16:21 -0400 (EDT) Howdy all, [Note: this is posted to both the East list and to the GTS list] The wife and I made it back safely and in good health. Short report: It was great. I laughed, I cried, I fell down, it changed my life. It was better than "Cats." Long (er) report: We left around 10 am on Friday from Atlanta on a FULLY loaded GTS-1000. Cruised along happily for a while then promptly got stuck in traffic. Woo hoo. Hit 411 north to try and get some entertainment. This was a mistake. This road is not fun. We rode it all the way to Maryville where we stopped at the College to look around. My wife graduated from there a while back and she wanted to look up some old profs. Back on the bike to Knoxville, where we promptly got lost and stuck in traffic. A map purchase and a drink later, we were back on track. To the slab, young man! We hit 75 north of Knoxville and jammed hard to Renfro Valley. This had the lovely side-effect of getting us there before dark, which I think is a personal best for an RCR. After friendly greetings, tent setup, boots off, and beer, we settled down to work our jaws well into the night. It was great seeing the crew again. The next day, off to breakfast at a quaint local eatery. After that, Dave Lawrence, James Revell, Liz and I went to Cumberland Falls for some hikeing. We had a lovely 3 or 4 mile hike and saw some really nice landscape. The falls were very nice and worth the trip to see. After the hike, we stopped at the park lodge for lunch. On the way in, we saw a group of bikes in the parking lot. I noted that one was a GTS-1000 (93). Hmmm. We went in and I spotted the fellows riding the bikes eating. hmmmm.. After lunch, we went up the road a bit and went on a 45 min. dirt-bike^H^H^H^H^H^H^H horse-back ride. This was most entertaining, but my horse kept complaining when I tried to countersteer it. Back to the campsite for the most excellent feast. More steak, potatoes, and vegetables than I could eat, and that's saying something. At dinner, we had some guests. Four nice gentlemen staying right next to us. One of them with a GTS. Hmmm. Further inquiry leads to the conclusion that these were the same gentlemen we saw at the lodge. Small world, no? Further the gentleman on the GTS, Jim Hoetker, is a member of the GTS list. Very small world indeed! This brings the number of GTS's at this event to 4, the most I've ever seen in one place. Photos were taken of the four bikes in array for posterity. After I get mine developed, they will be scanned and put on-line (unless someone beats me to it). A night of beer, lies, and campfires commenced. After I crashed in bed around 1, I was sung gently to sleep by the just-weaned calves in the field nearby. I dreamt of steak and hamburger all night. The next day, a breakfast run was done then the packing commenced. After goodbye's, we hit the road back with Wayne and Vicki Orwig. We took the slab south to US 129, then took 129 to Georgia. This took us through Deal's Gap. Whew! The GTS's rear shock is sacked. I didn't realize how bad it had gotten until I tried to hustle it through the Gap with that much weight on it. We made it home in due course, well tired but triumphant. In all, an excellent RCR! Thanks go out to the Oompah and his wife for a great job with the RCR. Thanks also go out to GTS'er Mark Bergman and his wife for sharing the fabulous photos and stories of their trip in Turkey and Europe at large. Thanks go out to Jim Hoetker, Mark Bergman, and Darren Wright for their part in making the RCR a mini-GTS meet! Take care, Mike -- Michael Weaver (706)542-6468 weaver@arches.uga.edu UCNS Network Specialist LAN Support Group University of Georgia, Athens Ga. )O( Public PGP key: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~weaver/pgp.html