Then there was the attendance! I got a big surprise when several of my retirement community riding buddies finally made a lunch ride. We ended up departing Sun City with thirteen bikes of all kinds—from sporty crotch rockets (or as my buddy Bob Sheldon refers to them—”melted cheese” bikes), to the cruisers (several Harley’s among them!), to the Gold Wings and my ST—we had all ends of the spectrum covered (Well, we DID miss Henry Custer and his Reflex scooter, but he couldn’t get away from a pig roast engagement).

The ride both up and back was just fabulous. A nearly perfect weather day, combined with a nice route bypassing all the interstates and most of the clogged cities, and then the final approach on CR561, well, it was just a riders dream and most everyone was grinning widely as we arrived.

We had a great turnout, with 28 bikes sporting 34 riders, including even a couple from out of state!

Here’s the list of attendees:

Riding up in my group from Sun City Center were -

Bill Royal, Eve Blazsur, Jack McKane, Richard Grant, Bob & Linda Sheldon, Bill Gaither, Bob Niszczak, Fanny Haine, and Elaine Dow, all from Sun City Center, also Bill & Sonya Gove, Ruskin, Gil & JoAnne Herold, Wimauma, Gerry Stellwagon, Nokomis, Robert Skuce, North Port,. Terri & Bonni Davis, Lombard, IL

Other riders attending were -

Ray Paulbin, Steve Mate, Terry Brown, and Larry Fitch all from Melbourne. Chuck Headrick, Titusville, Gary Williamson, Port Orange, Ron McNary, Orlando, Joe Christy and David Conner from Palm Bay, Carl Parr, Haines City, Jim McClure, Howie in the Hills, Alex Nelson, Indian Harbor, Russ Sage, Rockledge, Frank Brown and Earl Darrah from Tampa

For Sale

1997 BMW F650. BMW's most versatile bike. Cruise at 80 or ride the trails. Handles the twisties like a sport bike. Can be enjoyed by a new rider or a veteran. Excellent condition, 11K miles, dealer serviced. Sargeant seat, new Pirelli tires. Priced right at $4495. Bill Robinson: 904-730-9719, warrior@aol.com

1989 Honda GB500 Incredible original collector bike with only 2400 miles! Purchased from Honda corporate employee. Multiple award winner, including best street stock in Riding Into History Concours. Runs and handles beautifully. New Avon tires, color matched cafe fairing. May be the best looking bike Honda ever made. $4750. Contact Bill at 904-730-9719, warrior@aol.com

Sargent Cycle Seat for an ST1100 - Black Grip-Tex cover with silver piping. $150 or best offer - Phil Ridgdill at 904 287 9654 or rfoxrdr@earthlink.net

1994 Honda Nighthawk 250 - 13K miles, Dark Blue. This is an outstanding beginner rider's bike and/or for riders with a short leg reach. In good condition. Asking $1750 or Best Reasonable Offer.
Call Bill or Eve anytime between 8:00 AM and 9:30 PM - (813)633-8155 or email wgr@sprynet.com

Have you had a good look at the skill level of the average American driver. If you haven’t, you are in for a shock. It seems like the first thing to do before the vehicle moves, cell phone to the ear, put the key in, turn on the sound system, volume should be at the mach 3 level, A/C on, fan blowing at max position of course, turn the VCR on and shove the tape in, got to keep the kids entertained, put the thing in reverse and back up. Now the Truck that’s behind them was not there when they got in the car but it is now. You would think that looking in the mirror would be something to consider, no way, smash into the Truck. What comes next is really funny, the driver gets out and spouts off something brilliant, “ I didn’t even see you” No kidding Dick Tracy. Buy your Drivers License at Wal-Mart/ Kmart, they must be a bargain. It gets even worse but I think I’ll pass on that. If you’re out on your motorcycle, keep your eyes open mate, the automobile driver definitely has his/hers closed.

There is something that we really don’t say a lot about but we need to, RIDER SAFETY. This is not a lecture guys, just something we all need to think about. In the past few months since STAR02, we’ve lost 3 HSTA colleagues, these riders were all highly experienced. We have one more in Critical Condition at the moment, also an experienced rider. These accidents did not happen in Florida but we need to take a long hard look at our own actions.

A few months back we had an incident in our own little riding group, on our way to lunch. Proper riding gear saved a lot of skin this day but it didn’t save 2 motorcycles, both were totaled. We all learned a lot that day. We know and value the fact that we all wear the proper gear. But there is another view here that we don’t really discuss. Sometimes I think we have this built in mental thought, I’m going out for a ride, got my AeroStich/Belstaff/leathers/Arai/whatever on, I’m ok. WRONG. Because you’ve got all this gear on and maybe, just maybe, there is a little thought in the back of your mind, I’ve got all this stuff on I can ride like the wind, not true mate. Are you guilty of this, I’d say that I was guilty of it a lot.

How hard do you ride on the STREET? Off hand I’d say, if you ride at more than 75% of your ability (on the Street) your pushing your luck. Ok, I know some of you are thinking I might as well stay at home if I can’t ride any harder than that. I learned something in the military that has always stuck with me, when you’re at your best and on the target, if the odds go against you, back out of it and live to take the shot another day. I know with the technology we have today, tires, brakes and suspension are marvelous and you can do wonders with your bike. Save all that, if you have to use it do it, otherwise cool it. Here is another point I’d like for you to think about, all this high mileage BS. I’ve done some stupid things here, like Jacksonville to Jackson MS via New Orleans, 765 miles packing double. My wife was ready to kill me when we got to Jackson MS, we were on our way to STAR95, Avon Colorado. Carmel had flown from the Middle East (UAE) to Europe, had about 3 hrs. delay in Europe, hopped on a Flight to Atlanta took another delay and flew to Jacksonville. By the time we got home and had dinner it was time to pack, got in bed about midnight. The next day we left for Colorado, you can imagine how she was feeling by the time we arrived in Jackson. Stupid move on my part, pushing it too much. It gets even better, northwest of Amarillo, on the way to Ratun NM, we were using those good Texas back roads at more than 75% when we passed a Texas State Policeman, he was parked and we went by at $1.05, warning ticket. On the way home after STAR, a Colorado State Cop stopped us, ever see the movie Smoky & The Bandit, this Cop was Jackie Gleason to the nth degree, the only thing missing was the toilet paper hanging out of his pants, He was really pissed. No ticket, don’t ask me why, I was sure I’d be jail this time. Somewhere in Texas we got stopped again. This guy just wanted to talk. This is pushing it way too much. Guilty again. We once did 897 in just a little over 12 hours, Guilty again. We don’t do that anymore. You know when I write this it does bring back some good memories but seriously guys this is pushing way too much.

STAR 2000 was in Avon and we flew to Denver, rented a nice BMW & had a great time, even in the rain and flew home. We did not push it this time.

When you want to satisfy that need to push it, we all have this need, there is a time and place for it, pick your spot carefully. Otherwise cool it. Then you may want to consider this option: TRACK TIME. There is plenty of this available in Florida, pick up RoadRacing World News for tracks and times close to home. This can be an expensive option but it really doesn’t have to be. You can have a lot of fun out there on a 500cc twin. You’ll never be fastest guy out there but that doesn’t matter. What does is the fact that you were out pushing your machine to its limit in a safer environment, everybody is going the same way, makes a lot difference. Ok, you can sharpen your skills on a racetrack but remember the street is different. Don’t translate all this Track Time to the Street. Of course your going to be faster but save the faster for the Track. Granted you may need all that experience gained on the track to apply to a specific situation that occurs on the street. By all means use it when its necessary but under normal circumstances keep it at 75% or lower if the conditions require it.

During the past 3 years I have motorcycled on a lot of back roads in quite a few states. One thing that has impressed me is that before doing this I had formed opinions of the kinds of roads to be found in different states: “Tennessee has mountainous, twisty roads, Florida has flat, straight roads”. I have since learned that my preconceived ideas are not always true. I now know that you can’t always tell a state by its roads.

Possible States

1

4

2

5

3

Picture 1 – This twisty road is Black Snake Road, which becomes Whittington Ave as it nears the Majestic Hotel in the town of Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is a small connector road to Rt 270. It was the twistiest road I found when I was at STAR2002 !

Picture 2 – Nothing like being able to see the twisty and hilly road that you will soon be riding laid out before you. Those hills and curves bring states like Virginia to mind but surprise, it is really ‘flat as a pancake’ Oklahoma! The Talimina Trail, Rt 1 in Oklahoma and Rt 88 in Arkansas is hilly and scenic. The road actually has higher hills in Oklahoma than in Arkansas. A real eye opener to me!

Picture 3 – Some pretty awesome mountains here. I knew Pennsylvania had some hills but not mountains like these. Route 144 is the prettiest and twistiest north/south road that I have found in PA, especially the 30 miles between Renovo and Moshannon. This area was the site (State College) of an earlier STAR. Whoever selects the STAR sites knows where the good roads are.

Picture 4 – These mountains look a lot like those in Picture 3, but they are in North Carolina on Rt 28 south of Highland. While the mountains look similar and the road in Pa is great, to my mind Rt 28 from the South Carolina border some 70 miles north to Route 19 north of Franklin, including the Rt 64 section, is one of the nicest roads I’ve ridden !

Picture 5 – The joke goes that there are 318 curves in 11 miles at Deal’s Gap and 11 curves in 318 miles in Florida. This is one of those 11 curves. It is a small back road, Rt 1491, in Alachua County near my hometown of Gainesville. While I wouldn’t recommend driving hundreds of miles to ride it, it does provide some thrills for local riders. The county south of Alachua, Marion County, has many nice, for Florida, twisty roads with lots of oak trees and many horse farms, making it one of the best places in the state to ride.

So, how did you do? If you didn’t do well, perhaps that means you need to saddle up that motorcycle of yours and start to ‘see the USA’. It’s fun and educational!

Being a member of the AARP and wanting to avoid long stretches of straight roads in hot weather, Frances and I arrived in air-conditioned comfort at Dillard around 6 P.M.. Since it was Thursday, we had thought we would arrive with maybe 3 or 4 other members at the Motel. However, we were greeted with a parking lot full of about 16 other motorcyclists and half as many trailers.

A few hours later that night, in the parking lot, a “tail gate” dinner party of hamburgers and hot dogs, set up on one of the many trailers, was in full swing. Afterwards, Marilyn Oest’s 3rd or 4th rendition of her 50th Birthday for the year was celebrated. The growing crowd was treated with Marilyn graciously modeling some of her newly acquired gifts, thong panties and somewhat matching bra. However, she could not be convinced to remove her pants and blouse, beforehand.

Friday morning everyone awoke to rain and the beginnings of Tropical Storm Hanna. Frances and I decided to take the truck into the Highlands for gift shopping, while a few others took off on their bikes in search of clear skies and good roads. By 11 o’clock we were back at the hotel and the rains had quit for the day. In May, I had the pleasure of un-loading the bike at Helen only to take a short ride the next day up the ramp into the back of the pickup for the trip back home. So the next few hours I spent watching the weather channel and waiting for my brother David and his wife Millie to arrive from South Carolina. Bob Chappuis from Louisiana was also due in that day. By 3 o’clock I couldn’t stand it, so I took the bike out for a quick run; 36 miles, up to the Highlands and back out of fear of being rained out again for the rest of the weekend. By the time I had returned, my brother who joined the club; well actually I bought him a membership at that time for his birthday, and his wife were checking in. While the girls visited, we quickly unloaded his bike and another run to the Highlands and back was needed so that he could get some riding in. By nightfall it was raining again.

Saturday we were again greeted with rain. Bob, David and I studied the weather channel. With nothing but light to medium “green” radar returns and possible clearing to the northwest we decided to finally head out. The “Girls” did their thing, checking out the antique shops in Dillard. They had fun, and bought a few INEXPENSIVE things. This allowed us to regretfully ride away into the rain alone. Within 20 miles we had run out of the rain with a heavy overcast remaining. In Franklin; NC, we searched for the Mountain Waters Byway; SR 1310. I had plotted out a course before the trip into my GPS with a connection to 1310 from Hwy 64. This turned out to be a gravel road however closer inspection showed that 1310 was only .4 miles down the gravel so off we went. 1310 was quite nice with little traffic. We exited at Topton; NC, on Hwy 19/74 and took Hwy 129 to Robbinsville to enter the new Cherohala Skyway to Tellico Plains in Tennessee. I had been on this skyway a year or so before, but it was new to Bob and Dave. The skyway reminds me a lot of the Blue Ridge with nice sweepers and Great Views, however Bob thinks it has more sharp corners than the Blue Ridge. Is that a bad thing??? I believe the length is around 40 miles and in the entire time I think we saw 2 cars and 3 or 4 other bikes. I’m sure the weather had some to do with this, but on my earlier visit it was light also. At about 3500’ on the way up the mountain, the rain started again and the speed dropped down some. At about 4500’ I believe the rain stopped, but the visibility went down to 50’ as we rode in the cloud. The speed dropped down again and the eyes focused on the only thing visible, a solid yellow line. So much for the Great Views! At the 5400’ summit things reversed and we had a great ride down the other side after the 3500’ mark until; 2 miles from Tellico Plans, we ran up on one of those sporty Mazda Miata’s with a fitting license tag of “TOAD” doing his impression of a 28’ RV.

At Tellico Plans the overcast had gone away and at one of the stop signs, Bob and I noticed David taking the time to remove his rain suit due to the heat, we looked on with sweat beads dripping into the eyes. When he had completed his strip we proceeded to Cardin’s Riverside Grill, that was mentioned in the Sept. issue of MCN. The surroundings, on the Tellico River, and food are first class. The ladies would have loved it. Bob and David enjoyed the pulled pork sandwich and I had the pork plate, all was very good.

From Tellico we traveled Hwy 68; a very fun sweeping road, to Ducktown, TN. Then a uneventful ride in and out of light showers; no rain suits required, on Hwy’s 64,19,76 and 441 back into Dillard.

All-in-all a GOOD day of 245 GREAT miles.

Saturday night was the dinner gathering with most attending the Mountain Inn buffet in Mountain City, a few miles south of Dillard. Some had left for home during the day and others went to the Dillard House. Hanna’s worst had reached the area by this time and the rains were very heavy. Most of the attendees were shuttled to the restaurant via the available cars and trucks. A few diehards were sitting around the tables with pools of water under their chairs.

On Sunday, those remaining started heading home in multiple directions, we departed for Georgia's Cloud Canyon S.P. and arrived around 2 p.m. and 184 miles later. It was our base camp for 2 days. Nice area and roads but not many other sites. The cabin was within walking distance of the gorge and offered a nice view. Lookout Mt. byway; Hwy 189 was nearby and we were able to see our first "hang gliders" launch from the summit.

The main reason for scouting out the area was the Chattahocchee National Forest and DeSoto S.P./ Little River Canyon; Ala.We rode the western loop of the Chattahacchee in route to DeSoto, it was nothing! Flat open farmland that is very common to many areas. DeSoto is a nice park, great camping area with restaurant and etc. but not much else around. The road around Little River is a little rough with about 5 viewing area turn out's that offer a view of the canyon; which is nice, but the rest of the view along the rough road is blocked by the trees and brush.

Bottom line is, it was worth checking out while somewhat near, but nothing to plan a trip around. The Dillard/Helen area RULES!! Unless you have time to go to the North West ;-)

Chuck and Frances Headrick