Baal
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2009
- Messages
- 1,289
Anyone who lives in the South probably knows how spectacular it was Saturday (75, sunny, breezy). I got out for about 60 miles on the Ss after work, but that was "just a taste," as they say. I bragged to a buddy, who called me back for a longer ride on Sunday. The forecast was for afternoon showers. Hm. The plan was to leave about 8:30, and be back by about 1:00.
Well, I didn't expect 70 degrees at 8:30, so I made a backup plan to take the (BMW) GS. Heated grips, windshield, plugin for a vest, etc. Got up and sure enough, it was 44 and overcast. Fired up, plugged in and took off. Had a "spirited" run up old NC18 to Morganton, then went west around Lake James to Marion. Took NC80 up toward the Parkway, with the plan being to go north to Little Switzerland for lunch. Turned right onto the parkway, and immediately started seeing BIG debris on the road: Limbs, whole trees, bits of motor homes... There literally wasn't more than a couple hundred continuous yards of the Parkway where both lanes were clear. I had to duck overhanging branches and swerve to miss tops of trees fallen by the side of the road. We went a few miles and hit a barricade indicating the Parkway was closed. Now, by our reckoning, we weren't very many miles from Little Switzerland. We also figured we could get the bikes around the barricade, no sweat (hey, two of us were on GS-es, the other guy is a loon on an FJR1300-no sweat). What we couldn't guess was what the ranger would say if/when he saw us pop around the barricade at the other end.
At the barricade, a gravel road disappeared down the mountain to our left. None of us thought to mount up a GPS, and there wasn't cell service up there, but we thought that perhaps that road went down the hill, and connected to the road that came back up to Little S. So, after questioning the manhood of the FJR rider, off we went. After two or three miles we passed some startled campers and their dog. After that a nice stream crossing. About a half mile after that, we came up on the "no trespassing" signs. What we'd apparently done is found our way down into an area with private "retreat" style homes. From there, the road just appeared to loop back on itself, so we turned around and headed back up to the parkway.
When we got to NC80 to head back down into Marion, you could see that the Parkway was closed from there south as well. When we got down to Marion, the rain started, and we finished the hour-ish ride home in a steady rain. it didn't get too bad until I was a couple miles from the house.
So, why was I glad I wasn't on the Buell? Well, all things considered, the GS is more comfortable. With the vest and heated grips, I never got cold. It's also way better (suspension & tires) on gravel and dirt (and water crossings). Best of all: I don't have to wash all that crap off of it!
Well, I didn't expect 70 degrees at 8:30, so I made a backup plan to take the (BMW) GS. Heated grips, windshield, plugin for a vest, etc. Got up and sure enough, it was 44 and overcast. Fired up, plugged in and took off. Had a "spirited" run up old NC18 to Morganton, then went west around Lake James to Marion. Took NC80 up toward the Parkway, with the plan being to go north to Little Switzerland for lunch. Turned right onto the parkway, and immediately started seeing BIG debris on the road: Limbs, whole trees, bits of motor homes... There literally wasn't more than a couple hundred continuous yards of the Parkway where both lanes were clear. I had to duck overhanging branches and swerve to miss tops of trees fallen by the side of the road. We went a few miles and hit a barricade indicating the Parkway was closed. Now, by our reckoning, we weren't very many miles from Little Switzerland. We also figured we could get the bikes around the barricade, no sweat (hey, two of us were on GS-es, the other guy is a loon on an FJR1300-no sweat). What we couldn't guess was what the ranger would say if/when he saw us pop around the barricade at the other end.
At the barricade, a gravel road disappeared down the mountain to our left. None of us thought to mount up a GPS, and there wasn't cell service up there, but we thought that perhaps that road went down the hill, and connected to the road that came back up to Little S. So, after questioning the manhood of the FJR rider, off we went. After two or three miles we passed some startled campers and their dog. After that a nice stream crossing. About a half mile after that, we came up on the "no trespassing" signs. What we'd apparently done is found our way down into an area with private "retreat" style homes. From there, the road just appeared to loop back on itself, so we turned around and headed back up to the parkway.
When we got to NC80 to head back down into Marion, you could see that the Parkway was closed from there south as well. When we got down to Marion, the rain started, and we finished the hour-ish ride home in a steady rain. it didn't get too bad until I was a couple miles from the house.
So, why was I glad I wasn't on the Buell? Well, all things considered, the GS is more comfortable. With the vest and heated grips, I never got cold. It's also way better (suspension & tires) on gravel and dirt (and water crossings). Best of all: I don't have to wash all that crap off of it!
