The band was good and we had about twenty in our group from the Great South Harley chapter from Newnan. They had me laughing so hard my face hurt. I left around 11:30 and went to sleep soon after that with grand expectations of riding the next day.
After an excellent continental breakfast, I set out for Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia. The road up the mountain was very steep and very twisty. I was sharing the road with quite a few bicycles. I felt kind of bad cruising past them on these steep hills and they gave it all they had to pedal up them. When I got pretty close to the top things went white and I was in the cloud.
These are the pictures from the parking lot on top. It looked a bit like the mist from dry ice floating across the lot.
There was also a path or something that would take you to the summit, but I didn't bother going up any further. This is a view off the mountain - I didn't expect it to get much better if I went higher. I left it for another day.
This is one of the mountain roads and was also one of the straighter lengths.
More scenic shots from the views off the side of the road.
The bike couldn't take my picture so this is what you get.
After going back to the hotel room, I set out Lake Burton and Lake Rabun. On the way out I was able to see about five turkeys hanging out in a field. A little further up the road traffic was stopped for a considerable amount of time. Once it got moving again, I saw the flashing lights and bikes on the side of the road. As I went by, it was obvious that there was an accident. I later found out that something happened between a car and a motorcycle and resulted in a lady hurting her foot/leg. I don't know much more than that. It was a sobering scene and I was glad no one was hurt, but it does impress on you necessity to be aware of everything around you.
The first lake I hit was Lake Burton. There was a nice store and restaurant on the lake where I stopped and walked around for awhile. They had a good spot for motorcycle parking and many were taking advantage of the location.
It is difficult to follow directions on a motorcycle. You have to memorize a few turns then stop and memorize a few more. Somewhere along the way I missed a turn and I don't really know where. This was another lake that I found and it could be Lake Rabun or it could be a different lake. I don't know, but it was a nice spot to stop and memorize the next few turns.
The ride home took me back along the roads that I rode Friday night. Not much to tell that hasn't already been said.
Saturday night they had the closing ceremony, which contained lots of door prizes and recognition of those who put so much energy and time into the rally. There was a very long line of people waiting to get into the building. As we were waiting, I guy was driving down the road in front of us and didn't quite make the turn - he nailed the curb, wobbled back and forth, and quickly took off down the road - it was an awesome recovery. It happened so quick that you weren't sure if he really did that or it just looked like he did. He did do it and took a nice chunk out of his boot in the process.
I knew I had a long ride the next day, so I went back to the hotel, watched a movie and went to bed early.
Sunday morning I got up around 6:30, had breakfast and hit the road. It was a little chilly but things went well. I was making really good time and only got confused at one location. I stopped at a gas station and got things figured out before going on any further.
I noticed that the sky was getting darker and contemplated putting on the rain gear. I felt a few drops and pulled over to suit up. About 100 feet after starting out again, the downpour began. My body felt fine in the rain, but my face took a beating. Heavy rain on your face at 60 really hurts. It felt like you were continuously getting snapped with rubber bands all over your face. After awhile I think my face got kind of numb because I noticed that it didn't hurt so much. However, after stopping for a light I had to go through the process of numbing my face again before it was so painful. At one point, I noted that at least I didn't have to worry about thunder and lightening. A couple miles after this thought I started to see the lightning bolts, hear the rolling thunder and the loud cracks of lightning. As crazy as it was, there was something exhilarating about it - you are right out there with it all. I had to ride through this for about 100 miles.
It took me about four and half hours to get home and I had rode 226 miles. The total tally for the weekend was 658 miles. My bike broke through the 5,000 mile mark and I have almost hit the point where I have ridden 10,000 miles - that will be for another day before too long.
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