Finally getting my first tour up here.

Thanks to everyone who posted advice on first time touring in my thread on that. I headed out on a beautiful sunny Saturday and headed west in from NOVA on 7 and Rt. 50. Stopped in Winchester to pick up some rain gauntlets because I knew I was riding into Tropical Depression Bill. Cruising through Maryland, and into two lane road in West Virginia. As I rode some of the twisty's up and down the mountains, I began riding into the clouds. Literally. My jeans started getting damp from the low hanging clouds that I was high enough to be riding in. Passed a local watering hole/feed trough just as a local group of bikers was leaving and politely let them stay ahead of me 'til they turned north in a tight pack.

By mid afternoon, I was wondering when I was going to ride into the storms that Bill was throwing down. I pulled into a small gas station to get gas and 6 guys on touring bikes roared in to the pump on the opposite side to fill up. All were wearing rain gear, but looked dry. They consulted their phones and yelled that there were flood warnings for wherever we were and by the time I'd filled up and used the bathroom, they'd gathered to take off again heading East. They let me know they'd been running before the storm for a couple of hours and it was right on their heels. They roared off to the East and I opened my bags to dig out my rain gear. The sky was turning black and it smelled like rain. As I finished dragging it on and zipping up, the sky opened and rain pelted the parking lot. Two other riders from the east pulled in and their bikes were steaming from the sudden dousing of rain. We talked about the storm which was booming thunder right upon the flashes of lightning, perhaps a 1/4 mile away and which route we wanted to take, south to avoid or straight west into it.

They opted for South and headed off east to find the road south as the rain began to lessen. I followed within minutes, but never saw them again. After topping the next ridge, I came upon a mudslide 4-5 inches deep. with runoff water still flowing over it. No choice but to ride straight through. I kept the throttle steady and still fishtailed as I hydroplaned through it. Sphincter check! All good, down the wet twisty's I went. Finally, 50 opened up to a 4 lane freeway style road again and I opened the throttle and roared down the empty, darkening concrete at 65-70 MPH.

Finally, stopping for the night, I found a hotel and got some dinner. I'd like to say I slept soundly, but I never do the first night traveling. I tossed and turned despite a nice mattress and set of pillows. Loaded up the bike again the next morning and the steep driveway from the hotel with a tight curve at the end was a cakewalk after the wet twisty's from the day before.

The sun shining, I rode all the way to Cincy on 50. A great ride through parts of Ohio I'd never seen. Hit a Harley dealer on the southeast side of the city minutes before they closed and got advise on the best way around the city to head to Indianapolis. Almost got crushed by a car not paying attention on the North side of the city and wished I'd have had a get back whip to wake the SOB up. Felt like I was racing the clock trying to run of the interstate but the wind got into some nice back country riding as a diversion for awhile.

Checking into the hotel in Indy, I had a case of monkey butt and wanted a decent dinner, after unloading my bags, I went out to get back on the bike and my butt said, "Not happening!" I walked across the parking lot to KFC for some nice greasy chicken that tasted at the moment like ambrosia.

Spent the week in Indy at a class and enjoyed riding to and from sans helmet. I felt safer riding without a helmet just because of the ease of turning my head and getting a visual on more around me than I ever did with a helmet on. *sigh* Saturday, I loaded up and took my bike over to Southside Harley and had the dyno guy check the tune on my bike. Not to point fingers at my dealer, but no wonder my bike had been backfiring and chugging on hills. He had me back on the road in just over an hour and only charged me to 'tweak' my tune. Awesome dealer all the way around. Wish they were in my neck of the woods. Bought a couple of small parts and talked the the ladies in merch as well. Some of the nicest people I'd met in any dealer.

Headed south on back highway and made my way down to Louisville, visited the Harley dealer in downtown(?) Louisville, where I was offered free food and half off on any 2nd T-shirt I bought. Rolled out of there and headed east to hook up with 421 headed to London, KY. Stopped at Man of War HD, in Lexington and found a lot of friendly staff who even called down to Wildcat HD, in London to find out what time they closed and if they were open on Sunday. Picked up a T-shirt and their chip and hit the road.

After getting lost on my way to London, and riding 10 miles down a road that finally had a sign that said, Road closed in 1.5 miles, I turned around and got back on track. I rolled into London a few minutes after 7 pm when the dealer closed and had to ride around town looking for a hotel. After finding out that several were booked, a quick call got me a reservation at the Holiday Inn. I did sleep good that night and the next day hit Wildcat HD where I did a little shopping and met a guy just riding in from Western VA, we swapped stories and routes and he gave me some ideas on good roads to get me down to Knoxville, TN. I'm amazed how friendly people are when they see you are traveling distance and you get to talking. (I'm not really big on talking to people I don't know.)

A leisurely ride down 25E to 33 dropped me in Knoxville and the dealer there. Pretty sparse dealer after coming from Wildcat. I decided that Maryville, TN didn't look too far on the map and headed for the Smokey Mountain HD dealer there. After rolling up to what has to be one of the biggest dealers I've ever seen, I went inside and began browsing around. I was startled to hear a wicked loud bell, a siren and an even louder Harley being revved up all at the same time. This is what I'd missed out on buying my bike. I felt cheated somehow (and a week later, I still do - seems like a great tradition.) I grabbed a burger at the BBQ place next door and talked with the guy next to me at the bar about riding the Dragon. He estimated that to do it right, I would take 3 hours to get to and go up and down the Dragon. I wanted to be back in Virginia by nightfall, so I opted to make that run on another trip.

I headed north to Knoxville again and hooked up with 11W heading east. I turned north at Kingsport. TN on 23 back into VA, and hooked onto 421 heading east to Bristol. The last 30 miles, is the coldest I can remember being since winter. Once the sun goes down on the west side of the mountains, it got cold quick. I was riding with just a leather vest and fingerless gloves. I wanted to stop, but figured I would rather roll into Bristol while there was still light. That said, that evening ride on 421 is some of the nicest riding I've had and I really enjoyed being off the beaten path. I crashed in Bristol and talked with a couple riding back from Gettysburg on their bikes. I can't remember where they were headed, but for them to get from Gettysburg to Bristol on back highways in one day, they had to be flying.

The next morning I got up and headed back to TN via 421 and rode the Snake (1 Valley, 3 mountains and 489 curves), and then into North Carolina where I saw a herd of Bison. Then headed up 221 toward Independence, VA. Cell service in that area is pretty sketchy on ATT and I had to pull into a gas station in Independence for directions to Fox Creek Leather. The woman I asked, replied, "Yes, i know where it is, I just came from there. My daughter works at the store." She gave me quick directions and I rolled into FCL 10 minutes later. Rachel was at the counter and I said, "Your mom just sent me here." We both got a chuckle out of that as did the other customer.

FCL is a great store. Rachel helped me figure out what sizes I wore in leather jackets and chaps and I wrote everything down to call and order after my birthday in case I didn't get them. (I'll be calling her later this week as I got gloves and vest extenders for my birthday from FCL and a helmet comm system for my next trip with the wife on the back.

With likely rain, I opted to head for Lynchburg, VA to stay the night and rode east on 58 to 29 and then headed north. Stayed at a great Hampton Inn across from the Lynchburg airport and then hit HD of Lynchburg to get my chip and look at their gear. I talked with one of their sales girls for a good while and I'll probably ride back to this dealer to buy new boots when it's time, or new rain gear or whatever because she knew everything about the product they sell. Helmets, boots, rain gear, etc... I was IMPRESSED. Then she gave me directions to get up to Skyline drive and off I went.

I tried to visit Shenandoah HD in Waynesboro, but guess what, it doesn't exisit. When I finally got to S HD in Stauton, VA, they couldn't have cared less that Google still directs people to Waynesboro. I did take a few minutes to talk to their parts manager about a GPS since I kept getting lost by taking wrong turns. He was nice and explained the HD add on and even got one out of the back to see if we could hook it up to my pigtail just to get me home and have it mounted (we could not - and service wanted 2 hours to install it.)

I headed back to Skyline Drive and purchased an annual entrance card and headed off north. Despite pushing the speed limit which it was hard not to all out race because the road was empty on the weekday, I tried to be safe and be alert. I rounded a corner and lo and behold, a black bear. I tried very hard to get my camera out of my pocket to prove it, but alas, he was gone into the brush by the time I could do it. About 10 minutes later, I had another opportunity when I came across a mama bear and her cub digging fro grubs at the base of a wall by the road, but they saw/heard me and bounded into the forest as I was reaching for the brakes and downshifting.

A few minutes later, I was coming down a slight hill and out of the grass burst a doe my pipes had scared onto the road. I barely braked in time to keep from T-boning it and missed it by about 15 feet as it thankfully didn't stop in the road as deer tend to do. As I crested a small hill a few hundred yards further down the hill, I saw a park police car gunning traffic. The deer or my reflexes saved me from a ticket, but the car coming the other way wasn't so lucky. Later, it gave me a chuckle as I rode past the General Lee at Cooters store and museum as I thought of all the times the Dukes got away from Roscoe and Enis.

A couple hours later, I roared (or putted) into the driveway at home to find my dog and my wife sitting waiting for me. After 10 days, I don't know which of the 3 of us was the happiest, but the dog wins for her obvious joy that daddy was home. She almost jumped into my lap on the bike. I think she's gonna be a Harley rider soon. All told, I rode for 6 days and over 1600 miles. Not bad for a novice rider. I met a lot of great people, collected chips from 15(?) HD dealers and learned a ton along the way. Great times. It might be my first tour, but it won't be the last.

IF you made it this far, thanks for reading.

 

Enjoyed the ride report and glad you had a great time and safe ride.

 

Sounds like you had quite an adventure. Good read, been in some of those Harley dealers you mentioned. Glad you had a good time on your first tour! Ride Safe.

 

I had a similar incident with a 400+ pound bear outside the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park on my '05 Heritage (with loud big shot long pipes). I was able to scare the bear away and rescue the wife -- however, I don't remember getting #3. Ron