Category Archives: Adventures and Travels

Adventures and Travels

2021 OH-Stoc – Shawnee State Park, OH

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Left the house in SC at 6am. Interstate all the way for 460 miles. Raining off an on. Arrived around 2PM, and set up camp at Shawnee State Park campground.

Shawnee State Park, OH

Went for a group ride Friday. Very nice roads in Southern OH. The rain just would not quit.

Group Ride again Saturday. Nice weather. Shot some video with my GoPro Hero 6. We had around 15 riders in the group, using the “drop and sweep” system, which works very good.

 

Great weekend.Met a lot of old friends, along with a few new ones as well.

Returned home Sunday 6/13. 

New shoes on the GSA

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Mounted the second set of Pirelli Scorpion Trail II on the R1200 GSA. Great touring tire. Had a plug in the old rear, and was also starting to wear down quite a bit.

Pirelli took it a step further with the II designation, redesigning the tires to better suit road-focused adventure touring bikes. As a touring / sport-touring tire, the Trail II offers ample confidence-inspiring grip and predictability. This is not surprising since the Trail IIs are derived from the Angel GT. Compared to the old Scorpion Trail the new tire features a rounder profile that creates a contact patch 6 percent shorter and 10 percent wider. The new tread pattern does away with the intersecting grooves and the big block tread pattern of the old Trails in favor of a more street-bred, continuous block pattern that delivers improved lateral stability with less road noise and vibration. Pirelli claims the new profile and tread reduces heat and increases longevity by 50 percent without the need for a harder compound.

Deep, steeply angled grooves promise to discharge water more effectively, and new compounds will improve both wet and dry weather performance. The front tire has a single, 100 percent silica compound while the dual-compound rear tire features a 100 percent silica shoulder and 70 percent silica center that balances corner grip with longevity. Pirelli’s super-secret compound cocktail is concocted using a unique process of continuously mixing polymers and resins with silica that chemically bonds to carbon black for more consistent wear and performance

 

2021 Spring Ride in Georgia & NC Mountains

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Headed to Suches, GA, for a few days (22-27 of April). Staying at “Two Wheels Of Suches” for a few days, riding some of the best roads in the mountains of Georgia. Taking the XR, as these roads are all premium motorcycle roads, and it wouldn’t be right to leave her at home.

Georgia Mountains

From Georgia I’ll ride over to Blueridge Motorcycle Camp in Cruso, NC, and camp there for a day or so, before making my way back home. Should be a good few days off.

Edit: Nice trip. Awesome Northern GA roads. Really enjoyed it. Met some old friends as well a a few new ones.

Suches - Cruso

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Suches Motorcycle Campground. Lodge.

Riding and Camping NC,VA and WV mountains for a week…

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Roaming NC, VA and WV. Stayed in the Balsam, NC area for a few days, riding prime moto roads. Then headed north through VA and WV, all two lane country roads. Ended up in Canaan Valley, WV, where we stayed at Canaan Valley Resort State Park Campground. This is a very nice area of VW. 

Moonshine Campground, Balsam, NC

Found a small, secluded Campground in Shady Valley, NC.

The Shady Valley Country Store, Shady Valley, TN. This is a very well known store in the intersection between NC 421 (The Snake, prime motorcycle road) and NC 133.

Canaan Valley, WV

Canaan Valley,WV

Caanan Valley

Canaan Valley, VW

Canaan Valley, VW

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Canaan Valley, VW

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Canaan Valley, VW

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NC 209 between Wanesville and Hot Springs, NC.

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The deer came up pretty close at Canaan Valley Resort Campground, VW.

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Off to riding Western NC Mountains

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Had to get away for a few days. What better than riding and camping in the North Carolina mountains. Basecamp at Blueridge Motorcycle Campground. Camped there quite a few times, and the place still looks good. Had the campground for myself until Thursday afternoon, when a few more rolled in. Among them was about 10 riders from the Nashville BMW club. Great bunch of guys.

Headed out Friday up 276 to the parkway, and followed it until I turned off at the Asheville 25 exit. Wanted to pay Eurosport of Asheville a visit. Had heard a lot of good things about this dealership. Very nice place, great people.

 

Continued out of Asheville up Hwy 63, and NC209 to Hot Springs, both excellent motorcycle roads. Stopped in Hot Springs for lunch, before riding back down 209, through Waynesville, then into Cruso on 276.

Sat down with the Nashville gang after supper to exchange tall tales.

Went out again Saturday and planned to head up to Mt. Mitchell, but it just was not to be. At Craggy Gardens, The rain, wind and fog got so bad I could hardly see 10 feet in front of me, and I had enough, went back down to 276, and back to camp.

 

Packed up Sunday morning to head home. 4 days go by in a hurry when you’re having fun.

Good times. Nice riding. The XR is such a beast up in the mountains. Love it.