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Adventures and Travels

Texas farm country – RanchStoc 2024

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Had a fantastic trip to Meridian, TX, to attend RanchStoc 2024, to meet old friends, and some new ones.

Stayed at Lake Tom Bailey Camp, MS after a good 600 mile ride. I was supposed to be met by thunderstorms and possible torando’s around Jackson, MS the next day.

Didn’t see any twisters, but it was an all day heavy rain event. Finally pulled in at Meridian Creek Ranch in the afternoon after another 600 miles.

Ranch lodge.

Visited an old, local “built by Norwegians” church located on the ranch

Next day, headed up to Stephensville, the get a hold of some BBQ at Hard Eight BBQ. Good stuff.

Started back home on Sunday morning. Very nice weather. Rode of Naches Trace for a while until I got to Jeff Busby Camp, where I decided to spend the night.

Next morning I continued up the Trace, and decided to make a shortcut, cutting across middle TN, into McMinneville, hit TN 30 (very nice road) until I reached my planned destination for the night, Cherohala Mountain Trails Camp. Had not stayed there before, so decided to give it a try. Very nice and friendly host.

Up early next morning, packed up, and headed up Cherohala Skyway. Didn’t see anothe4 soul on the way across. Stopped in Robinsville for breakfast, and continued on 28 towards Waynesville, hit the Blue ridge Parkway, exit on 276 down into Brevard, and continued on 276 to SC Foothills Parkway, the on SC 9 back home.

The GSA was ready for a 48K service, so I proceeded to do a valve check. Left side was all in spec. Right side had seen better days. That intake lobe looks “odd” 😆.

I’ll have to replace the right intake cam, and two cam followers. Oh well, nothing serious 😂.

WV-Stoc 2022

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Got on my way to WV-Stoc at Blackwater State Park in Davis, WV, Monday morning 10/3. Was going to head out Thursday 9/29 to Hot Springs, NC, for the annual BRG Gathering, but hurricane Ian put my plans on hold. So my next plan was to go out Sunday, heading to WV WV-Stoc, but the remnants of hurricane Ian was still churning in Virginia and West Virginia. 

10/3: Made my way up to Willville motorcycle camp, VA, and stayed overnight.  Beautiful weather. Hardly anyone there. 

10/4: Continued on the Parkway Tuesday morning with the intent of riding somewhere further north on the Parkway. However, the Parkway was closed in two locations, and decided to go around the rest of it, and took a hard left in Harrisburg, proceeding over the mountain into 33 and Germany valley, 28 up to Seneca rocks. Camping at Snow white campground. 

Germany Valley.

Yokum Camp, Seneca Rocks.

10/5: Ate a good breakfast at Yokum’s, Seneca rocks. Headed up the mountain on 33 into Davis, and Blackwater Falls State Park. Beautiful roads, and perfect weather in the low 50s. 

Blackwater State Park Campground.

Cabins that some of the crew stayed in at Blackwater State Park, WV.

Inside cabin. Very nice, for those that don’t like camping in colder weather.

Lunch somewhere.

Set up camp, and rode down to Blackwater Falls to take a look. Nice place. Highly recommend staying at Blackwater Falls State Park. Great place to camp. Very nice campground. 

Blackwater Falls

 

10/6: Out riding with the rest of the gang. Around 150 or so miles total. 

10/7: Stayed in camp, as I didn’t really feel all that good. Fever. Covid? I don’t know. Guess I need to get tested when I get home. 

10/8: Headed home. Rode about 450 miles through VW, VA, NC and SC. Started out at about 30 degrees, and the temp didn’t increase much until I came off the mountains in NC. 

10/11: Got tested for coved. Positive. Oh well. Just have to ride it out. Have no idea where I got it from. 

Nice riding trip. 

Getting away from the Swampland

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We decided to get away for 4th of July, and ride up to Virginia to camp and explore some new roads. And boy did we find them. We were out riding Saturday and Sunday. Went back home Monday. Decent weather except for some overnight rain Saturday.

Nice and quiet in camp
A few shots from Mabry Mill

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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New shoes on the GSA

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