Savannah GA - Two Lanes Only

Jeannie and I decided that when we are able to escape for the weekend and ride all day Saturday, stay somewhere over night and ride all day Sunday back home that we are going to do it. Its about the ride and not the destination. But the destination is nice too, arrive early enough find a nice Hotel, find a nice restaurant, if its somewhere you can walk around and sight see a bit even better. We also decided that we are going to stay away from interstates as much as we can, so even though the title "Two Lanes Only" could be misleading, and sometimes you end up on a 4 lane road, mostly we are staying away from Interstates.

So this past weekend Savannah was the choice, approximately 290 miles from our house on "two lanes only", traveling through the South East corner of GA. So here is a bit about the ride, roads, places to eat, stay, bikes and gear. May I also say this was Jeannie's first time in Savannah.

We left our house and used the usual roads to get out of town heading eastward (141 South, Sharon Road, McGinnis Ferry, 317 and finally 316 towards Athens GA. 

Before we reached Athens we headed southeast on GA 53 towards Watkinsville, the temps started around 39 degrees. I have been wearing my Bellstaff Jacket this winter since with the liner is a very warm jacket, my Frank Thomas pants came out of the closet and with the liner also its a great pair of pants. Jeannie is more of a layers rider, she likes her SIDI over pants over her Jeans and her Joe Rocket jacket over a long sleeve shirt. We were both warm, but within the first hour we were ready for a break and some coffee. Golden Arches it is, free WiFi and not so free hot coffee.

From Watkinsville we headed southeast on GA 15 which is a great road through the Oconee National Forest, once in Greensboro we got on US 278 East and headed towards towns like Union Point, Crawfordville and Warrenton. In Warrenton we got on GA 80 and headed southeast again towards towns like Wrens and Waynesboro.

We try to stop every hour when we are riding (1 hour 15 minutes the most) that way you don't get so tired and you can enjoy the stop, we also decided to stay away from bypasses always choosing the "Business" route into town, we want to see the town, granted we have had some disappointments, but we have had some really nice places as well, Waynesboro GA (pictured below) downtown was very nice.

From Waynesboro we headed south on US 25, here is the 4 lane example, US 25 is a 4 lane road but a very nice road, and its no interstate :) . Outside of Millen GA we took a left turn and headed east again on GA 21 towards Sylvania, and we were very glad that we took the Business route, as the downtown here was a delight. GA 21 at this point took us all the way down to Savannah approaching the City from the North East corner. 

Now I would like to mention this for the fellow riders reading this blog, as you get down closer to Savannah there is a gas station (chain? franchise?) Enmark, these are great stations, new, clean, lots of options, every one of them has a sandwich deli place as well as fried chicken and fish, its freshly made when you order it, and there is room to sit and eat. At this point it was 14:30 in the afternoon and Jeannie and I had not stopped for lunch, so we snacked on some fish and chicken and it was quiet delicious, better than some larger franchise places out there.

We arrived in Savannah quite early, and GA 21 merges into US 80 which is also West/East Bay street, our hotel, Holiday Inn Express, was on the corner of East Bay St. and Abercorn St. it was an old building that had been re-done and the entire hotel was very nice. Because we arrived so early we decided to take a ride down to Tybee Island, the ride was nice the afternoon sun was just at the right height and the marsh land that is that area had great color, Jeannie was quite impressed with it and thought it was very interesting terrain. In Tybee we just actually did the obligatory photo of the Atlantic Ocean on US 80 and returned to our Hotel.

The hotel was on East Bay street so the block behind the Savannah River and the river walk area which was great, they were nice enough to let us park our bikes against the wall right in the load/unload area of the hotel, saved us some money for parking as you will be required if you drive your car. From this point we spend the next few hours exploring the parks and restaurants and places around our hotel, as well as the river walk area. The usual places were visited, Johnson Square, River Walk Candy store, Wet Willies for a nice cold beverage, and eventually dinner. I am not going to get into dinner, I think the Yelp review I left for the restaurant we went to was enough, terrible.

Here are the bikes on their sleeping quarters :)

The river and river walk is beyond the trees.

Reynolds Square behind our hotel

I bit of information I did not know this is the state capitol, because once Savannah was Georgia's Capital City.

The Savannah Convention Center across the river, we also discovered that the ferries that run from one side to the other are free.

River walk pointing south.

River walk pointing north, what you see in the distance is the Savannah Port.

We could not have asked for better weather as well as a better destination, Savannah has a lot to offer and we could stay an extra day and enjoy walking around, but after a nice dinner and a restful night it is time to head back home.

The way home was different, but just as exciting, I have to do a better job at taking pictures of our way back home, and stop worrying so much about getting back home, but we enjoyed the route as well, we left Savannah on US 80 and passed cities like Pooler, Bloomingdale, Statesboro, Swainsboro, and Dublin. In Dublin we headed north on US 441 to Milledgeville. From there GA 212 takes us through the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge and its a great road. In Monticello we catch GA 11 North, GA 11 from Monticello to  Bethlehem is always a treat but this time around we took a different way into town, GA 142 to US 278 to GA 142 again until it dead ends on GA 81 through Covington, GA 81 takes us through Loganville  and US 78 where we catch GA 20 and head into Grayson, Lawrenceville and eventually home.

Below is a snapshot of both of our routes;

The Way Down:

The Way Up:

This was a great week ride, we are already planning our next one. Jeannie is racking up the miles on her bike and I am very proud of her she is getting better and better. My R1200 GS Adventure performed flawlessly, love the bike.

Till next time!!. Thanks for keeping up with us.

New Years Day Ride - Welcoming 2016 from the saddle

Back in early December, the 12th to be precise, I drove my truck all the way to Huntsville AL, to see off my 2013 Yamaha Super Tenere that I sold and welcome my new 2015 R 1200 GS Adventure. I think I have been waiting for one of these for a good part of 10 years now and I finally have it. Yes its blue, yes it matches Jeannie's bike. And yes its cute !

The trip over to Huntsville was very nice and I promised to take Jeannie that way one of these days, I was quite impressed with the terrain and how nice that corner of Alabama was.

For the next couple of weeks I rode around were I live on the new GSA as well as a Christmas day ride to Dahlonega where Jeannie and I got pretty soaked on our way home. This was Jeannie's first ride with her side cases mounted, her first ride in some pretty heavy rain. We also witnessed something different, the Dahlonega square empty :)

For new years we had planned a trip to Florida, to join my brother in Tallahassee and ride down to St. Petersburg to spend new years eve, we than planned on heading up to the east coast of Florida around Daytona with a final destination of St Augustine. Unfortunately the rains that we got in GA 2 days before new years hit Florida by the day we were supposed to leave so we all decided it would be safer and off course dryer to cancel the Florida ride.

Well Jeannie and I had Friday off, and Saturday so why not get a short two day ride in. And without hesitation I said, lets head west towards Huntsville and hope she likes and enjoys the trip as much as I did back in early December.

The temperatures were supposed to be on the mid to high 40's during the day and low 30's at night. problem is the sun never came out on Friday so the temps never really came up to expected. But Jeannie and I headed out anyway, we took our liners and our gloves and we carved ourselves a way thought the cold !

I decided to post a picture of the route we took straight out of Google Maps and list the roads we took below it

We rode west on GA 20 to Cartersville, than west on US 411 to Rome and eventually into Centre AL where we took AL 68 north, there was a landslide on AL 68 which we only knew because I nice gentleman told us about it while we had brunch in Centre AL, he guided us through CR 273 and CR 48 back unto AL 68 and around the land slide. Which is another reason I love to ride motorcycles, he approached us asking where we had come from and where we were heading, and when I told him he was kind enough to tell us about the land slide and guide us around, we motorcyclists get this everywhere.

AL 68 eventually brought us to AL 75 and into Albertville where we hopped on US 431 for a few miles through Albertville and Guntersville. While at a gas station in Albertville warming our cold bodies a bit another stranger approach us, asking the same usual questions and sending me up Cathedral Caverns Road (AL 5) till it meets up with US 72. Which was again another great find. From there I took a gamble and decided to let AL 65/TN 97 takes us north to Huntland TN. Our final destination was Sewanee Inn in Sewanne TN at the University of the South campus. So this road seemed like a nice cut through and scenic. And this road was a jewel of a ride. I want to do it again soon and hopefully share it with friends and family.

I took these pictures in Huntland TN, at the end of AL 65/TN 97 soaking up the sun with 21 miles left to a warm room and shower !

Our overnight stay was the Sewanee Inn in Sewanee TN, I highly recommend this place to anyone for a stay, it is not cheap, but not your run of the mill hotel either, with a beautiful lobby and fireplace room, greatly appointed rooms, nice bar and very fancy chef style dinner. There are other restaurants in town, but we were ready to stay in for the night. Everything is walking distance from the hotel if you are a little adventurous.

Overnight temperatures dropped below 30 degrees and high 20's when Jeannie and I woke up so we waited for at least mid 30's (10am) before we headed out. This is what we walked up to on the bikes in the morning.

 

 

I don't have too many pictures of our way back, it was a sunny and nice day but cold, and I think we both wanted to soak in the ride but we also knew a heater and hot shower waited for us at home, (besides needy 4 legged children). So we headed back home. The way we took was completely different but very surprising because neither one of us knew how pretty the corner of GA, TN and AL was. Below is a map of the route back home and a little description of the ride.

 

 

We started out at 34 degrees south on TN 156 heading towards South Pittsburg which is a great road because is on top of the mountain plateau but drops curvy and fast before it reaches the city. From there we hopped on US 72 for a few miles than to AL 117. This road was very nice, and it takes us all the way into the state line with GA where it turns into GA 48. Now I do have to mention a place on top of the mountain on the AL side before crossing the state line Mentone. Mentone is right on top of a Mountain plateau its quaint and quiet little town with shops and a few restaurants and bistros. Looks to be more alive in the summer but there was lots of people there soaking the sun. We stopped for brunch and walked up and down main street a bit (which is AL 117) very nice place.

 

The ride home from there was uneventful and fairly quick. We were home earlier than we thought.

 

This kind of ride is the best in the world, 80% unplanned, chances are taken on smaller roads and just great riding. I am getting quite accustomed to having my back watched by Jeannie, she is officially riding behind me and sharing all the nice moments with me on our intercoms.

 

This is just the beginning of what I hope to be many years or riding together. 

 

Till next time!!. Thanks for keeping up with us.

Riding Motorcycles... A Family Affair.

 My dad got his first motorcycle circa 1953 when he was barely 12 years old, it was a BSA 250 (we are not quite sure if it was a B11 or a B33),he learned how to ride on cow trails in the family farm, the tradition of adventure, safety and long distance riding started. Over the years it would be very difficult to name and to count how many motorcycles my father has had, but the brands that come to mind spread all over the world from England to Italy, to Germany, to Japan and the US: BSA, Triumph, Norton, Matchless, Java, NSU, Zundapp, Vespa, Indian, Lambretta, BMW, Sears Puch, Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki. (And I am sure as my dad reads this he will remember brands I forgot to mention).

My mom did some riding on her own, she learned how to on a Honda CB 400A which was a 1980's automatic, great bikes, but mom never really got the taste for riding herself, but she loved to ride pillion with my dad, and together they have covered many thousands of miles. Kicking it old school with the Kawasaki LTD 750 4 air cooled.

My grandfather was also a rider, it is not very clear how many bikes he had, but we do know for sure that at one time he had a Italian Bianchi motorcycle as well as this 1934 Harley picture below, this is actually the only picture of my grandfather on a motorcycle. Check out the tag on top of the bumper, Darcy, his name my name its a family thing!

As I mentioned above it would be hard to name and also to picture all the motorcycles my father has had over the years, but for a while he was very busy at restoring them, some needed major work (like the Sears Puch pictured below) some needed small adjustments, sometimes tires and carb work was all it needed. He restored quite a few.

Here is a 1953 Sears Puch (Before)

And after:

Here are a few other honorable mentions: (I guess I am a little bias since these were my favorites) both Yamaha RD 400's two cycle "widow makers"

These days at 74, my dad enjoys short rides around his house, which happens to be just south of the North GA Mountains which is home to some beautiful roads. He said to me the other day "I started my riding days in a 250cc, I will end them in a 250cc" early this year he purchased a Suzuki GW 250 which is light weight for him, but at the same time packs a nice engine with plenty of power and torque for his fun rides!!. This was its maiden voyage up to the mountains Summer of 2015

We were very fortunate to ride this past summer up to the North GA Mountains and take this picture which shows 3 generations of riders, Dad on the left next to his GW 250, his son Franklin (my brother!) by his Yamaha Tenere and his grandaughter Samantha on her CB500X, 3 generations, I was happy to be the one taking this picture.

My brother Franklin started riding motorcycles at an early age, bikes that my dad owned, for a while he had a summer job at a Honda dealership where he learned quite a bit about the bikes of the time CB 400s, CB 750s, CB 350s. When my dad was restoring bikes my brother sparked interest and ended up restoring a 1974 Suzuki GT 750 Water Buffalo, unfortunately I don't have pictures of that bike but the picture below is a reference and not the actual bike he owned.

My brother went on to have two wonderful daughters and while raising them he took a hiatus from riding, and late last year after visiting the Barber Motorsports Vintage weekend, I think he got the bug again and soon purchase his Yamaha Super Tenere, his wife is enjoying our adventures while riding pillion and his daughter is now riding with us on her CB500x.

This year we spend a week riding the awesome roads of the Smoky Mountains.

 

I started my riding days when I was around 14 years old with a Mobylette 50V, also know as a Moby (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobylette) which is basically a two cycle moped with 40 miles per hour top speed. We used to ride from town where we lived out in the country where my dad had a farm. So my humble beginnings were on the dirt. Although the dirt is not my favorite place to be today. I also remember riding my dads CB 125 Honda once or twice, but wait!! I don't know if he knew that !! Ooopsss. Sorry dad!

These are not the actual bikes, just reference pictures.

CB125

Moby 50

 I too had a pretty long hiatus from riding until around the time my dad started to restore bikes, and we would ride around on the bikes he was working on. I finally made a decision in late 2003 to purchase one of my dads bikes and this became my first personally owned motorcycle, a Yamaha 535 Virago.

By the end of 2004 I was hooked, and wanted to travel long distances and go places by motorcycle. So I decided it was time to upgrade, I found a home for my Virago and purchase my first BMW boxer twin the 2004 R 1200 RT Touring bike, and it was love at first sight. I have had lots of other bikes and brands since, but nothing gets me more excited than riding a boxer twin BMW, nothing!.It would take lots of room uploading pictures of all the bikes I have owned here, because like my dad there have been many, so here are some highlights.

2004 BMW R 1150 RT (My first BMW)

2007 BMW K 1200 LT 

2007 Ducati GT 1000 Classic

2008 BMW K 1200 S

When I met Jeannie I did not own a motorcycle, there was 2 years where I did not have one but decided it was time to get back into, so I purchased a Honda Goldwing, this was the best and most comfortable bike I have had to date, and also a great place to introduce my new wife to riding, Jeannie loved our first few rides on the back of the Goldwing and soon was experiencing some long distance rides with me, together we have covered close to 50000 miles in the last 4 years.

Goldwing through the Dragon

 This past summer Jeannie surprised me with the greatest birthday gift. The only american cruiser I would ever consider owning it, I do now a Victory Cross Country. I love this bike. I love my wife!!

Early this year, Jeannie came to me and said she want to register for the MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) course and learn how to ride herself, I thought it was a good decision because even if she had decided riding was not for her, she would understand what I do and become a better passenger, her instructor in the class called her a "Professional Passenger". Well Jeannie passed the course and decide she wanted to ride, I know that anything my wife puts her mind to it she can do it, in most cases better than me!! and so she put her mind to it and started to ride. We started slow in parking lots we spend most of the summer there until she was ready for her first foray into the busy streets. She has since ridden out of state into TN and NC and has ridden US 129 in GA and US 129 (The Dragon) in TN/NC her skills are improving with every ride. In 2016 we have a couple of long distance rides planned, and she will join us in the long distance motorcyclist club. I am proud of her.

Choosing a bike for her was hard, do you get something cheap that does not fit right is not safe and she will grow out of it in one season ?, do you get something that ends being too big?, too heavy and unnecessary?, or you meet in the middle. The F 700 GS will be a great bike for her for years to come. 

 

This is her first long ride, out of state and into downtown Chattanooga, she did great very proud of her. Jeannie takes the experience in, she is calm and makes little mistakes. 

So is riding a family affair, you bet it is!!, 

We as a family love it!! 

We have had a great record of safety and fun and I hope to continue the tradition for many more years to come.

Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego here we come!!

Till the Next Time!  This is what riding does to people........ SMILES!!