Our Hurricane(s) Vacation - 2004

Have you heard the one, "How did golf get it's name? Cause all the other four letter words were taken!" Well let me tell you, "wind" and "rain" fall into that four letter catagory in our book!
My wife and I planned our two wheeled trip to the mountains in northeast Georgia and western North Carolina for the month of September 2004. The idea was to leave the first weekend of the month taking advantage of the holiday weekend.
We've discovered over the years, when traveling in that part of the country that after Labor Day and before the leaves change to their fall colors, around mid-October, is the best time to avoid traffic. You pretty much have the roads to yourself, the kids are back in school and the leaf peepers are still at home awaiting the fall colors. Unfortunely for us, Mother Nature had other ideas.
As our vacation got closer, so did Hurricane Francis. Instead of packing our saddle bags, we boarded up the house, took in the lawn furniture and waited for the storm.
Before the storm hit, we breifly considered hopping on the bikes and heading north, leaving south Florida and it's hurricane behind. However, our common sense side told us that being stuck in traffic looking for gas and a hotel might not be the best situation on motorcycles in a hurricane. So we waited it out at home.
The morning after the hurricane, we found our damage to be minimal relative to some of our neighbors. However it still took us two days to clean up the mess.
Leaving the house still boarded up, no electricty, no water and no sleep, we called the insurance agent, locked the doors and headed north four days later than planned.
Our original route was the Florida Turnpike to I-75. However, with Francis still moving slowly northwest, we elected to take a seemly safer more easterly route up I-95.
We had constant reminders of the storm our entire trip north, from a 30 minute wait for gas in Melbourne to the ongoing convoys of southbound out-of-state power company trucks.
Once we reached Brunswick, Georgia we left the super slab behind and headed northwest along US341 in route to US441 north.
Did I mention we headed northwest? You guess it, back into the backside of our old friend Francis! Despite intermittent wind and rain, we arrived at our first night's stop in Dublin, Georgia. We were windblown and tired but dinner and a cold beer at a Ruby Tuesday's next to our hotel never tasted so good.
The next afternoon we arrived in northest Georgia. With clearing skies but still wet roads, we secrured a room in the little town of Clayton. We had time that evening to do a wonderful ride up War Woman Road to Highlands, North Carolina. This was a real treat after our previous day of riding!
We awoke the following morning to clear blue skies, low humidity and cool temperatures......heaven!
Over the next week, we rode the Cherohala Skyway, Deals Gap, the Tennessee Foothills Parkway and the Blue Ridge Parkway. With the exception of some early morning fog and a few sections of the Blue Ridge being closed due to damage from Francis, we had wonderful weather and great roads.
We arrived back in Clayton, Thursday September 16th with the intention of attending a HSTA Rally just down the road in Dillard, Georgia. That same evening we met our new friend Ivan, the second hurricane on our trip!
The weather conditions changed dramatically around 3PM that afternoon. We lost our cable TV around 5PM followed by a loss of electricty around 8PM. I parked our bikes next to a stairwell, seemingly the safest from wind and flying debris. I still spent most of the night attempting to keep the cover on my bike. I assume the Germans have aerodynamically designed their bikes for hurricane force winds as I never had to replace the cover on my wifes BMW, an apparent oversight by the Japanese.
The next morning we found our bikes wet but undamaged. I spent the morning conversing with fellow tenants at our hotel while watching frustrated motorist pulling in and out of the gas station across the street. They all seemed to think they could pump gas when there was obviously no power in the area. Funny how the human mind works; when you want something badly enough you block out all logical reasons why you can't have it.
Finding breakfast later that morning was a real trick. We didn't dare try the back road places as we had heard stories of downed trees and power lines throughout the area. Knowing that Clayton was without power, we opted for the safest route to the next nearby town. We took US441 north to Franklin, North Carolina, 18 miles away. This turnrd out to be a bad idea as we encountered a road block only a few miles north; the highway was under water!
Heading back to Clayton, we stopped at Holiday Inn Express in Dillard, the site of the HSTA Rally scheduled to begin that day. It was no surprise that they also had no power nor had anyone arrived.
We eventually did find a breakfast spot in a little place south of town. Service took about 2 hours but we were certainly understanding and glad to get a semi-hot meal.
Later that day I rode back to the Holiday Inn, Dianne, perhaps the smarter of the two, elected to stay in the room, now with electricty.
As I stood in the lobby of the Holiday Inn listening to the desk clerk explaining to me that there woulb be no rally that weekend, something occurred to me. I was just like those motorist I had watched earlier trying to get gas, I wanted the rally to happen it just wasn't going to be. Thanks Ivan!
Once again the day to follow we experienced fabulous weather. Unfortunatly, many of our favorite roads were initially closed but thanks to the hard work of the Georgia DOT several did reopen (i.e., Richard Russell Highway, Wolf Pen Gap) later that week.
As with all vacations, it was time to head home. We had checked the Florida weather reports earlier in the week and were under the impression that the only hurricane in the Atlantic "Jeanne" was headed out to sea. I think you probally know where I'm going with this. We made it as far south as my sister's house in Lake Placid, Florida where we encountered our third and final hurricane of the trip.
Again we survived unharmed but were delayed by two days.
We arrived home Monday, September 27th to find our property in similar condition that Francis had left with, a few shingles lighter and lots of limbs in the yard.
In light of all we encountered, I stll agree with those that say "A bad day riding is still better than a good day at work."
We would do it all again.

4 Country Tour - Europe 2005

Last fall my wife and I went to Europe. This was my first trip abroad and my wife’s second. Dianne had been after me for years to vacation in Europe, but I always had a reason to travel in the States instead. I love the roads here, and besides I had heard that those countries were filled with foreigners!
Alas, I gave in to the wishes of my better half. But a vacation NOT on two wheels, riding in a tour bus with a bunch of blue hairs - that would never do! That’s when I came across an advertisement in Road Runner Magazine about a 10 day, 4 country tour.
The tour’s focus was traveling the Alps on BMW’s through Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. It named towns that were on the tour, but short of Munich, not only had I not heard of any of them but I couldn’t pronounce the names! Oh well, it was Europe, the wife would be happy, it was on two wheels and the price was pretty good, so off we went to see the land of our forefathers.
The first thing I had to adjust to was not personally planning all of the details of our trip in advance. Every year prior to our vacation I ponder over maps for the best and most scenic routes, research the internet for points of interest and then download all of this information into my GPS. That wouldn’t be the case this year! I purchased a map of Europe but couldn’t find many of the towns or routes listed on our itinerary, nor could I tell exactly where one country ended and other began. They just don’t make maps of Europe like the ones in the States!
The next adjustment - “jet lag.” These foreigners don’t even keep the same time that we do! Yeah, they keep the minutes the same, but they change the hours, big time! There is a five hour difference between Florida and our destination, Munich Germany. We were told not to go to bed when we arrived to help adjust to the local time. Ever try flying for eighteen hours then staying up for another eight? Not easy.
We spent our first two days exploring the sights of Munich on two wheels, two wheels as in bicycles. This is a great/inexpensive way to see the town without renting an automobile. The bicycle rentals also included an English speaking tour guide that took us to places we would never have found on our own and gave a great insight on many of the historical places.
Our third day took us back to the Munich airport where we met up with our tour group. There were five other couples and two single guys, plus our two tour guides. Immediately the group hit it off. The conversations were buzzing with anticipation of what the next ten days would bring.
Leaving the airport via a charter bus, our group headed south to the town of Bad Tolz at the base of the Alps. There we picked up our bikes. I selected the 1200GS, while Dianne took the smaller F650GS. Both bikes where fitted with the Pannier hard bags, plus my 1200 had a top box.
Bright and early the next morning we were on our way. The group rode well together through the twisty hills of Germany and into Austria. The first day’s ride was not challenging, but it gave each of us a chance to get used to our new rides, and I’m certain it gave the tour guides some idea of everyone’s riding skills. Near the end of the day we did get a hint of what European roads were like on our way to our hotel in the ski village of Serfaus, Austria. The road to the hotel consisted of numerous tight switchbacks rising several thousand feet up the side of the mountain. The reward was a fabulous view and a quaint Alpine village.
That night at the bar we learned from our hostess that our hotel was what Europeans refer to as a ”Mojo.” Mojo’s are typically ski lodges that cater to traveling motorcyclist during the off season.
The days that followed took us through areas that the vistas were beyond description. We traveled through snow capped mountains, beautiful little villages and past meandering streams. The mountain passes were by far the most spectacular and above all the most challenging.
I consider my wife and I to be experienced, competent riders. However, the passes we crossed tested all of our riding skills. If you think riding Deals Gap will prepare you for European mountain roads, you’ll be wrong! Most switchbacks consisted of tight hairpins often with on-coming traffic having about a 30-foot radius, being compounded by the fact that you were traversing a grade of 16-18 percent, up or down depending on the direction of travel. Did I mention the oncoming traffic? Oh, did I mention guardrails? There were usually no guardrails, only a small row of stones along the edge of pavement. All of the riders in our group were skilled riders. In spite of that we had five bikes dropped during the trip. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but there were several bruised bodies. Regardless of the hazards, if you ever have the opportunity to ride the Timmelsjoch or Spluegen Pass, do it!.
One of our trip highlights was meeting the locals (those foreigners I mentioned earlier). Surprisingly, most people were fluent in English or at worst spoke at least a bit of our language. The people were warm and friendly, not once did we encounter any Anti-American sentiment. Even when I attempted to use my two years of high school German, they were patient and understanding….but didn’t have a clue, I’m sure, as to what I was saying!
If you are planning a trip to Europe, especially the Alps as we did, regardless of your skill level, prepare to be challenged. However, the rewards will far outweigh the risks. It will be an experience of a lifetime, it was for us.