START 2023 Check-in post

[Bernie]

Home safely on Saturday 4/29/2023 around 4 PM EST. I would like to thank all the BBR members for their hard work and especially Dave( @Indy Dave) for his leadership. Also a huge thank you to Brad ( @Boxflyer) for servicing my bike and so many others. I am very proud of everyone that braved the bad weather and decided to attend START 2023 in Ellijay, GA.

I had a few folks ride with during the week and my hats off to you guys for enduring my ride leadership 

Thank you @Rockosmith, @BamaJohn, Ed from Ellijay, @Motorhead1977 & Amy (the bravest co-rider), @MikeB60, Erick Brooks, @9Mary7, @KaTooM and Ed fromVA 9 @ED Akeel for joining me during the week.

I hope I did not get too many riders lost due to bad routing. 

It’s not my fault, I blame in Garmin and the cheap satellites. Recalculating!

I hope to see all of you and maybe more (bring friends) for the next family reunion, FART 2023 event. 

Here are few pictures.

Lunch with @BamaJohn , taken the picture, @Rockosmith, @60Aviator and @Bernie

 

At Suches with @Rockosmith

At Telico Grains Bakery and Ball River Falls, TN with Ellijay-ED, @Motorhead1977 and Amy

A few days later at Tellico Grains Bakery with @MikeB60 in the rain.

 

See you all at FART 2023!

 

[wbw6cos]

A great event, to say the least.    Thanks go out to the usual behind the scenes folks and all the community that gathered together to help out.   Grateful to Brad and Cap for confirming the valve cleareances that I measured previously; mine measured like they had found.   

 

Lots of gratitude to the BBR's.  Let's do this again sometime!  Shall we?

 

I am much obliged to Route Master Bernie for his route magic and especially to the BBR gang who had to soldier through riding them to confirm the fun factor.  Like the saying goes:  " if you loved the routes, thank Bernie.  If you did not like them then blame the GPS."   We had some awesome rides!!

 

 

Back safe and sound without major rain today: I had heard precipitation was forecast for the event, but...........

 

Have a safe journey home, y'all!

 

 

 

PEACE!!

[John Ranalletta]

Home @ 2pm.  Heavy traffic all interstates.

 

Indy weather on arrival?  Heavy rain followed by brilliant blue skies followed by sleet, wind and rain.

 

Thanks to BBRiders, @Boxflyer, @Indy Dave, @Bernie and everyone else who lent a hand.

 

Great crew, roads and weather.  One thing though, we found two BMWST members panhandling in downtown Ellijay but we hustled them back to the hotel to save our group's reputation.  

[Indy Scott]

Left  at 6am, then again at 6:30 as had to go back for my laptop chased John best I could but didn’t catch him lol.   500 miles / 8hrs w two fuel stops.   Beat the hail though 😳

[scout6]

Headed home on Saturday, planning to take two days to get back to West Michigan.  Beautiful ride for most of the trip.  A bit of weather spitting in Kentucky, with mostly sunny mid 60s.  Decided to just keep going, as the next day was going to be a high of 41 in Michigan.  The last two hours were wet, but the bike ran great (thanks Boxflier).  Home safe.  Great seeing you all.

[Brian Comer]

Made it home 2am Sunday morning 

[DBULL]

I'm appreciative of my first START experience, and very thankful for all that went into the time in Ellijay.  

 

And thanks to Allan (sp) and couple others for suggesting a route home north of Chatanooga-it was a perfect way to end the trip and re-enter life.  As I got to Interstate 40, checked radar which said rain had already started over 24/57 planned route to WI, so punched 'go home' Garmin, and she told me 5:30.  I headed direct north on 111 into TN, then couple other secondary routes in KY, met up with 65 and rode home.  All was fine until just north of Indy.  Three small fronts -first high winds, rain, then nice sun.   It was a long 100 or so miles to Chicago.  But home safely and ahead of weather today and tomorrow which is just plain awful here.

14 hours, little over 800 miles, it was a long day, but home is always good. 

 

Leaving at 6 am, the Sevina lights lit up the road nicely.  I feel like Brad got to work on 'his' bike again to check on how it has been cared for.  

 

My trip to/from/meandering to get there was 2043 miles.  And for the year so far, 7098.  

 

DBULL

[MikeB60]

We made it home around 3 yesterday afternoon. Thanks to @Indy Dave and the crew for another first class ART.  Unfortunately only got one ride in but always fun to ride with @Bernie.  We had TN68 from Tellico to ourselves, a rare occurrence (it was pouring down)! I've been riding since the 70s and we are blessed with the traction provided by modern tires and the Dunlop Missions were brilliant. Looking forward to Sparta!

[9Mary7]

The Ducati kids made it home around 1pm CST today....raining buckets till Atlanta then clearing once we got back to Sweet Home state line.

Thanks for all the work that was done to make this event a big success, even with a wee bit o'rain

[TEWKS]

I’m at my home away from home and I’m alright with that! Thanks for a great rally! 
 

[ERdok]

Left Ellijay this morning around 0900 after the rain stopped. Safely home 4+ hours later with only 30 minutes of light rain between Franklin and Sylva.
Thanks to all for another great ART. Looking forward to Sparta.

[scout6]

2 hours ago, Brian Comer said:

Made it home 2am Sunday morning 

 

It was great meeting you. Let us know when you trade in your Trophy, and share a pic of the new GS.

[Indy Dave]

And then there were two...

 

[wbw6cos]

The last one to leave has to turn out the lights.  

[TN_R_Girl]

As always, incredibly grateful for the dear friends and folks in this group.  Enjoyed a lovely weekend (even though off the bike).  Made it to Chattanooga where I got distracted and decided to hang with friends and will finish the drive to Cookeville tomorrow.  
 

Plan to be back on 2 wheels when I see you all again!  
 

xoxo 

[Wristy Rich]

Rode back with 4 of the Indy Shirkers, George led Don, Barry, Russ and me to a great breakfast buffet at Donna's Cafe in Madisonville TN after about 30 minutes of rain coming out of Ellijay. Backroads almost all the way, crossing the Ohio at Madison Indiana until picking up I 74 about 40 miles from Indy. The last 3 hours had us watching crazy cloud formations and dodging storms. One storm we couldn't dodge peppered us with small hail and I saw the temp drop from 50 to 41 in an instant.

[Indy Dave]

11 hours ago, Indy Rich said:

Rode back with 4 of the Indy Shirkers, George led Don, Barry, Russ and me to a great breakfast buffet at Donna's Cafe in Madisonville TN after about 30 minutes of rain coming out of Ellijay. Backroads almost all the way, crossing the Ohio at Madison Indiana until picking up I 74 about 40 miles from Indy. The last 3 hours had us watching crazy cloud formations and dodging storms. One storm we couldn't dodge peppered us with small hail and I saw the temp drop from 50 to 41 in an instant.

Monkey see. Monkey do.

 

[RandyShields]

Left yesterday with Todd F at 9 am with the hope that we wouldn't run back into the storm that just stopped raining on us in Ellijay.  Traveling the speed limit was challenging, but the storm spun away from us and we avoided it other than for a few sprinkles.  Took the longer, scenic way back to Charlotte, and arrived a little after 4 pm with clear skies and sun that were just appearing.  Despite the rainout on Thursday, I had a wonderful time catching up with old friends and making new ones.  As has been said by so many others, the people on this board who attend these events are like an extended family.  I am grateful to be a part of it.  Thanks to all who went above and beyond -- again -- to make this a success.  Dave, Ken, Mark, Boxflyer, Bernie, and the rest of the BBRs, your efforts are much appreciated -- even if you couldn't make the event!

 

RandyShields

[Indy Jerry]

Eric and I took the back roads and made a two day adventure out of it. We are home safe! What a great week!!!

[Indy Dave]

They say the Best Laid Plans . . . And having some experience in that department, I waited until two hours before I raised my kickstand to leave before choosing my route home. Cold temps, gusty winds and rain factored into morning calculations. Options? I really, REALLY wanted to come home via Wise, VA on a spectacular route @terryofperry had painstakingly made. But that was part of a two day ride, and try as I might, I couldn't really stuff that, and heading home into one perfect day, let alone one with weather considerations. 

 

In the end, I stayed off the interstates, sans 24 miles, choosing a route I created in 2018. I had a great (dry) run up TN68, 80% of which was unhindered - which is a good day any way you measure it. There were some real gems on the route scattered here and there, cold temps, wind and rain be dammed. Home at 8:30, followed by a very long hot shower.

 

Thanks so much to one and all for a great time in Ellijay. What a treat to hear from David Baker! And as always, to watch @Boxflyer do 6 things at once while cracking jokes.

 

We're a lucky bunch of folks, and as fellow Hoosier Kurt Vonnegut would say "If this isn't nice, what is?".

 

See you in Sparta!

[Motorhead1977]

Thanks to you @Indy Dave and the rest of the BBR Crew who make these events possible. I missed this thread earlier.

Home A-ok. Saturday's 600 miles were sunny and easy travel. However the last 350 miles Sunday were rain soaked but since we trailered it was the idiots playing bumper cars with semi trucks that were the real inconvenience.  We had an awesome time meeting everyone and getting to ride with @Bernie when it was dry. (Yeppers, a bonafide fair weather rider here) Looking forward to a great FART in September! 

[randy]

home safely.  As already noted by so many, thanks for all the work to set these events up.  and I will say, thanks to the generosity of the group.  3,000.00 raised by 70 people.  Awesome.

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[Lone_RT_rider]

I just saw this thread. I made it home safe and sound on Sunday about 12:20 PM.  For a weekend that was supposed to be doomed by the forecast, I somehow got 700 miles in with an 80 mile distance to the event. :)  What a great weekend...... Is it time to FART yet? Somebody pass the beans.  ;)

 

Shawn

[TSConver]

Susan and I made it home as well.  Another great event.

[marcopolo]

I arrived back home in Ottawa ON, Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., after riding the 570 miles from Front Royal VA in 10 hours.  I had ridden the 560 miles from Ellijay to Front Royal on Monday.  Tuesday's ride was cool, and in places downright cold.  At one point in Pennsylvania I was pellted with ice pellets, thougfh luckily it didn't last long.  Border crossings are always a bit of an adventure, and uncharacteristically, on leaving the U.S., I was stopped by two border agents at the Ogdensburg NY crossing.  They asked me a series of questions, before allowing me to continue onto the bridge over the St. Lawerence river, and into Canada near Prescott, Ontario  When I stopped at Canada Customs, I told the agent I'd present my passport, as soon as I unhooked myself (meaning unplugging the lead for my heated shirt, and the tether for my Helite airbag vest).  She asked me if the lead dangling from beneath my jacket was for audio.  I said no, for a heated shirt.  Before being prompted, I added that the tether from the bike was for my airbag vest.  This really intrigued her, as she'd never heard of airbag vests, and she started asking me about it.  She said that her husband also rode, and that it was only about two yerars ago that she convinced him to even wear a jacket (apparently he'd had some sort of accident).  Then she asked me the standard questions about how long I'd been out of the country, where I’d been etc..  When she handed back my passport, I started to put my gloves back on, and get ready to leave.  I noticed she had disappeared into the main building from the booth.  Before I'd finished gearing up, she reappeared, this time with her husband in tow (he's a border agent too, as it turns out), and he starts asking me questions about the vest, like how easy it is to accidentally inflate it, just dismounting from the bike.  Not sure what the other cars in line behind me thought, but eventually I tell them to write down Helite, and check it out online.  When I finally got moving again, I realized that I had never removed my helmet, nor had she ever asked me to.  That too is highly unusual.  

 

All in all, I was on the road for 17 days, and covered 3,286 miles.

 

Another great event, thanks to IndyDave, and my BBR mates.  See you in Sparta in September. 

[TEWKS]

Mark, I had the camera on standby Monday. I figured we might see you somewhere on I 81. Stranger things have happened.   It was a nasty ride north even in the warm cab of the truck. 

[roadscholar]

2 hours ago, TEWKS said:

Mark, I had the camera on standby Monday. I figured we might see you somewhere on I 81. Stranger things have happened.   It was a nasty ride north even in the warm cab of the truck. 

 

How was the traffic on 81 Pat for future reference, I haven't done it in years (decades) but know better than to attempt 95.

[TEWKS]

11 minutes ago, roadscholar said:

 

How was the traffic on 81 Pat for future reference, I haven't done it in years (decades) but know better than to attempt 95.

Bill it wasn’t bad at all, southbound was a breeze on Saturday afternoon down to Roanoke and then we finished up Sunday morning. And the return trip on Monday was ok too. I’m going to give it an A- overall.  Yeah 95, I’m done with that road I think.