Our club meeting/campout/cookout is always the last weekend of the month. The April meeting is usually at Gulf Shores and it just happens to be the same weekend as the Mullet Toss at the Flor-Bama club. I know this does not have anything to do with the three rallies, I just wanted to give a little light on how my spring went. I can't remember how many people showed up for our Shrimp boil, but it was a pretty good crowd with great food. I rode down and back with our club President and my good friend, Connie. We managed to find some fairly crooked back roads through central and South Alabama to make the trip a little more interesting. Since the Georgia Mountian Rally was the next weekend, I took the week between off to have time to repack and get things ready for the next trip.
My good friend Joe (Slow Ball) and I decided to head out early. The plan was to meet at the Huddle House in Center, Al. Thursday for breakfast and the final route descisions. We were planning on riding to Suches, Ga. to spend the night at T.W.O. We would get up Friday morning and be in Hiawassee early. Joe mentioned that he would like to check out the Iron Horse Lodge in N.C. and he had never been to Deals Gap. Well that changed the plans. We rode North through Ducktown, Tn. and up to Tellico Plains on Hwy 68. That's a nice road itself and the Tellico Cafe is a great place for lunch before starting up The Cherahalla Skyway. We rode the skyway across in great weather. We stopped in Robbinsville to get directions to the Iron Horse. We arrived at the Iron horse in the late afternoon. The place is beautiful. There is a river running through the middle of the campground with the banks lined with rocks and lighting along the banks at night. The people there were trying their best to see that everyone was pleased with their stay. The food was great and the service was better. They built a bon fire after dinner and furnished marshmallows for roasting. After a while at the fire they announced that the movie was about to begin. They have a very large digital projection TV and a pretty good selection of movies. (I haven't made it to my first rally yet and I've already had more fun than a lot of people get the chance for all year) Before you go to bed, you fill out your breakfast menu and leave it at the kitchen. They start serving breakfast at 7:00 am and if you time it right it will be ready when you are. After breakfast we headed out to Deals Gap. They were having a Mini Cooper Rally that day. Everyone should experience seeing 200 plus Mini's running down Deal's Gap. We managed to get down before they started, but had to wait at the bottom for them all to pass before we could turn around. We went back up to the store for Joe to get his well earned T-shirt. Riding the Dragon on a loaded down BMW qualifies for a shirt. The weather was starting to turn to crap. We had a little rain coming back up the Dragon, but it continued to get worse on the way to Hiawassee.
This was my first Georgia Mountian Rally and I was not dissapointed. After setting up camp we headed to town to pick up a couple of boxes of wine and a bite to eat. They had a fire Friday night and we consumed a considerable amount of our boxed wine and visited with old friends. The food was taken care of all day Saturday. Pancake breakfast, Chili for lunch and steaks for dinner. Joe decided to do some riding most of the day, but my thing is to hang out at the rally. I saw more old friends and visited the vendors. It rained off and on all day, but stopped in time to get the fire going for the steaks. Mine was cooked perfect! After dinner they had a band that kept un entertained and provided dance music and we finished off our boxed wines. The rain held off until just after the band stopped. maybe they should have kept playing. It rained pretty hard most of the night. We got up and packed in the rain Sunday morning and headed home. We rode across the mountian through Suches in the rain and fog. About the time we got in to Alabama, the weather started to break. I had to go back to work on Monday, but I had two weeks to prepare for Burkesville.
I couldn't find anyone in my area that was planning on going to the European Riders rally, so I headed out by myself on Friday morning. The weather was great going up and the scenery was beautiful. The people of the town of Burkesville have really gone all out to make everyone feel welcome at this rally. For your rally fee you get camping at the city park on the river, free rally shirt and pin, a rally umbrella, Hamburgers and Hotdogs grilled by the folks from Bloodworth BMW for lunch Saturday, Steaks with all of the trimmings grilled by the folks from the Burkesville tourism board for dinner Saturday evening, a band Saturday night, and a bon fire both nights under the pavillion. The Lion's Club also put on a pancake breakfast for us Saturday morning right down the street. The breakfast was $4, but well worth it. I saw some old friends and made some new ones. I met a couple that was on their honeymoon at the rally and found out they live just a few miles from me. I guess I'll have someone to ride with next year. I also met a young man named Jim that has recently returned from the Middle East . He was riding a R1200C. I convinced him that he should come to Rocket City and I'm glad I did. More on that later in the RCR portion of this story. At the awards ceremony I ended up winning $130 in the 50/50 drawing. Most of you know that will go a long way towards gas for a motorcycle and rally fees. I bought a MAD (Motorcycle Adventure Destination) map while I was there. It really showed some great roads for the trip back. Burkesville was a lot like the Ga. Mtn. Rally in the there was some rain. Also like the Ga. Mtn. rally most of it came at night and didn't interfere with the activities. The rain didn't even stop the fire at night because it was under the pavillion. I got some rain off and on most of the way home, but it was still an enjoyable ride. I told everyone that I would be back next year. I got home and once again had two weeks to get things dried out and repacked for the next trip.
The next trip was closer to home, but was the best of all. The Rocket City Rally (AKA the Chicken Rally). I always go up for this one on Thursday. This year the entertainment was a little different. Everyone knows Microwave Dave and the Nukes play on Friday night, but this year we added Jim Parks on Thursday night and he returned on Saturday with his band. I think the Rocket City Rally will soon be as famous for it's entertainment as it is for the chicken. The weather started out good for this one, but guess what. Yes the rain moved in on Friday and Saturday. Like my two previous rallies, it was not bad enough to put a damper on things. Thursday was pretty normal. Smoked pulled pork for dinner. Jim Parks played that evening. There was not a big crowd at the pavillion, but people I talked with said they were enjoying the music from the campground. I believe we had almost 300 people before registration closed Thursday night. Not too many people showed up Friday because it had started to rain. I was thinking attendance may be low this year, but it picked up and we ended up with a little over 600 people. Friday was a day for a lot of people to ride, but I stayed around the rally as usual. I worked registration all day. Pancakes were served for breakfast and the chicken was ready for lunch. That night everyone enjoyed the sounds of Microwave Dave and the Nukes.
Saturday was the awards and door prizes. I don't know if anyone gives more door prizes. I won admission to the European Riders rally in Burkesville next year (I said I was going back). They gave away the motorcycle and the Jim Parks and his band entertained us again. There was a pretty good crowd at the pavillion Saturday night. A lot of dancing and good times were had by all. It looks like Jim might be becoming a regular at the rally so next year be sure to look for him on Thursday and Saturday night.
I had planned to go to my Brothers in Rogersville, Al. when I left the Rally Sunday. While I was at my brothers, a storm came through. I woke up at about 2:00am to the sounds of wind, rain, limbs breaking, and trees falling. I decided I would wait until the storm was over in the morning to go out and pick up my bike. The next morning there were trees down and buildings torn up everywhere. I walked outside to find a large oak tree down in the yard. The top of it was less than 20' from my motorcycle. A limb had broken off and blown under the bike, but the bike was still standing. It had a lot of leaves and twigs all over it, but was for the most part unharmed.
This is standing behind the tree looking toward the bike.
As you can see, my brothers travel trailer was also unharmed.
I left thinking I would get wet before I got home, but this was the first rally this year that I didn't ride home in the rain.
I rode just over 3,000 miles in five weeks and rode in five states. I know many people don't consider that a lot, but you can't measure the fun I've had. I don't have any other rallies planned in the near future, but being part of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of Alabama keeps me pretty busy. We've got the mid month unofficial garthering at 29 Dreams and our next club meeting is near Summerville, Ga., so I've got to get things dried out and repacked.
