Thanks for the comments, guys. I got home last night around 6:30pm central time. I'm not afraid to tell the truth. I got caught up in the moment and pushed too hard on the first run. I got lucky and nothing bad happened. I never crossed a center line the rest of the trip. You can see my pics on killboy.com from Wednesday, Sept 3, 2014 from 2:18pm, 4:48pm and 5:00pm under the sportbike category. I'll try to post a few more pics from the rest of the trip, but I really didn't take many. My phone was packed away and difficult to get out very often.
That night we slept in the tent. We visited the fire pit and talked with several others (just one other tent that arrived very late). There were about 4 older guys from Denmark that had rented HD's to ride around. We got rained on a bit that night in the tent, but nothing too bad. We woke for breakfast and watched about 10-20 NC state cops pull in on their BMW's. They had some ritual they did before getting off the bikes. I couldn't see too well from the tent area. I didn't even know they were cops until I got close to the bikes. I later saw one at a gas station and chatted for a second about seeing them at breakfast. We then took all the necessary pictures of the camp, signs, dragons, Killboy area, etc. We left and headed out for GA. It was such a beautiful ride. Twisties all the way. We intended to camp the next 2 nights also, but Jim (pulling the trailer) was coming down with bronchitis and had to go back home. He got rained on pretty hard on his way home, but made it in safely Thursday night. We landed in Blairsville, GA and stayed on the square in a $60 a night motel for 2 nights. I was anxious to hit Blood Mountain. It was great for a faster pace with some tight turns and 2 lanes for slower traffic in the right places. I found out several of the roads there (180, 60, 129 and maybe a few others) compose what some call the Head of the Dragon. They were all very exciting.
We stopped at a few specialty shops the other guys had been to before. The Road Glide could go almost 250 miles on its 6 gallon tank, so he didn't top off every time the V-Max needed gas (every 100 miles), but I did. Funny thing is the Road Glide ran out of gas on our way back to the motel, but was able to cough and sputter to a gas pump just in time and about 8 miles from the motel. We stayed there a bit too long with dark, heavy clouds moving in. Just as we were leaving, the clouds let loose. We didn't put on our rain gear and were soaked when we got back to the motel. Of course, it stopped shortly after we arrived and didn't rain again in GA. It was surprising how lucky we were with weather considering the predictions of rain almost every day.
There was a little cafe at the bottom of Blood Mountain called Turner's Corner Cafe, est 1928. I had some of the best peach cobbler with ice cream I've ever had. The staff was very friendly and goofy. It was a fun time. If you are there, say hi to Robin for me. I have some pics on my phone I'll try to post.
We were able to do a bit of laundry the last night in GA at the motel and repack everything.
I'll back track a bit to keep my mechanical problem in one thought. It started shortly after leaving the Dragon. On the way to GA, we stopped for gas. My bike had been running great. After filling up, I started the beast up and it didn't seem right at all. I killed it trying to take off. I got moving with the group thinking things would clear up. Then I suspected bad gas. I got the other 2 guys to pull over with me to check things out. It sounded like a twin in stead of the I-4. I was sure I had lost a cylinder. After feeling the exhaust headers, it was clear that cylinder 1 (the far left) was cooler than the restand was not firing. Luckily it was on the outside and the coil pack could be removed without removing the radiator. We thought it was a bad spark plug. I rode my new triple on to GA. We found a AutoZone and bought a new spark plug, borrowed some tool and set out to change the plug. After a closer inspection of the coil, we could see it was the problem. I'm not at all good with engines, but the other guys are, so they helped me out and wrapped some electrical tape around the coil to try to insulate it and get the spark to the plug. IT WORKED, yeah! For about a mile, boo. We bought some high quality tape and some dielectric grease to better patch the coil. That also worked for about a mile. One more attempt was made using more tape wrapped tighter. That succeeded for about 0.5 miles. We called around, but no one had a coil pack except Clearwater, FL and CA from what we were told. After sleeping on it and riding a day and a half on 3 cylinders, I decided to have one sent overnight from CA to
Sloan's Motorcycle at 2233 NW Broad Sr. Murfreesboro, TN since were were headed to Nashville. We got a late start for TN the next day and I didn't think we would make the 4:00pm closing time to pick up the part. Rain was expected, and when we stopped for gas, it was looking bad. We dawned our rain gear and set out. It rained on us for a few miles 2 times. My outer jacket and pants got wet, but I was dry except for the massive sweating. The gear dried out quickly on the outside within 10 miles of dry riding, the sweat, however, stuck with me. We pulled into Sloan's just before 4:30 eastern time. I checked out back where they were going to leave it, but it wasn't there! PANIC! Then we realized Murfreesboro, TN was on central time and it was 3:30! Yeah! I was able to pick up the part! Bob ended up buying a Shoei Quest helmet while we were there and John drooled over the Moto Guzzi California 1400 he would like to buy. We again gassed up, removed the rain liner from my jacket (the pants were too much of a pain) and finished the trip to Nashville.
Nashville didn't offer much riding, but we took a taxi from the Dury Inn near the airport to downtown to sample some live music. It was a good time and we stayed out until things closed at 2:30 am. Street hotdogs are good after 3:00 am. I got up at 9:00am, had some free breakfast, showered, packed and we started the interstate trip home. Bob and I traded bikes for 40-60 miles. He had owned a 2009 cobalt blue FZ1 for a short time. I road his Road Glide through the Dragon and he took my FZ1. Now I thought I'd see the comfort and reasons to have a big HD. Sadly, the Road Glide seating position made my low back hurt after about 10 miles, and I never felt comfortable. I had some hip pain too. The floor boards and highway pegs offered little relief for me. The taller than stock screen kept most air out of my helmet and cause some occasional buffeting. The highway pegs made me feel like I was waiting on a Gynecologist. The air filter on the right side kept my right knee pushed out and the heel-toe shifter kept my left foot from the back edge of the floorboard. I was shocked to find the Road Glide so uncomfortable for me on the highway and more capable than I'd expected on the twisties.
We were tired, but happy for the ride and to be home. We only had a few minor bouts with rain and with all the problems we had, they were all the best outcomes that could be expected. I'm back on 4 cylinders. I'll take some pictures of the bad coil for those interested.
oke:
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