Wilsons Sandbox

Hi all, I've been lurking on these mailing lists for a while now, but unfortunately haven't gotten to actually ride with any of you. I live in North central NC, and spend most of my riding time on the backroads and trails of southern VA. On most weekends from Spring to Fall if the weather is nice, I'll spend the better part of a day riding on and around the Blue Ridge Parkway (http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/), since it's only about 30minutes away from here. It's a beautiful ride, with spectacular views and lots of little side roads and trails to explore. Anyway, so far I've stuck to riding one particular section of the Blue Ridge Parkway, between Tuggle's Gap (intersection with Rt.8) and Fancy Gap (intersection with Hwy.52), but this year I'm hoping to spend a long weekend riding the entire thing, which is about 400 miles or so I think, and maybe camping out some along the way. I want to invite anyone who's interested to join me on this trip. I don't have any particular date in mind yet, probably closer to summer, but I do know that I'm going sometime, even if it's alone. It would also be nice to see some dual-sport types on my regular weekend ride. I'll usually eat lunch at the Tuggle's Gap restaurant and spend the afternoon riding South. Give me a yell if you're interested. - Jim Hubbard KLR650 A17 jimh@...

Thanks Jim. Yes, please drop me a note when your plans start to come together. I'll do the same with the one my friend from an OH we are trying to piece together. Also, if I may point you to another of our rides. This one passes through *your* playground. NE GA Run With The Wolf Rally, TWO Suches, GA Dates: 9/9/2004 to 9/12/2004 Desc: A perennial favourite. Great roads, great destination (TWO), great food, great COG companions. This is about my favourite event. Hosted by the SEACOG, folks ride from Ontario, Florida, the mid-west and all points in between to enjoy this rally. Meet at Afton Mountain, Route 250 at the entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway on Thursday at 8 AM sharp. It s about 420 twisty miles to our first night stop at Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground where we will spend the night and have breakfast Friday morning before riding some of the best motorcycle roads in the US before arriving at TWO in Suches, GA No reservations are required for camping at BRMC or at TWO. Lodging may be reserved at BRMC by calling (828) 235-8350 and at TWO by calling (706) 747-5151. Some will return to our homes on Sunday and some will make it a two (or three!) day jaunt. You'll notice that this one starts at the beginning of the BRP, but I usually leave after work on Thursday evening and make my way down to the BRMC to join up with the rest of them there. After breakfast at the pavillion on Friday morning, we head out and take varied routes, usually arriving at TWO sometime in the afternoon. And yes, even tho' it is a COG event, the marques are varied - including KLRs. We're gonna wait and see what the wx looks like around that time. If it looks decent, I may ride mine because I want to hit some of the trails around the North GA mountains. Keep in touch. Guy At 11:19 PM 1/9/04 -0500, Jim Hubbard wrote:

>Thanks for the reply. I don't have any definite plans, but I was thinking >start on the North end of the Parkway and ride to the South end too. That >way, if anyone still has the energy and the weather is nice, maybe hit the >Deal's Gap "Tail of the Dragon" before heading home. For now though, I'm >just trying to gauge interest in this idea, so I'm gonna hang on to your >message and repost to the lists again in the Spring. > >I'll also make a note of your COG ride and may try to join in. > >Thanks Again! >-Jim > >-----Original Message----- >From: Guy B. Young II - COG Tech Ed [mailto:gbyoung2@...] >Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 6:12 AM >To: jimh@...; dixie_dual_sport@yahoogroups.com; >DSN_klr650@yahoogroups. com >Subject: Re: [DSN_klr650] Blue Ridge Parkway ride > > >Jim, > >I've eaten there before. Pretty good food. > >Our Group, the Concours Owners Group (COG), will be in the area on 5/14/2004 >to 5/16/2004. We'll be meeting at the Willville Motorcycle Campground Friday >evening and/or at the Blue Ridge Restaurant at Meadows of Dan at 9:00 AM >Saturday. Don't let the name of the Group fool you, there will probably be >2-3 KLRs in the bunch. Unfortunately, mine won't be with them. My daughter >is graduating from Penn State that w/e, so I'll be elsewhere. > >While I have done the whole thing several times, an other fella (from OH) is >trying to convince me to run it again from start to finish - also sometime >late spring/early summer. We'll probably be starting at the northern end at >Rockfish Gap, camping along the way. I assume you'll be wanting to start at >*your* end down near Cherokee off of 441? > >Lemme know your thoughts. Maybe we can hook up. > >Guy >A16 >'95 Concours >Richmond, VA >

Some of you may remember that I posted a message back in January about how I was planning a ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway (www.blueridgeparkway.org) this year. Well it's about that time, so here are my plans: I haven't settled on a date for sure yet, but I'm leaning towards July 1-3. Traffic may be heavy that weekend though, so June 17-19, July 8-10, or July 22-24 are also possibilities. Basically, I plan to arrive at Front Royal, VA on a Wednesday afternoon, check into a hotel, and then begin the journey at the North end of Skyline Drive on Thursday morning. We can then spend all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday riding Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. We may camp out some or stay in hotels along the way, just depends on what feels right. At the end of the ride, depending on how things go, we may want to head on over to the Deal's Gap (www.tailofthedragon.com) area (it's only about an hour's drive from the South end of the Parkway) before heading home sometime Sunday. The entire ride, from the North end of Skyline Drive to the South end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, is about 580 miles. Three days should allow some time to explore a few back roads along the way and enjoy the spectacular scenery without being too rushed or riding in the dark. That is assuming of course, that the weather or mechanical problems don't slow things down. Once a date is decided, I'll post it to the lists along with the hotel I'll be staying at in Front Royal. That way, even if you don't tell me you're going, all you've got to do is show up and join in. If anyone is interested in joining me for this trip, let me know what dates work best for you and we'll try to settle on something that's good for everyone. Ride Safe, Jim Hubbard jimh@... www.xlproject.com/klr650.htm>

http://blogs.motorbiker.org/Blogs.nsf/dx/03242004093331MWEC32.htm Tim Nielsen wrote:Funny you mention that, last time I was down in NZ, I went to a local bike shop where they had on display an airbag jacket. A little cord connects to your steering wheel, and should be separated with about 15-20 pounds of force (can't set it off by just forgetting to disconnect it), it fully inflates, in just under one second. Seemed pretty cool, not much more than any other high quality jacket, and the canister in it was pretty unobtrusive. Can't remember the name, but I'm told BMW also makes one. Tim [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]