On a gray December Saturday, 4 ½ riders (yes, a first - Larry, Dave, Mel, Dan and his daughter, Presley) set off for Homer, GA to view a private collection of motorcycles which had something for everyone, even our ½!

While we would have loved to ride to Homer on this 70 degree day, the remnants of the tornado front which tore up 5 states the evening before was expected to pass thru after lunch, so… 3 ½ of us piled in Dan’s SUV and met Mel from Athens at our host Keith’s secret lair in rural Banks county.

The International Motorcycle Show returned to the Atlanta area for the first time in many years. This year’s event was held at the Olympic Horse Park in Conyers on a cool rainy Friday-Sunday October 29-31.

Dave rode his VStrom to the show on Saturday with the express purpose of snagging a demo ride on a Triumph Tiger 900. It turned out much better than that. The weather was to our advantage as the event was not crowded and until early afternoon you could pretty much walk up and ride almost any bike. All the major brands of motorcycle manufacturers were there and each brought truck loads of bikes to test ride, including Harley Davidson, Suzuki, Triumph, Yamaha, Honda, Royal Enfield, Kawasaki, Indian, and Zero. At the far end of the exhibit there were also equipment and accessory vendors including Cardo, Mosko Moto, Continental Tires, and the MSF.

On a brisk October morning, five riders (Larry, Dennis, BobK, Dave, and Richard) headed toward the North Ga mountains for a one-night outing. First stop was Cleveland where we picked up our sixth rider (Mel), then progressed up the Richard Russell Scenic Parkway – a real treat in the fall. There clouds broke, sunglasses came out, and temps rose. At Hogpen Gap (above), all were challenged with keeping their heavily loaded bikes upright at the very “slopey” scenic turnout. That slope, combined with our extra-compressed bike suspensions, makes even getting the kickstand out a real challenge. Then, with the kickstand down, dismounting an almost-vertical bike without a topple is difficult. But all survived.

We tried for May, but heavy rains forced a reschedule to June. But our luck held and 5 riders (BobK, Dave, Dennis, Larry, and Mel) enjoyed an epic 2 ½ day, 2 night camp-n-ride to western NC. Although weather the week prior had been “off the charts” hot and humid (awful for camping!), a window of gloriously cool, dry air opened just in time. We left Thurs afternoon for the TWO motorcycle campground in Suches via pleasant runs thru Grandview and Sunrise areas to Van Zandt’s in Dial for a rest, then S down Ga’s fabulous twisty-60 to TWO. It was so cool we almost broke out extra layers!