Day Fifteen of the CCC trip

Dano says:
Because we didn't over drink the night before, we were able to get up before the rooster crowed. We three graced the complementary breakfast buffet and got our grub on. With that outta the way we saddled up and were gone almost before sun up. Nimec told us to give him a two to three hour warning before we got into town, sorry buddy but we were 100 miles west of you at 9:00am. We were turning and burning. We did make a gas stop at the Big Texan where we added layers and rain gear as the weather ahead didn't look promising,


plus we were gaining a little elevation and the temps were cooling. I figured it would be better to be nice and warm vs stopping to get into rain gear on the side of the open road. I missed Hwy 104 in Tucumcari and went west till we picked up Hwy 129 north at Newkirk, New Mexico.


From there we shot up 129 to the 104 intersection and headed west again.

That was the first time for me to take that road and I was happy that we did, it was filled with great views and no traffic. Hell, it was a empty countryside and we had the road to ourselves, for the most part. At one spot we came across some highway construction and the road was just covered in gravel. It was loose and dusty, Chewie passed a semi truck carrying a bridge support and continued hauling ass. Bucket and myself took it a little more reserved and passed the truck after we ate enough dust from the truck, cough, cough. Once we all grouped back up and got into some scenic areas we stopped and took some pics and enjoyed the wonderful sights. I think it was on the 3rd or 4th stop that Bucket did a high speed pass on the Sprint. Bucket took me by surprise, I was cruising along about 70mph and whoooooosh goes a yellow blaze. I'm a man, so I grabbed a handful of RC51 throttle and Bucket was still pulling away, downshift a few gears and THEN the 51 was cooking and starting to chase down Bucket. I think I passed him doing 140 and didn't let off until I saw 164. Damn that was fun,






open high plains roads with stunning scenery to boot. A few miles up the road we pulled into Las Vegas, NM to gas up where we picked up the 518 to Taos. The 518 is a great road,


its scenic and twisty. The day turned out to be great regarding the weather, as the early morning hours in Texas was the only place that we encountered mist/rain. The 518 and the sight of the Rockies made the past few long days worth it. I remember coming around a corner and seeing a fresh skunk killed in the road.
I had to stop to show the fellas up close what a real skunk looks like as that is my moniker(I ran over a skunk a few months back on my Speed Four going to work). The trek up the hill in the higher altitudes sent the message to my lungs that there is less oxygen up here....huff huff. I'm huffing along and I look over and what is Bucket doing? Lighting a ciggy, haha. With pictures of a skunk up close now in hand, we jet off to Taos. I think we ended up at a Motel 6 in a large suite and had a cot delivered to the room. After a brief rest we cleaned up and rode down to a Mexican joint and ate dinner. The place was good and we shared some nachos, I forget what he guys had, but I recall we were all stuffed and enjoyed the food. Back to the room we went where we watched tv and called it an early night and we did a fair amount today. I was tired.

miles traveled for the day=400

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Day Fourteen of the CCC trip

Dano says:
With some knocks on the door by Bucket, I was up and off to the shower. Me like hot water, hot water good. Damn my head was still spinning from last night. We packed the bikes and went down to the Ol' Miss riverfront to take a few pics of the Mighty Mississippi.


From there we got on the 40 west again and headed West. As we crossed the Mighty Miss I let a nice wheelie go to celebrate another awesome place to wheelie over/through. Yut Uggggghhh!!! A few miles down the road we pull over to get gas and Nimec informs us that he is going to blast ahead of us to make it to Amarillo, Texas that night. He told us that he wanted to party with his pal and that he could sleep in and meet us the next day, his plan was to make about 760 miles that day. We parted ways after the gas station and off Nimec went into the wild blue yonder. We stopped and had breakfast at a Waffle House, because we wanted to be ready for a long day in the saddle. With our guts all greased up, we set out to knock down some miles. Today was a day that we decided was all about quick stops and LOTS of miles. We wanted to pass the central States so we could make it to the Rockies as fast as we could. We had good weather for the whole day, slight overcast and warm weather. Late in the afternoon we were in Elk City, Ok. and we decided to push on and try to make another hundred miles before we finished the day. The late evening sky to the south of us was filled with huge thunderstorms with massive thunderclouds that had bolts of lightening shooting out and flickering inside the clouds. Looking back south and east on them made for an amazing sunset and the last day sunshine rays shined down on the massive thunderclouds. The open plains have some awesome vistas to admire spectacular sunsets, the sky/horizon seems to go forever. After +/-650 miles for the day, we called it quits even thought Chewie was chipper and wanted to break his all time most miles in a day ride. We ended the day in Shamrock, Tx. We missed out on dinner and had a few drinks at the hotel bar that was filled with smoke and oilfield workers. Yes we drew a few looks/stares, like "What are you boys doing here?", at least that's what I felt like. We had two separate rooms, one single and a double that Bucket and I shared. I passed out quick in anticipation of another long day ahead of us. There was no real pictures of the day because we didn't stop for anything, all we wanted to do was make miles.

miles traveled for the day=630

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Day Thirteen of the CCC trip

Dano says:
The house woke up early with two young boys running around, no worries, we wanted to get a early start. With showers and the bikes packed, we departed Todd and Lisa's abode. Our endpoint for the day was on the Blues Delta, Memphis Tennessee, where we would hit up the famous Beale St. to listen to some Blues. As we were rollin down I-40 towards Memphis I recall coming upon a group of Harley riders. At the back of the Harley procession was a chase van with some slogan that said something about Australians across America, or something like that. It was funny to pass them with two Australians in our group with NO chase van. I looked back in the mirror to see if all of our group had made the pass and was ok. I can still see Rose (Nimec) at the back of the group doing his thing, arms out wide and flying on autopilot past the other group. I laughed in my helmet, thinking what must the other riding group think of the four dumb Sportbike riders that passed them. We had a pretty much uneventful day as we did about 330 miles on I-40. The only real stops were to hydrate, gas up and have ice cream sandwiches. As we pulled into Memphis it became clear that finding a hotel room might be hard. There was a Southern Baptist convention going on in town and most all rooms were taken. I had the fellas stay at one place as I scouted a few places myself.


The reason I did that was because it was stifling hot and humid. Bucket, Chewie, Nimec and myself were sweating bullets and I figured that I could zip around easier by myself instead of a group of four. I located a cheap set of rooms at the Benchmark Hotel, reserved them and went back to get the fellas. We paid and parked the bikes in a secure underground lot under the hotel. We showered up and walked down to Beale St to have dinner and enjoy some Blues.
Chewie was prime for this night, he had a new pep in his step. We turned onto Beale St and took a few pics here and there.
Suddenly we were introduced to Gino....no not the DirtMcGirt Gino that you and I know(he was drunk like Dirt though....). Anyways before I could tell the Aussies NOT to talk to certain strangers we were hit up by Gino. Gino wanted to give us a newspaper and tell us of the local building stories...blah blah blah. After the 15 minute speech he did the deed and asked us for donations to his church or organization. Time to move on, lets go guys...time for dinner. He decided on The Blues City Cafe where we grubbed out on ribs, and different meats along with a few nice Bourbons and coke.
We had nice close seats to the band that was playing a historical tribute to Johnny Cash and his life.

Chewie was in heaven, he was smiling ear to ear and I could just tell that he was immersed in the moment. It was gratifying to be part of something that we had talked about for a while and to see it happen before me. I was glad to be a part of that. With the night still young, we went outside and walked across the street to BB Kings House of Blues.



We sat down and had a mess of drinks and sat listening to a group of amazing men sing and play some live Blues. They played all types of songs from U2 to Prince. What a wonderful night, fabulous music, great friends, good food and drinks culminated in an awesome night. We stumbled back to the hotel and sacked out. Turn out the lights....the fat lady has sung.


miles traveled for the day=330

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Day Twelve of the CCC trip

Dano says:
We woke up fairly early at Karts house eager to hit some SAWEEEEET local roads on the way to the Dragon,
this is Karts home and he knows one or two choice amazing roads. Kart had a few of his pals there at his place in the morning to ride with us. Ron decided that he had to high tail it back home as he had been gone for a while, so he said his adios and blasted outta there. The weather was a little overcast and drizzled a few times here and there. I wished that I could make a map of the roads that Kartstar took us on, but, I don't recall all the turns that we make. I loved the area and the rural countryside, I felt as if time had stopped in a few of the places that we passes. I wished that I would have stopped for pictures that day, but it was just wet enough that I didn't care to get my camera wet. When we reached Fontana Dam after finishing The Hellbender on the 28 and southeast of The Dragon and the Tennessee border Kartstar said he had to turn around. In his words..." When I go over the Tennessee border, lights and alarms go off, and cops chase me. So I dont go there." Fair enough, hahaha. At that point we said our asta la vista's to Kartstar(Fred) and his friends. Thanks you Fred for the wonderful roads and warm hospitality, I owe you.

I remember Chewie saying that The Hellbender was the best road that he had been on and it showed in his face as he was grinning ear to ear. Once we made it to the Tail of the Dragon, we stoped at the store to buy shirts and stickers to prove that we did the Dragon.

With the customary pics at the Resort we headed out over the famous 318 turns in eleven miles. There were plenty of people warning us of PoPo ahead, so we kept it to the speed limit the whole way. we stopped at the top lookout to shoot a few pics and enjoy the wonderful weather.






We finished the Dragon and turned right back around and did it in reverse and then proceeded to Robbinsville where we gassed up to tackle the awesome Cherohala Highway. The weather was fine and we set off to enjoy some motorcycle bliss. Once we came to Tellico Plains, we stopped for a quick bite to eat. As I was pulling my helmet off, Chewie gave me a big non-sexual hug and said...."Thanks mate, the last two days have been the best rides of my whole life". I got a little verklempt. I was happy that I had been there to share the rides with these fellas. We then tore ass down the hwy 68 to I-75 north to I-40 east to Crossville. We gassed up in Crab Orchard and that's where I gave Lisa and Todd the heads up that we were almost to their place.

Once we arrived to their beautiful house we were greeted by Lisa, Todd, Luke, Ben, David and Jane. They had some awesome burgers and food waiting for us. We feasted like kings, caught up with everyone and just enjoyed the wonderful company. It was good seeing everyone again. Thanks a million Todd and Lisa for all that you did for us, you always go above and beyond. With some hot showers, a few beers and some harsh 'shine from the freezer, we settled in for a early night.

the aprox miles done for the day (some roads were uncertain)

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Day Eleven of the CCC trip

Dano says:
Well today was the day that we dreaded, the point where we start our sojourn back west. We planned on riding the Blue Ridge Parkway about two hundred miles south to Ashville, North Carolina to Kartstar's house. We assembled everyone to do the farewells/goodbye's at Cheaps house where everyone loaded their trucks or trailers.


The group photo shoot was cool except for the ghey Harley in front of the group, thanks John!

With all the tears and hugs done,
we set off towards the BRP. As we rolled down Hwy 52 north, Cheap decided to unleash the longest wheelie I have ever seen. I was right beside him and it HAD to be over a mile long. He just clutched one up, sat there grinning like a 'tard and rode that sucker out. Damn nice wheelie Cheap. We took the BRP at an easy pace to enjoy the scenery stopping to take pictures along the way.



At one point we had to take a detour off of the BRP and that's when Cheaps Triple decided to die with a stator/rectifier problem. Chewie was riding the bike, BobW was riding behind Chewie and stayed with him until we made it back to him. We managed to get Cheaps bike to a local gas station and then he waited there until BobW came back with a truck/trailer. BobW you are a true hero/gentleman, thank you for doing what you did. Once Cheap was safe at the gas station, Leeds and NakedChic decided to head back to Cheaps house where their truck/trailer was. The rest of us, Chewie, Bucket, Nimec, Ron and myself took off down the BRP to make Ashville before nightfall. We arrived just after dark, proceeded to Kartstars house where we then went for some awesome pizza. With our bellies full, we washed clothes once we were back at Kartstars casa. One or two beers later and we were horizontal grabbing some ZZZZ's. What a fun day on the BRP, it is an amazing road, with endless curves and sights. Truly a must see, must do.


Chewie says:
Time for me (Chewie) to add something. The BRP is an amazing road. Speed limits force you to keep it sane, but that is a good thing, as we had a chance to enjoy the scenery, which is amazing. It is like riding through a landscaped garden for 200 miles.




David says:
Dina and I got up early and got everything ready to roll out. We decided to wait till the group leaving for the west coast left so we could ride to the parkway with them. Getting a bunch of hung-over not overly motivated people started early turned out to be a pipe dream. I think we ended up leaving about 11:00 am. We hit a bit of traffic on the way to the Blue Ridge Parkway but it wasn't bad. This was the moment I was dreading. At the BRP We parted ways with a wave and a beep of the horn. Dina and I headed north and the rest headed south. I would have loved to head south with them and not just to continue my trip, but to avoid the worst rain I had hit so far. It's not all bad though, Dina said my new rain suit never leaked once during the hour of downpour we endured. I'll have to remind her to thank Dano for making me buy it. The rest of the way home was a wet but uneventful and easy ride.
I learned a few things on this trip. 1.Even in August its cold somewhere, pack accordingly. 2.Whatever it is that you're rushing to get to will still be there if you're late. 3.Take a close look at your dreams and aspirations chances are you've already reached more than you thought. 4.The harder things get the more you can revel in getting through it. 5.Good friends and family will tell you you're crazy for trying this then ask if they can help or come along in the same breath. Spotsylvania VA 8338 miles. Home.



miles traveled for the day=215

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