Top Gun
06-03-2008, 11:13
2500 miles, some great stops, some great roads, good riders, great friends in Canada, no mishaps. . . just some of the highlights of the 2008 Guns 'n Hoses Spring Ride, but as always, it's great to be back home! The weather was talked about often. We had a couple of grey, rainy days, but nothing serious. We were able to dodge the storms for the most part. Dayton was interesting. We were watching some television in our meeting room (mine), when the emergency alert system was activated. You know, that thing that has the long tone followed by the words "This is a test of the emergency broadcasting system. If this was a real emergency. . ." except they didn't say that. They said "This is an emergency alert from the National Weather Service. . ." That got our attention! Our Club Meteorologist, sometimes known as Mega Man, sprang out of his chair yelling, "it's an emergency!" and we spent the next hour or so, watching the weather maps and comparing them with our limited knowledge of the local geography to discern where the tornadoes were forecast to hit. We went out front of the hotel to check our machines, which were parked under the overhang and watched and waited for the tornadoes, but luckily, the closest they touched down was about 20 miles away from us, but it stormed like hell!
Anyway, sleeping in my own bed and showering in my own shower were welcome after a week on the road.
My fellow riders really rode well all week. We had a couple of new riders on the tour and their riding with us as a group got better each day, or with each mile that we rode together and by the time we reached home, we resembled a precision drill team.
I think the quote of the week came from a conversation over a beer at the Crossroads after we made landfall. We were talking about riding and the Tail of the Dragon and Brian said, " I bought a shirt that said I slayed the dragon. I didn't really slay it though, I gave it a good poke with a stick. . ." We got a good laugh from that!
As for our first international ride, our Ottawa friends treated us like royalty. My boasts of Ottawa having the best pizza in the world were borne out by at least one other rider that I heard. It's good enough, and the town interesting enough, that we should make a Guns 'n Hoses weekend ride there soon.
While talking with the Ottawa club, we agreed that we also should make a lobster run so watch for plans to develop for that.
I'll be collecting all the photos and making a DVD with them so if you have any, get them to me and I'll proceed with that.
I also have some more videos to put on youttube.
It's great to be back and, to my fellow riders, thanks for another awesome time!
Anyway, sleeping in my own bed and showering in my own shower were welcome after a week on the road.
My fellow riders really rode well all week. We had a couple of new riders on the tour and their riding with us as a group got better each day, or with each mile that we rode together and by the time we reached home, we resembled a precision drill team.
I think the quote of the week came from a conversation over a beer at the Crossroads after we made landfall. We were talking about riding and the Tail of the Dragon and Brian said, " I bought a shirt that said I slayed the dragon. I didn't really slay it though, I gave it a good poke with a stick. . ." We got a good laugh from that!
As for our first international ride, our Ottawa friends treated us like royalty. My boasts of Ottawa having the best pizza in the world were borne out by at least one other rider that I heard. It's good enough, and the town interesting enough, that we should make a Guns 'n Hoses weekend ride there soon.
While talking with the Ottawa club, we agreed that we also should make a lobster run so watch for plans to develop for that.
I'll be collecting all the photos and making a DVD with them so if you have any, get them to me and I'll proceed with that.
I also have some more videos to put on youttube.
It's great to be back and, to my fellow riders, thanks for another awesome time!