ADV Girls Weekend 2015

Due to my son, Niels, arriving from Japan I was only able to spend one evening at the 2nd Annual ADV Girls Weekend.  This is a little get together mainly for women who habit the ADVRider.com site, but men are allowed to attend as "umbrella boys".  The rally is held annually at Willville Motorcycle Camp in Meadows of Dan, VA just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

As I said I just rode up and back for one evening so I don't have many photos.

My camp site at Willville

ADV Old School Spring Rally 2015

From April 23 to 26 I attended the ADV Old School Spring Rally.  The ADV Old School group is a great bunch of guys that get together twice a year.  It is a relatively small group and more a gathering of friends than "motorcycle rally".  This year, as usual, we met at the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground in Cruso, NC.  This is really close for me, about a 45 minute ride down the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Since this was the "Old School" rally I decided to ride my 1985 BMW R80RT.  I really love this machine even thought the Frau is always wanting me to sell it.  This year I got a cabin instead of tenting it and found that at my age I really enjoyed the added comfort.  I still like tenting, though.

My 1985 BMW in front of my cabin

 The weather was predicted to be lousy. The forecast was for 80% chance of heavy rain all day Saturday.  The forecast was wrong.  The weather was beautiful!  On Saturday I got a good ride in on the old airhead and had a great time!

On the Blue Ridge Parkway near Mount Pisgah

What can I say?

Of course, the best part of this rally is getting together with old friends and riding.  This rally was no exception.  Great friends, great bikes and great locations!

Using my new selfie stick

 I have a couple of videos to add to this post.  I hope you enjoy them!

Stay tuned as this is just the beginning of the season.  I have many more motorcycle trips planned this year!

ADV Old School Fall Rally

The ADV Old School Fall Rally was held between October 16 and 10, 2014 in Tellico Plains, TN.  The weather could not have been better!  It was a great weekend to see old friends and ride the great roads of eastern Tennessee.

The banner welcoming us to the campground.

The rally is held each year at the Cherohala Mountain Trails Campground.  On Thursday night just a few of us showed up with the majority arriving Friday.

Cherohala Mountain Trails Campground

 On Friday I took a long ride through east Tennessee.  I rode to Reliance, TN which is basically a gas station / post office.  It's kind of a landmark for motorcyclist in the area.

Reliance, TN

The rest of the weekend was spent reminiscing about rides taken this past year and plans for next year.  The Old School rallies are my favorite rallies of the year.  They are small (generally less than 50 people) and more like a gathering of friends than a rally.

Doin' what we do at these things

My campsite

 On Sunday I packed up and rode home in beautiful weather.  This will probably be my last event of the season.  I already have some plans for next spring so stay tuned!

Packed for the ride home

ADV Nottarally

The annual ADV Nottarally was held October 2-5, 2014.  I rode up on Friday October 3.  Despite having organized camping, meals, rides, t-shirts, stickers, etc. this is not a rally.  Hence the name "Nottarally" does not make sense to some.  Those of us that are "initiates" understand the reasoning behind this name and we prefer to leave it esoteric.

Packed and ready to go.

I left on Friday and got to the site in Del Rio, TN before the rain began to fall.  The rain was predicted, but it was supposed to be a couple of bands and then move out.  Friday night a third band moved through to our surprise.

Set up and ready for the rain.

Thanks to a few volunteers we had a hearty breakfast and then most of us hit the road or trails to ride the day away.

Volunteers cooking up a high protein breakfast of bacon and eggs.

Riders getting ready to get dirty

I had a great campsite with a little stream running behind the tent.  During the rain I just laid in my tent and read my Kindle.  I really enjoy the sound of rain an a tent or the sound of a stream nearby.

The stream behind my tent

As predicted the temperatures dropped on Saturday night and we woke up to a chilly Sunday morning.  Some people broke camp fairly early and had to ride as far as Pennsylvania or even upstate New York.  I'm not sure but I think someone mentioned that we had visitors from our neighbor to the north, Canada.

I arrived home before noon and took a well deserved shower and took a much needed nap.  I don't know how many more weekends I will be able to get out this season.  There is one more event I know of in two weeks, but it seems that fall has arrived early (and I am getting old).

Rick's Rendezvous

Rick\'s Rendezvous

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in North Carolina

The weekend of May 17-19, 2013 was Rick's Rendezvous.  This event was formerly called the Eastern Rendezvous but since Rick's death last year Silke and Hunter have taken on the task of keeping the Rendezvous going.

This year the Rendezvous was held near Hampton, TN and the weather proved to be a problem.  There was rain and more rain, hence no photos from this trip.  The cameras remained loaded on the bike and I never removed them from their cases.  The food and the camaraderie were outstanding.  The sun came out after the tent was packed and the ride home was uneventful.

This will be a short riding season for me because of my trip to Europe beginning in August, but stay tuned to see what else happens on two wheels this year!

ADV Old School Spring Fling

April 26 - 28, 2013 was the ADV Old School Spring Fling held at the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground in Cruso, NC.  Our weather pattern for the last few weeks had been perfect camping weather Monday through Thursday and then a cold front would come through bringing rain for the weekend.  This week proved no different.  Many folks came despite the rain and some even came from as far away as Canada!  Those are some hardy boys up there!  As I mentioned there was a lot of rain so I left my camera equipment in the bags for the most part.  I did manage to get a few shots, however.

This was my first trip in my new tent and the tent held up well.  Despite three inches of rain over the weekend it kept me dry!  As you can see I also rode my airhead since this was an "Old School" rally.

One of our Canadian friends had starter troubles on the way down.  He had a new starter Fed-Exed to the campground and installed it Saturday morning.

We kept an eye on the Pigeon River as it kept creeping up!

On Sunday I rode home in pouring rain.  The bike was ridden hard and put up wet.  No problem with the equipment and the bike ran like a dream.  Hopefully the weather will get better next month!

ADV Old School Fall Rally

I spent the weekend of October 19-21 in Tellico Plains, TN attending the ADV Old School Fall Rally.  This is usually the last overnight camping trip of my season.  For some reason most of my photos did not come out very well.  This may be because I did not shoot that many at the campground.  I was too busy catching up with old friends that I see only twice a year.  Some of these folks I had not seen in a year because I was in Mexico during the Spring Rally.

On Saturday I did ride to my old home of Maryville and rode the Foothills Parkway.  The fall colors were spectacular.

As I am writing this the weather is turning colder and I think, as I mentioned above, this will probably be my last camping trip of the year.

It has been a great riding season from Mexico, Texas, California, the Overland Expo and the entire southwest!  Ther may be a few posts during the winter if I get in a few "maintenance rides".  I don't really "winterize" my bikes and if I get a warm weekend in the winter I normally take the bikes out for a twenty mile jaunt just to keep the engine internals coated with oil.

So, check back ever so often to see what is up!