[FatStrat]

My son, son-in law, one of my running buddies and myself returned last night from a 1700 mile ride. We rode from Florida to Birmingham, Al, then over to Knoxville, down through the Dragon and then home.
When we left I had 200 miles on the bike. Had the first service done in Birmingham.
I had ordered the tall windshield, luggage rack (with back rest) and the centerstand. The day we left the stuff hadn't arrived so.... had to go without them. Managed to lash down the sleeping bag and air mattress to the pillion. Stuffed one saddlebag with camping gear, the other with clothes.
The bike ran like a locomotive. So much grunt down low. Really nice in the mountains. Give the throttle a twist and power out of the turns from down low. The steering is a bit light but...it might be me having to acclimate.
I averaged 45.3 mpg. After 1000 miles on the odometer I began to wick it up a bit. We were cooking off tanks of fuel north of 85mph.
By the time we got to Birmingham, my right hand was about to fall off. Found a Cycle Gear in Birmingham and bought a throttle lock and cramp buster. Much better.
Great bike. So much lighter than what I just got off of. Not many bells and whistles...but what I gained is durability and reliability. No regrets. I think we're gonna be good friends.

 

[FatStrat]

There is a sequel to the ride to Barbers and on home to Florida. Thought you guys might like to hear it.

My running buddie Mike would not be with us for the ride home. He had planned in advance to ride south to Mobile to visit with his elderly mother.
My son (on the restored 89 ZX-10), son in -law (on his FZ-1) and myself left Barbers Sunday morning for the Dragon and points south. The forecast rain started late, enabling us to pack up with our gear dry. On the way to Chattanooga the sky opened up. Because of the aggressive time frame we had laid out to cover distance, stopping was not an option. We got to the north end of the Dragon round 'bout 1530. By the time we got to the Dragon Resort it was 1645. We hung around there for a while, BS'ing with the few motorcyclists that were there, and headed out for the Cherahala. With the heavy overcast, dusk and night came early. The 40 mile ride over the pass was heavy with rain and fog. As we gained elevation it got increasingly colder. We had to stop and put on warmer gear.

When we got to the west end of the Cherahala, in Telico Plains, we found a BBQ place that was still open and had the best BBQ any of us ever had.

Leaving Telico Plains we headed south on Rt 68. It's a narrow, dark winding road that winds south through the mountains towards Atlanta. Because of the rain and the wet leaves...we had to go slow. When it seemed that it couldn't rain any harder... it did. Riding slow, leading the group, hair pin turns would suddenly jump up out of the limited sight distance.

In the midst of all this, a Church appeared off to my left. It had a foyer and porch with a couple of lights burning. I put on my turn signal and pulled in, onto the porch, followed by my companions. Ahhh...out of the rain we were. Looking through the rain, I could have sworn that I saw someone on a bicycle coming down the hill. As I stared at the apparition it seemed to vanish. I mentioned it to Jay and Jesse.

As the rain pounded on the tin roof of the Church I heard a distinct "Crack". Jesse and Jay heard it also. We thought it was maybe a tree branch breaking in the wind.

We began to stretch out on the concrete floor to relax as best as we could to wait out the rain. After a while the rain did begin to subside. We heard more of the "Crack" sounds. My son, who is a cop, became very alert to these sounds telling Jay and I to shut up so he could listen better. I walked to the end of the porch in the direction that this noise was coming from. As I stood there at the end of the porch...something impacted the wall about four feet to my left and immediately (half a second maybe) I heard the distinct report of a rifle shot. I instinctively ducked back onto the porch. As I turned to my two companions, no words were necessary. We all knew what was going on. We decided right then and there that it was time to go .Another round ricocheted off the concrete not far from our feet. Being a cop, Jesse is always packing. Jay has a concealed carry permit and was packing as well. They both had their hands on their pieces as I rolled the bikes off of the porch, out into the parking area away from the direction of the gun fire. We agreed to fire the bikes up simultaneously and get the **** out of there. There was no cell service,and if there were there was no time to use it if there were.

That's it. I swear on a stack of Bibles that this true and accurate.

 

[bob]

Doesn't get more "exciting" than that!


ps- moved to Touring and Ride Reports forum since that's what this thread is about.

 

[V0X]

wow, what a ride report! Next time you're near Chattanooga, give me a shout!

 

[shane]

SEE??? I've said it a million times: we need quality aftermarket rocket launcher options for these bikes. There just aren't many choices out there right now.

 

[sleepngbear]

SEE??? I've said it a million times: we need quality aftermarket rocket launcher options for these bikes. There just aren't many choices out there right now.

And that's just for my morning commute. Although I'd be happy with a couple of chain guns. And a couple of pocket grenades for those a-holes who can't put their $#[email protected]%&+ cell phones down.

But geez, Strat, that's not an experience I think I'd care to relive again any time soon. Glad you guys made it out of there in one piece.

 

[TennesseeSmith]

I've stopped at a couple of Churches along that stretch of TN68 and never had any issues. I've always felt safer stopping at a Church.

When I was down there in August, I noticed that most of the Churches had paved their parking lots.

Anyone who would shoot at a Church building just might find himself in a special part of **** someday.

 

[TennesseeSmith]

Admins,

We are all grown ups here. In the context of a discussion involving Churches we ought to be able to use the word "****".

 

[jeffz]

Admins,

We are all grown ups here. In the context of a discussion involving Churches we ought to be able to use the word "****".

Agreed! Saw your post above, and my first reaction was, did he really feel it necessary not to type the word 'h3ll'?

 

[coneye]

Why did'nt Jesse and Jay , pull there weapons ,, run round the back , hit the woods , and sneak up like ****** , and blow his head off ,, thats what they would do in the movies .

Seriously though , here in Aust , i'll tell you rang the police and reported that , they would scour high and low to find the culprit .. If it was a POLICEMAN they shot at ,, Jeez they would have the black trackers , dog squad and the army joining in to look has well ,, It certainly would'nt be took lightly and left alone .

Then again we don't have the same gun culture ,, it was on the news only yesterday here , some guy got caught making guns and was given 10 years ,,, mind you 2 off them guns were took away from 1% bikie gangs .

 

[FatStrat]

Why did'nt Jesse and Jay , pull there weapons ,, run round the back , hit the woods , and sneak up like ****** , and blow his head off ,, thats what they would do in the movies .

Seriously though , here in Aust , i'll tell you rang the police and reported that , they would scour high and low to find the culprit .. If it was a POLICEMAN they shot at ,, Jeez they would have the black trackers , dog squad and the army joining in to look has well ,, It certainly would'nt be took lightly and left alone .


Then again we don't have the same gun culture ,, it was on the news only yesterday here , some guy got caught making guns and was given 10 years ,,, mind you 2 off them guns were took away from 1% bikie gangs .

Number one...you don't pull your weapon unless you are going to fire it. However ... they were one step short of that with their hands on them at the ready. Two...going tactical on an unknown assailant in unfamiliar territory in the dark and rain should be considered last. With the gun culture in this country alot of people are equipped with some high tech gear. What if we went tactical and this person had night vision? Could have resulted in three shot up motorcyclists.
There were no swat teams, police investigations, swarms of cop cars, stacks of paperwork, T.V. news crews and reporteretts.
The tact we took was risky but...the outcome was okay.

 

[coneye]

Glad you were not injured or worse ,, I think without a doubt my cell phone Once in range , would of been going hot to inform police ,, next time he might hit someone

 

[FatStrat]

Well...here it is a year later. My son, Jay and myself have just completed another yearly pilgrimage to Birmingham (Barbers Vintage Rally) and then a few days of camping in the Smokies.
We had agreed to return to the church where we were shot at to locate and photograph the bullet holes that would surely be there. Be there they were. There were more than we had anticipated. There were a half dozen or more. One was an arms length away from where I had stood. Another was about a 12 inches from my foot.
I tried to figure out how to get the pictures from my phone into this computer to include them in this post but failed. Gonna have to get someone to show me how.

FS

 

[willajabir]

@FatStrat,
You can use Tapatalk to post pictures direct from the phone to the board. That is a forum app, if you are unfamiliar with it.
You can use any cloud (online) hosting site and link to it also.
I just posted an example in the help section if using a browser.
http://www.ctx1300forum.com/forum/forum-information-help/14041-how-post-pictures-preferred.html
Hope this helps.

 

[FatStrat]

Thanks for that! Now let's see if I did it right.



That is the exact spot where I was when the bullets started coming in.
From a slightly different angle...



This is fun...think I'll throw in an other one...
This is our campsite in the "Joyce Kilmer National Park"about twenty miles from Robbinsville NC

 

[Greystoke]

Wait! What? I thought "****" meant something else! ****!


Great story; great pics! Glad it went well for you. Not sure if I would have ever gone back to check the results. It would have been my luck that the shooter would have been feeling nostalgic on the very same day! "Hey, let's go out the that old church and sight-in the new rifle!"


Shane, rocket launchers are right next to the pontoons. Don't know how you could miss 'em.