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I asked for head count on this ride about six days early so I could give the restaurant, Erwin's, a ball park figure of how many folks to expect. At first the e-mails sort of dribbled in, a rider here a couple there and I was beginning to sense a lack of interest, that is until Thursday. That's when the calls and e-mails really began and before it was over we had an almost full crew. We ended up with thirty four members and guests, eleven bikes plus two cars and a pickup truck. Not to bad when you consider the temps that would rise into triple digits before the day was over.
I think the restaurant was a bit overwhelmed although I did call 'em Saturday around three to and give 'em a ball park figure of thirty to thirty-five. But still it took them over an hour to get everybody served. But as usual, it's not the destination that's important, it's the journey. And the roads made this journey a hit. Roads with names like Indian Creek, Shiloh and Rocky Branch. Just the names conjure up adventure. It was hot, like 105 heat indices but the roads kept us in the shade most of the way and that really helped. There was a chance of rain but all we saw were a few sprinkles and distant thunderstorms.
It was almost dark when we finally worked our way out of downtown Bride's metropolitan center. We took the Pill Jerk connector to the Mt. Lebanon exit. From there we rode to the top of the mountain and exited off on to the Leigh's Chapel turnpike that took us to Rialto, birthplace of Isaac Hayes, and then picked up US 51 south.
Between Atoka and Millington, riders started peeling off for home and by the time Hildia and I turned on Germantown Parkway we had been reduced to just two bikes, ours and guest rider Kent Brandon's Shadow. We waved adios to Kent then peeled off on Rock Creek and headed for the barn. We rolled into the drive at 9:23 and as I shut the engine down I thanked the Good Lord out loud for another fun and safe ride. If you were with us, it was good to see you again. If you weren't, we missed you.
Roll Call: Charlie & Darnell Gibson, Terry Taylor and Gwen, Buck & Donna Perminter, Richard & Donna Hightower, Rick & Dana Totty, Howard Entman, Dan Randall, Tim & Linda Duncan, Lou & Carla Nathan, Todd Simpson, Stan & Nina Viets, Mike & Bonnie Zioski, Hildia Max & yours truly plus one guest rider, Kent Brandon. We had several non riding guests join us as well; Wayne Max, Andrea & Abby Zikoski, Bob & Sue Neal and last but certainly not least, Danny & Janie Max.
A few worthless statistics about this ride: We rode a total of 101.2 miles and averaged 41.3 MPH. Our maximum speed was 67.7 MPH and actual time in the saddle; 2:27:11
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