Two Wheel Travelers: A Most Excellent Motorbike Vacation - STAR 2011

Day 1 - Saturday, June 25 - 176 miles

Good Stuff in Marshall - Car Show! - Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn

The beaST is heavily laden: 7.7 gallons of fuel, full tank bag, tail bag and side cases. Roo and I are geared up and ready to ride. Roo, of course, as befits her, is wearing her helmet bunny ears.With a big heave ho and a bit of well placed leverage, I lift the beaST off her sidestand. Roo climbs on board, the big V4 roars to life and we're rolling. Johnson City here we come!

For the unitiated, this is our big Honda ST1300 aka the beaST......

.... and this is the beauty. Looks more like a pissed off bunny.

The ride to Asheville, NC is fantastic - a beautiful sunny day to begin a tour. We took some nice twisty roads up to Asheville so as to get ready for riding two up on the curvaceous mountain roads around Johnson City. As we approached the cluster f_ _ _ _ that is I-40, I-240 and local roads all converging at the same spot in Asheville, I began to pucker up. Just last week a friend and I were riding through this same interstate maze on a Sunday and it took all my riding skills to get through the throngs of panic stricken church goers who were late for service or late for their post church lunch. Whew! That was about a SPF (sphincter pucker factor) 50.
But today, it was smooth sailing, with no pucker factor at all (it was also Saturday!). Leaving Asheville behind and feeling a bit peckish - it was time for a lunch stop in the little hamlet of Marshall, NC. Marshall is a tiny little town, kind of forgotten between Asheville to the south and Hot Springs just to the north. It is a cycling (bicycles) hotbed, popular with Asheville cyclists for the roads in the area that run along the French Broad River. A great little cafe has sprung up in the last year or two - Good Stuff Coffee & Tea Cafe. All I can say is, try this place. The food here is absolutely fantastic. You can eat indoors or alfresco. I've eaten here two weekends in a row and have not been disappointed.

Marshall, NC - lost in time

Good Stuff Cafe - it is really good stuff!

Alfresco dining at Good Stuff

Belly's full, it's time to move on. Greeneville, TN is the next big town on our route, and getting there is a blast. NC Hwy 208 is our asphalt of choice, and it has more curves than Angelina Jolie. Long sweepers, tight switchbacks, little farm towns, chasing dogs and cow patties in the road make for a very entertaining ride. What a hoot! Hwy 208 changes to TN Hwy 70 as we cross the state line and link up with Hwy 321 into Greeneville. What a little gem of a surprise! We take 321 Business into downtown and come upon a classic car show on Main St! "Roo, can we stop pleeeaaasse?" "Yes, YES!" I park the ST and we walk up a block to the car show. It's huge! Classic cars everywhere! Roo and I are classic car buffs and really appreciate the workmanship and aesthetics of these old automobiles. Downtown Greeneville is quite a surprise too. A very nice downtown with cafes and coffee houses. Might make for a good RTE (ride to eat) someday. Here are some pics of downtown Greeneville, TN and beautiful classic automobiles:

Downtown Greeneville, TN

I think we've got the better ride for this trip

How would you like to see this coming at you in your rear view?
Steel is real!

Damn! That's sexy...........

Tee hee........ You just have to smile.

Remember Cristine?

We spent a good 11/2 to 2 hours drooling over these cars. Now it was time to gear up and ride the last leg into Johnson City. Our accomodations for the rally was the Best Western Hotel. The host hotel was the Holiday Inn, but it filled up so fast we were put in the spillover hotel. The Best Western left a bit to be desired. They were renovating, so there was much construction going on. On top of that, the room above us sprung a water leak that was flowing down into our room. Our good friend and fellow club member from Rhode Island, Jon, arrived after an 804 mile day and roomed with us this night. In the morning, he went to the host hotel and inquired about any cancellations they might have. As luck would have it, they had two rooms available for us! Way to go Jon! You've probably heard the song lyrics "hotel, motel, Holiday Inn. If your girl starts acting up, ask to take her friend...." And that's just what we did! Packed up, scooted across the street to STAR central and settled comfortably in a beautiful hotel with our fellow club members. Let the festivities begin!