So this is my brother riding on his Honda XL 125 Motorcycle and me riding on my dad’s 1971 Honda CB 100 Motorcycle. I think it was around 1976 because of the car. We were at my Aunt and Uncle’s lake house. For me this is where my love for riding motorcycles started. Any time I could get my dad’s bike I would ride all the back roads around home. After graduating from high school and after I got my first real job, I bought my first car and then I bought my first motorcycle. That would be a 1982 Honda 250. So I rode that bike every where. My good friend and neighbor started riding with me on the back of my bike because she liked to ride as much as I did. Her husband would be sitting on the porch watching us ride off just laughing.
Riding Motorcycles With Friends
Now this is what it is all about. Every Saturday morning we would meet at my neighbors house, and would circle around our bikes and have a prayer for safe travels and head out for a nice day trip. First of all it was about the ride and then the food. We all had our different brands and style of motorcycles that we liked to ride. For a group of middle aged adults back then, this was our time to act like kids. Check out the second picture. This is what Lamberts is known for. Throwing those homemade hot rolls. Humm Good.
Remember the neighbor that use to watch me and his wife ride off on my Honda 250. He decided he wanted to buy my motorcycle for him and his wife. So I sold him the motorcycle. After awhile a few of the couples at Church started to ride with them to go eat somewhere. Because I was ready to get back on a motorcycle, I bought me a brand new 1997 Honda 250 Rebel. Our first motorcycle ride as a group was to Land Between The Lakes. I had no idea how small that 250cc was until it came to riding and keeping up with the bigger motorcycles on the interstate.
Riding A Larger Motorcycle
But this was my most comfortable motorcycle I have ever owned and rode. It was a 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan Classic 900 cc. I put the backrest on it. And the bike came with the full foot rest extended out. It was an awesome ride. I rode to the Outer Banks with a group of friends. This picture was in the parking garage in Nags Head NC. We stayed right on the beach. There was so much to do and see. We rode a little over 2,060 miles on that trip.
Riding A Motorcycle on The Dragon
This was my largest motorcycle I rode. It was an 1100 Yamaha VStar. I put over 25,000 miles on this one. The Dragon is 11 miles of 311 switch back curves in the road. The road on the map is also known as 129. The road starts at Maryville, TN and ends at the bottom in South Carolina right in the middle of the Smokey Mountains. It was a beautiful ride and scary ride too. We also rode the Natchez Trace Parkway out of Nashville, TN all the way to Natchez Mississippi. The Natchez Trace is closed to commercial traffic and the speed limit was 45 mph. It was a very relaxing ride because it was just cars and passenger trucks. We arrived the next evening in Natchez Mississippi. It was a beautiful town full of a lot of history. You will have to check it out.
Our Motorcycle Ride To Canada
So our trip was to Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island. The next morning we got our tickets for our boat ride over to the island. Which was awesome. We went our own direction to enjoy what we wanted to do. It was a lot of shops so I got me a frozen Snickers bar, a Diet Coke and went to the beach and watched the big cargo ships pass by. We met back at the motel and ate a early supper and got on our motorcycles and rode across the Mackinaw Bridge. That was a big WOW by the way. We stopped at a lock and dam to watch a boat go through the locks and discovered we were just 50 miles from the boarder. This was before 911 so drivers license is all we needed. We stopped at a Burger King in Sault Ste Marie and got us a drink and some Canadian change and come on back. On the way home we toured a light house on lake Michigan. The wind blew so hard it blew sand onto the roads which made for a slippery ride on the bikes. Another great motorcycle vacation. I will stop right here.
My Only Regret Was……
Not keeping a traveling journal. The internet was just becoming popular so I couldn’t blog about it then. Thanks for letting me go back to some great memories.
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