23 June (320 miles)
Monday's route was planned to be Willville to TWO (Suches GA).
| We had breakfast at the Mabry Mill restaurant, then headed south on the Parkway. I truly enjoy riding on the Parkway. Pure. Peaceful. Chan and I took Squirrel Spur down to Friends Mission and met Bill at the intersection of Hwy 52 and the BRP. |
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The Tail of the Squirrel |
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Bill was waiting for us, taking action shots. |
Parkway Views |
| We'd wound down to a lookout at Mt. Jefferson where we decided to take a break, and some pics. This gent on a Duc stopped in shortly after and he was kind enough to let us drool over his bike. A nice specimen with some slick, and well-planned, mods. He was from the area and was out and about, taking pictures for a web-site. |
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While at Mt.
Jefferson, we found that Bill's rear tire was down to the belts and badly needed
to be replaced. Hmmm. It was Monday so most bike shops would be closed, fewer
of those open would have experience replacing BMW tires/wheels, and still fewer
of those would have the correct tire to mount. Phone calls and Zumo searches
yielded a Honda shop in Asheville that could do the job. The problem was that
Asheville was over 2 hours away; an eternity when riding on a bald tire.
Time was getting short so we headed out with plans to stop in Boone (on a BRP
detour route) and check to see what it could offer. We took it easy on the BRP
to Boone. In Boone, we stopped at a CVS so Bill could check the phone book for a possible hit. Could we be lucky enough to find a place there? Evidently so. Bill came out of the store with the name and address of a local bike shop that could fill the bill. He'd called and heard, "Yeah, we work on BMW's all the time, and we have a tire in stock. We'll work you right in." What luck. We're headed to Kimberly Lane in Boone, NC. |
Now, owning a BMW brings with it certain responsibilities. Hans and Frans are quite particular about what happens to "their" bikes and are careful to provide precise instructions to BMW owners regarding maintenance and repairs. Bill's experience with Ms. Tamoca at the BMW in Tallahassee was a testament to this: Orderly shops, technical accuracy, and clean, particular technicians -- the BMW way. No shortcuts, no compromises. During his search for service, Bill was justifiably concerned about receiving the proper technical support for his RT and was glad to speak with Ed and learn of his confidence in working on BMWs. The planets had lined up for us, and we'd be riding in no time. I was partially right.
With the help of the Zumo, we found Ed's shop. It was behind a small residential area, down a gravel road. Hmmm… A grey tin-roofed shop surrounded by a bone yard of old bikes of every sort. This was the anti-BMW establishment. I fully expected Bill’s bike to self-destruct in order to defend its virtue. Hans and Frans would not be amused, but it was entertaining for Chan and I. It was stressful for Bill. To say the least, he monitored actions closely. I snapped pictures. To top it off, Ed's credit card machine did not work (turned out later that it had, and had billed with every swipe...$$). He wanted cash. Great. Off to an ATM as our collective cash balances did not add up to the ransom.
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The Boneyard. |
"You want HOW MUCH for that tire?" |
In the final analysis, the tire was replaced in relative short order - I'd say a total of 2 hours delay. Very quick considering where we were. I hope to be as lucky when Chan needs a tire.
Bill writes about the tire situation:
Taking a rest on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Marc, Chan and I were greeted by a local gent riding a Ducati 1000DS – niiiiiiiiiiiice bike. Up for some morning photography, he was scouting for just the right spot to shoot photos of the great state of Virginia. While we all were admiring his steed, and making comparisons of our own bikes, I noticed that my practically new Metzler rear tire was worn down to the steel belt. Yikes! We were located two hours ride East of Asheville on the Parkway, and to make matters worse – it was Monday, most bike shops are closed on Mondays. We made several calls to shops in the area – Lana contacted at home to perform Google searches (thank you Lana) with a little luck – one Honda shop was open in Asheville and did have the correct tire, but, alas Asheville was over 100 miles away; it did not appear that the tire would hold out that long. (Time digression: Upon my arrival at BRMC on the first day, Chan had expressed concern for the condition of the rear tire. At that time, it did look worn. But I had just put the tire on the bike not 1500 miles prior; so I was somewhat confused. I then rationalized the situation by concluding that although the tire was worn, it would certainly last the trip and get me home. 1500 miles plus 1500 miles on the current trip equals 3000 miles – well below the standard mileage life of a rear. This turned out to be wrong, indeed, very wrong.) We decided to limp to Boone NC – approximately 35 miles. Once there we pulled into a Walgreens so that I might be able to canvas the local bike shops using the Yellow pages, to see who was open. Stamey’s Cycle center was open and eager to do business. Good thing, because the Metzler my bike was now an absolute danger to safety. Mr. Stamey had a Dunlop of sufficient proportion to get the RT back to safe riding condition; and although not an authorized bimmer dealership, he and his staff did a great job of dismantling the rear of the bike and mounting a new tire – without a single scratch I might add. Normally, a tire failure such as this, in such a remote area, on a Monday, would translate to Lost Day. However, in this case, and in record time, (under two hours) the three of us were back on the trail, and on our way South to BRMC.
Back to Marc's narrative:
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Off to lunch at the Mountain House restaurant in Boone NC. Whew. Some time to cool down and gather ourselves after the tire ordeal. To help, the waitress spilled diet coke in Bill's lap. Chan smiled and didn't take his eyes off of his laptop. We had some good food and did some re-planning of timelines and routes. TWO was too far to make today so our new destination was the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Camp in Cruso, NC. |
| After lunch, we
continued down the BRP to Hwy 80. (Chan and I had an “emergency” stop at
Linville Falls – evidently, that roast for lunch wasn’t the right choice.) We
were headed up to Burnsville, Hwy 19. From there we'd head west to Hwy 209. 209 south of Hot Springs was an awesome road, with great views and twisties. I hope to ride it again someday. >>>
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We stopped at Ingles in Waynesville for some subs -- we'd bring them back to BRMC for dinner.
It was dark riding from there to BRMC, which by the way is not something I prefer to do. Riding in the dark on very secondary roads (without reflectors) required full attention. BRMC was a welcome site. The evening was cool and dry. Cell service, finally.
