I had a great weekend. It actually started Thursday afternoon and lasted until Monday afternoon. I went on a mini motorcycle vacation with my brother and nephew. Our destination was Corbin, KY to meet up with a bunch of Sport Touring guys. We weren’t planning on hanging out with them, but it was a convenient excuse to ride around that area of the country.
Thursday evening we made it down to southern Indiana and spent the night at a Lee’s Inn. We’ve stayed there twice before. This time, the lady checking us in was one of the least helpful people I think I have run across in the hotel business. We asked for a Roll-away bed. Her response was “We don’t have any.” Then, as if thinking we would mention that we knew they had roll-aways, she said… “They are all being used.” By the looks of the parking lot, we could see that they only had about 6 rooms booked that night… I guess everyone had a few roll-aways reserved.
We are pretty laid back people. We didn’t make a fuss and headed to our room.
They really need to do some cleaning in that place… and replace the carpet. It’s going down hill fast.
Friday was great. Just south of Cincinnati we got on twisty, hilly roads and spent the next 400 miles having fun making our way to Corbin. Mark had a small problem on one of the turns, but after helping him lift pick up his bike, things were back to normal. We got to the hotel in Corbin in the early evening.
Saturday was another great day of riding. I think we put on another 400 miles enjoying some of the finer roads in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. It was almost as if these roads were made for motorcycles. Some of the hair-pin turns would have been difficult to negotiate in a car. I was beat after that full day of riding.
Sunday we started our ride back north. We saw some pretty country and had some fun going around some twisties. Rain caused me to have to slow down quite a bit in some of the sections.
When we got into Illinois, the trouble started. We were in the middle of farm country with nothing but corn as far as you could see. The skies looked threatening and with out warning we were right in the middle of it. Incredible winds from the left with downpours of rain and hail… then the wind started coming from the right. This was no good. Lightning hit about ¼ mile ahead of me – right where Matt was. He came on the radio screaming. I couldn’t understand anything he was saying. I could barely keep my bike upright. There was nowhere we could go. I’ve never been so scared on my bike.
We found a small bar and went inside to get out of the rain. I’ve never was so happy to be in a smoke filled room as I was standing inside that no-name watering hole.
After it stopped raining, we headed north. As we got into Camplaign, IL, the skies looked worse than what we just were in the middle of. Mark made the call to get off the highway and head to a KFC. That was the smartest decision of the weekend.
On Sunday we headed home. I was home around 2:00 pm.
Even with the bad weather, I had a great weekend. Memories from these last few days will be with me for the rest of my life.
Thursday evening we made it down to southern Indiana and spent the night at a Lee’s Inn. We’ve stayed there twice before. This time, the lady checking us in was one of the least helpful people I think I have run across in the hotel business. We asked for a Roll-away bed. Her response was “We don’t have any.” Then, as if thinking we would mention that we knew they had roll-aways, she said… “They are all being used.” By the looks of the parking lot, we could see that they only had about 6 rooms booked that night… I guess everyone had a few roll-aways reserved.
We are pretty laid back people. We didn’t make a fuss and headed to our room.
They really need to do some cleaning in that place… and replace the carpet. It’s going down hill fast.
Friday was great. Just south of Cincinnati we got on twisty, hilly roads and spent the next 400 miles having fun making our way to Corbin. Mark had a small problem on one of the turns, but after helping him lift pick up his bike, things were back to normal. We got to the hotel in Corbin in the early evening.
Saturday was another great day of riding. I think we put on another 400 miles enjoying some of the finer roads in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. It was almost as if these roads were made for motorcycles. Some of the hair-pin turns would have been difficult to negotiate in a car. I was beat after that full day of riding.
Sunday we started our ride back north. We saw some pretty country and had some fun going around some twisties. Rain caused me to have to slow down quite a bit in some of the sections.
When we got into Illinois, the trouble started. We were in the middle of farm country with nothing but corn as far as you could see. The skies looked threatening and with out warning we were right in the middle of it. Incredible winds from the left with downpours of rain and hail… then the wind started coming from the right. This was no good. Lightning hit about ¼ mile ahead of me – right where Matt was. He came on the radio screaming. I couldn’t understand anything he was saying. I could barely keep my bike upright. There was nowhere we could go. I’ve never been so scared on my bike.
We found a small bar and went inside to get out of the rain. I’ve never was so happy to be in a smoke filled room as I was standing inside that no-name watering hole.
After it stopped raining, we headed north. As we got into Camplaign, IL, the skies looked worse than what we just were in the middle of. Mark made the call to get off the highway and head to a KFC. That was the smartest decision of the weekend.
On Sunday we headed home. I was home around 2:00 pm.
Even with the bad weather, I had a great weekend. Memories from these last few days will be with me for the rest of my life.
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