Did You Hear The One About The German, Italian & Japanese?

Well they got together to ride in north Georgia on April Fool’s Day.

Donna and I on the BMW K1200LT, Yaniv and Shannon on his Moto Guzzi and Sean and Christine on the Kawasaki Concours met at Rider’s Hill in Dahlonega and rode for a while in north Georgia.  We rode US 19 to Turner’s Corner and up Blood Mountain (US 129) and over the Richard B. Russell HWY before heading to lunch at the Batesville General Store.

The German, Italian and Japanese

After lunch we headed back towards Helen where we waved goodbye to Yaniv and Shannon.  Sean, Christine, Donna and I headed off for another ride on the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway and then on over to Wolf Pen Gap Rd.  From there it was back down to Dahlonega and to home.  It was literally a full day of riding.  Donna and I rode a total of 261 miles today.  The Magic Carpet is parked now with 64,292 total miles on it.

Riding season is getting into full swing here in the south.  The parking lot at Rider’s Hill was full of motorcycles and was packed as we rode past in the afternoon.  Motorcycles seemed to be everywhere on the roads.  We’re lucky here that we can pretty much ride year round but things are really picking up!

The ground centerstand on the right side.

We were having a bit of a “spirited” ride today and from Dahlonega to lunch I was pulling up the rear.  There were a few times I heard the sidestand on the left side of the motorcycle dragging and scraping in turns on Blood Mountain and the Richard B. Russell Scenic HWY.  But on the R. B. Russell today I was scraping the right side of the centerstand pretty good!  I was using it like a curb feeler!  Now, in the picture you’ll see the stand looks like it’s ground down at an angle.  I did not do that today!  The outside edges of the centerstand are angled to provide ground clearance already.  But the bottom is supposed to be flat and not have that lip I put on it today!  It was really good to get out and ride like that and lean into those curves again.  Over the winter, I had re-painted the parts of the sidestand that I had scraped last year and now I need to re-paint it already.  Oh well.  That’s what motorcycling is about, having fun.

We fueled up in Suches at Wolf Pen Gap RD and GA HWY 60 with some ethanol free premium unleaded and I lead the two motorcycles home from there.  I wanted to show Sean and Christine a different way home for a nice ride that didn’t include the highway that we usually take once we get to Jasper.

Looking down the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway

Valley from overlook on Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway

Mountain view from Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway

The Japanese, Italian & German (L to R) on the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway.

The German, Italian and Japanese

Lunch at the Batesville General Store

The ground centerstand on the right side.

The ground sidestand on the left side.