Road Trip

So, last Friday, I get home from work, and Chris is tinkering on his motorcycle. He tells me we are taking a road trip and heading to Helen for the weekend. Even though I know the answer, I ask it anyway - are we going on the motorcycle? Yes was the answer that he gave me.

He decides that I need some sunglasses because my glasses don't tint and we will be heading into the sun at times. So, what do we do but go to Walgreens for "old" sunglasses. Yep, we bought a $15 pair of clip on sunglasses. So what, I'm going to have a helmet with a visor on it. No one will be able to tell.

We buy a few soft drinks for the cooler that he has so cleverly rigged to the back of the bike. It was a soft cooler with a strap. I was pretty impressed with the set up.

We pack light, and about 9 am we set off. It's cold, so I'm happy to have all of the cold weather gear we bought.

The sun was bright so I was so happy for my oh so pretty clip on sunglasses. We stopped in a town about 30 minutes from home and got some breakfast. Then it was back on the road. I'm a fidgeter, trying to get comfortable, and of course, talking to Chris isn't an option because first of all he's concentrating on driving and secondly, he can't hear me. The glasses are bugging me, so I just barely reach under the visor and push them up a bit and even though I had the visor down, they fly off, and out onto the road. We were coming up to a stop sign just then, so I motioned Chris to pull over. I told him what happened, so we turned back and pulled off the road and Chris found them.

They were only slightly damaged, but enough so they wouldn't clip back on. Well, not only am I a fidgeter, I'm frugal about some things, and they were brand new $15 as good as they can get clip on sunglasses, and it was bright out there. Now, I *needed* them. Chris, being resourceful, got a zip tie out of his handy dandy tool kit, and zip tied those suckers right on my glasses.

I couldn't help but laugh, but oh well, we're on an adventure, and I can always take the whole kit and kaboodle off when we're around people. I can see up close just fine, but when it comes to reading signs, well, that's a different story. So, all is good.

Riding along in a sidecar is kinda cool. You definitely get to see things differently, everything seems clearer. You get all the smells, it's just sorta a "free" feeling. Well, that is unless you're looking to the left because when you turn that way, the driver is all you can see and that view stays the same.

Since I mentioned smells, I should tell you that for some reason, it must have been polecat season (skunks to those who aren't familiar with that term). I counted 7 - dead, stinky, smelly polecats roundtrip. And when you're that close to them, well UGH! So yeah, you get the smells! Fresh cut grass - good, dead polecats - bad.

Even when you have great scenery, the ride sort of gets mesmerizing. You can't talk to anyone, you can't fiddle with your iPhone because you need the gloves because it is cold and the sunshine makes it hard to see the screen. What options do you have? You fall asleep. Chris said some lady pointed, he said it looked like he had a dead body with him. I can only imagine... that helmet surely made me top heavy. It had to be hysterical. What's the movie - Weekend at Bernie's?

It's time for a pit stop. We found a nice spot to pull over, and just down the hill was a convenience store, so I decided to walk down there to take care of business and to get some Skittles, the sugar rush from them always keeps me awake.

I walk back up the hill, and burst out laughing, Chris wants to know what is so funny... I had left my zip tied clip on sunglasses on the entire time I was in the store. So much for people not seeing me up close!

We make it to Helen at 2:15 after several breaks, so all in all, the actual tire to road part of the trip was like it should be, but we added lots of time because of all of the stops. Zip tying sunglasses adds more time than you'd think to your trip.

We had no idea where we were going to stay, and for those of you have been to Helen, traffic starts backing up as you get into town, so it is stop and go. We passed a couple of the standard motels, figuring we'd come back if we couldn't find somewhere to stay. We always rent a cabin, and we'd never really paid attention to what other lodging was available. We pull into the Helendorf Inn, and they had a vacancy, so we took a room. We paid just a smidge extra and got a room overlooking the river. The same river we'd floated down on our last trip. Suddenly, we were the people standing on the balcony watching the floaters. Only, there were no floaters at this time of year, but you get the idea.

We notice motorcycles everywhere. The lady at the desk asked Chris if we were there for the ride. He told her no and asked what kind of ride, it was for a police officer. I would imagine that with the turn out, it was a successful ride.

We get unpacked and head out, I want to walk, but Chris wants to ride through town. Anyway, the Hofer's is too far. I tried to tell him it wasn't, but he insisted. So, we put all the gear back on, and we get a UDF before we can even get on the bike. A UDF is the "Ural Delay Factor" which must be built into any trip. We had several along the way. Basically, what it is, is that you are a rock star on a sidecar. People want to walk up and tell you how cool the bike is, and they ask all sorts of engine questions and drive train questions as I zone out. So, once the UDF is over, we strike out. Chris was amazed at how close Hofer's was. I'm feeling a little smug about being right. We barely get off the bike and we get another UDF. This time, wife and kids are involved. Both boys had to take turns in the sidecar. Which, it was kind of fun to see them awestruck. We really WERE rock stars this time. So, we had new friends who kept talking to us in the restaurant/bakery. We weren't there for a meal, just for the cookies I've been thinking about since our last trip, which of course, they don't make anymore and the girl behind the counter just had a blank look on her face when I tried to explain to her what they were. Our new friends even questioned us about our food choices. They really were polite, but Chris and I haven't been able to talk to each other for hours and hours, move along people. Then, we took a short ride up around Unicoi, curves and hills.

Back to the Inn, we park the bike and strike out on foot. After a while, we get to the restaurant we'd planned to go to for supper. Old Bavarian Inn I think is the name, it's the one that is in the alley, down from the fudge shop. The food was great, our waitress was weird, but who cares, we're enjoying our German fare.

We wandered around the shops. Chris wanted a sticker that he could put on his bike, nothing girly, just a sticker that said Helen on it. I found the perfect one for him in the Emporium. It was oval, white with black trim and said HLN. Just what he wanted.

There's a leather shop, we head in - we were amazed at the selection of leather motorcycle gear they had in that little store. Lots of big sizes that you can't really find at the typical stores. Chris is a big and tall sort of guy. They didn't have the actual style he was looking for, but saw lots he might consider in the future. I told him that I wanted some sort of bag that I could hang on the bar in front of me to put a few things I'd like to keep handy instead of having to dig for them. (read - iPhone and Skittles). We actually found the perfect bag, and with the ingenuity of both of us, we rigged it just like I had in mind. I could even attach the charger cord to the iPhone so it gave me some added security that it was anchored. We both got new gloves. Mine keep my hands WARM!!! Chris's just added to his Rock Star status.

I started feeling funny, dizzy - which for those of you who know me, this is a regular occurrence, but one that has decreased A LOT since I've been diagnosed with pernicious anemia and have been on B12 injections. I love, love, love B12!! We go back to the room "just for a little while", but I fall asleep. I keep trying to get up, but it's not happening. Chris started watching a Myth Busters marathon, and when I finally wake up enough to actually get up, he's engrossed. So, we decide that relaxation in the room with the sound of the river is just fine with us and we stay inside the rest of the night.

Up early, we walk to Hofer's for breakfast. They have a great breakfast. We got there just before the line started forming which is usually long at peak times. We start heading back just as the shops started opening. We found some great things in a shop we'd never really seen before, it's one of the downstairs shops that somehow we'd missed on all of our trips. It's kind of a flea market type store with different vendors, artists, etc. Lots of variation. Great shopping.

It's time to head home. It's another beautiful day for riding a motorcycle. We couldn't have asked for better weather the entire trip. About an hour from home, it's time to put on the extra layers. A few UDF's on the return trip and we get home around 5:30 and have a nice evening before the end of the weekend hits us in the face. Thank goodness I did the laundry Friday night after he told me we were taking a road trip. It would have been a bummer to have to deal with that when we got home.

I did post pictures & updates on Facebook along the way which was fun, something new, and my Mom got to know that we were safe.