Rode up from Birmingham to Johnson City, TN to visit Suzanne's kin folks, this weekend. We left Saturday morning and took mostly interstate in the interest of time savings...up 59, to 24, through Chattanooga, then 75 to Knoxville (traffic was horrible because of UT football game and some construction. Stopped by Johnson City HD before arriving at Suzanne's sister and brother in law's house...beautiful place with deer in the backyard, nice outdoor eating/sitting areas...after having a few breskies [smiley=drink.gif] [smiley=drink.gif], had a great meal, and a homemade birthday cake in my honor, her nephew's, whose birthday is later this month. Homemade margahooties too!! [smiley=huepfenjump3.gif] [smiley=huepfenjump3.gif]
Left their house early morning today...it was prett cool...in the high 50's, but a great ride through a pastoral setting, with lots of old barns, mist settled in the fields....a great ride back out to the slab to make the run to Knoxville to meet Jorge and his wife, Martha from brunch at 10:00. They are riding from their home in West Palm to Ottawa, then with a group of 500 bikes back to DC. They rode up from Chattanooga this morning to meet us and help me celebrate getting one year older. I cannot speak highly enough about Jorge and Martha...they are exactly the kind of people I thought they would be...salt of the earth, and simply a true joy to be with. I am honored that they took the time to meet us!! Jorge and Martha had already surprised both me and Suzanne with a t-shirt (for me) from Bogata, Columbia HD, and a beautiful light wool poncho for Suzanne. We had a little something for them as well.
We had a great meal and visit, then said our goodbyes so they could head North to Lexington, KY or beyond.
Suzanne and I rode back home via old Hwy 11 from Knoxville....a long day, but great weather. The only near mishap was when I was following an old Blazer, thankfully from a good safe distance, when I saw the hood come unlatched and fly back, covering up the windshield of course, so the driver locked the brakes...thank God the hood did not come off and fly back into the road!! The woman driving managed to get safely stopped in the middle of the road, so we were able to safely slow and move around the vehicle. That is NOT something one expects to see following a cage!! Fortunately, I was paying attention and saw the whole thing unfold in front of me.
All in all, a great weekend, spent with great people. Everyone going to MV is in for a real treat in meeting Jorge and his beautiful wife, Martha. They are kind and generous people....I am proud to say they are our new friends, and hope to see more of them in the next few months.
Attached are a couple of pics we took....the good looking ones first. We were wearing our gifts from them!
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Topic: Birthday Weekend Ride (Read 1652 times)