It was a great day for a ride -- the weather was beautiful! We had fifteen (15) bikes, and twenty-one (21) riders along with four (4) traveling via cage. A great turnout! Needless to say, we were greeted at the Roo by plenty of friendly smiling faces, some of which were new or we haven't seen in awhile. It was great to see Phillip and Kathy (Skidz) from Boone, Tammy from Wisconsin, Tyler (Flip-Flop's offspring) from Seattle along with Jack (Kris Kringle), who Ron invited and suckered me into believing he was a novice rider -- joke was on me for believing a yarn from Ron or anything any Southern Cruiser says for that matter! LOL
It was great to Brian and Connie, along with Phyllis and Little Man, who traveled via cage. Deb was doling out hugs, as Susan and Steve were out enjoying the road and camaraderie on her new ride, a nice two tone blue with red medallions (and way more comfortable) Softail! It was great to see Micky and Linnea, along with Godfather and Pistol Pete and Mikey! Shelly was riding with Travis, while Pam rode with TJ, along with Tammy and Phil who ended up racing down Old Maple Hill -- but more on that later! As you can tell, we had a great turn out!
Appreciate Travis assisting with calling ahead to reserve at Twin Peaks, along with Mikey for the tail-gun, and TJ who was the pivot in the middle, since we had such a large group. We departed the Roo on 117, then 210, and a quick exit to Shaw Hwy, bound for Old Maple Hill Road. We traveled one up several times during the route in an attempt to enjoy the weather, road, and wind in our faces! Once we arrived at OMHR, we let those who wanted to "run" it peel off -- funny because more people ended up running OMHR than those that chose to stay with the pack -- so essentially, the pack (since there were more) ran OMHR -- in true Southern Cruiser fashion -- more wind, more bugs, and more speed! LOL Once everyone linked back together, we took a right on Hwy 53, until we hit some additional back roads, before popping out on Hwy 24, leading us to Hwy 17 and eventually our destination of Twin Peaks, in Jacksonville NC.
Twin Peaks provided excellent costumer service, as they had three staff members/servers, waiting for us and we were quickly seated, and orders taken -- I think the most popular dish was pot roast, in honor of Shorty! There was plenty of gabbing, and plenty of food -- the only draw back was with such a large crowd is that you don't get a chance to chat with everyone for long due to different tables -- yet everyone made up for that out in the parking lot, along with our comfort stop of New River Harley -- where everyone exploited the opportunity to gab, gab, and gab some more!!!
Some people peeled off from HD bound for Wilmington, but appreciate Travis taking the lead back. In total we traveled 143 miles, enjoyed Old Maple Hill Road along with some country roads, some great company and camaraderie, and paused to remember a great Southern Cruiser, and one hell of a guy!!!
Until next time -- keep smiling, and keep riding!