4CT Tour Day +1 - Thursday, June 5th. 08

Tour Day: +1
Day/Date: Thursday, June 5th, 2008
Time Started: 3:45 AM EDST
Time Ended: 1:30 AM EDST
Ending Location: Key West, FL
Total Miles Today: 480
Cumulative Miles: 1266
Low Temp: 80 - Orlando, FL
High Temp: 89 - Key West, FL
Highest Gas Price: $4.09 Homestead, FL
Lowest Gas Price: $3.72 Port St. Lucie, FL
States: FL (4)

I left Orlando early and got a good, cool start down the Florida Turnpike. Aside from being pestered to death with tolls (about $25.00 worth) and heavy traffic in the Fort Lauderdale/Miami area, it was not a bad ride at all. I had forgotten how long the last hundred miles can take riding the Key's. It seemed like the Florida State Police were everywhere.

Both of these pictures were taken as I left Marathon Key, headed south.
I am now in Key West, FL and I have already picked up the information I need to qualify the "corner". Afterward I rode by the Post Office and took the picture in front of their sign. Now all I need is a signed gas receipt and to drop off the envelope at the post office before I leave in the morning.

The traditional shot taken at "The Southernmost Spot" in the USA. Notice, I am not the one in shorts. LOL

I visited the Southern Most Point and took the picture, ate lunch at "Denny's" and logged the secret phone number needed. (Denny's is actually a local restaurant, not the national chain)

The view out my hotel room. It was tough assignment, but somebody had to do it!

SPOT continues to work well.

The official ride begins in the morning when I mail the envelope.

To view my entire trip map page "Click Here"

To view the 24 hour SPOT map "Click Here"

"The needless quashing of free expression is the surest sign of a substandard intelligence"

4CT Tour Day +2 - Wednesday, June 4th. 08

Tour Day: +2 Day
Date: Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
Time Started: 7:15 AM EDST
Time Ended: 11:30 AM EDST
Ending Location: Orlando, FL
Total Miles Today: 241
Cumulative Miles: 886
Low Temp: 75 - Valdosta, GA
High Temp: 89 - Orlando, FL
Highest Gas Price: $4.02 Gainsville, FL
Lowest Gas Price: $3.89 Orlando, FL
States: FL (4)


The day started with a light fog covering the Valdosta, GA area. It didn't take long to find sunshine once I crossed the Florida line and headed south. I stopped once to buy gas at Gainsville, and then continued on the relatively short distance to Orlando to meet my vacationing daughter and her family. As you can see, today will be a fun day with my grandson and a day of rest.

SPOT seems to be working fine on the manual mode. I guess thats how I'll use it for now.


Tomorrow, it's on to Key West and the offical start of the Tour.

To view my entire trip map page "Click Here"

To view the 24 hour SPOT map "Click Here"

Nothing dies faster than a new idea in a closed mind. ~Unknown~

4CT Tour Day +3 - Tuesday, June 3rd 08

The Tour Begins!

Tour Day: +3 Day
Date: Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
Time Started: 6 AM CDST
Time Ended: 5 PM EDST
Ending Location: Valdosta, GA
Total Miles Today: 645
Cumulative Miles: 645
Low Temp: 68 just west of Chattanooga, TN
High Temp: 98 near Unadilla, GA
Highest Gas Price: $3.89 Warner Robbins, GA
Lowest Gas Price: $3.77 Dalton, GA
States: KY, TN, Georgia (3)
Bubba Kolb met me at the PCC to see me off. Kevin Pugh even rode to Clarksville, TN, where we had breakfast before he returned home. I really appreciated the send off.

Downtown Atlanta, surprisingly little traffic for mid-day.


The ride today was an interstate (slab) ride, but, all in all, went really well. I saw a few sprinkles near Manchester, TN and nothing but steadily warming temps the rest of the afternoon. I pretty much think I better get use to the heat because I don't expect it to get any better across the southwest.


I never did get a picture of the elusive 98 degree's I saw a couple of times. You will notice I edited out the speedometer for obvious reasons...

I am having problems with my SPOT tracker. Hopefully I will get the problems worked out soon.

I am staying in a Day's Inn tonight with the worst Wi Fi service I have seen in a while.

Tomorrow will be a short 200 mile (or so) ride into Orlando, FL where I will meet up with my vacationing daughter and her family for the evening.

Every Adventure
big or small
*is* an Adventure
all in all.
So every day:
Give in to the call!

The USA Four Corners Tour

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 marks the start my solo USA Four Corners Adventure. I am riding my 2005 Honda GL1800A Gold Wing.

The USA Four Corners Tour is governed by The Southern California Motorcycle Association (SCMA). The actual 21-day tour (drawn in red.) will, more or less, encompass 8,900 miles, beginning in Key West, FL and ending in Madawaska, Maine. The overall month-long trip will cover about 12,200 miles.

I have four primary goals.

(1.) Successfully complete and certify The USA Four Corners Tour.

(2.) Ride in the seven states I have not yet visited on a motorcycle and complete my 49 state-sign picture collection.

(3.) Use as many of the 21 days allowed as possible, sniff a few flowers, and ride some new and interesting roads.

(4.) Collect at least one National Park Stamp in the states I have not yet visited. (Deleware does not presently have a National Park)

To appease an otherwise very patient wife, I will be utilizing a SPOT Personal Tracker (Satellite Tracking System) which will display my exact location at any given time. I would like to thank Jason Jonas for providing the unique, copyrighted mapping program I will be using for this ride.

A little about the map for those that have never used a Google Earth Map; You will notice arrows on the top left side of the map. These arrows allow you to move the map from side to side and to zoom in and out. You can also move the map by simply left clicking, holding and draging. If you zoom in close and click Satellite (top right) you will see an actual picture of the area.

To view my entire trip map page "Click Here"

To view the 24 hour SPOT map "Click Here"

I invite you to follow my daily progress here on my blog and on my personal map pages. As always, I welcome comments, so please feel free.

Four wheels move the body ...... Two wheels move the soul. ~Frank T. Lorello~

"The door of safety swings on the hinges of common sense." ~Tesoro Refinery~

Eastern V Strom Nat Get-Together, Stecoah, NC

The V Strom International Forum organizes two annual "get-togethers" on opposite sides of the country. The Eastern get-together was held at The Iron Horse Motorcycle Lodge in Stecoah, NC May 16th to 18th.

V Strom riders from all over the eastern US arrive to swap tales and enjoy the scenic Smokey Mountain roads, both on and off the pavement. The Iron Horse is a full service motel and also includes a social area, dining services, and onsite camping.

Kevin Pugh and I departed Paducah Friday morning, June 16th, and rode I-24 to Murfreesboro, TN. Leaving the interstate, we picked up two-lane roads (Hwy 70 & 30) east across central and eastern Tennessee. This was my first time riding this area, and I was more than a little impressed with its scenic beauty. At Sparta, TN, we caught up with the rainy weather front that had covered Paducah the previous day. The rain was light and spotty, and proved not to be a problem.

We stopped at Tellico Plains, TN to check out the Tellico Motorcycle Outfitters. This is a high-end shop with an excellent inventory of bike clothing and related products. I was specifically interested in seeing the new Olympia line of bike clothing. I think I found my next riding jacket .... we'll see.

Leaving Tellico Plains, we immediately rode up The Cherohala Skyway. As soon as we reached the higher elevations we encountered a stiff wind, dense fog, and spitting rain. The fog was simply too thick to continue, so we made the prudent decision to return a campground near Tellico Plains. We spent the night at The Indian Boundary Recreational Area waiting out the fast moving front.

Anyone who knows me, knows I normally do not camp, and have not since my service days. However, I had updated my camping gear for the Alaska trip, and never had the opportunity to put it to use. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to reacquaint myself with camping, and also to evaluate whether I would include camping gear in my upcoming Four Corners Tour.


It did not take us long to locate the campground, and to set up. Canned soup, beef stew, and trail mix were on the dinner menu. It rained off and on, lightly. The evening was futher punctuated by the call of the owls, and the whippoorwills. All in all, not a bad night.

Saturday morning, after quickly breaking camp, we continued up the Cherohala Skyway. The rainy weather front from the day before had long since cleared and left a beautiful, bright blue sky with infinite visibility. In all of my Smokey Mountain trips, I have never seen it any prettier, or the visibility any farther.

It did not take us long to find the Big Santeetlah Creek Road (Forest Service Road 81), which runs from the top of the Cherohala almost to Robbinsville, NC. This is a beautiful gravel road that winds up and down the mountains, through deep woods, alongside mountain streams and beautiful waterfalls.

For some unexplained reason, large groups of butterflies were congregating on the damp ground. We saw several different varieties almost everywhere we rode.

The Stewart Cabin , located on the Big Santeetlah Creek Road, is an unmanned National Historic Site. We stopped here to take a break, and talk to the many off road riders passing through.

We arrived at The Iron Horse in Stecoah, NC around noon Saturday, registered, and quickly set up our camp alongside the many tents already there.


Not wanting to waste a beautiful day in the Smokey’s, we rode over to Bryson City for lunch. From there we rode up the Blue Ridge Parkway to the point of the highest elevation before returning to Stecoah via Waynesville and The Smokey Mountain Parkway. (Notice the clear, bright blue sky)

Saturday night we had dinner at The Iron Horse, and visited with the many V Strom riders in for the meet. I saw several old faces from previous meets, and many new ones. Later, we retired to our tents along side a beautiful stream that passes through the property.

Sunday morning we broke camp early, and were ready to ride after an Iron Horse breakfast.

The ride home included a quick stop at The Tail of the Dragon Store. For some unknown reason I had never seen The Tree of Shame even though I had been to the store many times. This infamous tree sports broken parts picked up from the many motorcycle wrecks that happen on a daily basis riding The Dragon.

(Photo's by Killboy.com)

After riding The Dragon, we continued on to Marysville and rode the interstates home to Paducah, arriving home at 2:30 pm.

No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities. ~Christian Nestell Bovee~

TN Spring Fling

The Tennessee Spring Fling was held Thursday, April 24 th. through Saturday, April 26 th. in Pigeon Forge, TN.

A small group of KY Wing riders met at The Cracker Barrel in Cadiz, KY Thursday morning for breakfast and a departure soon thereafter. We were joined by other KY Wing riders later in Pigeon Forge.

With no less than five "Mike's" on this ride it was not hard to get a "Mike's" attention!

We stopped for a quick break along the way in Carthage, TN., the home of Al Gore.

Our motel was The Maples Motor Inn in Pigeon Forge, TN.

Trikes & trailers were plentiful.

Cowboy & Robbie Street, Jerry Bowlin, Frankie & April Sledd

The Grand Hotel served as Rally Central.

Mike & Rhonda Jennings shopping the vendors.

Betty McManus checking out a bargain.

Fritz Poat & the Joe Rocket Rep solving world issues.

Jack Riggs

Betty McManus & Fritz Poat

Ferrel & Celeste Sledge

A J Smith & Kay Wheeler

Van "Mike" Parker

Mike Blevins

Mike & Linda Kimberlin

Late afternoon Wing cleaning became a ritual.

We visited the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum while riding the awesome Cherohala Skyway.

Mosaic bear statues can be found throughout the Smokies.

We always had a nice selection of Wing colors for the rides.

What can be more beautiful than a flock of Wings dancing through the Smokies?

Friday morning, after a quick trip shopping the Spring Fling vendors, Mike & Rhonda Jennings, A J Smith, Kay Wheeler and myself, rode The Foothills Parkway east to I-40, and on to just the other side of Waynesville, NC, where we jumped on The Blue Ridge Parkway. We rode the Blue Ridge south, through some of the highest Smokey Mountain peaks, to the end at Cherokee, NC. From there we rode back to Pigeon Forge across The Smokey Mountain Parkway.

Saturday morning, with five Wings making the ride, we ran into heavy rain on the Gatlinburg Bypass. We detoured back on Hwy 341 to The Foothills Parkway (west) and on to The Cherohala Skyway for a beautiful ride over to Robinsville and on to Cherokee, before returning back to Pigeon Forge. All in all, even with an occasional shower, we had some great Smoky Mountain rides.

Sunday morning we left at 7 am central time and rode to Lenoir City, TN in a light rain for breakfast at the Dinner Bell. We quickly ran into moderate to heavy rain as we entered I-40 and the showers continued almost to Lebanon, TN before ending. It was a somewhat chilly ride home from there.

I arrived home about 2:30 pm Sunday afternoon.

Life is like drawing with no eraser, so always draw with the highest personal integrity. ~Lorne Hinz~