Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Rides, Rallies, & Events Georgia Rally '08 .. the finale

Got home at 5:00 PM Central time, today. Skillet and I went as far as Lawrenceburg, TN together. Thanks Dennis and thanks all for the good times!

Benztech and Honda Girl (Ben and Tamara) left out at 2 pm today, they were the last ones leaving out. I left out early this morning for work. Thank You everyone for checking in. I'm trying not to have that empty nest feeling. Overall it was a great Rally. It will take a little while but Chy and I are working on an attendance list, pictures and write up.
I can truly say that this is the best extended family ever, Thank you everyone for all of your help with the Rally, you make it possible.
We did miss some of our regulars that could not attend but did enjoy meeting some more new members, Thanks again for another wonderful year.
Please continue to keep us posted on arrivals. We're looking forward to many great stories submitted.
I'll have to change my tag line soon.

I'm still wallowing in my misery that I couldn't make it this year.
But, the stories and pics lesson the pain. Kudos to Chy and Di
for putting on another great GA rally. Maybe next year for me.
Uncle Charlie

I was on I-81 in Southern PA today heading South. Passed a silver/Black America with a trunk rack heading North. Full-faced helmet and riding suit, looked like one the GA contingent? Weather was perfect, low 70's and sunny. Hope he/she had a safe trip, I was envious in my Altima!

Aunt Cathy, Lee, and myself rolled in at 4:30 today...no road related incedents this leg of the trip...

What a flippin blast this was!!! Again!!!!

Di and Chy, all the road guards and hidden helpers...THANKS for a super Rally. Hi to all.
SteveB

Well , we did it all in one day.
Danny's for breakfast
Fat Buddies for lunch, Franklin NC
Denny's for dinner, Salem VA
got home just after midnight.
Mike and his wife stayed at my house last night.
unloaded the bike this morning and went to breakfast.
they are on their way home now.
thanks to everyone.

got in very late sunday night or should i say early monday mornin hahahahaha went right to bed as i had to work monday. worked monday, came home, unloaded car, spent till after dark cleanin Milli, went back to bed, worked today and finally have a chance to sit here. What a WONDERFULL time was had this yr!!!!! good to put faces to names, and see some familier faces again!!!! GOOD LORD WILLIN, LETS DO THIS AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!!! the roads, the people, the food, the countryside, i have never seen better!!!!!!!

Alive & well in Staunton VA for the night. Left my daughter's house in Charleston, SC at around 11 am, and slowly made my way north, arriving around supper time. Had to make a few Red Bull stops to keep the slab drabs at bay. The pretty part of the slab is now at hand in the VA mountains. The VA troopers were out in force, at one or two every 20 or 30 miles or so on 81. Some of their plain wrapper cars are non-Caprice 4 door mid size civilian mobiles. There are road signs indicating that all speeding charges are now misdemeanors. Ouch. At 85 in a 65, the first VA trooper I saw pulled out behind me, and luckily culled a cage out of the pack I was running near. That cut me back to 70 in a 65 most of the the way up. Will make the last leg to NW CT tomorrow, and back to work Thursday. It will be good to get back home. The British Hardley is leaking a bit of oil too. Nothing serious that a new cam cover gasket & some Brake Clean can't cure.

Chy & Di - deep thanks for once again making a great time for all. Your hospitality is a warm ray of sunshine.

Great to meet and greet so many friendly faces. Next time I see you all, I may even be able to speak.

Signed,
Laryngitis Boy
bark bark!

Lynn and I rolled into our driveway Tuesday at 6pm or so. Stayed in Bogart Sunday night. Road through Athens then down 15 Monday staying at a Rodeway Inn near the Jacksonville Airport. Ever eat at the Millhouse Steakhouse?? Well they have a very nice Weißbier on tap at 6 bucks a toss: two full glasses and a full pitcher. Dang. That's why we walked nextdoor to the $39.50 after tax dive...Tuesday morning we went to the Jacksonville Zoo. more as i remember to bring the camera to work!

Most excellant rally! Lynn had a great time, the best rally for her yet. Me? Well what do I know about rallies? I love em all. Especially ones that have an AMAZING meal on Saturday nights! Thanks to Mr. Shepard and his adorable wife for some fine eats. Dinning on asphalt could stopped there...
Dahlonega. Ahhh!

talk, talk, talk ; C'mon people, let's see some pictures

jh

you would not need pics if you would just come
back to GA.
We miss you.

ok, got home tuesday at 4:30 pm, 3 days averaging 400 mi each. The middle day was a slog but overall it was a great rally and i actually do enjoy the interstate bits as long as I don't push it to the point of paralytic boredom.

best wishes to all & see you next time.

Until tomorrow...




Not bad for a photo taken through glass, eh?

Georgia Music Hall of Fame, Macon Ga.

Ah HA! So THAT was the kind of mushroom Chy and Di set out for you folks back there that caused Chris to have that "out-of-body experience" on his return leg home which he wrote about in another thread, huh Moe?!

(ya know, I've been wonderin' what exactly those suckers might'a looked like ever since he told us about that)

I was thinking about Stern12's post as I reposted that photo.

Home in CT at last...

The VA troopers were at it again today. I ran up carrier landing style on one in his plain wrapper, and wondered why is this fool in the left lane with his left signal on? Is he going to make a left into the median? Oh - heh heh heh - it's a VA State Trooper in an old lady mobile. Oops.

Up in PA, my Trumpet got hungry, and ate it's chain guard. Must be the curse of the Hardley all up on it. I'm of a mind that green Loctite is a must there. The back fastener was gone, and the front one was 2/3rds out. Huh. It was tight 12 days ago. I also now believe that the white in white walls must go pretty deep. The chain guard lathe turned down some sidewall meat, and it's still a purty white. Go figure. No harm done. I can even reuse the guard once I put the hammer and dolly to it.


Did someone mention pictures?


Handsome rascal, isn't he
.
.

http://picasaweb.google.com/MFHitchcock/GARally08/photo#s5197842154791692322

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I believe I got everyone. If not, my apologies.
If anyone is uncomfortable having their photo displayed, let me know

Welcome home! YFB

Y oung
F abulous
B uckster?

Great pics!

Glad you made it home safe Martin. Those are really nice photos. Especially the ones of me.

Here is one of the whole lot of ya'll.

Roll down Richard Russell

Great slideshow Bucky, wish I could have stayed for the main event.

WOW!! Moe that was a whole bunch of motorcycles!

Sunday departure and tales of a Ball Peen Hammer

Great Pics Martin, sorry I missed it this year, recognized a lot of faces in those pics. Too bad noone got your mug in those shots. Lynchphoto should have borrowed your camara.
hope to see you all next year. Im in Cincy today, been here all week.

Steve_Sixmil

Here he is!

Tamara and I rolled in last night... Unfortunately, my BA died in a heavy rain with about 100 miles left! I had to call a friend to bring my trailer. It was hard to haul it the last few miles, but I'm glad it didn't happen 1000 miles out! Thanks to Chy and Di!!!! It was great to be back.
See you guys next year!
Ben

I am in safe and sound after a few day layover in Pittsburgh. The ride home today from Pitt I believes ranks as my #1 most miserable ride ever. More on that l8r. Just wanted to say thanks to all and wish I had spent some more more time with many of you. Dang job making me leave early!!!

What a week huh? Another Rally behind us, life slowly eases back into the normal ole day to day. I took a while to sort out my thoughts about this years get together because they were many and varied. In time I'm sure they'll all smooth out into a nicely flowing wave and eventually the excitement/anticipation of next years get together will return. It seems more difficult every year to.... well.. say goodbye.. to the moment .. to the people.
Through the years of hosting these events we have formed bonds with many of the members.. all have been good experiences and some have developed into relationships beyond the rally. Some are people that I call friend.. not a word to be taken lightly by me... and feel honored that they consider me the same. What higher honor could there be?
What's the problem then, you ask? The distance.. the lack of interaction.. the sorrowful feelings as you go your separate ways.. back to our lives. The longing for just one more day to be in this world.. the one we create for this moment. The inner self free from it's daily entrapments... able to just be ourselves and nothing more. Is that the link? the source of the bond?
Or is it the road trip? the open road travels far away from your comfortable surroundings to a different world.. the adventurer inside slips out leading us into the unknown. The gathering of adventurous souls for a trip back to the nature of our being.. the wanderers we were before our domestication.
I know.. deep thoughts for such a simple mind.. Ahh if only that were true.. but alas.. my curse.

A fellow searcher asks would these moments be as special if they were more frequent.. should we be more accessible to each other. Would it be the same? Would the same magic or kismet exist? Would it indeed? Questions to occupy a busy mind..

Cutting to the chase

All in all.. a great rally..
Overall attendance was 73 people.. that was through out the course of the rally with the first arrival, Shari(mert) arriving Friday, April 25th and our final guests, Ben and Tam (Benztech and Hondagirl) departing Monday, May 5th.

Our biggest ride was on Friday with 51 bikes..

We had one member go down on the big ride, he took a spill on hwy 17 proving that riding gear can make a difference. Luck is a good thing too and without a doubt played a major part but give the gear it's due.. it did what it was designed to do. A quick thinking group of members at the scene managed the situation and quickly had things under control. A combined effort managed the scene and got the fragmented pack home safely.. what an amazing group of people. Thank you all for doing exactly what you were supposed to do.
Of course it rained Saturday morning... but a surprising amount of folks turned out for the ride to the dealership. We were planning a long ride home but opted not to in light of the precipitation.
Saturday nights gathering was great, good food, good people and lots of sickles.. just don't get any better. The weather cooperated and it turned about to be a beautiful evening for a get together.

Special thanks

To all the folks who donated their time to making this rally the success it was.
The road guard/co-conspirators really shined this year.. their efforts made the whole process seem easy. The crisis management was top notch and all involved went the extra mile.. so to speak. Thank you all.. from the bottom of my heart for being here and doing what you do.
The people behind the scenes who made sure everyone was fed and made to feel welcome and as comfortable as possible through the course of the week.
Larry and Kathy Sheppard for creating the main course and deserts for the feast on Saturday.. once again you have out done yourselves.
To Phil (bonnyusa) for once again supplying the rally mugs and handling the rocker patches.
To Wojo for his superb delivery as Master of Ceremonies for Saturday evenings gathering. (I gave him 15 minutes to come up with a speech and the categories for the rally mugs.. and he delivered.)
To everyone who took time from their lives and families.. who traveled those many miles to visit with us.. thank you one and all.

Sponsors

Thanks once again to Brent and Jessica at New Bonneville/New Speedmaster.com for the very generous donation of the rally T's. Hats off and hearts out for you and your family.

To Fast Eddy.. a great guy with a big heart. The drawing for the door prizes is a blast and the items he sends are always crowd pleaser's. The addition of the grand prize this year was exceptionally generous. Now if we can just get him out here one year...

Machines in Motion AKA Triumph of North Georgia for feeding us lunch and the really cool discounts for the members here. Great people to know and to work with.

Summation

It's a hectic, physically and mentally challenging week but worth every minute to be able to spend time with some of my favorite people. The calibre of the folks who frequent this website never ceases to amaze me.. their willingness to help each other and their general good nature is what keeps us all coming back.
Good people here.. an extended family as it were, proven by the yearly gatherings of it's members. The Soutwestern, the Noreaster, New Hampshire, the big UK rally this year, the European get togethers and all the small meet and rides.. all part of what makes this a great place to be. Take care out there..

Till next time.. Chy

And you say you're not good at stuff like this.

I think the hosts have something to do with this rally getting bigger and bigger each year. We must give credit where credit is due, thanks once again Chy and Di.

I could not agree more John .
thanks Chy and Di.

Very well said Chy.
Here's to a great couple, Chy and Di.
May life always treat you well.
Thanks again,Mike

i have been alot of places and known alot of people in my life but none better than these. the people on this site and the people that gather in Ga. are top drawer, but the people i have met that sponser this gathering of the Americas in Ga. are absolutely by far the cream of the crop!!!! i always feel so welcome and at home when i visit there, a peace comes over me like i havent felt in a very long time. Chy and Di, i want to thank you so very much for opening your hearts and home and giveing this gathering thing a try. larryshep needs an extra big thanks also for all him and his wife do to see to it we all go home with full bellys!!! what a guy, what a couple!!!!! i hope we can all do this for many yrs to come