My thanks to Rick Giddish and Pat Mogavero too.
I didn't get to hang out with the crowd on Friday because of work conflicts (I am the technical director for the Knoxville Opera Company this year...see the review of our current production here...
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/local-news/review-mefistofele-delivers-devil-of-a-good-show_35930922 ), but since Middlesboro is only an hour north of my home, I got up early on Saturday to join the fun. I've been looking forward to this since I saw Rick's announcement. This southeast corner of Kentucky near where it joins with Virginia and Tennessee is a real gem...and undiscovered or unknown by many. I started out riding through this area because it was on the way to other places, but I discovered that it was absolutely worthy of being a destination of its own. A few others have figured it out as well, and the BMW MOA recently had a regional event based at Kentucky's Pine Mountain State Park just a few miles north of Middlesboro.
Arriving at the Holiday Inn Express around 7:30, I was in the breakfast area before most of our crowd of 20-25 people filtered in from their rooms. Overcast skies, a bit of misting, cooler temperatures (high 40s to low 50s), and the sun not rising until around 7:30 allowed me to get to the HIE before everyone headed out. I had the pleasure of joining Bryan Dunlap, Doug McPeek, Betty Lise Anderson, and Bill Thalgott for the day, and with Bryan taking the point, off we went. While routes were not officially distributed, some of our routing gurus (guri? gurae?) had thrown some things together. We had a route! While less than 200 miles long, by not leaving the HIE until almost 9:00, taking appropriate breaks, a good lunch break, and very curvy, unfamiliar, and challenging roads, the distance was just fine, thank you. While the roads were not exactly dry, they were dry in places. Being October, I guess you could say it it's autumn, so there were wet leaves on the road in places. It's Kentucky, so there while there are some roads that have coal trucks on them, there aren't many on weekends. There are some roads that have coal dust on them that are a bit slick even when dry. But none of that conspired to keep us from having a rip-roaring good time.
Back at the hotel, it was decided that we should order several large pizzas, and stay at the hotel rather than trying to find a decent eating establishment. There are eateries in the area, but none that serve any kind of adult beverages. Apparently a law has been passed allowing restaurants to serve those beverages, but it will be 5 more days before it goes into effect. With many of our attendees having picked up their own supply of beverages, the pizza party in the motel's breakfast area was on! After everyone seemed to have eaten all they wanted, we had half of one pizza left over, so our estimate on how many to order was pretty close.
I'm pleased to report that we passed the hat for a donation to the Ride For Kids, and $75 was collected. Very cool. The kids thank you, and I thank you on their behalf.
After we had watched the Tennessee football team slip past the favored Georgia Bulldogs on the breakfast nook's big screen tv, it was time to head back down the road to home.
So, my day was 1) uneventful early morning ride, 2) meeting friends, 3) riding with friends on curvy roads, 4) pizza and good fellowship with friends, 5) good football outcome for Tennessee fans, and finally 6) uneventful late evening ride back home. I call that an outstanding way to spend an early October autumn day. Now it's back to opera on Sunday, load everything out of the theatre Sunday night, and start working on the set for the next opera in February.
