Fact is, I’m really hungry for some GOOD BBQ, and REALLY curvy roads on the motorcycle. 

With very little prompting from a buddy, the GPS routing software came out and a plan came together.  How about a quick run from our homes in Florida, up to the original Dreamland BBQ in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for lunch, then on to North Carolina via Nashville/Knoxville to ride Tail of the Dragon and Cherohala Skyway?

This week, I’m in final stages of organizing, prepping the FJR1300, and route planning for a motorcycle trip with my buddy Jim Sullivan for next weekend.  Jim’s a running buddy, who helped me out with my first Western States 100.  And we both happen to ride motorcycles.

 It’ll just be a short Sat/Sun weekend cruise, about 1700 miles total, to earn both IBA SaddleSore 1000 and Bun Burner 1500 certificates.   That’s 1000 miles of riding in under 24 hours, and 1500 miles in under 36 hours.  Will the craziness ever end Tamara asks?  No, I really don’t think so Honey.

My FJR is a mile munching machine, and I know Jim’s BMW is also. I just mounted a new front tire, have my GPS wired, all the fluids changed and it’s ready to go.

We leave early Saturday from Orlando/Clermont, taking back roads through the Big Bend/Panhandle of Florida, then up to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 

Our First Destination…

Dreamland(history) is a little hole in the wall place, a little off of I-20 where Tamara and I used to stop during our trips back and forth from Huntsville, AL to Monroe, LA.

John “Big Daddy” Bishop Founder of Dreamland in 1958.

This was before they had franchised locations all over the Southeast, it was the one and only Dreamland.   Never took long to figure out what you would order, as the menu consisted of Ribs and Whitebread(Sunbeam I believe, in the plastic wrapper).  That’s it.  When your order came, you had a rack of ribs, a complete loaf of Sunbeam bread, a roll of paper towels, and a Coke or Beer.   Messy, fattening, always packed, but great food, great atmosphere, great people.

To finish the 1000 mile in a day mark…

After the stop at Dreamland, we’re back on the bikes for the next 500 plus miles, taking a long zig-zag route to Knoxville, TN.   Birmingham, Chattanooga, Nashville, Knoxville.   WHEW!

Time to rest.  

 Second Destination…

A few hours break, and we’ll be hitting the Dragon and Cherohala Skyway.  This is some of the best motorcycle riding to be had anywhere.  http://www.tailofthedragon.com/

Talk about a roller coaster!  This is going to be QUITE different than the straight Florida roads I’m normally riding.  I used to travel/camp all over this area on my KZ1000 long ago, can’t wait to get up there and ride again. 

After that, it’s down through Atlanta, and interstate highway all the way back home.     If all goes as planned, we’ll be back home well before dark on Sunday, with 1700 miles and 5 states under our tires.

 Hurry up, weekend!  I’m ready to go!

 Yamaha FJR1300

This is pretty cool, especially in my current state of condition, ie. not very good shape, and finding it hard to believe that I’ve completed some of the events that I’ve participated in in the past.  This is recently released list from National Geographic of what they consider the Top Ten Toughest Races…

 http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/top-ten-toughest-races-text

What is cool, is that I’ve participated in 3 of these events.  Badwater, Furnace Creek 508 and Barkley.  I was entered in Barkley again this year, but had to drop from the start list, I just did not do the things I needed to do to be ready for it.   More to come on that situation shortly.  The Barkley event will take place this weekend. 

 In any case, as an endurance athlete, I can’t help but feel pretty good that when an independent group comes up with what they believe to be the most difficult endurance events in the world, that I can say I’ve been right in the thick of it, participating in 3 of the 10.   

 I have friends that have participated in a few of the others, we’re all just a bunch of nuts I suppose. 

 Reports from some of those events…

http://www.daveharper.com/photos/2005BadwaterReport/index.htm

http://www.daveharper.com/2006Badwater/2006BadwaterRR.htm

http://www.daveharper.com/Barkley/index.htm

http://irun100s.com/daveharper/?p=25

http://irun100s.com/daveharper/?p=57

http://irun100s.com/daveharper/?p=54

Here’s my latest project, which I’ve FINALLY finished.  I bought a trashed, beat up Gibson Les Paul, and did a complete refinish in it and the hard shell case it came in.  It was pretty dinged up and dented when I got it. 

This is when I got it.  It was filthy, dented,  fretboard was dry as a bone, electrics in cavity did not work.  Hard case was included but was broken and looked like it had been kept in the back of a pickup truck driven on dirt roads for a year or so. 

Stripping the paint off front and back…

Stripped and sanded down to bare wood.

Blue Aniline Dye applied to top

Mockup to get an idea of what it will look like…  Some clear laquer has been sprayed, but not all of it, and no polishing yet…

Les Pauls are made with a mahogany body, with a maple cap on top.  that is the top 3/8 inch or so that is carved.  What you see here, is the stained mahogany, the natural color of the edge of the maple top, and then the blue dyed top.

After assembly and final polish…

Happy New Year!!!   This is our New Years Card, if you didn’t get one in the mail, I’ve probably lost your address, so send it to me!

What a great day to ride!   Got a call from my buddy ‘DirtBikeMike’ last night.  He had a free day and wanted to ride.  Can’t think of a better way to spend a Wednesday, but riding trails.  It was perfect, dry trails, cool, overcast.  SWEET!

Click the pics for fullsize.

What an AWESOME place to run!   As planned, I flew to Las Angeles, met up with my buddies for the weekend and we drove the 8 or so hours to the Grand Canyon.   Everything went according to plan, and it was just a beautiful run.

Here is a short video, and the full picture gallery.  A GREAT run!

Here is the full photo gallery, I don’t have captions yet but am working on it.  The easiest thing to do is click the SLIDESHOW tab, and sit back and enjoy the scenery, though the slide show pics are kind of small.  You can click the thumbnails to get larger pictures.

http://daveharperphotos.irun100s.com/GalleryThumbnails.aspx?gallery=131097

Enjoy!  I highly recommend the Grand Canyon!

This weekend was the annual, neighborhood Tennessee/Florida party.  Our neighbors, (and most of their friends) are Tennessee fans, their son, Terry, played for the Vols at one time.  So a couple hundred people, a pig cooked in the ground all night long, and TONS of other food, about 8 big screen TV’s, music, karaoke, games, well, it was a party.   As the night wore on, and the band was playing, they asked William if he wanted to play some guitar.  I missed some of the first part, but got most of it, though it’s on my digital camera and the sound is aweful.   It was all spur of the moment, so he didn’t have any written music or anything planned, he just played a few things he knew from memory.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh4pJj96q48

Then Ashley and Emily got Mandy all duded up in Tennessee colors to give pony rides to the children.  They had a great time, and got a lot of laughs with their ‘Gator Entrance’ billboard on Mandy’s butt.  Don’t get me wrong, we’re Gator fans, but in honor of our friends, we let Mandy represent the Vols.  (click the photo for fullsize)

It’s kind of a right of passage for ultrarunners.  To run the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim in a day.  Not a race, just a fun thing to do.  And not recommended or approved by the Park Service.

I’ve never done it, but in a few weeks I will.  I’ll be flying to Los Angeles, meeting some friends and off we go on the almost 50 mile trek, down the canyon, over the Colorado River, up the other side to the North Rim.  Then back.  Some photos below, not mine but an idea of the terrain, I can’t wait to get out there.  Click picture for fullsize.