062808 Freedom Ride Trip

Freedom Ride, June 28-July6, 2008

Ride led by Roger & Christine Reed

Photos Courtesy of Mark Deferio, Pam Richards, Tammy Tabor & Roger Reed

After having ridden my new Heritage Softtail Trike only a few months, I saw the Freedom Ride and thought I’d put off going till next year, when I’d likely have more experience. Then, I decided what the heck, just sign up and go off into the wild blue yonder with all these strangers! Why put it off? So, off we set on Saturday, June 28^th, 2008, at 6a.m. from Fletcher’s.

Breakfast at Cracker Barrel – YUM. Egg Beaters are good there. We were all on the health kick starting off, but after a day or two, once we got near some good old Southern Fried Chicken, macaroni and cheese, and some collards, we quickly sank south, and vowed to recover when we returned home. Then Christine’s tire…..something to do with the valve stem thingy….The men fixed that, moved along….

Traveling smartly along, my transmission started squealing loudly and we all had to pull off to figure that deal out. It so happened, my brother-in-law (the big bike expert that he is) thought he drained my oil in preparation of my trip the night before, but we later discovered it was my transmission oil. GO FIGURE! Luckily, I had a quart with me. He has been made fully aware of his faux pas and when I returned home, I put him up in front of a firing squad.

Later that day, we got within 15 miles of our Dublin, GA hotel when the skies were electrified directly over our heads and the rain relentless. We stopped –DRENCHED - at what we thought was a house, just to borrow their awning till it subsided, when the “tenants” opened their sweet doors to us. It ended up being a church, and they even made coffee for us all. God was truly looking out for us! By the way, along this trip, I’d never seen so many folks putting their items for sale along 441 over the barbed wire fences. I ought to bring my stuff up there, probably sell more than here on my driveway. Even the gas stations were so innocent that they don’t even require pre-pay!

Sunday, left GA headed for Maggie Valley. Eventually, we turned a curve, and after that, the road went straight downhill and fast! My heart stopped for a quick second but it was exhilarating! We passed Tallula Falls (next trip, we are stopping for that deal). We finally arrived at our creekside rooms in Maggie Valley. What a treat, the mountains are beautiful to say the least. The weather was so cool!!!

Monday, so chilly I had to buy a new leather jacket from the Ghosttown HD dealership. After we left there, went took a wrong turn STRAIGHT up a mountain, boy was that scary! Then, we visited the motorcycle museum. This guy had several hundred old Harleys, Indians, cars, first jet ski, chainsaws, etc. The owner even started up a few bikes for us, we couldn’t believe they still worked. Amazing! Then we proceeded to ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. With those spectacular views up in the mountains, it’s difficult to imagine that there’s anything wrong in the world. We met up with Charlie and Judy Nolan and it was a treat to meet them, really fun and kind folks.

Tuesday, we went white water rafting down the Pigeon River, then later rode up Wayah Road. Very tight curves with very little traffic. Incredible ride!

Wednesday, Deals Gap – The Dragon. Being new, a few of us girls got led back to the hotel by Charlie (Charlie’s Angels, he-he) instead of taking this on, while letting the guys go do their fast, curvy ride. Smokey mountains, fried chicken and catfish buffet, who could want more. They went on to do Hellbender also.

Thursday, Cherohalla Skyway, awesome and peaceful…then my trunk broke, had to bungy cord it – how embarrassing! Being new, I finally got the opportunity to ride the curves slowly, and got left behind for long stretches. I am grateful for the tranquility and time to reflect. At times, I wondered if my group was really ahead of me, or would I ever see them again. With my trunk broken, Roger held my cell phone, my wallet and worst of all my cigs. If I never saw them again, I was more worried about being stuck without my stuff. How would I make it home by myself without any accessories? He-he. My mind drifted to bears then. OH boy, change the subject.

Friday, was supposed to be a relaxing day, but I was the only one who stayed at the hotel. My fingers were swollen from all the downshifting around curves so the hot tub was looking like my new best friend. Everyone else made up rides and left for the day. What about my feelings, eh? That was nice though. I just sat on a rocking chair watching the creek and fine-tuning my southern drawal. Later, the fireworks were great for the 4^th. Independence is GOOD.

Saturday and Sunday, we headed home. Lots of down pouring rain, we stopped to take pictures under many overpasses (cuz we couldn’t see two feet in front of us and were drenched)!

There were friendly folks everywhere; Southern hospitality really shined. Every night we seemed to gravitate to the rocking chairs at the hotel along the front porches, just for peace and relaxation after many long days of riding. Lots of bonding happening there.

I couldn’t have been with a better group of people on this 2,000+ mile ride, and can’t wait till next year’s. Ya’ll are the absolute BEST new family I have ever had. I can’t thank ya’ll enough for the grand memories and fond friendship that will last a lifetime!

Tammy