Right Half Roundup – Hocking Hills, OH
May 21-26, 2004
Annual Gathering of the ACE 750 ~ Rat Bastard Pack.
3,444 Miles Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana! (and the ACE crosses the 80,000 mile mark!)
A bunch of us from the SA750 forum met in the Hocking Hills area of SE Ohio for our annual Right Half Roundup. Previous get-togethers were held in Crossville, TN and Gettysburg, PA. Many states and Canada were represented, turnout was a bit smaller this year than last, but there were about 40 of us there to enjoy the weekend.
The Hocking Hills region is home to 9 state parks, over 9000 acres of state forest land, part of the Wayne National Forest, contains 4 nature preserves and one of the largest metro parks in the state. Hiking, fishing, camping, horseback riding, canoeing, rappelling, and bird watching are just a few of the activities visitors to the area enjoy… not to mention motorcycling! http://www.hockinghills.com/
My plan was to take my time getting there, then high-tail it back as quick as possible. Work caused me to reverse the plan. I left Wednesday after work, but ended up not leaving till almost 8 pm and tired quickly after dark, and when I stopped for the night, I was still 100 miles from Texarkana. This made for a long day Thursday, since I had reservations in Lexington, KY, and 900 or so miles of Interstate to get there. Oh well, it was all good from Friday morning on. I met up with Adam “The Bald Guy” in Lexington, and we headed to Ohio after breakfast. Nice back roads all the way. Very Nice.
Many of us stayed the the Top of the Caves resort. They have luxury cabins, rustic cabins, sleep cabins, teepees, and RV and tent campsites available. http://www.topothecaves.com Stew, Jack, Neal, and myself stayed in a rustic cabin, it quickly became party central for the weekend. The remainder of the group stayed at a hotel in nearby Logan.
Friday night one heck of a storm blew through the area (and many of the attendees had to deal with rain getting to the area, I had none) but several of us decided staying dry was not as important as filling our stomachs, so we went for a little ride! After dinner it got much worse, but we all made it back safe and sound. More travelers arrived, and more liquid refreshments were consumed.
Saturday, May 22nd Saturday morning was the group ride. Keith “Canfly99” but together one heck of a route for our ride. Beautiful scenery in this part of Ohio. About 30 bikes participated, and we all had a great time.
After the ride, it was free time until Dinner, some folks explored the area while others just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful day. After Dinner, Joe managed the bike show with his very own wife’s awesome “Taz” ACE and Keith’s chopped ACE taking top honors. The rest of the night was just hanging around and relaxing.
Sunday May 23rd Time to say our goodbyes and head our separate ways. Another fun 750 get together is over and we are ready to start planning for next year! North Georgia was been mentioned…. hmmmm. Hopefully, some of us we be able to meet up for the annual Fall Ozark Roundup in Eureka Springs. I headed west to Cincinnati to visit friends and in-laws before heading back to Texas. The ride over was nice, but what’s up with so many Ohio motorcyclists riding wearing shorts??? In Cincy I got to experience first-hand the Brood X (17 year cycle) Cicadas. They are LOUD.
Monday, May 24th (Happy Birthday Kimberlee!)
After leaving Cincinnati, I started the long journey home, determined to find some nice roads to mix in with the Interstate I’d have to take to get back in three days. America’s best motorcycle roads was a big help, only wish I’d had more time to really plan, I was just flying by the seat of my pants, but that’s fun too! Across the Ohio river, I followed 8 along the river, before picking up 10. Both were amazing roads with lots of hills, curves, little traffic and beautiful scenery. 19, 68, and 27 took me in to Lexington – more nice roads into a very scenic part of the country. Then it was on the super-slab to south of Knoxville, which leads to…
Tuesday May 25th BobZ from Wisconsin was taking a couple of weeks off for riding, and at the Roundup we traded phone numbers and discussed possibly getting together to ride Tuesday in the Smokies. We did. Probably the best 8 hours of biking either of us has had. The famous 129 (The Tail of the Dragon – 318 curves in 11 miles) into Deal’s Gap. We continued on 129 to 143, over to wonderful 28 back to Deal’s Gap. 28 again to the Cherhola Skyway to 68 South. Awesome roads, all of them. We had Dinner in Ducktown and parted ways. I traveled about 50 miles to get to the interstate and zipped through TN, GA, AL, and into Mississippi before stopping for the night.
Wednesday, May 26th
Headed for home. Near Jackson I picked up the famous Natchez Trace and rode it all the way in to Natchez. The National landmark highway is beautiful, and access is limited with no commercial vehicles allowed. The speed limit is only 50 and it’s not a challenging as a motorcycling goes, but it’s beautiful and full of history. After this nice break, it was interstate 10 in to Houston, and my daily I-45 HOV lane north to the homestead. What a great trip it was!!!
LINK to all the photos from this trip