Welp, those who are following along, I'm sure you have surmized Don's unfortunate event. We had made it to within 5 miles of Tellico Plains, and the curves along 68 had been pretty much predictable, nice, fun, but predictable. The riding order at the time was as follows: Tray in the lead, followed by Mike, then me, then Don and Charles bringing up the tail. We had made it through a typical left curve only to find a quick sharp right to follow, but not a typical hard right, this particular corner dipped in the center followed by a sharp bump and rise after the apex, when I say sharp, I mean you could see the whole curve, the entry and exit as you approached, at best for an average rider, maybe a 15 mph corner. You had to get on the binders pretty good after you came out of the previous/prior corner while on your approach to this nasty little dude.
Tray, Mike and I made it through, but Don was close enough behind me that my first sensory indication of any problem was the crunch and grinding sound I heard...........I knew in an instant. A glance in my 6's confirmed my fear. All I could see was the belly side of Don's Geezerglide sliding across hwy 68 and into the ditch. There was no sign of Don. Just my luck........no shoulders on this road, I had to stop fast, and just pulled over to the right as far as possible, down with the side stand and running back toward Don's bike while jerking off gloves and helmet and yelling his name, but I could not see him anywhere, just his bike on its side, the back half still in the opposing lane and the front half in the shallow ditch. About the time I got to Don's bike, up pops Don from out of the ditch on the other side of his bike, saying I'm alright, I'm alright, help me get my bike up............. :blink: typical biker, don't worry about me..........just get my bike up. I told Don to hold on a sec. let me look you over, no blood.......thats good........no protruding bones.........better.........followed by damnit get my bike up.........ok, ok. Well, I think it scared me more than it did Don. Adrenaline was in ample supply. Charles was stopped by now and on the scene, though he said he was far enough behind Don that he had not come out of the previous corner when the accident happened and he did not see it occur. But, with me, Don and Charles there we lifted Don's bike with ease and backed it out of the ditch. Cars had stopped now in both directions. Don simply hopped on his geezerglide, pushed the start and the ole Harley fired right up and Don took off. Left me and Charles standing there in the road. We waived traffic on and found Don's camera in the ditch, picked it up and looked around a bit, then hopped on our bikes and up around the next curve, Tray and Mike and Don were pulled over on a connecting road.
We did not think to go back and look close at the corner and try and figure out how this happened, I guess you don't think as clearly in such situations. Don advised us later that evening, that it seemed to him that his handlebars were suddenly ****** from his hands. I can only surmize maybe his frame bottomed out on the asphalt.......hell I dont know, maybe he got into the curve to fast...whatever..........most importantly he was not injured. Don said his bike did a complete flip, though I did not see that occur, I think he is right given the damage.
When me and Charles caught up to the guy's we all took a bit longer look at Don's bike. It was ridable, but damage was pretty extensive and there was simply no way he could continue on with this trip. So..........Don would have to miss out on the Dragon and Cherohala Skyway, his soul purpose for coming along.
With Tray in the lead, followed by Don and then Mike, then me and lastly Charles, with caution blinkers flashing we limped Don along the last 5 miles to Tellico Plains and the Cherohala MC Resort.
Don's front forks are tweaked a bit, his windshield scraped, seat torn, both hard bags busted and scraped, headlight and passing lights busted, fairing busted all to hell, tank paint chipped, engine guards bent and other various and sundry scrapes and bruises.
Most importantly Don was ok and he has good insurance, he has his bike insured for a stated amount along with his custom work. I think the bike will fix and today Don's bike is being repaired :yahoo:
So we all make it to Cherohala MC Resort. This is the second time I have stayed there. Owners Mark and Renee are great people.
Dang look at that barn door on my bike.........it looks huge in that pic.
The following morning Renee was already on the phone and had located a Uhaul franchise only 12 miles away in the town of Madisonville. They have a small van truck available for 1 way rental. So, Don hopped on the back of my FJR and I rode him there. He made his way back to Cherohala MC Resort along with a new set of wrachet straps. Mark had a ramp and enough people to load Don's geezerglide into the truck, got it all buckeled down and said good by to Don. Damn!
Will pick back up at lunch.
) and plenty of room. I soldiered on to my mothers house for the night, after all it was mother's day weekend. This provided me the opportunity to spend some time w/mom, though brief, it's always great to see mom.
