Beez' Blog of Moto Greatness - Beez goes to Tennessee

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Ernie went west to the Overland Expo and I went south to Rick's Eastern Rendezvous, a motorcycle rally in eastern Tennesse and very close to Bristol Motoe Speedway where they have the NASCAR race.. This is the 14th year of this rally but it was my first time. I went down there to represent Twisted Throttle and give away prizes in their Saturday night raffle. It was pretty easy work. The worst part (if there was one) was just the distande driving there and back.

I drove down in this with my friend Huck.

We call it Smokey at work. It's a 4x4 Dodge Ram dually with a Cummins diesel engine and it pulled the 13 foot box trailer with all our stuff in it like it wasnt even there. On the way there we stopped at Bass Pro Shops. It's like Disneyland for hunters and fishermen.

Huck brought his Honda NC700X, I brought my Husqvarna TE450 and we had the Twisted Kawasaki KLR650 along with camping gear, EZ-up tent, prizes, catalogs and swag.

All set up.

There were about 145 people that attended. It go much fuller than this.

Here is the beer trailer and campfire. The rally fee included camping, beer (all really good stuff), breakfast each day and really good BBQ dinner each night.

The next day I went on a trail ride on the Husky. I had a GoPro mounted but I couldn't work it very well and the battery died quickly.

GoPro shot on one of the easy trails.

Hopping off a small ledge. Look at the background, what a view!

View from our lunch spot.

I need to wash my face and get a hair cut.

When we got back others had bought Big Wheels and were racing them down the hill at the campground. Towards the fire! That wasn't dangerous enough so they lit the finish line on fire.

That night my friend Ray showed up. He used to live near me but moved to North Carolina to work a Oskar Blues brewery. They make Dale's Pale Ale. The next day we went on a stree ride.

Ray's (new to him) Honda RC51.

Top of another mountain in Tennessee.

Rained on us off and on at the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's a beautiful road that doesn't allow trucks and has no businesses on it.

Ray & Huck post rain.

Then we made our way to the Oskar Blues brewery for lun and a tour.

And we had a visit from Ray's daughter, Laurel Danger.

Then it was back to the campground for another night of BBQ, campfire and beer while telling tales of our rides and making fun of each other. I didn't drink much because we had to leave early the next morning to drive from Tennessee to Massachusetts in one shot. I got home at 2:30 am the next day. It really should be done in two days but I had to get to work on Monday to continue my crazy month of May.

All in all it was a great trip with lots of great riding on amazing roads & trails, I met a ton of great people and made some new friends. Oh yeah, and I got paid for it too!!

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