Nashville Road Kill Ride In 2016

Every September, a group of like minded Goldwing Trike Riders get together in Nashville, TN to socialize, eat, ride the beautiful countryside of Tennessee and create new memories.

Our friends, Ed and Shelly Bowen from Minnesota and Johhny and Ruthie Lane from Iowa gave us permission to ride to Nashville with them, on the condition that they could spend the night at our house for free.  We let them, and they let us.  Here we are in our living room catching up.

After going out for supper at a Mexican Restaurant and coming home for some homemade cherry pie and ice cream, it was lights out for everyone because we were going to have a big day in store for us the next day.  It was going to be a great day of riding for us because we had been watching the weather for several days and there was no rain in the forecast.  That was fantastic because I had just spent several hours washing and waxing our trike so I was going to be proud to pull into Nashville with a shiny sparkly clean trike.

It was not to be.  A large storm hit our area during the night so that meant that we were  going to be riding some wet roads.

 

It was a dreary when we left at 7:00 the next morning but after a couple of hours riding, the sun came out and brightened up the day.  It also brightened up  our appetite so we had to pull into McDonalds for some breakfast.

After eating some pancakes, we jumped back on to the road and were able to make some good time.  We had to stop and get on our rain gear because Ed, our road captain gave us notice that there was going to be some rain ahead.  I happen to catch Ruthie putting on her drawers right in the parking lot of a gas station.

We pulled into our hotel about 4:00 p.m.  There waiting our arrival was our dear friend, Doc Pethtel.  We first met Doc at the 2014 Nashville Road Kill Ride in and he has become a great friend.  We last saw Doc in Mena, Arkansas back in May and was looking forward to seeing him again on this trip.  Of course, the girls just couldn’t stay away from him and they just had to get their hugs in.  Doc is an inspiration to all of us because he will be 85 on his next birthday and he still rides his Goldwing Trike.

After checking into our room and getting situated, many of our crew started showing up at our door so the party began.  

Several fellow trikers were starting to arrive at our hotel and finding places to store their bikes.

One of our leaders and world renowned traveler, Jim “Wheels” Leatherman arrived to welcome us to this years events.

After a great meal at cracker barrel, we headed back to our room so that we could rest up for the next days festivities.

Thursday September 16

This is the day that most people arrive at the hotel.  Some of the group came one day early this year so they could do some extra riding.

Morning found some of us down in the lounge eating  some breakfast.  After eating, many of the group moved outside to fellowship and catch up on all of the news from everyone.

When our friend, Johnny Lane came out to join the group, he found out that if you stay at a hotel, you must pay your hotel bill in full or pay the consequences.

Our friends from Minnesota, Ed and Shelly  Bowen had to have some work done on their trike.  It seems that there was an electrical issue.  One of the leaders of this Ride In, Randall, volunteered the use of his “Man Cave.”  Quite a few of us bikers followed Randall to his “Man Cave” to check it out.  This is a picture of the building that Randall used to own.

He sold it a couple of years ago and retired.  He did, however, keep the small building across the street from this building and created this “Man Cave.”

Below are some pictures of the shop and some pictures of some of the guys trying to figure out what was wrong with Ed’s bike.

Billy Wright, from Louisiana, tried to point out to everyone where the wheel was supposed to go when everything went back together.

Jim, aka Wheels, Leatherman decided he was going to do a little work on his bike also, but he didn’t want everyone helping with his bike so he went outside and worked on his.

In the  mean time, Johnny and Ruthie were working on their helmets.

Our friend Doc figured that he would just be in the way trying to work on the bikes so he wandered over to the ladies table to check them out.

We kid Doc a lot about always hanging around the ladies, but he has informed us in not so many words that he only has one lady, and that is Phil, his wife of 65 years.  He really loves her and is not ashamed to tell everyone.

After the bike work was done, some of the group headed to downtown Nashville.  Judy and I decided to head over to Franklin Tennessee to see their downtown.  As we pulled into the town square, we found a parking spot right that had been reserved for us.

The following pictures are of downtown Franklin.

 

By the time that we had walked a couple of blocks, we were hot  and wet from the heat.  The temperature had reached the high 90’s and we were cooked.  We decided to return to the hotel and cool off before our cookout tonight at Randall and Tammy’s house.

Thursday evening, Randal and Tammy, our leaders for the week, invited all of us to their house for supper.  We were supposed to meet in front of our hotel for our instructions.

After following our leader  for a few minutes, we all pulled in front of their lovely home.  Just as we were parking, I noticed that the moon was trying to rise up and illumine our bikes.

This is a picture of all of the trikes in front of Randall and Tammy’s house.

Supper for the evening consisted of smoked pulled pork sandwiches, bbq baked beans, chips, and all of the desserts that would make a diabetic go into convulsions.

Some shots of everyone mingling during supper.

Friday Morning, September 17

Friday morning found our friend, Johnny Lane watering down Randall’s back tire.  I told him that he should be ashamed of his self but he didn’t seem to hear me.

The scheduled ride for the day was a four hour ride up through the Land Between the Lakes.  Bikes started haphazardly lining up early.

 

The following are some shots of our trip to Patti’s 1880 Settlement.

Going around a curve, we noticed a sign on a business that said “Lucky’s”.  As we rounded the curve, we saw that the business had burned to the ground.  I guess that it’s name didn’t live up to it’s demise.

Our leader, Randall, told us prior to our trip that this ride would involve some water and that we might need to have a life jacket.  Turning a sharp 90 degree corner, we saw what he was talking about.  It was a ferry crossing.

We were able to get 19 bikes and one car onto the ferry and cross this outflow from Lake Barkley.

Once on the opposite shore, we quickly departed the ferry and continued on the final leg of our journey.

After a few minutes, our leader pulled into a rest area so that we could take a potty break.

Soon, thereafter, we arrived at our final destination.  Patti’s 1880 Settlement.  It was a lovely place with shops, hiking paths, overlooks, and a restaurant that featured creamed pies that were 6 inches tall.

After our lunch and before embarking on our trip home, Judy and I decided to walk around the grounds and visit a few of the shops,  My precious and lovely bride still has that “kid” in her that makes her do things spontaneously.

The sign said No Adults.  Either she couldn’t read or she didn’t care.  I would bet that it was the latter.

Here are a few pictures of the grounds.

By the time that we got back to our hotel, we were beyond exhausted.  It was a quick shower and then stand in front of the air conditioner.  That was a relaxing time to a wonderful day.