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| September 2002 | Louisiana HSTA Newsletter | Bob Chappuis, Editor |
It is difficult for me to admit, but in my four years of HSTA membership, I have yet to attend a STAR. Something has always been in the way, for one reason or another. In 2002, a trip to Arkansas in June was sacrificed for a trip to the south of France in May. I have traveled with Edelweiss Bike Travel twice before. I had the opportunity to ride in the Alps two years ago, (which is a whole other story), and most recently as part of Edelweiss' French Riviera Touring Center trip. Just like the Alps trip of 2000, there was no lack of incredible scenery, incredible roads, or incredible food.
I arrived in the south of France on May 18 and road approximately 600 miles in the five days that followed. Weather was good for four of five days. The need for essential rain gear was tested on the fourth riding day! Mine failed!!
Back to the beginning. Edelweiss is an Austrian travel company that
specializes in motorcycle tours. Price includes bike rental (a variety of
BMW's), accommodations, breakfast, and some evening meals (depending upon which
tour you have selected.) Tour members are responsible for gasoline for the
bikes (which can cost upwards of $8.00/gallon) and their midday meal. In
general, the larger the bike, the more expensive the rental. All bikes are
brand new and have less than 4000 kilometers on the odometer. For this tour, I
rode the RS 1150.
While I really liked the upright seating position, I guess I
am used to the quick throw transmission and quick response of my 98 VFR. The
1150's shaft lash was also something I was not accustomed to, but it never was
bothersome. The beemer's linked brakes were a tad different from what I was
used to as well, but after a little seat time, I seemed to have it figured out.
The tour consisted of seven Americans with one German tour guide (fluent in several languages.) Klaus, the tour guide, really went out of his way to try and oblige anyone's request. At 44, I was the youngest on the tour, with both more, and less skilled riders than myself, present. Our group was quite congenial, and we got along very well.
The French Touring Center Tour is different from most Edelweiss Tours in that we stayed at the same motel every night. This was convenient of course, and the hotel chosen was excellent. Though we stayed in the same hotel, there was plenty of variety in riding from the beaches near Cannes (famous for the film festival) to the mountains where Lance Armstrong recently won his fourth Tour de France bicycle race. There were as many photo stops as there was film in our cameras! We would start the day with breakfast and kick the stands up around 9:00 am. The day's loop (which one is not obligated to ride) varied from 100 to 350 km. Though 100 km may not seem like much, when you are doing one switchback after another, getting up the mountain can take a little time. To say that some of the scenery was breathtaking would be an under statement. It was easy to see how this part of the world has become a playground for the very rich. At one lunch stop, we counted 10 Ferrari's in the parking lot - more than I have ever seen in one place at one time. All of the Ferrari drivers seemed to have brought their nieces with them to lunch up in the mountains :) !!
Though a ride is planned for each day, Edelweiss does allow some independence, especially if you have at least one other rider with you. On the day I got drenched, one of our group rode his R1150R to Monte Carlo. While we got drenched, he toured Monaco in dry weather and saw preparations for the World Famous Monte Carlo Grand Prix race in progress!! He reported that he saw lots of people with lots and lots of money!!
After our final day's ride, we sadly turned in the keys to our bikes and had a banquet style dinner that evening. Everyone recounted stories and anecdote's about the week that seem to pass by much too quickly. Everyone exchanged email addresses and then we said our good-bye's.
I recommend an Edelweiss Tour to anyone that can take the time out of their schedule. I hope to do another one in the future. Perhaps Spain, maybe Ireland - I don't know, but I think I'll have a good time trying to choose. Edelweiss takes care of most all of your needs and I have ridden with a number of folks that have taken multiple tours with them. It does not come without a price however. My French Riviera vacation cost in the neighborhood of $4000.00 including plane fare. I wouldn't trade my trips though. I feel I have really been to motorcycle nirvana ---- I hope I can get back!!
For those of you not familiar with the event, SE STAR is an HSTA Regional event held each September in the Smoky Mountain National Park area. The original location was the town of Townsend, Tennessee; however, the host motel burned a few years ago and the event was relocated a few miles to the South in Dillard, GA. This area is full of great motorcycling roads and at this time of year provides some welcome relief from the Louisiana heat and humidity.
So Stacie and I eagerly awaited our departure, bags packed and bikes prepped. Tony Crowell also thought it would be a good time for a trip and made plans to join us. Unfortunately, Stacie came down with a case of pneumonia Tuesday and could not make the trip.
We had an uneventful trip up through Mississippi to Tupelo via the Natchez Trace where we were ready to quit for the day due to the heat and humidity. Friday's ride was more interesting as we navigated our way across north Alabama and Georgia via back roads. My GPS came in handy a few times. The final stretch to Dillard on highway 76 included some superb twisties that served to whet our appetite for the following day.
We arrived at the host motel around 5:00 pm and were greeted by the sight of a parking lot full of a wide variety of sport touring machines.
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| Custom Painted BMW |
We spent a few hours after supper in the parking lot checking out the bikes and talking to their owners. There seemed to be more VFRs, of various generations, than anything else and several interesting specimens, including some brand new Yamaha FJR 1300s, Chuck Headrick's beautiful and patriotic custom painted BMW R1100 RS and Tom Bartel's ultra trick Suzuki SV650. The SV sported a Bandit fairing, Airtech tail section, modified front and rear suspension and a fully built 90hp engine. There were a couple of Triumph Sprints, a Hayabusa and the weird single cylinder BMW F650 CS. After a while it started to rain and everyone headed inside for the night.
The next morning we awoke to MORE RAIN! Most eyed the sky or the Weather Channel Radar pessimistically but my friend Chuck Headrick and his brother David were determined to ride. I was none too excited about the thought of riding mountain roads in the rain but the alternative, sitting in a motel room all day, was worse.
So we suited up in our rain gear and off we went, heading North on Highway 23 to Franklin, NC and then WEst on 64. Chuck lead the way on his BMW followed by me on my VFR and David on his GoldWing.
Chuck soon spotted a super sguiggly line on his GPS labeled 1310. To reach it we took 1309 which suddenly turned to gravel. It appeared to be only a couple miles to 1310 so we decided to press on. The gravel soon became mud but we managed to reach 1310 without mishap. 1310 proved to be a tight as it looked on the GPS and we had a ball, David somehow managing
to keep up on the old 84 Wing. I was struggling on the VFR with the frequent patches of wet gravel. The road took us beside Nantahla Lake and then the river and on to Hwy 129 ( the road that includes a famous section known as "The Dragon" ) and the town of Robbinsville, NC. But our goal today was to ride the Cherohala Skyway - opened October 12, 1996; after my last bike trip to the area. This road has some nice elevation changes climbing to as high as 5235 according to my GPS altimeter readout. It is more than 50 miles long and is one of only twenty highways given the distinction of "National Scenic Byway". |  |
The road follows a ridge that traverses the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests (hence the name) and connects Robbinsville with Tellico Plains in Southeast Tennessee. Numerous scenic pull outs provided views of the Appalachian Mountains on the North Carolina side looks and the Cherokee National Forest, including Bald River Falls and the Tellico River on the Tennessee side. You can reportedly see as far as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a clear day but on this day we were immersed in a thick cloud for most of the ride. As we reached the midpoint we finally broke into the sunshine and stopped for a quick look at the vista. We then descended into the Tellico Plains area where we stopped for a pleasant lunch at the Taliquah Resort on the banks of the Tellico River. We then headed back to the motel via 68 and 76. A good 3/4 day ride of about 220 miles over some awesome roads and through some beautiful country. True, we did not get to enjoy the usual breathtaking vistas found on a clear day but to me the damp, deep green foliage and mist shrouded mountains have an enchanting beauty of their own which I enjoyed just as much. And of course the cool temps were quite welcome! One more great ride shared with one old and one new friend to add my long list of fond HSTA memories.
Back at Dillard I had plenty of time to shop for a souvenir for Stacie before getting ready for dinner. There was no official banquet organized but an location and time was announced at the meeting the day before and about 40+ HSTAers showed up, despite a major thunderstorm, at the Mountain Place Restaurant in Dillard for a group meal. Most arrived packed into several of the tow vehicles. The food was a buffet full of good county cooking, finished off by cherry pie with ice cream and I heard no complaints whatsoever!
I started my two day ride home in a light drizzle around daylight Sunday morning after saying goodbyes to the folks that were up that early. Tony was up but was still packing and since he planned to ride straight through to Baton Rouge and take a different route we said farewell. The traffic was and I made excellent time despite the wet conditions. It finally stopped raining between Rome, GA and Gadsen, AL. At Gadsen I got on I-59 and had a comfortable and uneventful ride to New Orleans. I had planned to stop for the night in Laurel, MS and take some back roads home but none of the motels looked inviting and I decided to visit Mom and Dad. It is always fun to remind them how futile were their efforts steer me away from motorcycling so many years ago!
The following is repeated from last months newsletter. We only got a few responses so we either have some unresponsive members or last months email did not reach all of you. I have been having problems with my email program and lost some addresses so I will try again. If you have not yet completed the survey please do so.
Announcing a new edition to our club web site at http://www.staciechappuis.com/hsta/ (You're already there if you are reading this online) Go to the MEMBERS ONLY AREA and take the Membership Survey. (NOTE: I will be sending a hard copy version to members for whom I have no email address) To access the members only area enter your first and last names and the password: united. The personal info items are required, but the survey items are optional.
This is your opportunity to give input on what you want to get out of the club on the State level. This same form can also be used to send us any changes in your personal info which we will also pass on to the Membership Director. Note: we have tested this but our ability to test the multitude of computer and web browser combinations is limited so be sure and let me know if you have a problem. Problems can occur if you enter letters where numbers belong and quotation marks and apostrophes also require special coding which I have not gotten around to yet.
Anyway, this is the first of what I hope will be a series of Interactive Features which I hope to add to the Web site.
We will start at 9:30 AM from the Chappuis residence off highway 61 a few miles north of St. Francisville. A detailed map is available in the members only area and directions will be included in the hardcopy version of this newsletter and emailed to members with email addresses (that I know about). We will ride some back roads up into Mississippi and have lunch at a location to be decided by the group.
KEEP IN TOUCH!
chappuis@demco.net and my telephone number is (225)635-3171.
and Ride Safe,
Bob Chappuis