Boy, it was surely nice to have a 5 week time off since the last ride.  The only bad thing was the weather in Alabama that popped up with Fay and the associated downpours.  We kept pretty busy during our time off though.  Of course we had to see the grandkids, but we spent a week doing research on the Blue Ridge Parkway...a ride we're putting on next year for the alumni.  The plan is to ride the northern part of the Blue Ridge (right) and lots of roads in the valley below.  Our ride will include towns like Staunton, Waynesboro, Harrisonburg, Lexington, and Roanoke VA.  We really enjoyed the area when we did the research, I think it will be a great ride.

We left Alabama on the 26th of August...we just couldn't stand the weather anymore...we had about a week off after the research and it didn't quit raining the whole time.  We had over 10 inches of rain in two days...so we headed west.  We stopped for a day or so in Sun Valley to see Ted and Candice Witt, ABB alumni and good friends from rides past.  We wanted to stop in last year but Ted called me a day out and said they were evacuating his area due to forest fires that were bearing down on his area.  This year was different so we got to see their beautiful area, get in a ride or two, and even got in a round of golf. 

We finally arrived in Oregon to stay at Karen's for a couple days before the ride started...great riding and beautiful riding to relax before the West Ride started.  But now the party's over and the guests were arriving on Saturday the 6th. 

We spent the day assembling bikes and meeting the new group who were anxious to start their travels down the coast.  We've met some characters already and are looking forward to a great ride with a few laughs.  There are several returning riders (8 out of 14 full time riders) that always makes the rides enjoyable for us...seeing old friends again.  They all think this is a downhill ride...well, it does have over 75,000 feet of descending, but unfortunately there's 74, 820 feet of ascending to get to it.  But never despair, there's plenty of beautiful scenery to take everyone's mind off the climbing. 

 It was great meeting the new people and seeing the returnees again.  Dinner time was a rousing social while waiting for our meal.  I think this is going to be a great group.  I'm anxious to get started...tune in tomorrow and kick us off.  See you then.  M