Trout dude had mentioned several times that he wanted to make a road trip, and we\u2019d even kicked around a few possibilities. He already had plans to hook-up with MitchO in Billings, and they\u2019d be sharing a room. He did not, however, have any plans on how he was going out there, because Mitch had already left on a long cut to Billings by way of California and the west coast. Dennis and I decided to ride out together\u2026<\/p>\n
We met up at Lucky 13\u2019s place in Clinton, TN.\u00a0 Dennis needed to swing by there and drop off a couple of items\u2026 He\u2019d been unable to leave home before Monday, June 11th, due to obligations down in Louisiana. I, on the other hand, was in no way thusly encumbered, and I was chomping at the bit to hit the road, so I left \u2018home\u2019 on Friday, June 8th.<\/p>\n
I swung by Montgomery, AL, to make a social call and spend two nights\u2026 then I was off to Gordon\u2019s that Sunday. Rain had been in the forecast for the coming Monday and next couple of days, so I was eager to get a jump on that and avoid it, if possible\u2026 mission accomplished. A word about that\u2026<\/p>\n
In my view, the wise trekker keeps a sharp weather eye out, and he\/she does check with the forecasts often to see what might be developing\u2026 However, one must also be aware that the TV forecasters are doing things other than simply striving for an accurate prediction of coming events.<\/p>\n
Viewership and ratings are the holy grail of broadcast journalism, so drama and dire predictions are always tossed about, and exaggerations are a predictable aspect of everything they offer\u2026 in order to jazz things up and attract folks to watch their \u2018show\u2019\u2026 Knowing this, forecasts should only be viewed in \u2018context\u2019 and always taken with a grain of salt.<\/p>\n
Forecasts are usually wrong to at least some degree, and plans made taking them as \u2018certain\u2019 are just as often frustrated. If I\u2019d paid much attention to the details of the forecast then, I\u2019d have stayed home and begun building an ark rather than embarking on a cross-country road trip! My good friend Gordon has a theory as to why those forecasts are so often wrong\u2026 He\u2019s convinced the Russians have hacked The Weather Channel, and this is all part of some conspiracy\u2026<\/p>\n
I arrived at Gordon\u2019s place a day earlier than Dennis, so mostly just hanging out and visiting with other friends who dropped by\u2026 Folks like Greg, SmokinJoe, and a couple of others. Lance even came by a couple of days later. SmokinJoe, Cindy Mae, and I did slip out for a cold frosty mug of ale and a cheeseburger that evening\u2026<\/p>\n
Once Dennis arrived, things kicked into high gear, and a flurry of frenetic activities got underway. Things like oil & filter changes, tire replacements, tuning this, tweaking that\u2026 There was even some bike cleaning accomplished, with the feature attraction of that being SmokinJoe \u2018detailing\u2019 ALI\u2026! We also did a salute to my buddy Jim Dorman by sharing one of Jim\u2019s favorite treats\u2026 a Milky Way candy bar\u2026<\/p>\n
During this process, the \u2018Wild Bunch\u2019 decided it wouldn\u2019t be enough just to bid us farewell and wish us well\u2026 they felt compelled to actually escort us out of their state, thereby ensuring we did leave, I suppose\u2026<\/p>\n
A motely crew departed Clinton early Wednesday morning and rode through some gorgeous back country roads up into Kentucky\u2026 and we met-up with Hal47 there\u2026 eventually. Following a little cluster\u2026 thingy\u2026 our group did all find their way to the meet spot, and happier times returned\u2026 Well, there was a wee bit of carping and a twinge of gripping about the rendezvous snafu, but harmony eventually was restored and the ride continued\u2026<\/p>\n
We arrived in Madison, IN, for the evening. We stayed at the same motel we\u2019d used for a previous Dragon Round Up, but the evening\u2019s activities were a bit muted this time. We were all tired from a long day in the saddle, hot temperatures in the afternoon, and frustration from \u2018cat herding\u2019 near Frankfort, KY. However, we all did joyously celebrate our good fortune in \u2018threading the needle\u2019 between rain showers all around that afternoon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trout dude had mentioned several times that he wanted to make a road trip, and we\u2019d even kicked around a few possibilities. He already had plans to hook-up with MitchO in Billings, and they\u2019d be sharing a room. He did …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meanderings-by-ddt-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions\/871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}