|
|
Post by skuuter on Oct 24, 2007 2:15:21 GMT -5
Loading today, leaving Thursday morning. Gonna' be great fun.......twisties, and I hope colors already. The leaves here on Monteagle Mtn. are starting to change............  ......We're ready.............  |
|
|
|
Post by chanito on Oct 24, 2007 19:53:58 GMT -5
So i went shopping today for some long underwear and some long sleeve shirts, i am ready to tame that Dragon, i will take the camera and some pen and paper so Tuesday i wll post a report on the weekend and some pics, i will be leaving tomorrow evening, i hope to drive as far as i can go, and then sleep on a cheap motel, that way i can get to Towsend with some day light left on Friday, i am hoping some of the Carolina peep will make it over there
|
|
|
|
Post by Kami no Chiizu on Oct 25, 2007 0:07:41 GMT -5
I'm fairly certain my brother's taking all day off, Friday. So we'll try to get left early. And hopefully we won't miss the turn off, this time... though Cherokee is awfully alluring...
|
|
|
|
Post by skuuter on Oct 25, 2007 2:27:46 GMT -5
Leaving in about an hour from now........leaving early in case we "accidentally" go through Cherokee and have to make up some time.....  .....Everyone have a safe trip and we'll see you by tomorrow.............. ;D..."The Mountains Await"........ |
|
|
|
Post by chanito on Oct 25, 2007 17:34:11 GMT -5
Ok, I am leaving now for TN, will be back Tuesday, so take care of the fort ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by skuuter on Oct 28, 2007 19:38:35 GMT -5
Great time had by all. Me and Mrs. skuuter just got home about an hour ago. I'll try to post some write-ups as the week progresses. "Some Highlights"....Chanito and Mrs. Chanito learned to ride curves....Kami's brother crossed up on the dirt / gravel road and saved it at speed....skuuter, Chanito, and Kami passed a Harley Davidson and car on a twisty downhill....riveruckas is a lot faster with her new 06 Ruckus....Mrs. skuuter is fast....everyone slayed the Dragon...."The Dyanamic Duo" (or maybe skuuter and Kami) did another "scrapin' metal" Dragon Kill.........I'll try to post this in sections as they unfolded, one ride at a time. See Ya', skuuter................ |
|
panaba
Ruckster
HELLO FROM SUNNY FLORIDA
Posts: 194
|
Post by panaba on Oct 29, 2007 14:31:40 GMT -5
i will go next time. so please let me know when the next trip is. i live in sarasota florida see ya all next time ,have a great trip,and come back safe and sound...
|
|
|
|
Post by Blackruk on Oct 29, 2007 14:49:23 GMT -5
i will go next time. so please let me know when the next trip is. i live in sarasota florida see ya all next time ,have a great trip,and come back safe and sound... My father lives in Sarasota. He doesn't ride a scooter though.  |
|
|
|
Post by Kami no Chiizu on Oct 29, 2007 17:30:38 GMT -5
Yeah, that was a hell of a ride, guys. Even if the Chanito's are dang Florida Drivers! Well, a few more rides like that and they'll be old pros. Oh, and I would just like to say that the Big Bore Ruckus will run! Boy will it run. I never got around to takin' up Chanito's offer to ride it (next time I'll remember) but anytime there was a straight section, I'd have a yellow blur speed by me. And the man didn't even have the jetting dialed in good. And his wife is insane. Of course the Skuuters were their normal selves. Skuuter bein' a wild guy, and his wife toying with my brother. Oh, I could have passed you in the curves. But I was taking it easy. Ha, ha. And RiverRuckus' white Ruckus will fly. She broke out ahead of us, and it was all kinds of crazy 'til Chanito found a straight and stretched Katrina's legs. Of course, I forgot my camera mount, so my videos aren't high quality (or particularly steady). I did a lot of one handed riding (which freaked Chanito out a little bit). I'll hafta put those videos together so you guys can watch them. Until then, I threw an adobe web photo gallery together. You can view it at gwalla.com/ruckus/TN-2007OCT. I put some descriptions on them. The last picture is from the ride home. A truck tailer caught fire and had the interstate stopped for 3 hours. I video'd the smoking husk as we went by. It sucked, but a good time for a nap. And let me tell you,it's kinda crazy to wake up in the fast lane with cars honking behind you and transfer trucks speeding by on the right. I'm sure Skuuter and Chanito will give a good detailed account of the trip. I just want to say I had a hell of a time, and I wanna see pictures of everyone in their Ruckus shirts (see, if you guys had come, you could have gotten a Ruckus shirt to). Oh, and I need 15 bucks for each of them. Rawkin'. |
|
|
|
Post by chanito on Oct 29, 2007 18:25:09 GMT -5
First, to all of you who could come but did not  The ride was incredible, i will post photos later, next time we have to do this ride, when there is not a Nascar race in Atlanta, i had crazy traffic going to Tennessee, but coming back yesterday just as the race finished was a bad idea, it was a parking lot, so i just made it to Miami after leaving TN yesterday at 3 pm The ride headquarters was in the "Docks by the river" motel, which is super nice and easy to reach by a 4 lane hwy, but the owner Riverruckas, is an out of this world host, her husband is a walking encyclopedia in the local fauna and flora, with the patience to explain all the interesting facts to us. I have heard about southern hospitality, but riverruckas and husband took that to a whole new level, taking us (a hungry lot) to a local restaurant and treat us to lunch on Friday, helped with a wonderful Chianti wine ;D, then on Saturday treat us to a cook out with enough different dishes to shame a good restaurant, and riverruckas provided an incredible soup called "Santa Fe soup" for which i have to get the recipe, some homegrown hot peppers on the grill that are gooood, take it from me, and i have eaten a lot of hot chile peppers on my time, so to riverruckas and husband, a big thank you from the Chanitos, and hope to repay your kindness when you come to South Florida ;D Skuuter and the Mrs are amazing, he is a crazy ex-Nascar driver, who enjoys scraping the floor stand by leaning that far on the turns, riding behind him was a humbling experience, so after having to swallow back my heart from my throat a couple of times i decided to not try to run with the big dogs and be a good husband and ride back with my wife  > Mrs Skuuter was a great sport and hang up with us and took us shopping to some of the local stores where my wife bought some interesting stuff, like a wind-toy, a set of deer anglers and a statue of a black bear head, which obviously i will have to hang and install before even think about going to bed  Kamino Chiizu and his Brother Kamino Yogurt (slightly more acidic brother of the god of cheese) are the funnest people to share a meal with, and the big brother proved to be even more outspoken than kamino, and kind enough to treat to breakfast on Sunday, to both the Kaminos ;D ;D
|
|
H.I.M.
Ruckster
Children of Bodom Hate Crew
Posts: 123
|
Post by H.I.M. on Oct 29, 2007 19:03:30 GMT -5
Awesome, glad everyone had fun, no injuries & hopefully I'm able to be there next time. ;D ;D ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by chanito on Oct 29, 2007 19:09:44 GMT -5
Ok now to a short report of the event, i hope that when later Skuter, Kamino and Riverruckas come, they will let us know the name of the places we went to My wife and i arrived at the motel on Friday afternoon, i had called Skuter when i was about 30 minutes from the Hotel, and since he was on a ride of his own with his wife, let us know he will meet us back on the hotel went he got back, we proceed to register and were surprise by the confort in the room with a full kitchen, a nice size TV set, refrigerator and microwave oven, and still retain that cozy country look , we decided to explore around, find a river in the back with some beaver dams we felt like we were in nature show i do not know of many places were you can see the local fauna that close to the hotel, specially if like me i had never seen a beaver before by the time we got back from our river walk we found the Skuuters in their scooters ( ), after some introductions they decided to take us on a short ride to the park visitor center on the other side of the mountain on the way to Gatlinburg (Thanks Kamino), my wife and i ride on flat sunny south Florida were the bigger hills are the street bumps used to slow the cars down, and were rolling curves is something you read about, so is an overtatement that riding on those Smokie mountains proved to be eye opening, first of all the scenery is beautyful and some to be look at and say wow!, but there is not such a thing as a little straight, the road is just a sucesion of curves with diferent radios, and some times the road goes up and some time it goes down, taking tour eyes of the road to look at the beauty of the place with an open mouth (like i did a couple of times) is very dangerous as the road requires all your concentration, and my first lesson of the trip was given to me in that ride, the idea that having a more powerful engine and better tires than the rest of the guys will give an advantage, was an illusion, as Skuuter put me over his knee and spanked me (and later Kamino, his brother, riverruckas and mrs skuuter), when finally we got to our destination, my wife was white as paper, stated that has seen her life flash by at least a couple of times and nicknamed Skuuter as "el loco". I was in the same situation but decided not to show it (not very suscesfully), so they give us some time to collect our courage (i am not so sure i ever got it back) and head back to the motel, were we meet the rest of the gang, the kamino brothers and Riverruckas and husband, they made us feel at home right away, and treated us like old friends The Kaminos unloaded their truck and we went to a very nice Mexican restaurant (in Tennessee who would have though) were we eat and got to know each other better, during the meal it was agreed that the next day activities would start at 7 am sharp  This is the Skuuters and the Chanitos at the park information center, and my wife and me are trying to get the courage to climb the mountain again  Kamino holding the infamous ruckus shirts Kami: That's Gatlinburg.
|
|
|
|
Post by chanito on Oct 30, 2007 13:16:55 GMT -5
Wow! those pics were long, i should have chop Kami's legs Saturday started at about 6 am when i came out of my room to found the skuuters already on their second cup of coffee, after talking for a while skuuter decided to wake the Kaminos up, as the riverruckasses were already ready to go, seem them coming out of their room in t-shirts got my skin into goose bumps, but they quickly got into their riding gear. I should note that while everyone else had full riding gear with proper jackets pants, boots and gloves, we Miami folks where a pair of shorts and a t-shirt is considered enough, were clad in bluejeans and regular jackets, i have some work gloves which i wear and snickers, and my wife had some wool gloves and regular dress boots with heels, we really stand out The order of the day was a gas fill up, riding to the gas station is fun as there is a downhill "s" shaped curve to get into. After filling up we headed up to the park, as we got into it the park, the sun started coming up making for a nice ride, at the park we ride thru a nice scenic loop to view the local fauna and some neat historic sites dating back before the civil war, we got to see plenty of deer and turkeys, but no bears stopping to regroup, was always fun as i have never seen such a big group of scooters.  after riding the park, we went thru some dirt back road toward the dragon, it was one of my favorite rides as the views were unique, we were riding thru the forest and feel like it was a movie, crossing some streams was a first, here is were i was told Kamino's brother was practicing his drifting skills and was riding side ways ;D At the end of the dirt road we were about the middle of the "Dragon" so we ride toward the tail of the dragon, where there is a small motel that caters to the motorcycle community, here we had our breakfast, bought some souvenirs in the little shop and prepared for the slaying of the "Dragon"  to make things more interesting there is what is called the tree of shame, and is full of motorcycle parts from motorcycles that failed to slay the dragon   To make this even harder, there was a recovery going on, on our way to the tail of the dragon Mastering all my courage, i got ready for the ride, there were a bunch of riders on this place and some of them came over to check our scooters, so we are a respected bunch of crazy people doing this on scooters Watching the video does not give this place justice, riding it is a total new experience, there is over 3 hundred curves in an 11 miles section of this road, and most are banked, so riding them is like a full sensory overload, you are not only turning but going up or down, some of those curves are totally blind, and you do not know if it is going to get tighter or open up, the leaves being blown from the trees make it look like it was a weird confetti show with some of those leaves reflecting the sun and giving weird reflections, all in all a nice experience. Forget about getting sporty tires or a big bore, riding skill plays so much of a role in this twisties, that catching and passing cruising bikes (like Harleys) or sports bikes is not that difficult (at least for skuuter and Kamino) and the low center of gravity helps the ruckus and the metro perform admirably on this place , the skuuters and the kaminos just check out, i tried to follow but alas it proved too hard, and after a while i was contented to just keep riding safely until the end. Skuuter and kamino lean as far as the stand would allow them, making a point of scraping them on the corners the limit , that kind of ruckus abuse should not be condone (help me here, so next year they will not do it, and i will not look so bad ), At the end of the "Dragon" we stop to gather our troops and do a long climbing to an observation post, the road run along side a lake, and everyone could finally open the throttle to the max, but i guess the experience of the dragon, had scared Katrina too as she refused to get above 7500 and i had to stay with the group, when i was thinking my moment of glory had finally arrived, totally defeated i promise to get my revenge later The climbing to the top of the observation post was a hard one, and river ruckas just took off on her white ruckus and was not challenge to the top, once up on the post we took the first group pic  coming down was easier on Katrina and i finally could achieve some speed, but those pesky curves, prevent me from passing them as every time i came up to someone, a curve will show up, i had to brake and they will pass me left and ride, as it appears they have not discovered what those levers in the handle bars are for  Catching Kamino, was incredible, here i was holding on to the handle for dear life and he is using one hand to ride DOWNHILL and the other to hold his camera, after picking my lower jaw from the floor i passed him, but i have to recognize his amazing riding skill ;D ;D Then it was back to the fort and get ready for the cook out, skuuter and myself use the time to watch kamino brother install th wireless Internet system, the cook out was delicious, with some nice juicy burgers, grill hot peppers, some potato salad, and some serious finger food And even a nice discussion about the gun laws More to follow
|
|
|
|
Post by Kami no Chiizu on Oct 30, 2007 14:11:59 GMT -5
You missed the part where I had to unzip my jacket pocket, fish around in it, until I got the strap around my wrist, before pulling out the camera, and switching through the modes on it until I got to video. |
|
|
|
Post by skuuter on Oct 30, 2007 14:49:48 GMT -5
You missed the part where I had to unzip my jacket pocket, fish around in it, until I got the strap around my wrist, before pulling out the camera, and switching through the modes on it until I got to video. ......and my usually one handed tucks for aerodynamics.........and what were those "lever thingies" he was talking about.............. .......kidding aside Chanito, really great pics and write-up ;D ......I'll post a verbal account of the weekend's events complete with location and road names of everything one night this week. Gotta' pick up a dirt bike tonight that a buddy is picking up from Canada. 2 or 3 things to do, then the story will get posted................... |
|
|
|
Post by chanito on Oct 31, 2007 19:15:38 GMT -5
I have to update the events of Friday, but being kind of busy with Noel, it will not hit us, but is windy and rainy anyway
|
|
|
|
Post by skuuter on Nov 1, 2007 4:28:20 GMT -5
Mrs. Chanito will want a Ruckus with a big bore kit by next year.................. ...........next time offer me the "test" ride on Katrina instead of Kami, and see how fast I take you up on it. "skuuter, would you like to take my Ruckus fo".......VRRRrrrrroooooooooom, already gone........ Offer at the Gap Store so I can do The Dragon with it.............. ;D |
|
|
|
Post by chanito on Nov 1, 2007 20:28:40 GMT -5
That is where i offer Kami the trade, but he said NO. However having you with and extra advantage in power and tires would have been cruel to the rest of us
|
|
|
|
Post by Kami no Chiizu on Nov 1, 2007 21:10:04 GMT -5
Yeah, 'cause I like to follow Skuuter through the curves to guage how fast I should be going and when to brake... I didn't want that power advantage, yet. Oh, well, next time.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kami no Chiizu on Nov 1, 2007 21:10:24 GMT -5
Oh, and I'm gonna hollar at my brother to put his pictures together and upload 'em.
|
|
