Scooting with Dru

Well it was a hot, but nice ride up, and I only missed my turn twice!  Seriously though, the door to door ride distance was 137 miles, 4 stops (1 for gas, 3 for water and leg stretch), 3 hours 15 minutes.  I came up from Milton/Alpharetta using mostly backroads, and on the return I am planning to swap out a few roads to get a better ride with less nasty roads.

The route up to Jasper was excellent except for an 11 mile stretch on GA 5 / 515, where it is interstate quality road, without the restricted access.  Traffic speeds in excess of 70mph.   Once there though, jumping on to GA 136 to Old US 411 was a nice stretch of road, if a little desolate :-).  Then of course there was the few minutes of oh my god this can't be the right road when you arrive at a one lane bridge on Old US 411.  The stretch of road on US 411 / GA 61 / GA 282 isn't too bad,  though again, it's mostly four lane roads with 55 mph limits, they are lightly traveled.  That all gets you up to Chatsworth, where it was left on across GA 52 to good old US 41, the old north/south road before I-75.  

US 41 north of Dalton is a very pleasant ride though, and just north of Ringgold, look out for the Emu's or Ostrich's on the farm on the right.  Unexpected sight that was :-).  The rest of the ride in is mostly suburban streets and into the city, though the tunnel is pretty cool, though the turn as the exit kinda sucks.  

Overall the BV did great, and I got surprisingly good milage.  Looks like I got an average of 72 mpg, riding gently and casually, I wasn't in any hurry, and was enjoying the sights.  In addition, since I am up here on business for two days prior to the Hill on Wheels rally, I had  quite a bit to pack.  Clothes for 5 days, including office type clothes for two of those days, two pairs of shoes, camera, swimsuit, workout clothes, rainsuit, scooter cover, lock and chain, water, big honkin laptop computer (17" MacBook Pro) and all the assorted needs, cell phones, chargers, memory card stuff for the camera, and of course, me.    Fortunately, all the clothes fit well in my duffel bag, the laptop snugly on top of that, all sitting on the pillion seat, with the shoes, cover, locks and rain gear stowed in the side case.  The top case was empty, storage for whatever I buy for the kids while I'm here I guess. 

Left about 3:15, arrived about 6:30, checked in, unpacked, and went prowling to find the various destinations for the week, looks like everything is easy to find, and I am looking forward to a great weekend.