A Trip to Bike Week ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was a dark and stormy night..........................hehehehehe not really I just always wanted to start a story that way..................sorry. It was late February, the temp was 27 degrees and we were leaving for Bike week. George and I had been looking forward to this day for awhile and a little cold weather wasn’t gonna stop us. It had been several years since I had been to bike week or even to Florida. And those who know me best know how much I love being in Florida. George had never been to bike week and was looking forward to it as much as I was. We had planned to ride down the secondary roads and stay off of the Interstate highway as much as possible. After all the ride down was the important thing and we were in no hurry for it to end. I had on four layers of clothes including my leather jacket and my chaps and so did George so we thought we would be warm enough. George’s bike had fairing with ducts that directed the engine heat to his legs when opened so he was fine.........I had a windshield which I knew wasn’t gonna do much. George had electric gloves.......I had...........well gloves. So about 9:30 or so that morning we were off. We were going to ride down to Lenior City, then take 321 across the dam, and down through Tellico Village to 411. Then on down to Georgia on 411, where we would connect with Hwy 41. We stopped for coffee in Madisonville and in my case to warm up a little and soon we were off again. Although cold I was enjoying the ride and looking forward to the rest of it. I was having such a good time being free and riding that I forgot to set the trip meter on my speedo. So somewhere in Georgia my scooter sputtered..........oops outta gas.......oh well I got a reserve so I reach down to switch to reserve. OH NO! its already on reserve. Seems I forgot to switch reserve off the last time I filled up. STUPID!! But the force was with me because there at the bottom of the hill was a gas station. I coasted right up to the pump just like I planned it that way. I looked over at George, a shit eatin grin on my face, but he just shook his head and said something about me being the luckiest guy he knew.........I wonder what he meant by that? So this time I turned the reserve off and set the trip meter. I didn’t think I would be this lucky next time in spite of what George said. Soon we were off again, down through Georgia on 41 we were getting close to Atlanta and I was not looking forward to finding a way around Hotlanta with out getting on I 75. We had discussed several different ways in the days leading up to our trip but none seemed to be a good option. George had made it clear that he did not want to go thru Atlanta on I 75. He did not like riding in all that traffic. On the other hand, I had lived in Atlanta for several years before moving back to Tennessee so it didn’t bother me all that much. I made sure I was in the lead as we went through Marietta still on 41. Just as you are leaving Marietta there is an entrance ramp to the interstate and without George knowing what I was doing I zipped up the ramp and we were on I 75. I sped up and soon we were in downtown Atlanta with six and sometimes eight lanes of traffic all going 75 mph or better. I knew George was gonna be mad but there wasn’t anything he could do unless he got in front and took a off ramp. Soooooo I swerved in and out of traffic sometimes at 80mph and more and soon we were South of Atlanta. Of course my ears were burning from whatever George was saying about me but at least Atlanta was behind us. I slowed down and George zoomed by me all four straight pipes on his Valkrie bellowing at me..........hehehehe.......he hit the next off ramp and slid to a stop the first place he could get off the road. "What the hell was that?" George said in a rather loud aggravated voice. "That was Hotlanta" I replied. "Hell I know it was ‘Lanta" he said. "I mean I thought we were gonna by pass Atlanta?" "Oh? Were we" I said all innocent "Yeah we talked about that don’t you remember" "We did?" I asked then busted out laughing I just couldn’t keep a straight face any longer. "Sorry I said I was thinking of how red your face was the few glimpses I got of it in my in my mirror." Then George busted out laughing too. "Damn" he said, "I was scared to death and you were swerving in and out of them cars sometimes from the far left across 4 lanes to the far right and then back again." Didn’t you see that cop over in the right lane as we passed Turner Field." "Cop?" I said, "no, I wonder why he didn’t come after us?" "Hell he probably couldn’t believe it either" said George. After a few more laughs we decided to get something to eat before we got back on the road and as it was finally starting to warm up some to get rid of some clothes.