Kenlake FFB Meet → June 14 - 17, 2002
The second annual FFB gathering this year was in Kenlake, KY. I was able to meet approximately 80 people that I have known on the FFB board for a while now but never met.
Day 1 - Friday, June 14, 2002
We'd packed everything up the day before so getting up at 6am and out the door at 7am was pretty easy.
Chris's starting mileage = 14,368
Marty's starting mileage = 12,164
Got stuck in traffic a couple times on either side of Knoxville. It seems that making 2 lanes (going same direction) into 1 lane in TN causes traffic to slow to a crawl. For about an hour and a half we crept along. It didn't stop long enough to cut the bikes off and let them cool, but it wasn't going fast enough to get any wind on the engines. So the bikes got really hot. Both were smoking profusely due to the oil from the air cleaner dripping on the pipes and hot engine. Marty's hypercharger connections (made of rubber) warped and don't make a good seal anymore. My clutch hand was killing me - it got quite a workout in and out of first gear. We were also running out of gas. We hadn't hit reserve yet, but we also had no idea how much longer it would take to get out of there (of course there were no exits even remotely nearby) and everytime we got around a curve or at the top of a hill and could see ahead of us all we could see was a line of cars for as FAR as we could see. We made EXCELLENT time up until the point of this traffic. We would've made it to our destination in the afternoon (3 or 4ish) if it hadn't been for the holdup. Of course they weren't even actually doing any work on the lanes that were blocked off.
40 had some very nice twisties going through the mountains and I didn't realize that the mountains in TN continued so far west. Even into Knoxville and beyond it was fairly hilly. Made for interesting scenery.
As we were going through the mountains we hit a few patches of rain. We'd stop and put our raingear on and the it would clear up so we'd take it off. Back and forth like this three times I think. Once it started to downpour. No exits available so we stopped under an overpass to put our gear on. While we were there 2 other bikes stopped as well. Of course about 10 minutes after leaving the comfort of a VERY loud overpass the sun came out.
After our very first stop (going into the mountains on the NC side) it started getting chilly so we had to put our jackets on. The whole trip was fairly cool compared to the temperature in Raleigh and what we were used to. Very nice!
Day 2 - Saturday, June 15, 2002
First of all, words cannot describe the feeling of getting together and meeting 80 people that you've known for years but have never met. Finally getting to see what they look like, meet their wives or husbands, look at their bikes in person, and hug those whom you've known for a long time. It is an experience that I will not soon forget, but is extremely hard to describe.
All day Saturday I was pretty nervous. Nervous about meeting all these people that I'd known for a while. Would I meet their expectations? Would they start telling me all these ways that I need to change the board? Nervous in general (I'm sure a lot of it was excitement). As we got to Cadiz, KY Saturday afternoon and took our last break and put on our shorty helmet (slower speed limit through there), I got really excited. We had already seen several signs that said "Kenlake" and "Land Between the Lakes". After getting back on the road and soon after crossing over Lake Barkley (the first of the two lakes forming the Land Between the Lakes), I waved at every biker, wondering who they were. Everytime we passed a bike or a group of bikes (there were LOTS) Marty would look back at me as if he was asking "did you know them?". We had decided to get into the park and go to a information area and look at a map to decide where to go in the park. We were probably 50 yards from the entrance to that very building when we passed noneother than my parents! Imagine... the first FFBers that we see are my parents! They saw us and turned around and followed us to the parking lot. They'd gotten into town the night before so they'd met most everyone else already. They told us about a lot of the people and how wonderful the ride was that we'd missed that morning. After a little chat they took off to ride around and we went in the building to get info on the park. We rode up the North Trace and took a couple scenic (and some twisty) side roads along the way. After a while it started looking just like North Carolina so we headed back to the shelter. We met several people... more and more as they started trickling in from various rides they were on. Just as a big group came in we decided to go (with Kate, one of the people we were staying with at Ken Oak Resort) to drop our stuff off at the cabin. All I can say is Resort? Where?!? Only in Kentucky I guess. Anyway, after chatting and meeting several more people there (a lot of FFBer's were staying at Ken Oak and were hanging out there) we headed back to the shelter for supper. The place was PACKED. Marty and I got some food and had trouble finding a place to sit down! We also had trouble getting much to eat because, for one thing we were a little late - people kept wanting to talk at the cabin, and then when we finally got there people didn't want to let us eat, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. That's okay tho, I can eat anytime. We spent the rest of the evening meeting people, chatting, taking pictures, talking about bikes and trips and family and other people that couldn't make it, etc,etc. Ended up leaving the shelter around 10pm and headed to the cabin. Stayed up til about midnight at the cabin talking with Kate, Ron, and Phil (the people in our cabin). It was a great day! Things could not have gone any better.
Day 3 - Sunday, June 16, 2002
First of all, I was SO tired because I'd gotten nearly no sleep the night before. Ron snored nice and consistently all night and our beds were so close together in that "resort" that they were almost touching. The coffee I got at every stop didn't seem to help much. Frequent and long stops got me through it, but at a pretty slow pace. Thank goodness there wasn't any traffic problems this time.
We had planned on giving my Dad his Father's Day present the night before but by the time we ended up finished talking with everyone it was midnight. So they'd said they weren't leaving til 7am on Sunday but we went up there a little after 6 and they were gone.
My friend and roommate from college, Tiffany, lives in Hickory, NC and I tried calling her earlier in the day to tell her we were coming into town that night and ask if she wanted to get together the next day (monday). I didn't hear from her so that evening when we finally got to the hotel I gave one more call and got in touch with her. Fortunately she was free the next day.
Day 4 - Monday, June 17, 2002
Well it was really great to see Tiffany again. I hadn't seen her in probably over a year and hadn't talked to her in a couple months or more. We had a great chat at lunch, catching up and all. Then we rode with her (on her bike) back to her house. We got to meet all the horses that she owns and the ones she boards. Also got to meet all her lovable pups! Those Chinese Cresteds have more personality than most dogs I've seen. What a HOOT! After spending some time visiting and playing with the animals we had to take off towards home. But it was definitely a nice relaxing day.
Chris's ending mileage = 15,768
Marty's ending mileage = 13,534
Total mileage = 1370
States We Visited This Trip
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