Tri-State Salute
July 3, 2021
We had 3 riders put in over 375 miles on our 3 state run. We hit some of our favorite roads in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina on a perfect mountain day. It was my first group ride out of Georgia (besides leading rides from rallies) and I'm always a combination of apprehensive and excited when meeting new riders. This day I was meeting up with Ron and Paul whom I had connected with through the Georgia MSTA facebook group. Typically, I can count on meeting like minded, and skilled riders through the association as the group tends to attract more mature and experienced folks. The morning started off brisk and beautiful. My bike is temporarily located in Canton awaiting delivery of the MOTOBARN up in Young Harris, so I was headed North to meetup with Ron in his hometown of Ball Ground. I arrived early and was treated to some excellent local coffee from the Barrel Coffee Company.
Ron arrived right on time and we shook hands, gabbed a second and wasted no time on the backroads between Ball Ground and Dawsonville. Ron lead me through some of the local gems in the foothills and we had a nice warm-up getting to the meet spot. I could already tell, these were going to be my kinda guys. We arrive a little early to see Paul already there waiting on his beautiful Multistrada 1260s. The Ducati red and Candy Metallic Blue of my C-14 looked awesome together in the Georgia sunshine (if Ron RS was white, we'd be in serious business). With over 300 group miles planned, we didn't lollygag to much before heading East toward the SC line.
The morning ride was excellent with only a little traffic getting around Dahlonega. As we flowed into the mountains the road got more technical and we were in the groove. A few of our Georgia favorites were as expected and we hit some less familiar to the group on the West side of Lake Burton. SC28 and SC107 are spectacular, the moring weather was amazing and the bikes were performing flawlessly. Unfortunately, after a missed turn I kept going with the impression there was another cut through (in the mountains its rarely true) but was mistaken. We ended up having to run through Cashiers on a Saturday morning and it sucked, but not for long as we were rewarded with the joys of Wolf Mountain and the perfect ribbons of road contained thereon.
Lunch stop in Sylva (another minor detour LOL) ended up being an excellent choice for Mexican food in the area. I pigged on some beef burritos with some of the most flavor full ground beef tinga I have ever eaten, very savory. My riding partners for the day reported similar satisfaction with their meals, so I called it a success and we headed out for the afternoon ride back South. Twisting our way down to Franklin from Erastus was super fun as is typical of most of the back roads down to the Cullasaja River basin. We hit Walnut Creek for some more super technical work and then took some easy 4 lane on 64 to get back over to the GA line. Back down through Young Harris, Suches and the Richard Russell SB to Cleveland we were still in the groove. Ron took the lead back into the Dawson Forest and we all eventually split up to head home. All-in-all a great day of riding with some really cool dudes. Ron and Paul are excellent, smooth, safe and quick riders that I'm hoping to ride with often!
LUNCH STOP
Mesquite Mexican Grill
Sylva, NC
4.7 stars