We escaped Radford, VA with minimal damage to the pocketbook, much to our relief. It turned out that the cause of Speedy's failure was not the expensive removal of the gas tank and replacement of the fuel pump. It was the coil. This is the same coil that we replaced only 2000 miles ago in Florida, not an old or worn part by any means, just a defective one.
It was a bit difficult to find, because Speedy's computer showed no fault codes. As soon as the garage opened in the morning the mechanic took it in and did a fuel pressure test. It showed plenty of fuel pressure, Speedy cranked over well and we could smell fuel as well. After redoing the spark test and seeing that there was only a weak orange spark, not the bright blue expected, he replaced the coil and it started right up. We were back on the highway by about 10am for the last couple of hundred miles to the rally.
We arrived at the Biltmore Estate at about 2pm and drove into the rally site, over two miles further in. The Biltmore is huge, about 8000 acres (down from its original 125,000), and still family-owned. We registered, found Bob & Beth, and parked at our site in the RV area, directly across from the food & beer tent and the vendor exhibits. We didn't realize it at the time, but the food tent also had the stage and there were bands playing every night. Country, blues and rock & roll from 8pm to midnight for the next three nights. We had front row seats from our sites, but didn't get much sleep. Speedy seems to be tuned to the bass frequencies and it was louder inside than out.
By the time we set up camp, it was nearly 4pm and we'd missed most of the Thursday events—except the evening entertainment. We did have just enough time to visit the vendor exhibits before they closed for the day. One of the exhibitors was Lee Parks, who had a line of gloves and other accessories in his booth. What Lee is actually known for is his riding clinics called Total Control. I'd been wanting to take one for a while now. I told him that I'd seen that he was going to have one here, but hadn't been able to find how to sign up and now I'd missed it again as I had at Americade the last couple of years. He replied that he still had three slots available.
This was a stroke of luck. The closest places to take the course on a regular basis are in New York and are given by people trained by Lee. Here was a chance to take the course from the master—how could I resist. Out came the LL Bean card.
We also stopped by the Kermit Chair booth. They make the low canvas camp chairs we take with us in Speedy and motorcycle camping. Ellen wanted to ask how to get a stain out of one that we have. They said no problem, just order a new set of canvas covers for $10. This is a bargain, but we are waiting until we get home and decide whether a new color is in order.
Ellen's chicken chili was tonight's dinner, consumed while sitting at our little tables, under our alcove shelter, overlooking the field behind our site. After dinner we moved our chairs to the front of the van and our front row view of the first night's band, a country rock outfit, complete with stand-up bass and fiddle players. They were good, but maybe a little too country for my taste.
Our neighbor at the campsite, Bob from Georgia, who also rides an F800GS similar to mine, joined us in watching the band. He had a cargo trailer, and, after taking the bike out, converted it to sleeping quarters, with a nice comfortable cot, mattress and sleeping bag, a simple setup with a view towards the fields and horse paddock beyond. We called it quits at about 10:30, but the band played on until midnight, not exactly lulling us to sleep.
It was early to rise on Friday, as the Total Control Clinic started at 7:30am and ran to 7pm. I went to class, Ellen visited the Biltmore House and Bob & Beth went riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The class was all I expected and it showed how much I need to improve as a rider. I'd read the Total Control book, but having it explained and doing the practice riding with coaches made it much more understandable. The class was about a third lecture and the rest doing practice exercises on a closed course.
There were ten of us taking the course, so we were broken up into two groups of five. I was in one with four R1200GS's and the other group was a mixture of models, even one non-BMW. It was primarily a course on turning, throttle control, trail breaking, entering turns, picking and maintaining a line (even in a circle—my weakness), body position and transitioning through linked turns. We also had a session on suspension tuning. Unfortunately, my F800GS isn't very tunable with the stock suspension. I certainly wasn't the best of our group, but improved a lot by the end of the day. I just have to keep up the practice. It was a long but worthwhile, albeit a bit pricy, day.
Ellen had a much different day. There were shuttle buses from the rally site to the other areas of the estate, so she hopped on and visited the Biltmore House and Gardens and the Antler Hill Village.
She took the long audio tour at the Biltmore House, which is open to the public and included in the rally registration. It was built by George Vanderbilt in the 1890's and is still in the family. His only daughter opened house and the grounds to the public in the 1930's as a business to preserve the estate and it continues as an attraction and recreation area today. The house has hundreds of rooms of which 42 are open to the public. There are 43 bathrooms...none of which are open to the public.
Ellen took the audio tour which winds through the house going through some spectacular spaces. The .0001% knew how to live at the beginning of the 20th century. One four bedroom guest suite, the Louis XV Suite, has recently been restored and, by itself, is larger than our house. After the house tour it was through the extensive formal gardens and on to the Antler Hill Village which began as farm buildings, but has been transformed into a winery with restaurants and shops.
Ellen, Beth and Bob all got back to the rally in the afternoon. Dinner time came and all were there except me. It got to 7:30 and Bob came looking for me and passed me as I was riding back. After dinner we listened a bit to the evening's band, mostly blues this evening, but we all collapsed early, especially me after a long hot day—but the band played on until about 12:30am.
Saturday was the last day of the rally. I was hurting a bit, having strained my thighs during an exercise where we lowered a rider towards the ground as they leaned over where I was one of the catchers and had to do a squat while holding up someone. I decided that a long ride was not in the cards. Ellen and I took a stroll through the tent camping area where there were at least a thousand tents. (The rally ended up with 2300 registered attendees). There weren't quite so many bikes as many were already out riding, as were Bob & Beth, who headed off to do a twisty loop out to Chimney Rock. There still seemed to be at least one of every model ever made by BMW hanging around.
After the walk through the tent area, we when back to the vendor tents where Ellen bought a new ventilated Olympia jacket. It is a shorter style than her current summer motorcycling jacket, but now she is a bit torn as to whether to keep it.
After lunch we caught the shuttle back to the Biltmore House as Ellen wanted me to see it. Friday morning was pretty peaceful and she was able wander and take her time, but Saturday was a different scene. It was like being on a conveyor belt. In some of the corridors, it was just a single-file moving queue. The house was still impressive, as were the crowds. It was a bit quieter in the gardens, but we returned to Speedy in the mid-afternoon.
It was soon time to head back to the house since the rally closing ceremonies and door-prize awards were being held on the lawn in front of the house. The lawn, in this case, is an area which seemed about 100 yards across and 500 yards long with a road all the way around it. Bikes were parked along the road around the lawn and three rows deep at the far end. It was a pretty impressive sight.
The ceremonies were pretty short and we didn't win any prizes, so we joined the parade back to the rally site and had our last dinner and our last band, a definite rock outfit who played a lot of classics. After dinner we loaded the bikes back into the trailer and retired for the evening. Once again the band went on until after midnight. We called it quits about 11pm and listened with our eyes shut.
The rally organizers provided shower trailers for the participants. There was a large one in the tent area and a smaller one near the RVs (four women's and four men's showers). We'd passed on taking a shower Saturday night and just lucked out on Sunday morning. Ellen and I walked over to the showers pretty early and went inside. I had to wait in line, but there was no one left inside when I finished up. It turned out that Ellen and I got the last showers before they closed them down. They locked the door as I came out and must have been turning people away after we'd gone inside.
Refreshed (and lucky), we reconnected the trailer to Speedy and headed off in convoy with Bob & Beth to Smoky Mountain National Park, where we are now. After a stop in Cherokee, NC to do a bit of provisioning, we stopped at the Oconoluftee Visitor Center for maps and information then on to our campsites in the Smokemont Campground. After we set up, Bob & Beth rode off to Maggie Valley, via the Blue Ridge Parkway, to pick up a malt beverage to go with dinner. None are sold in Cherokee, which is in the Cherokee Indian Reservation. We relaxed a bit. A dinner and a restful night followed....no bands.
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