Tales of the Muttoneers

[Bill Hagan]

Here is a photo-show ride report of a just-competed run from the top of Virginia to Owensboro, in western Kentucky and back for — yes, really — mutton.

Oh, and for bourbon, beer, and more.

Why? Just because, of course.

On Tuesday, 21 September, Larry flew in from Ormond Beach, Florida, and Bob rode his V7 III from Rochester, New York. Lannis (Appomattox, Va.) and Dennis (Atlanta, Ga.) joined us along the way. Then, Sarah, Doug, & Tina — Kentuckians from Glasgow and the first two on Guzzis — met us at St. Mary’s picnic in Whitesville. Two others had to bow out, but are likely attendees for the next Mutton Run.

So … as Wednesday was an all-day drencher, we launched on Thursday morning.

Kathi spent most of the "Guys Gone" time in Erie with her dad.

The photos pretty much tell the story.

And, yes, of course, as usual, “too many pix;” you don't have to open it.

But I did cull the original bazillion pix — seriously, 500+ something! — into a much smaller slideshow. Link below.

The run from here to Owensboro and back was about 1300 miles, plus another 200+ or so of local riding. I also added some with my backtracking to Lexington for that new tire. Bob, with his r/t from New York did 2200 miles!

As with most of my photo stories, this opens in “landscape collage,” so one sees all at once. You can see captions when hovering cursor over pix. Can also just go to larger pix by using the slideshow option.

Here’s that link:

https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Muttoneering-Sept-2021/n-VzxTGK/

I’m still grinning about these past several days of riding for mutton and more with some grand friends, the Muttoneers! What a wonderful memory

Bill

 

[DeadEye]

Looks like a nice trip other than the Rain !

 

[Brett]

Thank you for taking the time and sharing Bill. Looks like a grand time. How did the oil leak end?

 

[Bill Hagan]

Looks like a nice trip other than the Rain !

The cold rain on Day 1 came as quite a surprise. Actually, we should have realized that we were going to cross several high Appalachian ridge lines after days of rain and such tends to linger there. Doh.

Be that as it may, while the wet and cold were uncomfortable, the real concern was the pucker factor as we descended the many tight turns on very wet roads. The poor visibility in the mist was often worrisome. Traction concerned us in those, but the reality was that most oil and other nastiness was gone after the heavy rains of the days before. Still, it was more "interesting" than we might have liked.

The return wet on Day 4 was much less of an issue as it was brief and light. The downside to that was that all of us lost traction and fouled our underwear at an across-the-road coolant spill. Glad it was a short run of that as it could have been an unhappy unhorsing event.

Thank you for taking the time and sharing Bill. Looks like a grand time. How did the oil leak end?

It was a grand time.

The jury is still out on leak.

Bets are on breather hose.

Lannis was way calmer about that than I would have been. He did stop and check level frequently, but just rode on as, despite the appearance of a stuck hog hemorrhaging blood, the actual loss was not dangerous.

I'll post here when the verdict comes back.

Bill