Friday 7/31/15 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• Continuing with our breakfast (beat the heat) tradition, this Friday I thought I would ride up to the Amore Café on Hwy 64 near Lake Toxaway, NC.   Since Hwy 130 is under construction I will have to take a less than direct route to the restaurant, but should still be able to get there before 10 AM (they serve breakfast till 11 AM).  After breakfast, weather permitting, I will take the long way back.  If you would like to join me let’s plan to leave the Key Mart parking area about 8:30 AM.  Hope you can make it.   Dan

Trip Advisor - Amorè

• Ten riders decided a morning ride up to Amorè for a great breakfast was definitely the right thing to do today.  Due to the work being done on Hwy 130, Dan led us on an alternate route via Highways 28 and 107 to Wigginton so we could avoid the repaving effort underway.  The other riders included Gadget, Lesley, Len, Bill, Pat, Jim (wing), Steve G., me, and Bob.  The ride up the mountain was cool and refreshing and we made it to our destination in plenty of time to get breakfast.  Dan had alerted Sue to call ahead to make sure they had room and they were ready for us when we arrived.  They had a couple tables set-up and waiting outside.  We quickly asked for coffee and started looking at the new menu.  On our previous trips to Amorè, they had one price and basically served up a buffet for your breakfast.  They've now switched to a typical menu with a good variety to select from.  "Pancake Bob" jumped on the strawberry shortcake offering and was obviously not disappointed, other than the wishing there was some ice cream available.  Everyone else mostly, ordered some variation of eggs or omelets and the food was quite good.  After some discussion during the meal, Len suggested an interesting route and agreed to lead us on some roads most of us have not been on before.  I usually try to remember the route for future reference, but with the different roads we were on and the abundance of twists and switchbacks, the only thing I'm sure of is that we turned east onto Hwy 64 when we left the restaurant and an hour or so later, we were back on Hwy 64, and made our way to Hwy 178.  It was a great ride and offered a lot of challenging twists and turns.  Truly, another great day on two wheels.   Steve

Looks like a new sign will be going up soon.....

Friday 7/24/15 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• With the ongoing heat and unstable weather in the afternoon, it makes more sense to continue our trend of breakfast rides, so I am planning to scoot on over to the Starving Artist Café in Old Easley and then get a few more miles in after breakfast, weather permitting.  I love breakfast, so if your thinking like me let’s plan to leave the Key Mart parking area about 8:30 AM this Friday.  Hope you can be there.    Dan
• ps.  Thanks to Steve Davis for keeping the Friday Ride tradition going while I was refreshing my memory as to “why we don’t live in Michigan”.

Trip Advisor - The Starving Artist Cafè

Friday 7/17/15 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• Dan is out of town this week, but I thought it would still be a good idea to take a breakfast ride this Friday and avoid the heat of the afternoon.  There's a place in Hendersonville, Mean Mr. Mustard, that serves breakfast all day, so getting there around 10 am will be fine.  I plan to leave the Key Mart parking area at 8:30, and will actually wait until everyone is ready before pulling out of the parking lot. Here is a link to the restaurant.  http://meanmrmustards.com/#_=_ It's been in Hendersonville for a while, but has moved to a different location.  It moved to a place we'd been to once before, called Nib's Coffee Cafe.   See you Friday.   Steve

• Six riders took the chance that I would be able to lead them to a place for breakfast.  After all, I did promise to wait until everyone was ready this time before I left the parking lot.  The riders included Jim (wing), Denny, Rich (first time rider with us), Bill, Pat, and Bob.  I only use the Key Mart gas pumps as a last resort, and I needed to fill up today.  However, they went above and beyond their normal inadequacy, and were not selling any gas today.  This meant that I would have to stop along the way for fuel before making it to Hendersonville.  Turns out Rich needed some, too, so I was not the only one filling up while everyone had to wait.  I took a boring but direct route so we could get to the restaurant by 10 am.  The skies had turned cloudy, and we even passed over some wet pavement, but did not encounter rain.  There was a mishap pulling into Mean Mr. Mustard, but no one was hurt.  Rich went a little wide pulling in and hit the curb and the bike went down.  He was okay and so was the bike, but you could smell some of the juniper ground cover being toasted by the hot pipes.  This gave us all a chance to do some exercise and get the bike upright and he pulled into a parking spot.  I could tell what Bob was thinking - "this never happens when Dan is leading.."  Oh well, everyone survived.  We sat on the porch and were served promptly with coffee and breakfast.  It was pleasant sitting under the umbrellas and feeling a slight mountain breeze.  This was the first time I've ever seen a server actually split the check.  She tore the ticket into individual portions for each order.  You can see my portion in the picture below.  After lunch, Jim and Bob had other missions and took different routes home.  The rest of us made our way over to Hwy 276, passing Dupont and Caesars Head parks along the way.  As usual, the lower the elevation, the hotter it got.  Other than a bruised ego for one of the riders, it was another great day on two wheels.   Steve

She actually "split" the check for everyone....

Monte, the owner, is clearly a huge fan of the Beatles, especially John.
Photos and memorabilia adorned the restaurant

Friday 7/10/15 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• Last Friday wasn’t so nice but this Friday is looking pretty good, except for the heat, so I’m going to keep the same plan as last week and ride on over to BJ’s Restaurant in Toccoa, GA for some breakfast.  We are heading to MI on Saturday so I won’t be able to ride next week.  That means it is Friday or nothing, so I’m riding Friday, 8:30 AM from the Key Mart parking area.  Hope you can join me.   Dan

"We'll head that way to Toccoa, then head for Michigan tomorrow...."

• No shortage of riders today.  The forecast for hot afternoon temps was enough to convince everyone that wanted to ride that earlier is better than later. The large group scooting along behind Dan included Lesley, Len, Jim (Wing), Steve G., Denny, Russ, Bill, Pat, Corey, and Bob. Jim (HD Road King) and I met up with the group at BJ's.  The server had us seated at tables if front of the big window.  Sounds impressive, but the panoramic view was overlooking the alley and parking lot.  I'm sure we shouldn't be concerned that they put us way in the back and not up front with the decent folks.  The server did a pretty good job getting the drinks and food orders.  Lesley was a little concerned when the server  told her that her order "might be getting made" as opposed to saying it's on its way.  The meal did arrive soon after and fresh, piping hot biscuits were brought to complete some of the orders.  With the large group, it took a few miles for everyone to catch up to the group once we left the restaurant.  Dan took us on some roads we hadn't traveled before, but we came to a rather quick stop when we encountered a road that looked like the one in the picture below.  Only Len and Jim (wing) had reverse, so it took a few minutes for the rest of us to back up and turn around on the slight incline.  From there Len moved up behind Dan to assist in getting us back on track. The ride continued to heat up as we made our way down the mountain.  I'm sure everyone was glad we took Dan's lead and made the ride an early one.  It was definitely another great day on two wheels.   Steve

Friday 7/03/15 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• This being a holiday weekend with family coming in, if I want to ride I will need to stick with our current trend of going to breakfast so I can get done early before family gets here.  My plan is to ride straight to BJ’s Restaurant in Toccoa, GA for some breakfast, then find a different route home.  If you would like to join me let’s plan to leave the Key Mart parking area about 8:30 AM this Friday morning.  Hope you can make it.   Dan

Sounds like we need to be ready to fly...........

BJ's Family Restaurant

• 6:59 am - Sorry for the very late notice but roads are wet here with 100% chance of rain in Toccoa so I will not be riding today.  Maybe next time.   Dan