Leaving for Maggie Valley in the Morning - First long trip!!

[GuitarPlayer]

I don't know if I'm nuts or not. I've got the RT-622 hooked up to my Spyder and tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Maggie Valley. I'm very nervous about doing this because I haven't taken this long a trip by myself since I got out of the Army in 1978 and drove a 1976 Chevy Chevette from California to Minnesota. I'm trusting that God will take care of me and that my 2013 RT-Ltd will run fine. So far it's been great! (Now I've just jinxed myself ).

It's 960 miles from my house to Maggie Valley and I'm going to do the trip in 3 days on the advice of many people here. On day 3, I'll be riding with a bunch of people from Kentucky who have graciously let me ride along with them (Thanks Fred!!) I've had my hotels booked since last March and I've got my routes loaded into the GPS. I've looked at a number of packing lists and have decided what to take. I think I'll even bring my travel guitar along, after all what's a guitar player without his guitar. I also have my camera packed so I can document the journey.

I've been looking forward to this trip since March. It's the first time I've ever taken two full weeks off of work. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible at the Owner's Event and at Lamont's Barbecue. I hope Lamont and Chris are feeling better!

Ride safe everyone and I'll see you there!

Tony

[spyderbirds]

Safe travels, and smile and enjoy the ryde.


Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

[MouthPiece]

Tony, all I can tell you is that my wife, Cindy, and I left Flarda on Saturday and we have traveled almost 700 miles at the end of today, Sunday, on our 2013 RT-S with our 622 trailer and it has at least up until now run flawlessly. I couldn't ask for a better and smoother ride. Just take your time and smell the roses as you go. See you at Maggie Valley.

Chris

[NancysToy]

Anyone who has the guts to travel from California to Minnesota in a Chevette, can manage anything. This sounds like a piece of cake by comparison. Godspeed!

[cgistudio]

Tony ride safe and we will see Wedensday in Kentucky. God Bless you on your trip down to Lexington.
Fred
"Bad to the Bond"

[quickster47]

Ride safe Tony and we shall see you in Maggie Valley and also at Lamont's BBQ.

Carl

[SteveMac]

Sounds like an amazing trip and well planned. Keep Spyderlovers Handy. If you have any problems, help is one post away.

I'm envious of anyone who can play guitar. I wish I could wrap my mind around it. I'd love to learn!

[Phil]

You'll do great Tony. RELAX. If you have any trouble, don't nuke. Tell yourself it's an adventure and it will be a great story to tell your friends!!


Phil, Tyler TX- from my iPad 7.5 using Tapatalk HD

[hotglue]

You'll do great Tony. RELAX. If you have any trouble, don't nuke. Tell yourself it's an adventure and it will be a great story to tell your friends!!


Phil, Tyler TX- from my iPad 7.5 using Tapatalk HD

Some of our best trips were where things didn't go as planned.... It will all work out!!!!!! And it is an ADVENTURE!!!!!Have a great trip!

[CanAmMick]

Hope you have a safe trip!!

[dick574]

Left home in northeast IN yesterday & arrived at my daughter's place in Rock Hill, SC today. 700 mi so far. Wed. up to Maggie Valley & Fri. I'll ride to Greeneville, TN for the BBQ on Sat. Maybe on to Gatlinburg & then home sometime later, after I call on a prospective customer in southern IN. Hope the weather likes me.

[bhfromme]

I cancelled my room reservation for MV but now I'm able to go. Please PM me if you have any ideas on where I can stay...

[ARtraveler]

Relax and have a great trip. There are many friends along the way should you have problems.

[Cruzr Joe]

Don't forget to print out a list of "Spyders to the Rescue" in case you need some help or Apple Pie.

(Spyders to the rescue can be found on spyderlovers.com home page.)

Cruzr Joe

[GuitarPlayer]

First day of the trip was fine!!! Rode from my house to Bloomington IL (290 miles) in about 7 hours, all on back roads and through small towns. Spyder ran great with no issues except the trailer got pretty dirty. I'm really glad I bought an Air Hawk R for my butt. It saved the day!! Now going to get some dinner, then crash for the evening.

Ride safe everyone!!

Tony

[spyderpoop]

understand being nervous if the spyder was as reliable as the Goldwing I would not be but its far from it and I,am leaveing Thursday Morning and only 5 hours maybe drive time and never even thought to take this bike more then a hour from the house due to its reputation it has but I ,ll try it anyway so good luck ride safe and slow and hope it makes it

[shelbydave]

Hmmm. I recall posting a similar thread last year. I was debating taking the Spyder to Cincinatti, from Charlotte. In the end, I decided that I had an equal chance of breakdown in the truck, so I took the Spyder. 1300 miles overall round trip.
10000 miles later (in 11 months), I haven't looked back at all.

Stuff happens... how you deal with it tells the big story...

[GuitarPlayer]

Got up early this morning and left the Super 8 in Bloomington, IL, by 7 AM. Took me 9 hours to get to Frankfort, but I took all back roads. The RT's Garmin had me taking some roads that I didn't know were roads! I went on a barely two lane road for about 10 miles that had nothing but curves. Also US 421 is not as straight as it looks on the map. There are some sections that have a lot of twisties. All in all, while it was a long ride, I did have a lot of fun riding today.

I'm worn out though. I think on the trip back home, I'm going to be boring and take the freeway.

No problem with the Spyder again today except for I've found the hot right foot problem. My Sena SMH10R's battery also ran out about 10 miles before I got to the hotel. Going to have to look at getting that fixed soon, (maybe at the barbecue?) Sure glad I bought the Air Hawk though, best money I've ever spent on my Spyder.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting the Kentucky guys in Lexington and we're all riding down together. Should be a fun trip.

Ride Safe and see you in Maggie Valley!

Tony

[Pennyrick]

Got up early this morning and left the Super 8 in Bloomington, IL, by 7 AM. Took me 9 hours to get to Frankfort, but I took all back roads. The RT's Garmin had me taking some roads that I didn't know were roads! I went on a barely two lane road for about 10 miles that had nothing but curves. Also US 421 is not as straight as it looks on the map. There are some sections that have a lot of twisties. All in all, while it was a long ride, I did have a lot of fun riding today.

I'm worn out though. I think on the trip back home, I'm going to be boring and take the freeway.

No problem with the Spyder again today except for I've found the hot right foot problem. My Sena SMH10R's battery also ran out about 10 miles before I got to the hotel. Going to have to look at getting that fixed soon, (maybe at the barbecue?) Sure glad I bought the Air Hawk though, best money I've ever spent on my Spyder.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting the Kentucky guys in Lexington and we're all riding down together. Should be a fun trip.

Ride Safe and see you in Maggie Valley!

Tony

Tony...I bet it was more comfortable than the Chevette though.

Have a good ride and we'll see you in MV. We pull out of here early, early on Thursday and that should put us there before lunch.

See you there.

[Phil]

Proud of you Tony!!


Phil, Tyler TX- from my iPad 7.5 using Tapatalk HD

[StanProff]

I cancelled my room reservation for MV but now I'm able to go. Please PM me if you have any ideas on where I can stay...

We are staying up in Cherokee, not far from Maggie. Good ride up the mountain just 15 miles or so. You can Google the motels there and maybe find something.

[StanProff]

understand being nervous if the spyder was as reliable as the Goldwing I would not be but its far from it and I,am leaveing Thursday Morning and only 5 hours maybe drive time and never even thought to take this bike more then a hour from the house due to its reputation it has but I ,ll try it anyway so good luck ride safe and slow and hope it makes it

Sorry to read that your afraid to use the Spyder. I very seldom leave the house on less than an hours ride and do so every chance I get. It is very easy to get paranoid when reading about issues on a forum. That is one of the benifits of a good forum, knowing what issues some folks are having, but just as important, knowing that everything is relative. First there have been some common issues with some spyders, I am not trying to downplay that. Many of these were taken care of by recall or other warrantys. Most of the 11,000 members on this forum, such as myself, have put many thousands of enjoyable miles on the machines without a problem. My wife and I spent 17 days on a cross country trip and had the best time of our lives and would do it again in a heartbeat. (we covered almost 5,000 miles, just me, my wife, the Spyder and 622 trailer). If I had let the forum issues scare me we wouldn't have taken the trip. I just kept it in perspective in that there could be 50 complaints or even a 100 (with many posted by the same people) and 10,000 others without a complaint rolling up thousands upon thousands of miles. I have two wheelers as well as the Spyder, I've ridden most of my life (over 40 years) and the Spyder wins hands down for the Safety features it provides.
I hope you have a good trip to Maggie and gain more trust in the Spyder. Looks like Thursday may be wet so have your rain gear handy
Friday and Saturday is looking good.