Atlanta Trip

Trip to Atlanta Georgia for a New Toy!
Or Getting Laura's Motorcycle
January 14-15, 2006

We started out at 7:30 pm to cloudy skies and the quest for a motorcycle for Laura. Sasha had bought a cycle on eBay and the seller was out of Denver…the delivery would have been high! But the seller said he could send it to Atlanta, Georgia, and we could pick it up there. So road trip time again! I took the first leg of the trip; Sasha got the truck ready and set up the computer to use the Delorme system so we could see where we were going. Sasha had already mapped out our trip ahead of time so it was a lot easier.

I had gotten sandwiches at “the corner bakery” so we had our dinner for the road, so we were off. It started to rain around 8:30 pm, but with the Super Duty, there are so many settings for the windshield wipers that I could find a setting that would keep it clear.

I drove for about 2.5 hours and then we were deciding to get gas, Sasha said; get off at this exit now! I was like ug can I make it? Of course I did. Can’t remember the name of the town or the gas station, but it was so cool, they had everything a trucker would want, sort of like the flying J’s but not corporate. They had great snacks and a nice bathroom, plus toys, video games, and shopping galore. I obviously spent a little bit of time in there, as Sasha came in, paid and moved the truck. Then came looking for me.

Then he drove. I was at the computer and checked out the possible places to stay, hoping for some place that would have good connection, a good bed and restaurant for breakfast. We were going to stop at Wytheville, but it was not on the right route, so we had a change of plans.

How did we pick the place? I have the philosophy that a good place to stay is where the truckers go, the price is right and there are decent restaurants and motels. We were coming up to Hillsville and were seeing signs for several hotels and gas stations and I said this one will do. We stayed at a Super 8 for $44 a night, and it had continental breakfast. The beds were OK and the price was great.

But we did not have breakfast there, but instead at Shoney’s, which was across the street. We are going to be getting on the road again shortly, I have to finish breakfast now and we will have a couple of pictures up tonight.

Of course, getting things done at night always depends on how tired you are and what is the internet speed in which to do it. Obviously we did not get much up on Friday night, but did do some. We drove down to Atlanta on Saturday and met Dan & Coco, the friend of Andy whom we bought the bike from. Along the way we saw some strange sights, such as this Peach that was a water tower (we think Greenville, SC), and the BMW factory Spartanburg, SC that makes Mini Cooper and an SUV (we saw the Mini outside of the plant).

We saw that NC had lots of vineyards off of the route that we were taking, which was surprising to us. We did not think that there were any vineyards in NC. But we were wrong. We are going to have to come down here again with the camper and check out some of these vineyards.


Got to Dan’s house around 2 pm Saturday afternoon, there was a little traffic later in the morning but all in all, pretty good to get to Atlanta in ~10 hours or so.

We met Dan and Coco, his girlfriend, and he has quite a few bikes in his garage. We were a little worried at first, when we tried to get it running, (it took Dan pushing Sasha on the bike up a hill…
I wish I had a picture of that, that would have been funny, but no dice.) Anyway, both Dan and Coco were very nice, got us a couple of pictures with Sasha and I on the bike, then we paid, and Dan helped Sasha put the bike onto the truck.

They tied it down with sturdy tied-down straps and we were back on the road. We had seen a flipped car on the way in to Dan’s house and we were hesitant on taking the same road back out, but Atlanta police got the area cleared and we were back out of Georgia real fast. With Sasha driving, we made it back up to VA by evening, having ribs at Sonny’s in Greenville, SC (which were fabulous I had the baby back ribs and Sasha had the three type pork) (and some of mine, as I could not eat it all.)

We managed to make it to Wytheville, VA by Saturday evening and stayed at a Comfort Inn, with hi speed internet access and a continental breakfast, plus a nice room and bathroom. We got up a little late, and had breakfast and then Sasha was like, well, maybe we should check out a winery or two (I really love this guy!!!) since we had time. And then he said, if we do the scenic tour, that would be good too. So who was I to resist?

I found a winery that I thought was perfect, it was on the Blue Ridge Highway, we had never been on that highway and never to that area. Of course we did not take pictures of the winery, but we have the link to check it out.

Chateau Morrisette is the name of the winery that we checked out. Sasha was amazed at such a classic winery was in such a place…Floyd County? This winery should be in Loudoun or Fauquier County, but then it would be so popular, the wines would be exorbitant. I tried 14 different wines and Sasha tried 3 (he was driving.)
This place also has a restaurant…a very good restaurant. So we had lunch and a bottle of Angel Chardonnay. I had a trio of salads and Sasha had fried oyster salad with, wait for it now, CHERRIES. This is a man who can not have sweet with savory, but he so wanted the fried oysters that he was willing to have the cherries with the salad. The manager came to each table to see how we liked the meal and Sasha of course, asked him what was the Chef thinking having cherries in a salad like that? But all in all, a very good meal. I went back over to the winery tasting area and bought 5 cases for Dulles Area Association of Realtors, as they are having their Production awards in February and I thought it was a great idea to get the wines here. I got the Angel Chardonnay and The Black Dog Red. Both very good wines for the price.

By the time we left there, we were off schedule, still down in Southwestern VA and have to get to our house, unload the bike and upload the pictures and words. It is 289 miles from the winery to home, will we make it? Of course but the big thing is getting the bike off of the truck and into the garage. We shall see.

Well, we did get the bike off of the truck and into our garage, with not that much fanfare, but it was late and dark when we did it. The next bike will be so much easier because we will know what to do.

Signing off until the next trip,
Laura-n-Sasha.com