Breaking out of the lockdown, Georgia mountain riding on my Like

[klaviator]

When the corona virus broke out and shut down the country, and much of the world, I did what most people did and mostly stayed home.  I did get out and ride some but just short local rides.  As time when by it became obvious that most of the country was not experiencing the massive pandemic the news media claimed would happen.  I happen to live in a medium size city where the infection rate has been very low. 

The Next state to the east is Georgia.  They where one of the first states to really open back up although like Alabama, they never shut down as much as many states did.  One of the things they opened back up was dining in at restaurants.  My riding buddy lives in the N. GA Mtns.  He needed to change the belt on his new to him Vespa so I decided to head over and help him change it.  While I was at it I might as well do some riding!

So on Wednesday I loaded my Like into my truck and headed over.  That evening we went out and actually ate in a restaurant.  What a concept!  I know I was risking my life but it was a small place and we were the only customers aside from some people picking up take out orders.

Thursday had some beeeuutiful weather and we took advantage of it. First I got a hold of a guy on the Maxiscoots forum and we arranged to meet in the town of Blue Ridge. Why Blue Ridge? Well first it's the nearest town and second there is a motorcycle dealer there with a bike I wanted to check out. Since one of the bikes I am considering buying is a KLX250 I rode there on Steve's older KLX250. It's not fuel injected like the newer ones but is otherwise pretty much identical.



And Steve was on his new Vespa.



We rode into Blue Ridge and checked out this bike at the Yamaha dealer.



It's an 18 WR250 with less than 300 miles on it. They let me ride it around the parking lot but not on a real test ride. No doubt it's a more capable bike than either the KLX250 or 230 and they had a good price on it but I'm still leaning towards a KLX.

Steve (not another Steve ) showed up on an unusual contraption and we rode to get some lunch.



What is it?



A Yamaha Waverunner with wheels

[klaviator]

We ate lunch IN the restaurant. They did have every other table not available but there was still plenty of seating. It seems that most people are still doing take out. Then we headed back to Steve's place to swap out bikes.

Steve leading the way on his Vespa.




We headed out. This time both Steve and I were on our Likes.

We stopped and had a chat with Darryl



And then got some pics at the nearby bridge.



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The Toccoa River.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Super photos, thanks!
Really like those LIKEs.

Major Tom

[klaviator]

After the bridge we headed off towards one of my favorite places, Two Wheels of Suches. Not only is it a great place, you can't get there except on some really great roads. We swapped scooters so we could compare. They were very similar as expected but we both agreed that the Pirelli Angels on my scooter were better then the OEM tires on Steve's So we rode some scenic curvy roads until we stopped so Steve could get some gas for his Like.



A view of the two Likes.



Mine is a 2018 and Steve has a 2020 and he also added some stickers to the front.



The other Steve on his Morphous.



More great roads and we arrived at our destination.




We hung out a while until another inmate joined us.

rdhood showed up on his Kymco DT300.



It's not often that you see four scooters together up here in these mountains.



Although this place is closed during the week it still attracts a fair number of riders. It's a great place to hang out and they leave the rest rooms open.

[TBR125]

Rode 129 and the foot hills parkway this morning on the agility 125. I rode with a buddy for a short while but was dropped by his 250 dual sport the moment we hit the straights.

[klaviator]

Rode 129 and the foot hills parkway this morning on the agility 125. I rode with a buddy for a short while but was dropped by his 250 dual sport the moment we hit the straights.

Small scooters are a blast in the curves but could use a few more HP on the straights or uphill.

[klaviator]

Eventually we headed off and rode down Wolf Pen Gap rd. This is one of the twistiest roads in Georgia and a blast to ride. We were scooting along quite nicely but eventually came up behind a couple of wings. They weren't throwing off any sparks but looked like they were using all of their ground clearance in the curves. There were no straights to pass so we just slowed down and followed them.



Riding with my right hand and shooting pics with my left.



Then we rode some more nice roads, not as twisty as Wold Pen Gap but still nice.



Another stop.



Steve offered Steve a chance to ride the "waverunner".



Steve sat on it for about 30 seconds and decided the riding position didn't agree with him and got off. We headed off stopping for a photo spot.



Did I mention it was about a perfect day to ride. Around 65 degrees, blue skies with a few puffy clouds.



I swapped out with Steve and rode the Morphous a bit. It's definitely different. I'm glad I had the chance to ride it.

I swapped back. at this point Steve was leading on his Like.



He led us down to a scenic spot on Lake Blue Ridge.

Got a glamour shot of the Like.

[TBR125]

Small scooters are a blast in the curves but could use a few more HP on the straights or uphill.

Agreed, my 6hp at the wheel didn't match his 16.

[Kansas kymco]

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Made me wish I was there riding with the group instead of cleaning out the shed.

[klaviator]

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Made me wish I was there riding with the group instead of cleaning out the shed.

Well, come join us sometime.  There's big scooter ride coming up in August: https://advrider.com/f/threads/2020-maggie-valley-beat-the-heat-scooter-ride.1434287/

[klaviator]

It was a beautiful spot and we all took a bunch of pics.



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Swapping lies



Then Steve led us down a twisty little road that ran along the lake.



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[klaviator]

Some pics of both Likes. I really love the colors on mine but I have to admit that Steve's looks great too.



Kymco did a much better job with the reflectors and rear turns signals on the 2020 model compared to my 2018.

[Kansas kymco]

Well, come join us sometime.  There's big scooter ride coming up in August: https://advrider.com/f/threads/2020-maggie-valley-beat-the-heat-scooter-ride.1434287/

Thanks for the invite I might just take you up on your offer.

[klaviator]

The weather forecast for Friday was crap with rain and cold weather. Luckily we planned for that.



We changed the belt & rollers on Steve's Vespa.

[klaviator]

Saturday was forecast to be a sunny but chilly day. It started with frost warnings for early in the morning with a predicted high of mid 50s by late afternoon. Needless to say I didn't rush out first thing in the morning. I would be riding solo because Steve had his son and DIL coming to visit. I finally got on the road around 11 with temps in the 40s. My first stop was to get the ADV scooter tag. The tag was "big rock". I took this pic with my phone.



Then I decided to also get the pic with my camera which was when I realized I had forgotten it

So I posted the pic and went back and got my camera. A little later I took a pic for the new tag:



The tag was "Big foot, black bear other animal statue. I didn't expect anyone to find another big foot but later that day rdhood, who rode with us on Thursday found a big foot cut out similar to this somewhere in the area.

I rode on. It was a beautiful morning.



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