Twenty years ago (1983), two brothers took their first multi-day motorcycle tour through the wilds of the state of Michigan. My brother and I greatly enjoyed that tour, and have relived the memories for the past twenty years. In each of the following two years (1984 & 1985) we went on multi-day rides, but neither of those measured up to the memories generated by that very first tour. In the subsequent years, busy lives prevented us from doing any more touring. Two years ago at a family reunion we started talking about taking a 20th anniversary tour to commemorate that first long ride. At first it was little more than idle talk as I didn't even have a motorcycle at the time. However, after I purchased a bike, the talk turned more serious. Initially, we discussed recreating that first tour by following the outline of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. However, as we got into the planning stages, we decided that we could never really recapture the past. Instead, we decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary by riding together down to the Smoky Mountains of the Western part of North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. In particular, we decided to make three roads the main focus of the tour--The Dragon, The Cherohala Skyway, and The Blue Ridge Parkway. A few additional roads thrown in from North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, and West Virginia gave us the makings of a great week of riding!
Anticipation built through the Spring and early Summer as we talked over scenarios, lined up places to spend the night, discussed possible routes, and finalized the kickoff date for the tour. Realizing that every great tour had a "name," my brother came up with BURP--Brothers Utendorf Ride the Parkway! Eventually all of the preparations were complete and the start date, Friday, August 15th, was upon us. Given that we live about 500 miles apart, we decided to ride the first day individually, meeting up near Charleston, WV on Friday evening. Then, for the next four days we would ride together before splitting up on Wednesday, August 20th, to return to our respective homes. What follows is my write-up of a great reunion tour!
Updated Tuesday, 11-Nov-2008 15:17:04 CST.
Copyright 2007 by Kelvin Utendorf