I need to get this started - so what better incentive than to start a thread where I KNOW people will be looking for pictures and movies.  I have a reputation to uphold.

This thread will be updated a few times in the next few days while I review 1,100 exposures, about 5 hours of video, and edit enough to share with my DMF friends.

Two quick stories before I start my write up...
1 - I really needed this trip.  My divorce has extracted a hellish financial and emotional toll on me this year (selling the Monster - for example) and I really needed to escape from EVERYONE for a while.  I originally volunteered to drive along to Indy with the US's, but when the majority of the riders decided to bail on Indy - I volunteered to drive on this new trip.
2 - A week before I sold the Monster, I sold a Jeep.  Apparently I forgot to submit all the paperwork New Jersey required, and I found out Saturday that my drivers license had been suspended since September 7th.  My license is still to my old house - the one my ex- got in the divorce - and she sorts her mail once or twice a month... tops.  I went through this whole trip with a suspended license - that I didn't know was suspended.  I shudder to think about what could have gone wrong...

The day before the departure, I drive to Brooklyn to pick up everyone's luggage, extra gear, a toolbox, spare tire, etc., etc., etc.!  The next day I can't take it anymore so I bolt from work at 3pm, and hit the road by 4:30pm.  It's a non-event.  I turned the little Flip Video on myself and started making a documentary of sorts of the trip.  It lasts two days, and I resort to taking pictures again with my big-assed camera.

Wednesday night is notable for a few things - me leading a US Ride... in a car , letting the bikes blow by me on the PA Turnpike at high speed.  The guys had all KINDS of fun in the mountains of western Pa, and learned that leaning off at 45 is one thing... leaning off at 100 is quite another!!! [moto].  We find a Super 8 - GC already showed the pictures, but I leave you with one of the running jokes of the trip - it started that night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T0GRjxOP98

Stay tuned for the video of that night.

Quote from: tommys67 on September 22, 2008, 05:36:33 PM
leaning off at 100 is quite another!!!

Ahem, I believe max speed whilst climbing the mountains was 139mph.

Quote from: goldenchild on September 22, 2008, 05:59:17 PM
Ahem, I believe max speed whilst climbing the mountains was 139mph.

I rounded...

  That video gets me everytime.   

looks like you guys had a ridiculous time.  lord knows, i'd be the one that gets caught doing 140.   i look forward to the rest of this thread.

OK - give this a few minutes while YouTube finalizes the formatting!!!!

This is night one of the trip.  It's my failed attempt at a documentary.  Basically, I got this, a few other quick videos I'll format tomorrow, and then I'm sticking to photos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4-fxlqI5nw

Quote from: migs76 on September 22, 2008, 06:30:29 PM
lord knows, i'd be the one that gets caught doing 140. 

Ask Cru how close we were to getting busted, thankfully Brembo radial mc's are plenty strong... 

Quote from: goldenchild on September 22, 2008, 08:02:48 PM
Ask Cru how close we were to getting busted, thankfully Brembo radial mc's are plenty strong... 

Yeah, they work pretty well.  I remember thinking to myself that maybe going 140 at night up a mountain in PA wasn't the best of ideas, so I backed off  & then I saw lights around a curve in the road. I slammed on the brakes before coming into view of whatever it was (po-po) & then was relieved when they didn't chase after. That reminds me of the saying, "Usual Suspects: clever, yes, common sense, not so much."   

Quote from: Cru Jones on September 22, 2008, 09:07:46 PM
"Usual Suspects: clever, yes, common sense, not so much."   

so dmf - nymmc now doubles as the advrider portion of the board  [moto]

looking forward to the rest of toms docs.

OK - some quick pic postings before I need to crash.

Killboy - eat your heart out!!!

This is from Route 421 - The Snake.  I think you can see me in the first of the two videos crouched in the turn.

Some random pictures

For the photo geeks - this was taken in the dark with a 30 second exposure at f2.8.  The light in the road is 1 semi crawling up the hill.


Yeah...


Soome people just try toooooo hard.  We felt we needed to mock them.  Her dress literally jingle-jangled.  So pretentious - I could've puked.  GC's expression - PRICELESS!!!


Some background on this exposure...

We stopped at a scenic waterfall in Pisgah State Park.  It's very popular, it's quite crowded, and this girl was being a bit of an exhibitionist.  Not in flashing anyone, just in being in the line of sight of EVERYONE and obviously looking for attention.  For example - you can tell in this picture she's wearing a red thong.


I'm sorry - roly poly does NOT equal adorable.

OK - last pics tonight...

Probably the best pictures I took this trip are included in this sampling from a setup on our new favorite secret road.  The guys never saw me - I was hiding behind a guardrail!!!!

Quote from: tommys67 on September 22, 2008, 09:46:32 PM

Would you look at that sexy form! But seriously, as great as this picture is and as considerate a person Tommy is, this was the corner of death! Downhill decreasing radius... notice all the dirt/mud on the inside of the corner. Tommy was positioned in that mud, on the inside and below the road. What you can't see in the pic is the entire roadway directly after T's position covered in that same dirt and mud. I started losing the front and rear tires but I managed to get the bike back upright w/o running too wide. Same thing happened to Cru. Riding too fast on an unknown road? Perhaps, but it sure was fun!

great pic's there tommy 

I'm thinking of upgrading from a sony cybershot to ether a cannon or Nikon  DSLR
so i have a few questions for you
which brand of DSLR camera do you have?
and what made you decide to go with that brand that brand ex(cost,size,weight)?
what program do you use to convert from raw to jpeg ?
and how much do you think one should spend on a lens kit ?

thanks in advance