> On the entry sheet it said 'Anything notable about your scooter?' and
> so I wrote that., to my knowledge, this is the only scooter in the
> world to ride the complete length of Bourbon Street the wrong way.
> Didn't win me any prizes but lots of comments regarding Katrina.

>
> Chas rode in the Gymkhana and did really well. I was most impressed.
> And everybody cheered and clapped all the attempts which was most
> heartening.
>
> There was a good practical lecture and demo on classic scoot wiring
> probs. I had had some myself, until Joe pointed out that my battery
> had come loose, had shed the ground wire and basically was cocking up
> all my electrics. This actually caused my headlight to go out when I
> stepped on the brake - most disconcerting at night! Having fixed my
> prob and charged the battery, he still doesn't know why my horn works
> with no wires going to it at all. Nor do I, but it does, so why worry?
>
> They all went off to the banquet (Pre-registered ppl only) although
> they all said to me to come, I declined. If I had accepted, I would
> have been sitting next to Joe.
> Joe won the orange scooter raffle.. The prize ticket was under the
> seat next to him. I'll say no more. Then, I hear, there was more
> drinking. In fact at 2.30 in the morning, Joe woke me up with 'some
> important information'.. I said 'This had better be good' - and it
> was! Joe was as pissed as a pudding (as my father used to say) and
> fell asleep finally in a chair, nursing an empty bottle of Wild
> Turkey with a grin on his face.
>
> Whilst they were at the 'Banquet' I toddled off to look for a steak.
> The very first roadhouse into town advertised 'Steak' so, despite it
> looking like the lowest kind of dive, I decided to give it a go. The
> place was called ' Modern Daves' Cafe' and they have a website. My
> first hint that this wasn't your ordinary dive was the beer closet
> containing Duval, and Chimay, both exquisite Belgian Beers. Going
> into the dining room (20 covers max) the table cloth and napkins were
> linen.. which is always a good sign. Then looking at the menu - it
> was all haute cuisine! However I had my heart set on a steak and,
> although it wasn't on the menu, had a prime rib with garlic mash and
> tossed vegetables (along with a Duval (@$7.50 a bottle)). Totally
> delicious! Took coffee (and another Duval) on the outside terrace
> with fantastic views of Racoon Mountain. Each of the other diners, as
> the left the diner, spoke to me and I had a lovely time talking about
> Tennessee, Katrina, England etc etc.. I thoroughly recommend Modern
> Daves' Cafe. Look at their Wines and Beer list!
>
> http://moderndavescafe.com/

>
> Sunday. Needless to say, the others didn't wake up too early, and
> after Chas had cooked all the bacon and sausage left, we rode into
> town to have a look-see. We'd missed the Signal Mountain ride by about
> half-an-hour, so set off to catch them up.. The first bend on the
> mountain caught Joe (and me) completely by surprise as it was a
> disguised-by-trees hairpin. I mean totally going back on itself. If
> any traffic had been coming down, we'd both have been injured! The
> rest of the ride was gorgeous, light winds, bright sun and beautiful
> scenery.
>
> By now, I knew my scoot was able to go flat out, and ceased worrying
> about seizures, so, after we finally got lost, the directions we
> received was 'Go straight on till you run out of road, turn right and
> you're back in Chattanooga', so without further ado, off we went down
> this wide, curvy well-made road.. with my chin on the headlamp cowl, I
> wound it up to W.O.T. all the way (about seven miles) Never looked
> back and did those turns and curves flat out. Exhilarating! When I
> got to the end, there was no-one behind me in sight... so I headed
> for town, where, at the first set of traffic lights, there were the
> guys!
>
> Went for lunch at the 'Pickle Barrel' and the guys said 'Hurry up' the
> boats leaving for the river trip'. I hate to leave food, so said for
> them to get off and I'll meet the boat when it docks, then finished my
> lunch. Then wandered about the river-front, exploring some derelict
> buildings and went a bit off-road, crossed streams and did (tried to
> do) wheelies in the sand! Went back to the Choo-Choo to buy some
> souvenirs, and, as I left the store, saw an older lady pushing her
> mother in a walker with wheels. You know that feeling that disater is
> imminent? Well, I saw the ridge of concrete and knew it wasn't going
> to smoothly go up it, but I was too far away to stop her pushing the
> walker.. it hit the ridge and toppled over, with the old lady, unable
> to save herself, falling backwards onto the concrete. I dropped
> everything and ran over to her. The pushing lady had her leg trapped
> in the walker and also fell over as the walker collapsed. With
> strength I didn't know I had, I lifted the old woman, the walker back
> up in the air, and tried to get the walker open again so I could
> relax. The old woman was screaming in shock, but there was no damage
> to her as she had tight braids wound in a coil on the back of her
> head - which saved her skull. I pushed he on the walker back into the
> hotel and told the waitress to get a damp cloth. The old lady is
> still screaming. The waitress said 'I'll fetch the manager' I then
> screamed at ther to fetch a wet cloth and f*ck the manager. She
> disappeared, returning with the manager. (sigh). Anyway, there was a
> nurse there who took over so I was able to leave her in good hands.
>
> Met the boat at the dock and went on board for the drawing of the
> raffle which took a few hours. I had bought two tickets for the
> scooter raffle. All the tickets were six-digit. I missed out on the
> new 'People' 150cc by one last digit, as did John on the 'Black Cat'
> scooter. I think if we'd both won, along with Joe, we'd have been
> lynched!
>
> Back at camp, Chas had packed his tent and stuff away as he had work
> on Monday as did Toasty who was packing his gear up to leave the
> campsite. It was a bit sad, seeing that empty place, knowing that
> we'd be leaving the following day too.
>
> Joe and I decided to have a look at Lookout mountain when it isn't
> raining. John was off with his Royal Bastards final dinner meet. Well,
> we got thoroughly lost on the way down and headed (unknowingly) to
> Georgia. We rode and rode waiting for a turn but there wasn't one.
> Finally stopped at a church service and asked someone arriving late
> for directions. So kept on down the same road, rather than turn
> around. Still beautiful scenery. Finally got to the turn, which led
> to I-59N. Which is where it turned ugly. Riding on Interstates isn't
> bad in itself, it's the blimmin semi-trucks with their vortexes as
> they sweep by at 80 mph. One of them blew me sideways across the
> rumble strip and I had huge difficulty controlling the scoot -I
> thought I was going to come off.. but saved the day at the last
> minute and got back on. Joe says we were doing over 60 mph most of
> the 20 miles we rode on it. But I don't recommend the experience
> unless you have a 400cc Burgmann.
> Got back to the camp before dark, saw Toasty leave, and packed the
> scoots on the trailer.

>
> My final point - when we hit the Louisiana border, the road
> immediately got bumpier. Mississippi. Alabama and Tennessee all have
> really nice main and interstate roads - why don't we?
>
> My really final point- I had an absolute blast all the time, I learned
> more about scooter control in those four days than in the previous
> four years, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world!