July 18th 2009 Ride to Helen, GA

On Saturday morning, the sun rose early and chased the rain and clouds away from Friday evening. When I got up and went out to get the bike out of the barn for the morning's ride, the temperature was in the low 60's. What a beautiful day for a ride in the middle of July!

I knew that if it was this cool in Ellijay at 7:30 in the morning, we were going to have a perfect day to ride through the mountains to Helen and then on to Lake Burton and Clayton, GA. Boy was I right! We could not have asked for a better day.

I figured that I would go on down to Scott's Corner Cafe at 8:30 and be the first one there to eat before the 10:00 AM ride. To my surprise, when I arrived, there was already a Goldwing sitting out front of the restaurant. Sure enough, somebody had already beaten me there for breakfast. Soon more riders began showing up and one by one came and sat down to eat and get to know one another.

A few minutes after 10:00 AM, the kickstands went up and we were on our way. I had been right., as we started out the cool morning air was enough to make me wish that I had put my wind breaker on.

Needless to say, the ride to Helen was absolutely wonderful and the trip from Helen to Clayton past Lake Burton was awesome with the mountains towering out in front of us and the lake beside us. What a picture perfect ride!

Many years ago, my wife and I used to spend a lot of time in Helen and found it to be the nice little mountain town with lots of little craft shops and restaurants. Boy have things changed! While there are still little shops, restaurants and tubing on the river, Helen has become the Biker Capital of Georgia! There are several biker related shops there and all kinds of eating places catering to the bikers. The place that we ate at, had a deck overlooking the river, with a roof overhead and stage area with a live band. They pride themselves as having the largest deck in Georgia!

Many thanks to all that came and made this trip so enjoyable! Please enjoy the pictures below!

As we get ready to leave David talks to another rider not riding with us today.

Scott is ready to ride!

The Holdens are ready to leave.

Some of the bikes in our group.

Another shot of our group.

All of us in Helen, GA

Bruce getting ready to leave Helen.

A stop for relief in Hiawassee, GA!

Some artistic photos of the ride by Bill Weldon.

Testimonials from the ride!

Eric, Thanks again for organizing another great ride.  Have attached the group photo.  One version I edited and the other you can photo shop as you desire.  Looking forward to next month's ride.  {Bruce} - Atlanta, GA

Eric, nice write up and pics. It was a great day for riding... after we split up, the ride across Ft. Mountain was very enjoyable and relaxing. Seeing the property on those beautiful lakes makes me want one! he-he! My total mileage Saturday was 308. See you again and God bless.  {Clint} - Rocky Face, GA

Got it. I enjoyed the ride - it ended up being a beautiful day and would love to join you guys for future rides. {Kelly} - Kennesaw, GA

Eric,
You got it right, we had a blast!!!  Thank You!!!   Look forward to any ride!!!  really loved it!!!
Have a great day and BE SAFE!! {Jim} - Kennesaw, GA

We had a great time thanks for the invite. {Terry & Marilyn} - Chatsworth, GA