Party Boss Rick put together a terrific weekend for the 8th Annual Eastern ADV Rendezvous, near Del Rio, Tennessee. I haven't heard the final count, but the turnout was great, with riders coming in from all over the east coast, including at least one fellow that I talked to from Canada.
I dodged a couple of rain showers as I headed west on Friday morning, but never felt a drop of rain, despite the dismal weekend forecast. I hammered the Vee over the super slab from south of Asheville, NC to Hwy. 209 near Waynesville, and then escaped the heavy traffic and headed north on 209 towards Hot Springs. I had planned to hook up with some other riders heading to the rendezvous, but we missed each other at the little store in Trust, NC. No phone signal there, and we didn't make definite plans for a meeting place. No problem - I ate at the Iron Horse in Hot Springs, while they 'enjoyed' a lunch in Trust.
The shot above was taken by the side of Hwy. 209, north of I-40 - one of the finest roads in western NC.

Hwy. 209 passes over mountains, twists through deep valley, and provides mile after mile of beautiful rural scenery.

KawasiMoto in front of the Iron Horse Station in Hot Springs, NC. The old hotel and restaurant have been restored and are now open for business.

Inside the Iron Horse Saloon.

Heavy rain in the mountains of western NC had dumped a lot rain into the watershed of the French Broad River. When I passed over the Hwy. 25 bridge west of Hot Springs, the river was running high and muddy. I passed carload after carload of kayakers heading for the rivers of the area to take advantage of some of the best water that we've had in the last two years.

Rendezvous headquarters at the Meadow Creek Rustic Resort, near Del Rio, Tennessee. Riders were already filling the hilltop meadow with tents and trailers by the time that I got there. Many had already left to go on one of the group rides - I had passed one group over in Hot Springs earlier that morning (Friday.)

Versys corner - that's Neil's red Vee on the right and KawasiMoto on the left.

The view from behind my tent of the Meadow Creek Rustic Resort. The Resort is primarily an equestrian facility, but it had been turned over to the hooligans for the rendezvous. Some riders chose to stay in the stalls of the barn on the hillside in the background of this photo. The resort had cleaned up the stalls and put in fresh hay for the event. Considering the deluge that we were hit with on Sunday morning, staying there might have been a pretty good idea.

I like this Valkyrie! That's a killer ride.