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By Jorja & GailHensley • GWRRA #133535 • Wichita, KansasMy wife, Gail, and I recently watched a show on the Speed Channel of a companywhere they rebuild cars to your specifications from the upholstery, engine, tranny,wheels and frame.The company’s name is Year One, and it’s located in Braselton,Georgia.We wanted to see it but didn’t know if we’d rather drive in the car or jumpon our bikes.Then we decided, Why not just take thetrip on our bikes? It gives us yet anotherreason to ride, and we’re sure to see somuch along the way that it won’t just be a ‘destinationtrip’ but a vacation-style trip as well!Well let me tell you, there are a lot ofroads to be traveled between Wichita, Kansas,and our final destination, Atlanta, Georgia(Braselton is just northeast of the Atlantaarea). With so far to travel, limited time (dueto work) and allowing extra time on ourreturn trip for bad weather, we found ourselvesbecoming one with our machines. Weaveraged 11-12 hours a day on the bikes, rackingup over 2,700 miles in six days (plus oneVirginia’s Natural Bridge.day in Atlanta).First we hit Missouri, then on to Arkansas,Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. The returntrip had us in Tennessee just for a few miles,and we discovered that Tennessee deserves awhole separate vacation! We saw some beautifulsouthern mansions, plenty of stormweatheredareas and, of course, some marveloustwisty roads (Alabama Hwy 176between Dogtown and Hwy 35, called LittleRiver Canyon, and Hwy180 in the NorthernGeorgia Mountains). We only hit hard rainonce, and we actually saw it coming, turnedaround, and went to the last town to takecover in a car wash. It wasn’t long before wehad company from another group of motorcyclesseeking refuge.One evening after supper, we were sittingoutside watching the weather and saw a coupleof NASCAR haulers. Now my wife is a bigNASCAR fan and proceeded to get autographsof the truck haulers for the rigs of #6and #16. My wife also collects Harley-Davidson bandannas with the dealer name onthem, or pins if they don’t have bandannas. Shecurrently has proof of being to 72 differentHarley dealers.Our return trip had us south of Memphisin Lake Horn, Mississippi. That dealer sent usnorth to the Graceland Harley store.We evenhad our pictures taken at Elvis Presley’s frontgate to Graceland and toured the gift shopsand restaurant.At Year One, company representatives gaveus a personal tour of the garage, warehouse,and shipping/receiving. And there were lots ofworks in progress everywhere.They also gaveus a hat and a T-shirt.Year One has many differentcatalogs of different models (of whichwe took 15 pounds of catalog material!) Besure to visit their website, at www.YearOne.com, if you get a chance.All in all it was a good trip and we wereglad we chose to jump on our bikes and do it.Still, it was also good to get home safe andsound.And our dog, as always, was glad to seeus drive up after such a long motorcycle trip.So next time you consider driving a car toa destination or making it a bike trip instead,why not just opt for the latter?●Memphis’ Graceland.Alabama’s Little River Canyon.12 Wing World