Decided to to go for a ride. Covered a nice leisurely 150 miles mostly on back roads. I ended up at Bald Knob, IL where they have the Blessing of the Bikes. Seeing I was the only one there I rode up on the grass under the cross for a couple of photos. Great views but needed a little something extra in the photos, like my SV.

Photos from the 2009 National SV Rally at Fontana Village, North Carolina. It's about a 7-8 hour ride each way for us counting the obligatory coffee and gas stops. The rally itself is in the area at the famed Deal's Gap or as bikers call it 'The Dragon' area in western NC. The 'Dragon' has 318 corners in 11 miles making it a favorite spot for bike riders across the USA. The 2009 rally had around 86 registered SV riders attending. Total distance covered for us and our SVS was 968 miles in the four days. The SVS obtained a very respectful 51.2mpg, excellent seeing we were 2-up, with 60+lbs of gear and generally had cruising speeds of 70-80mph plus all the 2-up (empty cases) riding of the 'Dragon' and the 'Cherohala Skyway' and Hwy 128, South of CROT (Crossroads Of Time).

The missus and I decided to go to St. Louis for lunch, about a 6½ hour round trip. We did not know if we were going to stay overnight so we packed up the bike to test out the new luggage. As it was, after an excellent meal we decided to head back home. Weather wise we had a bit of everything. When we left it was 42F and that afternoon was the mid 50s. Got some fog, a sprinkle of rain, clouds and just almost some sun.

Got a fine day of 47F after a couple of weeks of freezing cold and ice storms so I took advantage of it and went for a nice casual paced ride.

Picked up my shiny new 2008 SV650S on Sep. 25th, 2008. These are the the first photos I took on day one and a couple of weekends later when we went up to Giant City State Park for a day ride to see the early fall colors.