1 - The sonuvabitch performed like a swiss watch, effectively squashing any thoughts of trading it in on a Wing during the trip. I rode through rain intense enough to soak through my leather jacket in less than two minutes; I soaked my denim jacket in cold water and ran hour after hour at 80-90 mph on the Interstates (in 95-100 degree heat); I crept through Atlanta rush-hour traffic in the same heat. It didn't matter: the bike didn't miss a beat. The worst that happened was an in-town drop in voltage sufficient to keep the turn signals from working.

2 - Did I mention heat: the city's slogan should be "Atlanta: Only a Mile from the Sun!"

3 - The Blue Ridge Parkway (southbound from Fancy Gap to Roanoke) is flat-out wonderful. I passed a water mill, for heaven's sake!

4 - Best sign of the trip: Luweegee's Italian Restaurant, in West Virginia. (I see a terrific sitcom pilot there, but a crappy sitcom.)

5 - Atlanta is a terrific city, fairly reeking of optimism and enthusiasm. I don't think that it's just the Olympics, either: I remember having the same impression during my last visit, in 1986.

6 - I've put 6,300 miles on the bike (and new tires) this season. At that mileage the rear Dunlop 402 and Metzeler ME88 were ready for the scrap heap. The Conti Tour, however, has plenty of meat left. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be a five-digit hoop! Given the superb handling (dry and wet) and insensitivity to rain grooves I would have bought them again. High mileage is a welcome bonus. (Again: Conti Tour TK 16 and TK 17.)

7 - Have I mentioned that Atlanta is a mile from the sun?

8 - The Furthur Festival was all that I hoped for, and more. Musically, it was grand; sociologically, it acknowledged the enormous debt to Garcia while making it clear that the time had come to move on. This was most emphatically obvious during much of Mickey Hart's Mystery Box set, whose lyrics were written by Robert Hunter. Weir was only slightly more oblique, but the message was the same.

9 - Mrs. Rowe's Family Restaurant, just off I81 in Staunton VA, served up its usual superb dinner (southbound) and breakfast (northbound). Let it be known that I "discovered" and wrote about this restaurant in 1982, a good two years before picking up my first copy of Jan & Michael Stern's (indispensable) Road Food and reading their rave review of the place. Jay's comments regarding "family" restaurants notwithstanding, Rowe's is first rate.

That's all, except that I hope passing up an Atlanta dealer's bargain 1993 Aspencade (8000 miles, $9,999) doesn't turn out to be a bonehead decision.