Woke up to find the boots
were still wet, Duh!! That was one
helluva soaking last night.
We had a quick breakfast at
the motel and while there met and chatted with a few other Harley riders. Then it was off on 321/73 to the Foothill Pkwy. The Parkway
is an awesome ride…through the Smokies and all along the ridge of a mountain,
terminating at US129. I stopped at one
point and took a photo of the valley and the Smokies.
We headed north on 129 to
the Harley store to get a T-shirt then we were off and riding the Dragon’s
Tail.
This was a lot of fun with
GlideRider in the lead and me “pushing” him (he's gonna laugh at that comment!).
It was nice to ride the Dragon this time with a lighter load than what I
had last year. My speeds and cornering
were faster and fun. Once again, the
ride ended way too soon, after all, it is only 11 miles long with 318
curves. We parked the bikes at Deal’s
Gap and took a photo of me at their sign.
Bob wanted to get a "Dragon's" TShirt so we went into the store and found one for him and got me a decal for the helmet. When we came out it was raining. On
that note we put on the rain gear, refueled and got our proof of visit
receipts, and continued on past the Cheoah Dam where Harrison Ford “Peter
Pan’d” in the “Fugitive” and into Robbinsville.
I went to the San-Ran Motel where I stayed last year and dropped off
photographs taken last year with the owners and staff.
GR and I then headed to NC143
“The Cherohala Skyway”, to ride into Tellico Plains. This was quite an interesting ride. It was raining lightly and the as the road
climbed to altitudes of 5000+ feet we found ourselves in the clouds. I was barely able to keep GR’s tail lights in
sight as we rode through the fog. Other
cars and bikes were pulling off the road, but GR and I kept going until we
crested the mountains and worked our way down the other side and out of the
clouds.
At the Park’s sign we got
some photo’s and while doing the photo shoot four crotch rockets with their
whine hi-rev engines rode by. After the
shoot we then took off down the road and after a few miles came upon the
rockets stuck behind a slow moving truck. GR and I just followed along, easily cruising,
two old timers riding behind 4 young kids on hot bikes. It was fun to watch the antics of these riders
as they trailed behind the truck at about 45 mph.
I guess out of boredom they
started weaving from one side of the lane to the other. The lead guy would start weaving then the
other three would imitate him. I guess
GR didn’t want to be outdone so he did the same weaving, proving a Harley could
do the same thing. Finally the road
straightened out and the rockets were able to pass the slow mover. I was hoping that GR would follow suit so we
could hang with these guys. Sure enough,
GR pulled around the slow mover and I was right behind him. Now the fun really started. These rocket guys were taking turns at relatively
high speeds and GR and I were right on their tails, our Harley’s were in low
gears, hi revs, and we were leaning with these guys taking all the turns. They must’ve wanted to lose us because the
leader picked up the pace…..haha we hung right there with them, they couldn’t
shake us.
Finally we came into Tellico
Plains and GR and I pulled off into the H-D store there to check it out. I have to admit I really enjoyed this part of
the ride more than the Dragon or the Skyway….it was just so fun!
We ate lunch at a local
café, across the street from a Hardee’s (Carl’s Jr.) and I gave the seated
patrons a good laugh. GR and I were
waiting for the waitress to seat us and when she came to us,
I greeted her and said, “We
almost did a dastardly thing!” (I
noticed a number of patrons looked up at GR and I to hear what we had almost
done.)
“What was that?” she said.
“We almost went into
Hardee’s for lunch!”
My voice was just loud
enough for the seated patrons to hear me….they all burst out laughing. Lunch was great in this local café and we had
interesting conversations with others sitting at the tables around us.
It was time for GR and I to
make it to our reserved motel in Wytheville VA where we would spend the night. It was a great experience today, lotsa fun!
C ya’ll mañana,
Gonzo
Twitter: @GonzoCrossUSA
Email: GonzoCrossUSA@gmail.com
C
ell: 949-433-0761
