We woke up this morning in the comfort of our Holiday Inn Express hotel room. There were only a few short steps to the bathroom vs. the normal trek to some bath house in whatever campground we usually have chosen for the week, and, we had to fight off the urge to advise the EMTs at the fire station next door on how to do their jobs. Of course we really don't know anything about their jobs, but after all, we did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night! Once we were squared away with our morning duties, it was downstairs for the a pretty decent breakfast, as complimentary breakfasts go. Then it was time to load up and hit the road.
We put in a very hard day of riding. We started off on the Blue Ridge Parkway again putting 150 or so miles in before moving off in search of lunch and more gas for the bikes. We saw some amazing sights along the way including Grandfather Mountain and the Linn Cove Viaduct.
Linn Cove Viaduct
Grandfather Mountain
One of the best views of the day
Interesting fact
One of many vistas
More Vistas
More Views
At that point we decided to take the shortest route to the "Tail of the Dragon" as that was our major objective of the day and we had about another 150 miles to go to get there. Now it's at this point that things got a little out of hand for some in the group. In our haste to assure reaching the "Tail" we may have pushed some of the others a little too hard on the ride. We ran non-stop for over two hours and 130 miles or so sometimes in rather frantic traffic on the highway around Asheville, NC. When we did pull over for the first time, we got an earful (and rightfully so) about pushing so hard and a possible minor case of "road rage" along the way with a white pickup truck who did not meet some of our standards of road "etiquette".
The Crew at Deals Gap
We did reach Deals Gap late in the day (between 6 and 6:30 pm). We had a short time to peruse the store at the resort there before closing time, then it was time to "tame the Dragon". As each of us has different riding abilities and experience we all agreed that each would run the tail on his own terms. I was first out followed by my brother Jay and my nephew Scottie. The other 4 came out behind them, but promised to see us at the other end by morning (they are not quite the reckless souls that we in the first three are). It was a great run.
The "Tree of Shame"
Getting there late in the day made it good in the fact that there were very few on the road at that time. In fact, I didn't run into anyone going our directions at all. We did pass several bikes and other vehicles going in the opposite direction, but nothing going our way. I also did not run into any of my "law enforcement brothers" which was nice since I believe there may have been a statute or two bruised in my run. I did the 11 mile run in roughly 18.5 minutes which is not too bad when you consider the 318 curves in those 11 miles. The main thing is that a good time was had by all, and everyone did it safely. We have decided to take another run at it in the morning. I anticipate more traffic, but hope to improve on today's run a little.
After our battle with the "Dragon" we headed north towards Knoxville to find some dinner and accommodations for the night. Dinner ended up being at a Hardees in Maryville TN. Dinner as you could guess was pretty unremarkable with the exception of the young lady who waited on us. She was young (I would guess not more than 16 or 17, but was extremely good at her job. Most of you I'm sure have eaten at a fast food joint at some time in the not too distant past and you likely were as disappointed in the attitude and caliber of service exhibited by the youth of today as I have been. I must tell you, our friend Michaela was an exception. She was single handedly running the counter/register, dropping and serving up fries and delivering the orders to the customers at their tables in the dining room. Kudos Michaela! You are a credit to your parents and the people who were smart enough to hire you, and whatever they pay you, it should be more (in fact we mentioned that to the manager on our way out).
Tonight we are staying in a Comfort Inn Suites across from the Knoxville Airport. The rooms are very nice and everything is very clean. Of course there is the sound of aircraft taking off now and then, but all in all a very nice place.
Tomorrow we will take another run at the "Dragon", then we shall see from there. I have made a promise to myself and the others that we will not push so hard the next few days. I am attempting to upload the video of my run on the tail, if it ever completes. The wireless here is a bit weak. Hopefully I will be able to include it here by morning. I also have photos to download from my phone, but that will have to wait til morning as it is already 0130 as I write this and I am ready for some sleep.
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