Dragon Day! 443 kms

We got kind of a late start Friday from Lenoir. The sky was dark and threatening but there were slivers of light in the west – our destination. We left our rooms and headed for the lobby for our ‘continental breakfast’. JUST sat down and it started to POUR! Thankfully, it was shortlived and we were on the road a few minutes after 9. Our route was Hwy 64 – very picturesque until we hit Lake Lure, where “Dirty Dancing” was filmed and the scenery became unparalleled. I’ve said it before… it’s my story and I’m sticking to it. EVERY locale has its own unique beauty. Hell, even New Brunswick is wonderfully scenic if all you’re used to is mountains or ocean or interstate. Lake Lure is surrounded by mountains, there’s a lake and a lovely little beach with a boardwalk right in the town, and there’s the equivalent of maybe two city blocks of quaint little shops. Add a big spa hotel, romantic little cottages along the river or stream (not sure which!) and some B&Bs – and it’s definitely a place I could revisit.

It’s just past Lake Lure where we missed the turnoff that would have kept us on highway 64. Rather, we ended up on a short distance of wonderful twisties. Behind a big, freaking tour bus with Alaska plates! Damn. But that’s ok. We were, after all, headed for the Tail of the Dragon with its 318 curves in 11 miles. Plus, we rode another section of the Blue Ridge Parkway during our quest for the Dragon.

There were many pit stops Friday and they all involved checking the map and the Zumo and adjusting our route . Here’s an FYI (for your information) regarding the route to Deal’s Gap (which you likely won’t find on your GPS) …. find “Robbinsville” on your map and take EITHER route 28 (from 74 directly to Deal’s Gap ) or 129 North from Robbinsville. Route 28 is another twisty road through woods and part of it along a river. The Fontana Dam is on this route.

I’m writing this on Saturday night and I’m writing rather frantically. I had no internet connection last night at the Princess Motel in Maryville, Tennessee, and tonight – in Cherokee, NC – I have no internet connection in my room. Which means writing this in Word and going to the lobby to post it. But, again, I digress….
The rain yesterday morning stopped as suddenly as it started and it didn’t rain again. The temperature went from 16 to 26 (and back down to around 13 when we hit the peak of the Parkway in cold fog). It was a perfect day and, between the jigs and the reels, we finally arrived at Deal’s Gap around 5:30 or something to 6. We (I) got psyched, got something to drink, took some photos, Mark and I picked up some Dragon paraphernalia (most notably, a pin for my Yamaha ball cap which also sports ‘BC’ and ‘Katahdin’ pins) and we geared up. I was a little concerned as I hadn’t had much sleep the night before and I wanted to be on top of my game.
The road leading up to Deal’s Gap had its own twisties (switchbacks) and I did ok o those but I figured the Dragon was going to be 11 miles of the same. Not so. I was careful to choose my line and keep it for each curve and kept my speed down – to speed limit; sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. The key was to keep my speed adjusted so I didn’t have to brake a lot. Apparently, the Tail of the Dragon has a healthy representation of LEOs (law enforcement officers) but the only one WE saw during our run after 6pm was the one – along with the 2 ambulances – who respon ded to the crash that we came across about a half mile into the ride. Some kind of sport bike – the bike was lying on the side of the road, there were a couple of vehicles parked and people were peering over the embankment. I didn’t look too closely – kept my eyes on the road and, seeing people already there, I kept on going. Oddly, as I write this, I wonder now if I should have stopped since Nancy and I are both nurses. Hmmmm…. As a postscript to this particular story, we were back at Deal’s Gap this afternoon and I inquired about this accident. Apparently, a car – travelling the same direction as the MC, was veering left to pull over (to let the MC pass?) and the MC, attempting to pass the car, collided with it. Both at fault. The MCist was airlifted out and we don’t know the extent of the injuries. For some reason, the motel where we landed for the night had newspaper clippings about each death that occurred on the Dragon this year. Five of them to date – the last guy being a chap from Lenoir where we’d spent Thursday night.

We came off the Dragon at dusk along a gorgeous river or lake (I’ll have to check a map and get a better idea of the geography here) with a heavy mist or fog coming off it. It was spooky and beautiful at the same time. It got dark pretty fast and we had no notion of where we were going to spend the night. It’s a good thing it was dark (and I mean DARK in the country) because at dusk, I felt as though we might have been riding through the set of Deliverance. Trailers with lots of trash and broken down vehicles. Meanwhile, there’s a huge lightening show going on to the northwest of us – we were riding toward it. We finally stopped at a service station where I checked Zumo and Mark consulted with the locals ‘hangin’ out’ (men, women and a small child!) on chairs in the service station yard. He got directions to the Princess Motel which I found in Zumo and also got word of a tornado warning for Monro County – the next county over. Great.

We got to the Princess as directed - $50 taxes in; no internet and, well, the towels were kind of thin. But you can’t beat that price (which sure as hell trumps the $119.69 – cash, all discounts and taxes in – rate we’re paying tonight in Cherokee). Plus, we met some nice MCists from Florida and Maryland (I think). One of the guys had been carrying a Canadian penny around intending to spend it in Niagara but he didn’t get there so he wanted to return the penny to “its rightful owner” . Which, apparently, was me and he actually had to root around in his wallet to find it! My new lucky penny. The gal at the registration desk had told us we could put our bikes up on the ‘verandah’ (I think that’s what she called it; it was the sidewalk) under the eaves, in case of rain. As it turned out, it started to rain within minutes of our parking. We hadn’t originally put our bikes on the sidewalk but we quickly did. And the other guys got the hang of it some time later so that, finally, ALL the bikes were on the sidewalk! Which wasn’t a big deal since there weren’t a lot of other patrons there last night. The tornado, by the way, didn’t materialize nor did the rain that was forecast for today. We did hit a drizzle or heavy fog on the Cherohala Skyway but no rain. A final note about the Princess. The photo today ? I think I mentioned ‘bible belt’ one time this week. The bible on the table in Room 19 – MY room, which I chose because my birthday is January 19th - was open to Psalms 41-45.

To finish up Friday’s post….once again, I was overwhelmed on Friday by my good fortune to be healthy and fit, and to have the opportunity to see parts of the world that are, in my not-so-humble opinion, best seen from a motorcycle. As I ride these amazing mountain highways, I can’t imagine travelling the same routes in a car. There’s absolutely no feeling quite like rolling through the curves, looking out over miles of mountain ranges in all their fall glory, feeling the cool mountain air rushing in around my helmet visor , and riding through mountain tunnels and beneath canopies of foliage. It’s like watching a 3-D movie except better because I’m actually IN It. And experiencing all the senses that are missing from a movie. As I type this, it’s more obvious that my hands are a bit stiff from the grips; and the blisters on my throttle hand have turned to calluses. My hair’s a mess most of the time from my helmet especially since I’m growing my hair out (which is why I prefer my very short haircuts! But that’s why I keep my ball cap in my tankbag). And it’s hard to actually do ‘touristy’ things lugging a helmet and tankbag, and wearing MC clothes. But the bike gives a rush that just canNOT be had on four wheels.

Time to tell you about today’s ride…..(with my apology for any and all typographical errors you may have found within. It’s late and I’m tired of this ‘no internet’ business!)