Ride With Tank

Saturday Night, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

I have reached the end of my final day at the Gap and this is a sad time for me.

The weather today was pretty bad but that really did not make today any less fun. We took a ride into Robbinsville and got pizza this afternoon. After returning I made one pass and ended up getting pretty wet. One of the guys in the room above us high sided today, but lucky for him he did not get hurt and he was heading home tomorrow anyway.

A bunch of guys came down to race the 50’s in the parking lot and as usual it sure was a lot of fun to watch. It really is almost as fun as the MotoGP races.

We spent most of this evening hanging out with the Jersey guys and it was great. I consider any trip where I meet great folks to be a good trip and there were some really fun people here this week. The guy from Virginia (cant remember his name now) was a real hoot and I bet we will see him on Killboy this week riding his Kenny Roberts flattracker with a wig. It was great to see Dennis here pinstriping.

0927081323.jpg, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

Today is starting out overcast and drizzly but I am hoping it improves. It was a sad overlook coffe this moring because it is the last one of the trip. The mouuntains looked great with all the fog and I will post up some pictures when I get home.

Unfortunately we had a Gold Wing trike crash this morning and both people got helicopter rides out.

Friday afternoon, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

The gas crunch appears to be continuing today. Instead of coolers on their trailer hitch racks the Gold Wingers are carrying gas cans on them.

The drizzle does not seem to be scaring people away today. The parking lot roght now is full of Harleys and Gold Wings.

We lucked into getting a room for the rest of the week. We thought we were going to have to stay in Maryville for the rest of the week and we were not happy about it. The guy in the room next to us said “Why dont you just go buy a cheap tent and camp the rest of the week?” We thought about it and realized we could buy everything we needed for less than we would spend on the room and decided it was a good idea. Since a room opened up we did not have to do this, but he thinks he deserves a helmet sticker for coming up with the idea. I am no sure he deserves one so I posted it up here. Send me a text message and let me know if you think he deserves a helmet sticker for this idea.

Friday morning, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

Well it looks like my run of perfect weather has finally come to an end. It is cloudy today and spitting a little rain every now and again to keep the road damp. I really can’t complain because the weather has been so perfect, but I will complain if it is not gone by tomorrow.

I got a little riding in last night and it was a lot of fun. It was also a good night at the campfire hanging out with a couple of guys from New Jersey and the pinstriping guy. They had me out at the fire ring pretty late which caused me to sleep in a little bit this morning, but I was on the road around 7:30.

The Harleys are really starting to flow in for the thing at Fontana and there are also a ton of Busas down here.

The police have a “DUI” checkpoint setup down by the foothills parkway to catch all the drunk drivers that are out in a dry county at 9:00AM.

It seems like I am also seeing a lot of guys on BMW LT’s and I have to say that most of them appear to be riding well above their skill level.

Thursday night, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

Well here I sit at the overlook, ending the day much the same as I started it. It is almost totally dark now and I sit here listening to all the critters out in the forest. Every once in a while I can hear the wail of a sport bike off in the distance.

Times like now are the times I live for. This is the most perfect spot on the face of the earth. If I had to live the rest of my life without going further than 50 miles from the spot I sit at now I really don’t think I would ever miss the rest of the world. It is easy for me to understand why they called it the Trail of Tears when the Cherokee indians were removed from here. We took paradise from those people.