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.

Thursday morning, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

Today I made my earliest and coldest coffee run of the week. I saw my thermometer drop down to about 44 on my way up here and it really felt quite brisk.

This morning I saw a sedan coming the other way driving like a madman so I slowed down a little because we were going to meet in the hairpin. It turned out he was not driving like a madman: he was, in fact, a madman - it was Ben.

There were a couple of unusual guys camping at the CROT this week. One of them found a warm place to sleep last night. He spent the night in the Robbinsville jail on drug charges.

The gas shortage seems to be getting pretty bad down here. Brad told us to avoid going south because there is just no gasoline. Asheville is basically shut down today because there is no gasoline. Everything is closed, the whole city is closed. So far this has had no affect on us at all and I am hoping it stays that way.

Wednesday afternoon, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

I had a little bit of excitement today! A bear crossed the road in front of me this afternoon! Finally after all this time I can say I have seen a bear.

Usually I see a lot of turkeys also, but this time the only turkeys I have seen have been riding Gold Wings or Harleys.

I guess there is some kind of Harley ralley at Fontana this weekend. The Harleys are just flowing in on trailers. On my last run I passed 6 or 7 guys pulling motorcycle trailers. I really don’t understand why a guy would trailer a HD to a place like this. What amazes me even more is that most of those guys hate twisty roads also! I just don’t know why they come here. Maybe the scenery is worth it to them. I guess I ride my motorcycle to places that I really do not enjoy riding it just to see the scenery.

Sometimes I like the quiet while I sit here, but right now I can hear sport bikes all around me and I like that sound also.

Wednesday morning, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

Not much to report this morning. Perfect weather, coffee at the overlook, pancakes at the store, a whole lot of bac and forth and a quick trip to Fontana Dam.

Tuesday night, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

Another great day comes to an end.

We had a police presence until an hour after dark today.

Very light traffic again today, but enough to keep it interesting. I am not aware of any wrecks at all tody.

Dinner and lunch today was from Sweetwater BBQ, and it was quite good. We got a bunch of takeout so we will be eating BBQ for a while and that is fine with me.

Once again I spent some time hanging out with some TN/NC folks and I have to say the people of this area really are great folks. I enjoy hanging out with them just as much as I enjoy riding their roads.

We were visited again today by Jammer, Papa, and Rex and they seem to be having a really good time.

Tuesday morning, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

Today I got a genuine sunrise ride in. I made it to the overlook in time to watch the sunrise while drinking my coffee.

Once again after the coffee at the overlook I returned to the store for pancakes. One of the changes I mentioned the other day affects my pancakes. The Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort has stopped serving margarine and is now back to real, honest to God butter. This has made my week far more enjoyable.

The weather continues to be incredible. Absolutely perfect weather. Nothing but perfect in the forecast.

We only have our room through Wednesday night. We are hoping for a cancellation that will let us have a room through Saturday night but it is not looking good. I suspect we will just go buy a cheap tent and sleep outside if there is no cancellation.

There is a gasoline shortage in the area that has us a little worried. Many gas stations in the area are out of gas. We are hoping this does not affect us, but we are hearing a lot of reports of no gas.

Monday afternoon and evening., originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

After checking out the lake we returned to the store and I got my first pancakes of the trip. I am very happy to say that Brad has switched back to having real butter instead of margarine. I sure do enjoy my pancakes more with real butter.

A few more rides up and down the Gap and when I return Jammer and his friend and Papa were at the store. I ate lunch with them and invited them to make a run to the overlook with me but they said they are planning to ride the Gap on Wednesday so Skid and I headed out alone.

The rest of the day just involved riding and hanging out.

As usual there are a lot of people from Ohio down here. If it was not for Ohio and Florida this would be a lonely place.

Monday morning, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

We has another great day today.

I got my sunrise ride in and saw the sunrise regulars at the overlook. It has been quite a while since I saw them last so it was great to see them again.

I returned to the room after I drank my coffee and Skidplate was up so we decided to head back up to check out the drained lake. I wanted to see it from Calderwood but for some reason they blocked off the road that runs along the lake.

We continued to Tabcat bridge and it was very interesting as you can see in the picture above. That is the original Tabcat bridge that has been under water for about 70 years. There were also several cars that had been thrown in the lake, and barrels that had contained who knows what.

The THP was on the Gap before I was this morning, but I guess the reason was there was a car wreck this morning. There were a bunch at the lake this morning and it looked like they were going to make their presence felt, but then they all left.

Back at Deals Gap!, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

Normally I am watching the weather to try to figure out when it is going to rain so I can work around it. This week it does not appear that I need to pay any attention to the weather because every day in the forecast is exactly the same: sunny and 81-85 degrees!

We had a great day today. We arrived at the Gap around 11:00. Not too busy today, but enough people to keep it interesting.

There was only one crash that I am aware of today and it happened this evening at two square. I don’t really know any details, but that can be one of the trickiest turns - northbound people tend to start the turn too soon and tend to go wide in the turn.

Cuz is here with a couple of his friends and we had a nice time this evening at the fire ring drinking beer and eating peanuts. A few others joined us at the fire but I don’t remember their names right now. All I can remember for sure is one guy is from Wisconsin.

There have been some changes since I was last here that I will be talking about.

Saturday MotoGP wrapup, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

We had dinner this evening with some folks from East Tennessee Riders. It was a German place and they had great food.

It was great to see some good folks who I have not seen in a while. I have to say that Brad from the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort is one heck of a classy guy.

I just cannot put into words how much fun I am having. Seeing these guys race in person for the first time in my life has just been awesome. The riding skill I witnessed today was incredible. Never in my life have I seen anything like this. Qualifying was unbelieveable.

Yesterday in the rain Anthony West was like a machine. The guy was just unreal. Today, in perfect conditions he qualified 19th. Dead last. Hopkins came in at 16th. I wish somebody could explain to me why these Kawasaki’s are so awesome in the rain and so pitiful when it is dry.

Tomorrow looks like it will be in the rain so that is going to mix things up a bit. I am going with 1. Rossi 2. West and 3 Spies. Stoner will crash.

MotoGP qualifying is over., originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

I can’t believe it but I picked the top 4 qualifiers! It was Rossi first, Stoner second, Lorenzo third, and Hayden fourth.

Lorenzo and Hayden looked like they were working pretty hard, Stoner and Rossi were smooth.