Published by Tank on 23 Sep 2006
We woke up once again to an unbearably hot day. We headed straight to Graceland which was just down the street. Graceland was OK, but I wish we had skipped it and just continued to ride the Natchez Trace Parkway. Still, it was the Elvis ride and how could it be the Elvis ride if we did not visit Graceland? They gave us these strange little walkman like devices to narrate our tour.
Published by Tank on 22 Sep 2006
I think it actually warmed up overnight. We woke up to oppressive heat. My bike was sitting directly in front of my room and I took my saddlebag outside to put on the bike and the hot, steamy air condensed water all over the saddlebag almost instantly. I have to tell you, the heat was unbearable. By this point my chain had developed some slack so a took a few minutes to tighten and lube my chain.
Published by Tank on 21 Sep 2006
Since there was a Waffle House next door to our motel there really was no question about where we were going to eat breakfast this morning. The big surprise was what Mark ordered this morning, T-Bone steak and eggs. Mark was just basking in the glory of it all. 1,500 miles from home, riding a motorcycle, and eating T-bone steak at a Waffle House for breakfast. It was at this exact moment in time that Marks life became complete.
Published by Tank on 20 Sep 2006
Wednesday morning brought one of the biggest highlights of the trip, the Barber Museum. This is something everyone who loves motorcycles really needs to see. It is located in Birmingham, Alabama and it is an amazing place. It sits on the edge of Barber Motorsports Park. This really is a first class facility. Mid Ohio has really improved over the years and is quite a nice place, but Barber is like being in a state park. The grounds are unbelievably well maintained and it is just a beautiful place.
Published by Tank on 19 Sep 2006
It rained all night long Monday night and we woke up Tuesday morning to more rain. The weather forecast did not look good at all. Rain all day and the temperature dropping to 40 degrees. We were supposed to leave the Gap and head into Georgia and then towards Birmingham, but I kind of thought if might be a good idea to just stay at the Gap one more day until the weather blew through. Mark would hear nothing of this and was totally in favor of heading out, so this is what we did. It turns out that this was a good idea because it was not long until the rain cleared up and we really did have a beautiful day of riding.
Published by Tank on 18 Sep 2006
I got another early start this morning and got a few sunrise runs. Once again I was greeted by turkeys. This time I ran into two of the little buggers. I just don’t understand why they love standing in the road so much.
I still could not get Mark to do a sunrise run and he slept in. It really would be smart for me to sleep in once in a while on these rides but I just can not bring myself to do it. I feel guilty if I sleep in because I feel like I am sleeping away my trip.
Published by Tank on 17 Sep 2006
I set my watch for 7:00AM and did a sunrise run of the Gap. Sunrise is the absolute best time to ride the Gap. There is nobody on the road for 1 to 2 hours after sunrise. It is like having your own personal road. The only downside to it is sometimes there is a little debris on the road because the traffic has not blown it off yet.
Published by Tank on 16 Sep 2006
It is something how you come up with the idea for a ride in the middle of winter and it seems like the date you set is so far off in the future. The next thing you know, you are packing the bike wondering what happened to all the time. I have been very fortunate this year and have done a lot of riding and seen a lot of things and this ride would be the final big ride of the year. It almost made me sad to start knowing that this would be the last one until next summer.
Published by Tank on 06 Sep 2006
We started out this ride after work on Thursday. Right off the bat it was obvious what the theme of this ride was going to be: RAIN. We rode to Charleston, WV in an awful lot of rain. The next morning we woke up to cloudy skies and managed to make it the rest of the way with very little rain.
Published by Tank on 18 Jul 2006
This was my second trip to the Gap this year and it was Skidplates first trip to the Gap this year. Last year she was still pretty new to riding and really did not have too good of a time with the ride. This year was another story. She felt much more comfortable in the curves this year and actually had a really good time. Such a good time that we are trying to set up another ride this year over Labor Day weekend.
We got a good start to the ride on Friday evening at my favorite place to eat!
We spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights at the Gap. As usual, we were treated very well. The girls working in the grill were attempting to kill me by feeding me larger and larger pancakes each morning. I’ll be the first to admit that lots of people are faster than me on the Gap, but one thing I am sure of is that nobody can eat more pancakes on the Gap than I can. I did not care how big or thick the pancakes were, I ate them all. I have to admit they almost beat me down on the third morning, but I summoned up all my will power and ate every bite . The two pound hamburger may have beat me, but nobody will beat me with pancakes.
We had rain every day, but usually it was at night or in the evening and did not affect us too much
Here is the Yellow Wolf Gold Wing. This guy really flies.
Skidplate did a 6AM solo run. The road is nice to ride at sunrise, you usually have it all to yourself.
We stayed in room 3
Cades Cove
There are some big improvements at Deals Gap this year. All of the rooms have refrigerators and microwave ovens in them. It really is nice to have a fridge. The fire ring is finished and it is just great. It is much nicer to have one big community fire and get to know some of the people a little bit. The rain did interfere with the nightly fires quite a bit but Saturday night we had a nice fire and it made for a very enjoyable evening.
We spend Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Pisgah Inn. This was a really nice place with a great view. Each room has a balcony on the back with a great view of the mountains. We checked out some of the sights in Pisgah National Forest and headed south into South Carolina for lunch. A local in the area told me to try out 151 off the parkway and it really was a great road. Very much like the Gap but not as wide and not as long. We checked out a fish hatchery and Looking Glass Falls.
Thursday we left the Pisgah Inn and headed north on the Parkway again. We took a little side ride down Rt. 80 and Skidplate ended up crashing her motorcycle in a turn there. Luckily, there was no damage to the bike and she only suffered a few bruises. As soon as we got her and the bike picked up and out of the road it began raining. I don’t just mean a regular rain either. It was just dumping rain. We decided we had enough adventure for the day and decided to spend the night in Little Switzerland. It turns out this was a good thing because we ended up spending the night at the Big Lynn Lodge. This was a really nice place for a reasonable rate. Our room cost the same as our room at Pisgah but both dinner and breakfast was included. The next morning we went to one of the many gem mines in the area and we actually had a lot of fun there. We went to the Emerald Village mine and took the tour and did the “find gems in a bucket” thing. Honestly, the mine tour was kind of a waste of money because you really don’t see any more than you can see from the road. We did have fun digging through our buckets to find rocks.
We went to the top of Mt. Mitchell and grilled some hamburgers and they were good. I think we may do more of this cookout on motorcycles thing.
Welcome to the Blue Ridge Parkway
Mt. Mitchell Picnic
View from room and parking lot of the Pisgah Inn
Blue Ridge Parkway tunnels are dark and scary inside!
My favorite sign on the parkway!
Gem hunting
Here is an old building we found in the South Carolina forest
Fish Hatchery
Friday night we arrived in Fancy Gap just as a massive rain storm was hitting. We never rode in the rain, but we got just as wet unloading the bikes in the rain. Right next to our motel was a really cool place to eat, the Mayberry Station. Fancy Gap is near Mt. Airy which is all about Andy Griffith. Mayberry Station is a place to eat that is all about Andy Griffith and it is a very strange place. It is actually a little dumpy and cluttered, but it has a LOT of character. The food is really very good. Anytime you are in this area it is mandatory you at least stop and see this place if not eat there.
From Fancy Gap we went into West Virginia and checked out the New River Gorge Area. We spent the night in Clarksburg, WV. On the way to Clarksburg my motorcycle rolled over 50,000 miles so I bought it a cake to celebrate in Clarksburg. The next morning heading home on US250 just outside of Cameron I saw a bike parked along the road that was just like Marks. Turned out it was Marks! Isn’t it amazing that even though Mark and Jim did not actually go on the ride we ran into both of them while on the ride? I don’t thing anyone in this world loves to ride more than these two guys.
We bought my motorcycle a birthday cake in West Virginia
Published by Tank on 16 Jul 2006
We were just taking a ride up Deals Gap when we came upon a truck across the center line trying to make it around a turn. This is one of the biggest hazards on Deals Gap. We were lucky that we were riding at a slow pace and we had enough room to go around the truck.
Published by Tank on 25 Jun 2006
Here is some video of us taking the cheeseburger challenge. We opted for the “small” two pound burger. If we could eat it all the reward was we only had to pay half price for the meal and we got a free T-shirt.
Published by Tank on 13 Jun 2006
Here is onboad video I took of the trip to the top of Pikes Peak. It is edited, but it is still a pretty long video, and it is probably pretty boring unless you are really, really interested in finding out what the road is like.
Published by Tank on 12 Jun 2006
I had really high hopes for this ride and it turned out to be even better than I had imagined. We had ups and downs but it really was a great experience and one that we will never forget.
We broke the trip into threes: three days to get there, three days to see Colorado, and three days to get home.
The ride out was actually kind of fun. You know, one of the best parts of these trips is meeting people on the road. I don’t know if these people really are as nice as they seem - maybe it is only because our friendship only lasts 10 minutes and we don’t have enough time to piss each other off -, but I really do enjoy and have some great memories of some of the people we have met. Below you see BMW Al. He almost had me convinced to buy a BMW.
Published by Tank on 25 May 2006
Here is a little video highlight of the Deals Gap ride of May 2006. Bill was the only one that rode down with me for this trip.
