10 Sept 2008

Had a nice long weekend this past weekend. I took Mon and Tues off from work to spend time with my family.

Like I said before, my parents and two sets of aunts and uncles all came down on Honda Goldwings and we rode out to Gatlinburg Sunday night. We got a late start on Monday morning but we rode through Cherokee NC on the way to "the Dragon's Tail" at Deals Gap. The "Dragons Tail" is 318 curves in 11 miles of roadway. Believe me, it's tons of fun on a bike!

The first pass through the "tail" I led the way keeping the speed fairly close to the speed limit. Tennessee State Troopers are known to hang out there looking for speeding bikes and sports cars. But once we hit the end and turned around we knew there were no cops around... On the way back through we just flew through it. M was popping pictures from the back of my bike and we got some way cool shots of my dad just thrashing his Goldwing through the turns!

TBC...

11 Sept 2008

We ended up staying in Asheville NC Monday night and headed up the Blue Ridge Parkway. Almost immediately we had a damn detour and by the time we got back on the Parkway we had gone around some of the best scenery on the Parkway. And to top it off once we got back on the Parkway we spent most of our time in a very dense fog, so we couldn't see very well. And when we did break free from the fog it still blocked any view across the valley to the other mountains. This was a major disappointment to my Uncle R and his wife J because this was the first time they had ever come down to the area and they had been looking forward to riding the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Once we reached Boone NC, M and I split from the family to head back home while they continued on up the Parkway.

Of course this is when we got swamped with rain.Twice. We got soaked and then just as we started to dry out the sky dumped on us again. Then in the last five miles we just about drowned. I wear a half helmet and the rain was going straight into my nose and mouth not to mention around my glasses and into my eyes. I was surprised my contacts were still in my eyes when we got home!

But all in all we had a good time and did a bunch of visiting even though the trip was cut a day short.

I happen to think I live in the most beautiful area in the US to ride a motorcycle and I get to ride my bike almost every day. My family is just stunned every time they come down and M and I can't believe that we live here so close to such beauty. I guess we're just lucky that way.

All in all things are going pretty well for M and I. So far the house is still pretty clean from the scrubbing we gave it before the family got here and all our laundry is caught up for now. I made a promise to M that we'd at least try to keep up with the house work. Really it's not that we're messy, it's just that we're cluttered. We can never find anything after we clean...

I’m Alive… So Far…