July 4th
London Ky.
We rise early today, 5am and we are on the road by 6. It is just after daybreak, light enough to see but the sun is not yet in sight. The temp. is 66 degrees, as we ride down I75 we can see the morning fog in the low lying areas. I do not like riding on the interstate more than needed, it's boring, however this morning we need to make time. This is going to be a big day, a lot of riding to do in Tn. and NC,,and we are in a rush to get there and get started.Just after 7am we pull into the Cracker Barrel in Lake city TN. Time for breakfast, the stop takes longer than I would have liked,,but at least we are not going to be riding hungry. Our next stop will be in Sevierville Tn. there we will check into the hotel and head out for a long day of riding.
This is the first time I have stayed in this area during a holiday, and I think it will be my last. After checking in and unloading our bikes, we head south through Pigeon forge and Gatlinburg. The traffic was awful in Gatlinburg, over an hour to get to The Great smoky mountain national park. Once we are in the park, we do the tourist thing, stopping for pictures. At one stop, the state line,,I step up on a stone wall for a better look. The wall is only about 3 feet high,,but that was high enough to hurt when I fell off of it. I banged up my right knee and ankle pretty good,,the very ankle I broke 4 weeks earlier. The brace was just taken off two days ago, yup,,I felt pain. I limp away and was able to finish the ride,,but I did have to dig out the first aid kit and bandage it up that evening.
From the park we ride into Cherokee North Carolina , where we pick up The Blue Ridge Parkway. Riding it to the next stop. Maggie Valley North Carolina is home to one of my favorite museums, Wheels through time. Looking around the museum is always a treat, but it is even more fun to do with Roger. My buddy Roger will turn 70 next month, as we walk through the museum he is telling us about many of the bikes . It is getting late in the day and we decide it is time to head out, being well past lunch time we stop for a bite to eat and hit a few of the shops in town.
We have a surprise for Roger, he has never rode The Tail of the dragon and has no idea that is the next stop. We take route 19 through Cherokee and follow it to route 28, also called hellbender 28. Traffic is light, the weather is perfect and we arrive at Deals Gap motorcycle resort. The problem is it is 7pm and Deals Gap closed at 6 because of the holiday. We wander around, talking to other rider's and taking some pictures,and show him the tree of shame..
OK, its getting late and we are getting tired and my ankle and knee are still hurting. 7:50pm we head out, only to be greeted by a Tn. state trooper telling us the road was closed and we had to turn around. This was not good news, we figured it would be a 50 mile ride back to the hotel,,now we had to go back the way we came,,90 miles to the hotel. Back in Cherokee we top off our tanks and head into the mountains, after dark..not good. The road is a little narrow and at night it is a little hard to judge the curves and watch for wildlife,,but we make it back to the hotel around 10:30,,,we started out this morning at 6am,,,16 1/2 hours ago!!! A pizza for dinner and we are out for the night.
Monday morning, we sleep in and do not get underway until 8 am. A stop for breakfast and we are on our way, today is about getting home. We do stop in London Ky., we are tired , I am ready to ride hard and get home,,but Doug is having a rough time and we stop and take several breaks along the way. 7pm,,finally home...
