DAY 8 May 9, 2011 Tail of the Dragon

The start of our second week! As usual, my alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. I got dressed and packed and Ken was right behind me. I told Ken that I was going to the breakfast room to work on the pictures. I was there, alone, working on the computer when all of the guys came in one by one and had breakfast. I did some catching up on the pictures and got tired of doing that so I put the computer away and had breakfast myself. After I ate, the guys were talking so I went outside to my Motor to get it ready for the ride. I went to my room and got my bags and took them out to the Motor. The other guys were doing the same. I had passed the breakfast room and saw Chuck sitting at the table I was at. He was looking at the map to see what route he would take. We all finished packing our Motors and we were ready to go. We all left, with C.E. in the lead, and headed to a nearby gas station. We all gassed up and left at 9:15 AM with Chuck in the lead.

Chuck lead us north on I-75 and got off at Highway 11. We were headed to Highway 411 to go north but we passed it. We went about a mile and Chuck made a u-turn. Chuck later gave us an excuse that he read about a farmhouse in the Internet and he wanted to see it. It was in that area. Yeah...right! We made a u-turn and headed back to Highway 411 and then northbound. We were north on Highway 411 when he made another u-turn and turned into a Credit Union in Madisonville, TN at 9:45 AM after riding for 31 miles. This was excusable because Ken had asked to stop at one so that he could take out more money. We let that slide. We continued on at 9:51 AM.

Chuck continued north on Highway 411 and turned on Highway 72. We rode for a short distance and we passed a sign that welcomed us to the Cherokee National Forest. We turned onto Highway 129 and the forest was beautiful! There was very little traffic, the road was good, the weather was cool and there were lakes and rivers. We were riding and then Chuck slowed and turned into a Harley Davidson Store! We all parked and went in. There was a lot of merchandise for the Tail of the Dragon. All of the guys bought something. I bought a "Gremlin Bell," I wrote about it earlier, and gave it to Jan. Bruce had promised to buy a Gremlin Bell for Jan back when we did the 4 Corner's Ride, 4 years ago. Jan is still waiting. I bought one and gave it to him when we had gone back to our Motors. It was a bell that had info of the Tail of the Dragon on it. Jan was very pleased and he and Chuck asked me if I had a bell. I told them that I didn't and they both said that they would get me one. Jan told Chuck that since I got one for him, he wanted to get one for me...and he did. We put them on our Motors, since we were going to do the Tail ride. The Harley riders and C.E., each, rode their Motors in front of the H-D sign and had their pictures taken. We left at 10:50 AM.

With all of us possessing a Gremlin Bell, Chuck lead us on and before we knew it, we were on The Tail of the Dragon! The speed limit was posted at 30 mph and we went about 40. There were a lot of twisties, sharp corners, tight turns, speed limit dropped to 15 mph, other bikers, rivers, lakes, cliffs, uphill, downhill, etc. You get the picture. It was a fun ride. We were "scraping pads" and boot soles! I was second behind Chuck, then Ken, Jan, Bruce and C.E. I was, most of the time, riding with only my right hand holding the handlebar. My left had held my camera and I was taking pictures and recorded two videos! We all had fun. The Tail had 318 turns in 11 miles. We got to the end in Deals Gap, TN. Six guys from Phoenix rode many miles to ride the Tail of the Dragon. We did it, it was nothing and we tamed the Dragon. We stopped at 11:24 AM after riding 19 miles. We did a little shopping and got some drinks and snacks. We walked around the facility and saw the "Tree of Shame." This is a tree in the middle of the complex which has Motorcycle parts nailed to the tree. These parts are from Motorcycles that crashed on the Dragon. Some of the parts have a description written on them as to how they appeared on the tree. There have been a few fatalities. Since we "tamed" the Dragon, before we left, they were changing all of the signs to read, "Thanks to the Boys from Phoenix, The Tail of the Dragon will now be know as, The Tail of the Gecko." I crack me up! Quick, somebody slap me! We left at 12:21 PM.

Chuck continued to lead up on Highway 129. We passed a sign welcoming us to North Carolina. We rode south and 18 miles later, we stopped in Robbinsville, NC at Papa's Pizza Buffet for lunch at 12:48 PM. We left at 1:42 PM.

It was getting warm and off we went. Chuck lead us to Highway 143, which took us around and back to Deals Gap, TN. We then got back onto Highway 129 and headed south and stopped in Robbinsville, NC again. We had ridden for 49 miles and stopped at 2:48 PM. We were in need of a pit stop. We bought water and snacks and rested for a while. We left at 3:26 PM.

Chuck again was leading. We are doing a lot of riding, however, we are not traveling far. We headed onto Highway 143 West and the Cherohala Skyway. This is a road with twisties and we rode to an elevation of over 4,000 feet. We rode for another 23 miles and at 3:57 PM, Chuck pulled over to the side of the road and we took a break. Chuck told us that he needed to stretch, as he got a cramp in his right hip. After Chuck felt better, we got ready to leave. There were lots of gnats flying around and I'm sure that we all put our helmets on and some gnats where in them. We left at 4:03 PM.

Highway 143 turned into Highway 165 in TN. We continued until we reached Highway 360 and Chuck turn onto it, northbound. There was a Shell station soon after we turned and Chuck turned in. We had ridden 30 miles and it was 4:40 PM. We were now in the town of Tellico Plain, TN. As we were gassing up, Jan told us that he was going to return to the Harley Store that we had passed about a mile back so that he could buy some oil. We gassed up and bought some water and ice cream. There was an area next door to the Shell Station with a sign that read, "Motorcycle Pit Stop." That was good enough for us, so we all sat at the tables there and waited for Jan. Jan finally returned, gassed up and joined us. We left at 5:20 PM.

It was time for Jan to lead. We had discussed that we would head north and try to find a Holiday Inn Express. I told them that when I spoke with the man on the 800 number yesterday and got the info about the one in Athens, TN, he told me of one at the 81 Exit on I-75 in Lenoir City, TN. Jan checked the map and that is where we headed. We figured that we would get to Lenoir City and call the Holiday Inn 800 number for the address. As we entered Lenoir City, I was behind Jan and suggested that we just go to I-75 and look for Exit 81. Just before we got to I-75, we saw the Holiday Inn Express on the left side of the road. We turned in after 47 miles and at 6:22 PM we stopped in front of the hotel. I went in and made the deal. We all got our bags from our Motors and took them to our rooms. We then came out and parked our Motors away from the front and tucked them in for the night. There was a Mexican food restaurant about 100 yards from the front door of the hotel.

We didn't ride long today. We rode for only 242 miles. With the speed that we did the rides, we needed a lot of concentration to operate the Motors to do all of the twisties and such. There are a few more great rides here in this area. I'm not sure which one we will do . I guess I will find out tomorrow. We all agreed that we had high expectations for the Tail of the Gecko. We know that there are several rides better that this in Arizona, however, not as pretty. I guess this is all for now, so, until tomorrow...