DAY 9 Tuesday, May 10, 2011

My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM, as usual. I got up and soon after, Ken got up. I was dressed and packed and told Ken that I was going to go to the breakfast room to work on my pictures. These late nights, going to bed at 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM or 2:30 AM is really taking a toll on me. I can't find enough time to finish my computer work. I went to the breakfast and worked on the pictures. No one from the group was there. An older, round gentleman saw and read my shirt and asked me about "the blog." My t-shirt reads, "CAUTION: You could end up in my blog!" I told him about our ride, the web site and the blog. As I was working on the pictures, the others came in one at a time. They were eating and I did as much as I could, so I put away my computer and ate. We ate and when we finished, we sat around for a short time before I got up and went to my Motor to get it ready for the ride today. The others followed. We went to our rooms and got our stuff and took them to our Motors and packed them up to get ready to leave. We left at 8:59 AM.

Jan was still leading and we left east on Highway 321. I was behind Jan, then Ken, C.E., Chuck and Bruce. We headed east and past a lot with old cars parked on it. These cars were: 1957 Chevy's, 1956 Chevy's, old Dodges, Fords and others. It would have been great to stop and look at all the cars...but we didn't. We continued east and headed for Pigeon Forge, NC and Highway 441. We rode for 58 miles and at 10:18 AM we stopped at a gas station/Mini-mart in Pigeon Forge. As we parked our Motors, we noticed that nest door was, "Mel's Diner." We bought some water and took a little break. We checked the map and it showed that "Dollywood" was just around the corner. We left at 10:45 AM.

We left the Mini-mart and turned right. We were on Highway 441. We rode through Pigeon Forge. There were several Best Westerns, Arcades, about 3 go-cart establishments, and a lot of others businesses. It looked like a big tourist town! We ended up stopping at a traffic light at "Dollywood Lane." We rode another mile or two and entered "The Great Smoky Mountain National Park." Of all of the National Parks that we have been through (see my blog for 2009), this has to be in the top three! After riding for a while, we entered a city named, "Gatlinburg." If you have been in Branson, MO., I would say that Gatlinburg is similar, however, not as spread out. This also had a Las Vegas flare, with no casinos that I saw. There were many businesses and a lot of people. I wouldn't mind coming here again with Laura, my wife, in the future. There was even a Skylift to the top of the mountain. We rode through the city and continued riding the road in the National Park. The road wasn't maintained very well, but the scenery more that made up for that. We rode for 43 miles (it seemed like much longer than that) and at 11:57 AM we stopped in Cherokee, NC at a gas station/Hardees. A couple of the guys figured that since it was near noon and we stopped at a Hardees, it was time for lunch. they got in line at the Hardees and were about to order when Jan told them that we weren't going to eat here. We made a pit stop and went into the mini-mart to buy some "refrigerator magnets." We bought our magnets and saddled up to go elsewhere for lunch. We left at 12:11 PM.

We rode for another 2 miles and stopped at a Subway at 12:15 PM. We stopped at Cherokee, NC because we were going onto the "Blue Ridge Parkway" from here. This is where it starts. We left at 1:16 PM.

Jan led us to the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The road was in GREAT shape and we really enjoyed this ride. The Parkway and the surrounding Smoky Mountains are AWESOME! I have seen Dolly Parton on TV talk about the Smoky Mountains and what she says about them DOES NOT GIVE IT JUSTICE! When we were able to, Jan safely, Lee, I emphasize the word safely, bumped up the speed. The speed limit on the Parkway is mostly 45 mph. We scraped a lot of pads and boot soles. I swear that I'm going to need a new pair of boots very soon! The Parkway also has turns...I would call them curly q's. They go in circles and either go uphill or downhill. Some parts of the road have guard rail, while others don't. Then there are the tunnels! These tunnels are VERY DARK. There are no lights in the tunnels except the headlights of vehicles. There are signs posted before you enter the tunnel to turn on the headlights. We were also all wearing sun glasses, which made it darker. There weren't any tunnels that were straight. Each tunnel had a bend or a curve. Some tunnels were short and there were a few very long tunnels. You could feel the temperature drop when you enter the tunnels. There was one tunnel that I remember that as we entered, it was very dark and my heart skipped a beat when I hit a rut in the road. Sometimes it was hard to see the center lines on the road. Man, that's what I call fun! We eventually had to leave the Parkway because we needed gas. We rode for 38 miles and stopped at a gas station in Sylva, NC at 2:08 PM. It doesn't take many miles riding on this road to burn up a tank of gas. We bought some water, made a pit stop and eventually left. We got on our Motors and were lining up in formation (sounds official), and as we were waiting for two members to form up, Jan and I were "doing circles" in the parking lot. We did about 4 rotations before Chuck and Bruce lined up. It was about time! I was getting dizzy! We left at 2:30 PM.

Ken's turn to lead. We rode about 10 miles and got back onto the Parkway. We got back into all of the twisties and about 5 miles later, we lost sight of Ken. He had accelerated much faster that we were going and didn't see him for about 4 minutes. As we rounded a turn and was coming up to a scenic overlook. There was Ken, stopped by the side of the road at the entrance to the scenic overlook parking lot. He had his camera and was taking pictures of us as we approached him. He had a sh__ eating grin on his face! We all pulled into the parking lot. Ken put his camera away and away we rode! We rode on and enjoyed the ride. I took several pictures and videos. We rode for a while again and, once again, we lost sight of Ken again. I got my camera read and after a few miles, there was Ken at the drive of a scenic overlook parking lot. He was taking pictures of us again as we approached. I took a couple of him as I approached. We all pulled into the parking lot. After Ken put his camera away, we continued. After riding 53 miles, we stopped at the Stoney Bald Overlook at 3:34 PM.

Ken continued east on the Parkway and eventually stopped at the exit for Highway 226. He spoke with Chuck and suggested to get off at this exit and find a place to stay the night. There was a sign for Burnsville, NC with an arrow pointing north, or left turn, and also showed 17 miles. We all agreed. We continued and made the left turn headed for Burnsville, NC. We arrived in Burnsville and continued westbound on Main Street. We were hoping to find a hotel. Ken continued westbound for another 10 miles and there was a sign for a Comfort Inn 10 more miles west and then south. We were hoping that Ken saw the sign. We rode for 10 more miles and he pulled off of the road and turned into the drive for the Comfort Inn. We arrived at 6:10 PM. I told Ken that we went so far west and south that all we needed to do is continue for two more exits and we would be checking into a hotel with a good view of the Gulf of Mexico! We checked into the hotel and took our bags to our rooms. We all met in the breakfast room/business center to go to dinner. We rode to the Wagon Wheel Restaurant and got there just before they closed. There was a sign stating, "There will be a $5.00 charge for whining." We asked the waitress if she could start a running tab for Ken. She told us, "No running tabs." We then offered her his credit card! That she would take. We had a good time there and, the food was good. We rode back to the hotel and parked our Motors and tucked them in for the night. We noticed that Chuck's rear tire needs to be changed. You can almost see the air!

To recap, we rode for 294 miles. We rode the Smokey Mountain National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. We rode through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, two cities that I would like to come back to visit. We thoroughly enjoyed the ride in the Park and the Parkway. As we were in the breakfast room/business center, we talked about what we are going to do tomorrow. We are going to head north to Johnson City, TN and go to a Harley shop so that Chuck can get a new rear tire. We are all hoping that he gets another "White Wall." We had a good time with that 4 years ago during our 4 Corner's Ride. While Chuck is at the Harley shop, C.E. will be going to a Honda shop to try and get a new antenna. Jan is going to go further north and visit an Uncle near Roanoke, VA. We will meet up with Jan about noon for lunch somewhere. That is it for tonight. Now to work on the pictures. I hope that this will NOT be another 1:00 AM night! So, until tomorrow...