Day 2; in which we earn more stickers and I learn a game changing trick!

Morning once again dawned way too early!  We headed out in search of a Cracker Barrel since we knew it was going to be an epic day.  The cool weather had me adding an additional jacket under my leather one, and off we went.

After stuffing our faces with way too much food, we began the trek to Mountain City and The Snake (Hwy 421).  As we were motoring towards our destination, it took me by surprise when all of a sudden the well paved road broke out into curves and twists.  WAY more technical than BOD; in fact, my concentration was off kilter because I wasn't expecting it.  I shook off the cobwebs and hunkered down and managed to smooth out my turns.  Soon enough, we pulled into a store, and David said that was the Snake.  OH, duh, lol.  It came up way faster than I was expecting!  Like I said, very technical.

After a brief stop to pick out a sticker from the store, we continued on down towards Mountain City, VA.  There were still plenty of curves and hills to be had, My brain was in a better place, and I happily twisted the throttle on the exit and making a beeline towards the next entrance.  At our next gas stop, I randomly make mention of my trouble yesterday and my difficulty with deciding whether to use front brake or rear brake when sitting on a hill.  David looked at me funny and said he'd TOLD me what I need to do ***CUE LIFE CHANGING TIP NOW***  When you're sitting there, before you pull out, let your clutch out a little.  Get it RIGHT in that sweet spot of engagement; the bike won't move.  I mean, yes, he'd told me that once before.  It did NOT, however, register what he'd said.  I thought he'd meant to hold front brake and apply throttle (cue laughing like crazy enoticon here).

We rode much less exciting roads to Blowing Rock, NC and the beginning for us of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We've driven on it once, but never on a motorcycle.  As we turned on it, we vowed not to stop at every pull off and overlook because we KNOW it's beautiful, but we'll never make it if we keep stopping!

It had been so long since we'd driven it, I forgot how it's almost identical to Foothills Parkway.  And there was a lot of driving traffic.  Even though the road has breathtaking views, it began to get a tad monotonous.  The cars were driving under the speed limit, yet stomped on the gas the instant a passing lane came available (cue rolley eyes emoticon here).  The turns all began to feel the same and I got SLEEPY.  I finally began to see signs for Asheville, which was sort of our daily destination; we were heading to a BBQ restaurant we'd seen featured on the Travel Channel.  Finally, our exit came up.

As we drove through the streets of Asheville and entered the restaurant, David and I discussed how much we DON'T fit in with all the hipster millenials that seem to own the place, lol!  That place is probably so far left it would be in California if it could.  The BBQ, however, was outstanding.

We hit good 'ol Hwy 321 and picked a path towards Maggie Valley.  From 321, we veered off onto Hwy 63 ... to my knowledge, 63 is not any sort of a "named" road, but that baby all of a sudden broke into the mountainous, curvy belly dance!  I was smiling under my helmet as I aggressively pulled my right elbow into my ribs, chasing my husband into the curves.  He tends to pull away and leave my behind; after analyzing in my head, I had determined he leaves me during the "roll" part of the curve.  So, I began "rolling" a little extra hard so I could keep his cute rear in my sights ;)  

Soon enough, that road ended and much to my delight, it ended into my favorite; Hwy 209!  The Rattler is THRILLING where the Tail of the Dragon is nerve wracking.  Even though I always do just fine on it, the dragon causes a flood of adrenaline that always leaves me struggling for perfection.  All I could hear was the rise and fall of our exhaust as we accelerated and braked our way to the end of the Rattler.  As we dismounted to FINALLY get our sticker, I couldn't stop my excited chatter.

The rest of the ride is a story you've already heard.  We made a beeline to Maggie Valley, which is really beautiful.  Took the small roads over to Cherokee, then hit the National Park roads in a small rain shower to Gatlinburg.  The last time we went that way, we'd left the Mystery Dinner Ride and did our epic stargazing night ride.  This time we had daylight, but it was dreary and rainy.  Stopped so I could add another layer, then tackled the twisty national park roads one handed and with my legs straight out in front of me.  My back and knees were killing me, and I had a headache from the pressure and weight of my helmet pressing down on my neck.  Like I said, Iron Butt I have no desire to do!

It's a DAMN good ride when you can say the WORST thing that happened all weekend was you choked your bike twice in a row.  We got home around 7 yesterday evening, and today we got on again (after washing them) to go up to IMOK to see the Scout Bobber (it was already sold:( )  That was really just an excuse to ride anyway, so we bobbed and weaved through traffic back home.  Felt great, no sore butt whatsoever!  Yay for sheepskin!  I'm definitely a convert :D  I also tested out David's life changing tip.  We were at an uphill light; one steep enough I would have been waffling about front brake or rear brake??  I let out the clutch a few inches, took my hand off the brake so I could twist the throttle and Khaleesi did NOT MOVE.  There was no trying to get in the friction zone, it simply was locked in place.  Kerplow!  (picture brain blowing up)  Upcoming weekend will see us hauling the bikes down to GA and hopefully getting in a good ride.  Preliminary forecast is calling for rain, so we'll see.

Can you spot the new swag??

Day 1: What goes up, must come down!

It has been a most amazing and unreal weekend!  David and I are off for the next week for vacation.  After waffling back and forth about a weekend in Nashville, or a weekend in Virginia, we decided to brave the weather forecast and ride the bikes to Marion, VA.  Marion is up in southwest VA, not far from Bristol.  We've been dying to ride the Back of the Dragon up in that area, but it's just a hair too far to do as a day trip (unless we wanted to iron butt it, and frankly, we're just not that hard core!)

We've never done an overnight on a motorcycle, so we were happy and excited to be doing something new.  In preparation, I decided to take one of Tiki's old sheepskin saddle pads to cushion my hiney.   I barely used the pad on him, as I think it really was too thick under his saddle.  I cut off the billet straps, sewed them to the center edge of the top of the pad, and stitched a piece of grippy drawer liner just under the wither cutout.  Flipped it over so that the seat of my bike just slid through the straps and sat on the bottom of it.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  It worked absolutely perfectly.  I didn't get those seat bone "hot spots" at all, but the extra thickness of the pad did create a little bit of pressure on my knees.  Overall, it was totally worth it!  And it REALLY does keep your seat warmer in cooler weather, and cooler in warmer weather; crazy!

5:00 am came way too quickly, especially since we didn't get in bed until midnight!  Strapped the duffel to David's sissy bar, loaded up the saddlebags, and North we headed!  Stayed off the interstate and took Hwy 33 to 25E to Cumberland Gap.  Cumberland Gap is right at the state lines of KY, VA, and TN.  It is some of the most breathtaking, beautiful scenery I've laid eyes on in the south.

We headed up the mountain to the Pinnacle Overlook.  Um, we just kept climbing up and up!  Much to my delight, most of the tighter switchback turns were to the right, which meant that coming back DOWN, they'd be on the left!  Relief, lol.  I have thought about how I approach the tighty righties; I get WAY to the left, look way over my shoulder, shift my hips to the left, and think more about pushing forward with my left arm vs. pushing down with my right one.  It's working pretty well because I had not one bad right turn this weekend :D

It was peaceful and quiet on top of the mountain.  Only one other family was up at the overlook and they were friendly.  We gawked and took pics, went to the restroom and hiked up a small hill where we saw some deer, and then it was time to go back down the mountain.  DAAAAAANG!  It wasn't quite McCloud Mountain, but it was close!

Yes, this is a real sign at the bottom of McCloud Mountain resort!!

Rolled down in mostly 1st gear so I didn't have to burn up my brakes, and headed to our next destination; Tazewell, VA and the start of the Back of the Dragon.  There was this one road.  I had 2 ... um, incidents.  We had turned onto this small, country backroad, and my tripodometer was at 130 miles.  I've never gone beyond 150 miles on a tank of gas, and of COURSE, we had no cell signal.  We'd gotten part ways down the road, and David got nervous that we'd get too far gone and no gas stations.  He decided to cut back over to the main road, get gas, then go back to the back road.  He had his GPS ... that LOVES gravel roads!  The driveway we picked to turn around at was a freaking booger.  It had a sharp drop down with a gravel bottom.  I normally don't have any problems with starting out on a hill, but it rolled back on me so bad since I was at such an angle I almost choked it.  Rolled back more and snatched the brake; foot slipped and almost went over on my right side.  Saved it, breathed deep, held the rear brake with my foot so I could concentrate on coordinating the throttle and clutch to get in the friction zone, and pulled out very drunkenly and awkwardly back onto the road.

Made a right hand turn on the 'cutover' road, and it was GRAVEL!  And this gravel road was NOT the nice, hard packed gravel road leaving Cade's Cove.  THIS gravel road was rutted, washed out, and poured over with what seemed like a recent load of gravel (cue grimace face emoticon here).  Hit 1 or 2 bone jarring pot holes, and made it UP and over the MOUNTAIN, then as we were coming back down hill and we could SEE the main highway, I hit this rut that nearly yanked the handlebars right out of my hands.  I have never been that close to falling down, but I was able to save it, and we got back down to pavement.  Holy Smokes, I was so glad I lived!!

We throttled our way through the curves to the Back of the Dragon store in Marion.  There was a huge group of bikers parked outside.  Much to our surprise, we hardly passed any motorcycles.  Yes, the morning started out cool.  Yes, the clouds were threatening at TIMES, but for the most part it was a beautiful day.  Saw 2 lady riders with that group.  Not sure if they'd already ridden the road or not.  Went inside and was taken aback by how TINY it was, lol!  About 4 racks of shirts, then stickers by the register.

Turned opposite the BOD to head into downtown Tazewell and parked with another group of bikes.  As we walked into the swanky restaurant, the gentleman were standing outside and asked us how we liked all those curves.  Told them we hadn't ridden yet, and they just said to be careful.  Enjoyed a crazy humongous club sandwich, then off we went!

As our tires began the coveted journey up the Back of the Dragon, I was actually surprised.  The road was NOT that challenging!  We pulled over to grab a picture or 2, and I had another ... incident :o  I choked Khaleesi TWICE!  And I've never choked her.  Again, I sort of internally panicked and thought something was wrong.  There was.  I was in 2nd gear (cue rolley eyes emoticon here).  Kicked her down into first, pulled out with no further issues, and continued our journey down the 32 miles into Marion.

My assessment of the BOD is that it is fun.  It's beautiful.  It reminds me very much of the series of roads we rode about a month ago called the Copperhead.  There were a few curves, but to my recollection, not anything under a recommended 20 mph curve.  Definitely no Tail of the Dragon.  Definitely no Devil's Triangle.  Harder than Foothills Parkway, but certainly rideable for all levels.

Our hotel in Marion was fabulous. It's called the Francis Marion and I HIGHLY recommend if you're ever in the area.  It's a charming old hotel decorated to keep the decor of the 1920's.  Rooms have actual keys.  No hideous carpet.  Hardwood floors in the rooms, and tile floors in the bathrooms.  Every room is different.  We crashed on the bed for a few minutes, changed clothes, then walked the streets looking for dinner.  Ended up choosing a pizzeria called 27 Lions and highly recommend that place too!  VERY good pizza and VERY reasonable prices.

You've reached the end of Novel #1, congrats!  Even though we were missing our boys, we also were enjoying the company of just. us.  It's been YEARS since we have had more than 24 hours completely and utterly alone.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I'm SO happy and excited and blessed that David and I have discovered riding motorcycles together.  It's an activity that really brings us together and it's something we totally enjoy separately as well.  Riding TOGETHER is the best, and it has enriched our lives in countless ways.  

In part 2, I reveal what is a GAME CHANGING tip that David taught me this weekend.  Tune in!

One long ride and 2 shorties

Well, Tennessee has fallen back into SUMMER.  Ever since our awesome ride into Kyle's Creek area, it has been low to mid 90's and HUMID.

The in laws opted to join us a few weeks ago, and the hubs once again planned out a stellar ride.  We planned to journey southwest, down towards Chattanooga so that when our track was "over", we were both half way home.  We headed to the state park we'd missed on our long, epic ride a few months ago; Fall Creek Falls.  I'll remind y'all that the ride where I dropped Khaleesi was the one where we were headed to Burgess Falls and Cummins Falls, as this little tidbit will become minorly significant later.

We all left as a group from our house to head west.  We decided to pay Kody to watch Colton for us as his babysitter was unavailable that day.  When little man woke up, we could definitely tell he was "off", but hoped for the best.

We had a late breakfast at Chik Fil A and hit the road.  David and I swept through the curves at a good clip, but certainly not fast.  His parents fell back a little bit, as they do call him a lead foot most of the time.  By now, I'm used to it and keep up because I don't want a ride to lead to an argument, but we hung back a few times to let the others catch up.  We live in the mountains and are accustomed to the undulations and the curves at speed, but the inlaws live and ride in GA where it's a little more flat.

We stopped a few times to stretch, get gas, and walk around a little.  We called to check in on the boys, and Kody said he had NOT stopped crying all day.  We offered up a few suggestions as to what he could do and asked if he needed us to head back, and he said no, they would manage.  After several hours, we finally found the park.  It's HUGE!  We found a parking spot and walked around a bit.  Realized the overlook for the falls was on the opposite end of the park, and we could in fact drive around to it, so we did.  As we were pulling out of the parking lot, my MIL got into a bit of a game of "chicken" with another car.  WE had a stop sign, but it was on a curved hill.  When David pulled out and turned right, I didn't hesitate and followed right behind him.  MIL thought about pulling out, stopped, was motioned out, then SHE motioned him on, then HE motioned again, so she went to go, then HE decided to just go on.  When she grabbed the brakes, down she went HARD.   I saw it happen in my mirrors, and I pulled over and parked really quickly, then took off to make sure she was ok.  The car went on; David was out of sight already.

By the time I got to them, she was up, and the bike was up, and she was spitting mad.  All that was said was HOW could that car just go on like that?  She was a mix of anger and adrenaline, so her hands were shaking a bit, but fortunately she just had a little road rash on the arm and shoulder.  The brand new floorboards she'd just put on broke off on the right side, but other than that, just had a scratch or 2.  Fortunately, she DOES have highway bars, so she had something to prop her foot on, but I don't see how she'd be able to use her rear brake.  Thank goodness it was the right one and not the shifter board!  We got her situated and back on the bike, and we safely drove over to the overlook where she could park in the lot and go over everything with a little more of a fine tooth comb.  After taking in the waterfall, we motored down into the next town and got gas and food.

By this time, it was around 6 pm and we were about 2 hours from home.  Checked in again, and baby was still miserable :(  We pulled off one more time at an overlook that reminded me of this AWESOME state park in Cali called Mt. Diablo.  It was really breathtaking; we just breathed it in, took some pics, and called it a day.  The inlaws headed south, we headed north, and I finally got to ride a FUN road that winded it's way through the central Tennessee farmland.  We could have done a professional photo shoot of old buildings and farms; it was so peaceful.  The road was near perfect; smoothly paved with gentle hills and a few tight curves.  We made it to the end with just a smidge of daylight left.  Shrugged our leather jackets back on and hunkered down for the final stretch up 411 back to the house.

Turns out Kody wasn't exaggerating.  Colton was as miserable on Sunday as he was on Saturday so David took a sick day on Monday to take him to the Dr.  Hand, foot, mouth disease :(  Fortunately, it ran it's course by Tuesday and he as been perfect ever since, but I DO feel bad that we left him all day.  If we'd had any inkling he was sick instead of just bored and fussy we never would have left, but can't change the past.

Last week it was so hot, we left out at 8:30 pm and just did a REALLY quick little 45 minute loop. It was one of my routes I take to work, but turned back towards town instead of towards Seymour.  Rode one day to work due to RAIN all week, and last night we ventured into Townsend at 7:30 pm for a hot air balloon fesitval.  Hit mega traffic, so we pulled off into a field and parked my bike.  I knew they were charging for parking, so we left Khaleesi and I got on Mufasa (David changed her name, and she's now a "him") with David and we sat in Traffic for a good 20 minutes or so.  We ended up parking his bike across the street from the festival and didn't have to pay anyway!  Upon leaving, traffic was crazy horrendous, so my human GPS turned down an obscure little backroad and left traffic behind.  Win/win for me b/c I got my ride in!  Yes, it was dark, but it was curvy and fun :)

Planning something special next week.  Don't want to jinx it, so I'll keep quiet until it actually happens.  I hope all y'all have a great week and enjoy the eclipse tomorrow!  Stay safe, lots of love <3 p="">