Let's break it down ...

Including Sunday, FOUR RIDING DAYS this week!  Tuesday I left at 7:00 and went up and over Foothills Parkway before work.  It was a bit cool; I said BRRR!  Lol, it was a fabulous ride, NO complaints.

Foothills Parkway

Wednesday was rain, Thursday was RIDE!  It was a bit warmer; I finally broke out my mesh jacket (with the liner in it) and rode up 411 TO work, then came home Chapman Hwy to the backroads that dump me out on 321 almost to Walland.  This morning was same ride as yesterday, up 411 to work, but then afterwards David and I met up and we rode about 120 miles.

Ride #1; Cherokee, NC!

I rode 25 miles solo from work into Knoxville to meet up w/ David, and we headed out Northshore road into the "Hardin Valley" section of Knoxville.

Ride #2; Khaleesi and I tame Foothills before a way too long day at work

LOVE that area!  Great school system, nice houses, close to everything, and David had managed to find some AMAZING quiet, winding country roads with breathtaking mountain views.

Love talking bikes with my patients at work

I had never been on the majority of the roads we took today.  The temps this morning were chilly enough that my windshield/face shield/mirrors were fogging up from my breath.  Like yesterday, I was wearing just a thin "tech" layer under my mesh jacket with the liner ... BRRR!  This afternoon, however, I came out of everything except my T shirt and the jacket with OUT the liner.

Ride #3; just back and forth to work, but I didn't go home the way I came!

We twisted the throttles out towards Oak Ridge and hit an arm of "The Devil's Triangle".  We rode that SEVERAL months ago, and neither of us particularly enjoyed it.  Quite frankly, it scared me a little.  Of course, I have WAY more miles under my belt now (close to 9000), and the arm of it we did today was easy peasy.

Began and ended my day today in the dark

We ended up rolling up to a cool little log cabin restaurant called "The Golden Girls Restaurant" and enjoyed a fish dinner in Clinton.  I enjoy the few times the hubs and I can steal away together.

He rode in a T shirt up until the sun went down!

Ended up motoring along Clinton Hwy, and hit Northshore again to literally come full circle.  FABULOUS ride, had a blast!

Ride #4; about 160ish miles counting going to work and then driving out to meet up

Here is our Tail of the Dragon Video.  I was pretty pleased; my ride looks smooth and controlled.  In some stretches, I felt stiff and tense, but I try to always shake out my arms so I don't make any stupid mistakes.  It was slower than David usually leads out on, but he NEVER pressured me to ride any faster; LOVE that man!

Get ready to ride the Dragon with us!

Jen and David ride the Tail of the Dragon

Let's discuss song selection.

1.  "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons.  There is something about this song that just makes me dance and sing along EVERY time.  I just love it!

2.  "Happy Dance" by one of my favorite Christian bands, Mercy Me.  This song selection is TOTALLY self explanatory; riding is 148% my "happy dance"!!

3.  "Invincible" by Christian hard rockers Skillet.  This song is like my "fight song".  Jesus Christ is my co-rider, and He gave me the skills and the desire to ride motorcycles; when I'm flying along a curvy road, I absolutely feel INVINCIBLE.

4.  "I am Free" by my MOST favorite Christian artist, Jeremy Camp.  This song is the epitome of how I feel.  Unencumbered, unburdened, and like I can just fly.  One of the facebook comments on this video is that "It looks like she's riding to Heaven".  Gave me chills.

5.  "Stars" again by Skillet.  This song doesn't much pertain to motorcycles, and is more obviously a Christian based song, but it is just awesome.  Reminds me to pray continuously as my family is out and about not just riding, but also driving in our cars.

6.  "Lifer" again by Mercy Me.  This song is also pretty overtly Christian, but I can relate it to motorcycles because now that I'm hooked, I'm a LIFER on the bikes!

7.  "Try Everything" by Home Free.  This song is actually originally by Shakira off the Zootopia soundtrack, but I like this version better, so this is the one David put on.  SO appropriate because I like to think I'll "try anything" once!  Sometimes it's a fail, but sometimes it's a win!  Considering I dropped my bike 4 times in my MSF course, this song is SO appropriate to close out the video!

Anyway!  Sorry for the novel (as per usual).  Hope you enjoy the pics and the video!  Not much riding to be had this upcoming week with rain and colder temps back in the picture.

Happy birthday to me :)

It was SUCH an awesome weekend.  I wish I had 2 more days ... then 2 more days after that ... then 2 more ... you get the point.  Yesterday was raining and miserable, so we drug the teenager to the range and he FINALLY got to shoot for the first time.  Now ... my son has been into/out of a lot of things, and guns is one of them.  He has watched videos of how to clean them, load them, shoot them, what brands/models are for what ... he's definitely a Youtube expert on such things.  We rented a 9 mm Beretta cop issue.  He shot the first round beautifully, then the 2nd bullet jammed.  Instantly, I felt a small panic rise up inside me, but oh so calmly he ejected the bullet, lined up his next shot, and pulled the trigger.  That round fired off fine, but then the next bullet jammed.  Again, he super calmly ejected it, then shot again.  His entire "turn" went like that; fire, jam, fire, jam.  I took the gun for my turn, and same thing happened to me.  Head scratch, the range officer had no problem, and David had no problem, so I think the issue w/ Kody and I was that our wrists were moving too much.  We traded that one in for a "civillian" issue of the same gun, and had no more jamming issues.  I am so proud of Kody; he shot like he'd been doing it his whole life.  He loved it, thanked us profusely for taking him.

3 Muskateers

Today, we sent the baby with his grandparents for "their week" down in GA, and we headed off to Cherokee, NC!  We were eating at the Casino to celebrate all the fun February things; Valentine's Day, the 20 year anniversary of our engagement, and my birthday (which is next week) and the 1 year anniversary of owning Mufasa.   It just so happened that today was the first warm and non rainy day in a week, so of course we hopped on the bikes!  Khaleesi was purring like a kitten and rode as smooth as a baby's bottom.  Last week she got an oil change and a new front tire, both of which were sorely needed.

We hit 321 and rode through the National Park up and over the mountain to Cherokee.  It was a slower and uneventful ride as there really was a LOT of traffic out and about today.  We barely saw any bikes, it was 98% automobile traffic.  I swear all I have to do is look where I want to go, and Khaleesi takes me there.  Every curve felt like it was on rails, and the slower pace meant much of the ride I actually rode with one hand, b/c when I'm like that I can sit up straighter and relieve some of the pressure on my back.  All too soon we arrived at the casino and parked in the garage.  We locked our helmets and jackets to the bikes and went in to stuff our faces.

After rolling ourselves out of the casino, we decided to head back through Bryson City and down 129 to go home.  This way was a bit higher speed, as there was hardly any traffic!  I practiced holding different lines as we swept through turns at 60+ mph; it was exhilarating!  Once we got into Deal's Gap, both the resort and Killboy were closed off completely until next month; we took a super quick break, and David let me lead down the Dragon.  He was wearing his Go Pro for the first time, and he filmed me as we drove down it!  As per usual, my arms and upper back got a little tight.  I ALWAYS respect the Tail; I know there's plenty of highly experienced riders that have accidents on that road, and I never want my confidence to put me in a dangerous situation.  Thankful to God as usual, all was well and I SLAYED those 11 miles!  Despite consciously pulling my heels up in some of the steeper banked turns, I still dragged one on the ground, and as usual, that gave me a quick little scare!  It was cool watching myself drive it!  I'll post the video once we get it uploaded to Youtube.

Upon arriving home, found out my birthday present had arrived!  David bought me a Daymaker headlight for Khaleesi.  The Daymakers are the fancy LED type lights instead of the more yellowish halogen lights.  Took all of 10 minutes to install it!  Yipee!  I'm happy b/c the white light shows up a little better in the day light, and ANYTHING to make myself more visible makes me happy.  

Tuesday is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL.  It's also my later day at work.  I may just head on up and over Foothills Parkway on my way to work :D  So excited, it'll be my first day of the new year riding to work.  It's beginning to look a lot like riding season!!!