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| Coolish, but beautiful day! |
It had been WAY too long since I'd felt the ache in my back and the tiredness of my neck from a good, long ride. It was with no small measure of excitement that on March 17, 2018, we planned a pretty ambitious trip to Charlotte, North Carolina. My destination end goal was to try and get lucky enough to find an elusive zip up Indian jacket I was coveting online. I wanted to buy it from a store so I could try it on, but so far I was having no luck! Saturday morning dawned overcast and cool. I packed David's left saddlebag full with drinks, an extra jacket, and other assorted girl things.
We roared out of the neighborhood, gassed up, and tamed the Dragon. Literally NO cars or motorcycles at ALL. I'll be honest, there was a section where David ran off and left me in the dust and I felt just slightly out of sorts. It had been a hot minute since I'd been able to twist and lean through the curves, so I needed to get my "sea legs" so to speak.
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| Waiting it out in Deal's Gap |
We pulled down into the Deal's Gap resort and our plans for breakfast were thwarted because they didn't open until 10:00. It was 8:00. We decided to roll the bikes down under the cover of the gas awning, and it was at that exact moment the bottom dropped out. We killed some time inside the store, then opted to try out the Fontana Village Resort restaurant once the rain stopped. Even though it was no longer actively raining, we got pretty dang soaked from the waist down due to all the rain on the roads. We rolled up the hill to the main resort and enjoyed a good, hot breakfast; will do that again! We decided to tweak our route, and opted to scratch the idea of Charlotte and shoot for Waynesville instead. That would knock about 6+ hours off the trip. I realized already that a day trip into Charlotte on the bikes was pretty ambitious. I was happy with that decision, and layered back into my Steel Cowgirls pullover/fleece 1/4 zip/leather jacket. My knees were a little cold from the wet roads, so I added my nylon "swish" pants over my jeans and tall boots. Good decision! Definitely helped because Hwy 28 (Moonshiner) is not a slow road for the most part; we were trucking along at a pretty good clip.
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| Major AT location; Fontana Village Resort |
We took a standard route into Cherokee. David wanted to stop at a Harley dealership he services b/c we haven't checked it out yet. I was game! As we hit the slow part into town, we kept our eyes peeled for elk. Sadly, no sign of any animals other than squirrels. Wandered into the tiny little boutique HD store and enjoyed stretching out my tight lower back. My butt was already beginning to get "hot spots"; I felt like I was doing a long trail ride.
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| The Indian visits Harley Davidson |
The plan was to hit BRP into Waynesville so we could avoid the Smoky Mountain Expressway; my one major gripe with my bike has been my dang windshield. It just isn't the right height, so as I ride in high MPH situations, I feel the entire top half of my body just buffeting uncomfortably. David takes pity on me and we try to keep it to curvy 2 lanes as MUCH as possible! As we made the turn onto the Parkway ... the gates were closed! What?? I felt a flash of disappointment as we pulled back onto the main highway and continued on towards Smoky Mountain Steel Horses in Waynesville.
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| Khaleesi and Mufasa; "Indasaki" |
Nice little dealership; they have a GREAT selection of apparel. No Chieftan Elite, I was sad not to see the glittery disco ball bike again! I slowly craned my head and looked at the wall hanging clothes, and I zeroed in on THE JACKET.
Woo hoo! Luckily, they had giant sizes in stock, and I swallowed my pride and purchased it. IM apparel is cut quite small, ugh. As I was finishing up, I noticed a lady's back with a Steel Cowgirls logo, and we exchanged "screen names" and a hug or 2. Her name is Mayra, and it was so great to meet her! She sent me a video, but I can't save it for some reason to share here. Maybe I can figure it out, I don't know. Didn't partake of any of the leftover food (burgers and dogs were gone) and we headed out towards the Rattler, my FAVORITE!
David let me lead and he filmed with the GoPro. I'm very happy with my ride, but the weirdest thing happened. My back started to KILL me, and I felt utterly exhausted about half way through the ride. I wanted to stop sooooo bad, but David doesn't do stops and starts with GoPro rides. My nether region was also extremely uncomfortable, and I found myself shifting around in the saddle a lot.
The road has definitely deteriorated somewhat; it's been roughly a year since we last rode it, and it is needing a little TLC! It was fun as always, though, and we finished up in Hot Springs, Appalachian Trail mecca. We parked our now pretty hot bikes, stripped off our many layers, and dragged it all inside to a BBQ spot we wanted to try out. Sat down with the menu, requested waters all around, and realized this place was NOT BBQ. The menu was Ugh. No bueno! The waitress was understanding, and we left with our heads tucked under our jackets. No, not really, but it was a little embarassing. We put our layers back on, climbed back on the bikes, and drove down a few hundred yards and realized RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the not good place was an Irish pub. How appropriate for St. Patrick's Day! Having learned our lesson 5 minutes ago, we checked the menu before going in and deemed it worthy.
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| The good restaurant |
It took WAY too long to get our food; the bar was semi crowded, but there was open tables, so not sure what happened. I could feel my energy fading as we waited ... and waited ... and waited. Finally it was delivered. I ate a lot of my delicious Buffalo Chicken sandwich and gulped down more water. Riding really makes you thirsty!
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| Managed to find an Irish Pub on St. Paddy's day! |
The only good way home from there is through the National Park, so we took fun roads over that way. I worked to keep my concentration on the curves ahead, and I got on the throttle hard as we powered our way out of the curves. Seems like we always do that; haul ass once the "Final Destination" has been reached. Like a horse heading home towards the barn! We rode until I had to fill up Khaleesi's tank again, and David checked the weather. Holy Thunderstorms in the area, Batman! We REALLY hauled a$$ then, there were a few areas of the park that felt like a slalom course. The clouds were mega dark and creepy looking, and all we could think was BEAT THAT RAIN.
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| Love representing my beloved Indian brand! |
We got a little rain, and our ride basically ended as it began; with wet road water spray all over our shins! SUCH a fun day; we logged close to 300 miles and it was SUPER. So crazy blessed to do this. So happy the hubs loves to do this with me. Grateful I have the desire to do it! I look at my horse "friends" posts regarding their horses, and I STILL feel nothing at all. No regret, longing, anything. In fact, I feel GRATEFUL I'm out of it right now. A brand new, custom CWD saddle costs MORE than my bike did!!! WHAT? Horses have always been a "rich man's" sport, and in the day and age of inflation, that holds true more than ever! Got another ride to blog from this past weekend, hope y'all enjoyed the recap of our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR HAVING THE 'M'. I have a goal for April 17, the one year anni of owning Khaleesi that I haven't met yet, but I HOPE to. Guess we'll see :)
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| Outside the Dragon |
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| So, so, so dirty! |
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