Another epic weekend

Our next 2 rides dawned ... wet!  There's this law that states the farther in advance you PLAN any sort of outdoor activity ... the higher the chance of rain!  My in laws organized and "promoted" a quintessential East Tennessee ride, coming up from GA, staying in Pigeon Forge overnight, then back down to GA the next day.  She asked us to ride, and David volunteered to lead.  The plan was head south towards Ocoee to meet up, then ride over to Cherokee, through the National Park to Pigeon Forge, then we head home.  Sunday, get up and start in Pigeon Forge, then wind down to Foothills, the Tail of the Dragon into Robbinsville, over the Cherohala, then through Tellico Plains back down to Ocoee at which point we left the GA peeps and headed back home.  David and I tried to get some of our friends interested, and the in laws tried to get some of THEIR friends interested, but sadly the wet weather scared everyone off.  The ride was definitely a mixed bag!

Love my twin 

Saturday, just David and I headed south to Ocoee.  We met up no problem with the GA peeps, found us a fabulous little hole in the wall "cafe" to eat at, then proceeded out to Cherokee.

During the ride out there, we stopped off at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, which is a hub for outdoor rafting stuff.  We took a much needed break to feel the (ice) cold water, kick our feet up, and horse around a little bit.  LOTS of people out and about enjoying a day on the river; it was fun to watch.

Super fun; all of us!

All was well.  It was hot, but the rain was holding off.  That was a ride the in laws had done once or twice, so no big deal at all.  From Cherokee, we headed through the National Park up to the overlook for a rest and a view.  Slower tourist traffic kept the pace on the slow side, and we pulled up to the overlook with no issues.

Building clouds

The in laws wanted to go THROUGH Gatlinburg to get to PF.  Ugh.  This is where things began to tilt slightly south, lol!  We knew the traffic was going to suck.  And it did.  My clutch hand cramped up, and my right leg was catching on fire from the hot engine.  Khaleesi's fan kept whining and the temps of the engine crept up to around 210.  My Father in Law's bike decided to seriously protest by the time we finally made it into Pigeon Forge, and it began to actually over heat and spit coolant out.  As we sat in the hotel for my Aunt and her boyfriend to rest and tend to the FIL's bike, the clouds began to loom ominously.  We left the Aunt and the MIL/FIL came with us the backroads back to the house.  David kept it pretty straightforward without much curve so we could just get HOME.  By this time it was getting pretty dark, and upon hitting 411 next to my work, a serious storm was kicking up.  David and I sort of left the in laws in the dust.  His reasoning was they knew their way home, and we ride at night a lot.  We thundered into the garage SECONDS ahead of the downpour.  The in laws were a few minutes behind, and David got an ear full for running off.  I definitely see both sides; we didn't want to get wet!

The pony is eager to get going!

The next morning was gray.  And wet.  As we went up through Townsend and Wears Valley Road to head to the Old Mill for breakfast, the wet roads soaked the front of our shins.  We arrived in good time, and as we went in to get seated, we were told they refused to seat us until our full party arrived.  Ugh.  So, the day started out not so great ...the Aunt isn't much of a morning person, and one of the peeps was a friend of David's that was not responding to texts/calls to even let us know if he was coming.  So, the grump began early, lol.  

HOW many of this particular pic do I have??

After an overpriced breakfast, we picked up the Aunt/boyfriend and headed back the way we'd come back into Townsend, then took the FHP across to the Dragon.  It was off FHP that my brave friend L met up with us.  We stopped to make our usual pow wow at the lake before tackling the Dragon.  David gave his usual speech about riding your own ride, and we'll all meet in Deal's Gap for our usual walk across the street to the Killboy shed.  Us and L got a bit ahead of the GA peeps, and wouldn't you know it, but it began to sprinkle.  We cut the speed down a TON, and then got stuck behind a rude group that refused to move over at ALL ... and they were literally going 15 mph.  It was ridiculous.  Ride your own ride, but freaking let people around.  We do it all the time for the crotch rockets that want to ride 65 through the curves.  Anyway, we safely made it, and there was plenty of bikes to be seen at the Gap.  The GA peeps were about 2 mins behind us, and they all safely pulled in as well.  After that pit stop, it was the short-ish drive to Robbinsville and the Hub (Yes again.  It's awesome!)

3 Hondas and the Indisaki!

It was at this point the frustration began.  As the leader, David has a responsibility to not leave his group.  But I do think since the "group" consisted of his parents, he felt they should keep up with him.  In his defense, he was truly only going either the speed limit or 5 over.  But the 55 mph speed limits have wide, sweeping curves ... and he rolls ON the throttle through those curves, not off.  The GA peeps aren't used to that type of speed on those types of roads, and fell behind.  The Hub is just right off 129, so he didn't pull over anywhere and wait, he just went to the restaurant to wait.  The MIL called him a few minutes later and asked where he was.  He told her, and they got there.  Understandably, they got off the bikes and were a bit frustrated.  Understandably, David was also frustrated and they had some cross words.  Poor L.  On the bright side, we spend a LONG time at the Hub b/c David was watching the radar and we waited out a SHOWER, a big one.  L and I got some wonderful conversation in; that's hard to do when you're riding together!  

The Hub

David and the parents calmed their frustrations down, and we finally headed out towards the Cherohala.  It was intermittent rain all the way there, and as we started our trek upwards, the mist shrouded us to the point that David said all he could see in his rear view was my headlight; no body! 

What visibility?

 He was going so slow I kept bogging down in 2nd gear, but it was sort of keeping the in laws in sight.  We finally did get a little ahead of them, but the Skyway is just a straight (curvy) shot.  We put more clothes on, and dealt with the fog/light misty rain that came down.  We all had a slow and safe ride back down to the bottom, and L left us to head home.  We cut off an entire section of ride because of the rain, and the GA peeps headed back south as we headed north.  It rained on us a few more times as we headed home, but thanks to L, I was wearing rain gear!  David and I booked it up 411 straight home, and made it safely into the garage with our filthy bikes.

CHILLY.

I guess the moral of our story is to ride with well matched riders.  Our riding style is just very different from the in laws.  The mantra of "ride your own ride" doesn't really work when the rides are totally different.  I'm sure they have had more fun when they didn't feel pressured to ride hard.  We've had more fun when we didn't feel pressured to take it easy.  A better ride for all of us may be when we go down to GA b/c they know the roads down there, and the curves/mountains are non existent.

Swapped our swag ... my future girl, Arya.

HUGE plans coming up next week!  SOOOOO EXCITED!!!  Y'all will just have to wait and see what we have planned.  Sorry the blog is behind, I'll try and catch up the other rides before next weekend; we have 2 epic rides we did that require the play by play :D

I was DRY!  David got wet, lol!