9030

I MIGHT hit my goal of 10K miles by my 1 year anniversary!  Was surprised on my eldest son's birthday (4-17-17) with my amazing Khaleesi :D  We've averaged about 1000 miles a month in the warmer months, and right now it's still very erratic, weather wise.  So ... at 9030 miles here on 3/4/18, it will be close.

We've passed this house about 3 times; this time we finally got a pic!  Silos built in!

Not a bad year for it being my first year!  Ridden in TN, GA, NC, SC, AL, and VA.  Named roads include the Tail of the Dragon, Rattler, Back of the Dragon, Devil's Triangle, The Snake, The Blue Ridge Parkway, Cherohala Skyway, and the Copperhead.  Thousands of other non-named roads that were just as awesome, or MORE awesome than the named roads!  I have absolutely ZERO complaints, except that I wish I'd hurry up and win the damn lottery so I can quit my job and ride my bike every day!

Dang dude, could you please take ANY longer?? ;)

Today dawned clear and cool.  I procrastinated as long as I could until David finally gave in to my pitiful faces and we thundered out of our neighborhood around noon.  I was wearing 5 layers on top, 3 layers on bottom, face shield on the helmet closed.  My wonderful hubs kept us off Hwy 411 as much as possible, as it's just a long, boring, straight road.  We took side streets down to one of my favorite roads, Hwy 307 down into Athens.  It's just a curvy road through picturesque farm side, but there's not a lot around us like it!

We motored through Athens, Charleston, and down into Cleveland where we stopped for lunch.  After our refueling, we hit Hwy 64 in Ocoee that winds next to the river that is used liberally for rafting and kayaking.  The waters were swollen and loud, and we actually saw a few kayakers shredding the rapids!  I tell ya, those peeps are crazy!  You'll never catch my butt doing that ;)  Stand up paddle board on a calm lake, or kayak down a class 1 is my only speed, lol!

I'm grateful my bike practically drives herself because I was NOT looking through my curves, I was looking all around at everything!  We came up out of the river area, and followed Hwy 68, snaking our way up and over a mountain or 2.  David challenged me today; he lays into curves like they're nothing ... as he approaches a turn where he SHOULD be Slow, Look, Press, and Roll ... he SPEEDS, looks, presses, and rolls harder, lol!  I felt myself get a little bit tense; I was gritting my teeth as I twisted hard to catch up to him.  He got so far ahead of me, our radios lost each other, which does NOT happen often.  He did that last time on that road!  Apparently we have ridden that road before, but it's been long enough for me that it was like the very first time.  A fire was burning on the mountainside, and we actually went RIGHT past open flames, CRAZY!!

Pit stop!

68 took us into Tellico Plains, and the start of the Cherohala Skyway.  We touched the Skyway again, then turned off onto Hwy 360, which dumps us out on 411 up in Vonore.  I had adjusted my attitude, my expectations, and changed my style a little bit.  I moved my hand further up on the throttle, so that when I twisted it, I wasn't "breaking" my wrist, which makes me feel like I'm not working as hard.  360 has some LOOOOONG sweeping turns, and we flew through it 55/60 mph unless it was a "suggested speed" curve of 30 or less.  I'm pleased to say he did NOT run off and leave me this time, and I think just adjusting my hand position made a HUGE difference.  We took our side streets back to the house in just under 200 miles and 6 hours.

GREAT ride today, I thank God EVERY DAY for my husband, our bikes, and our ability to ride together.  It has been SO nice to not have to worry about upsetting the hubs over spending a weekend doing horse things.  Confession ... STILL not missing out!  When I get a spare dollar or two, all I can think about it is what I can buy for my motorcycle (cue laughing emoticon here).

Down by the water in Ocoee!

Hopefully more ride updates soon!  This upcoming week is going to be freaking cold again :(

Ridin' all our cares away!

Our entire family on Thanksgiving day!

We had 2 short 60 mile rides after our KY jaunt.  They both were pretty fun!  We picked the better of the 2 weekend days (ahem, the WARMEST day) and went out once the baby went down for a nap (which put us around early afternoon).

A Sevierville back road

One of our rides was my "work loop" out to Foothills, down to 129, then back home.  Always a good ride.  On 129, we FINALLY stopped in at "The Dragon's Pit Stop" and went inside.  Usually when we go by there it's closed, so it was nice to finally get to go inside.

The following weekend, we took a route I picked out; the back roads of Sevierville!  I knew it was going to be peak color, and I didn't want to head out towards the National Park b/c I KNEW there was going to be a ton of traffic.  So we went the opposite direction, in the general direction of my work.  We headed out 321 towards Gatlinburg, then turned off up the back roads.  LOVE them so much; one road is more like a driveway than an actual road.  There was practically zero traffic, which I was THRILLED about.  On the down side, we were at the tail end of a stomach virus in our house, so David had to cut the ride a little shorter than he wanted b/c he was starting to get a "rumble in the tummy".  

Happiest when I'm out riding with my baby!

We cut through Wears Valley, which has some BEAUTIFUL sights, and turned into a neighborhood of gorgeous log cabins.  We climbed up ... and up ... and UP to the top of the neighborhood.  Breathtaking views up there!  Snapped a pic, then back down to home.

Could you imagine this view every day??

Our longer ride was 2 weekends ago; drove down 411 S towards Ocoee; had PLANNED to go all the way to a curvy river road down there, but we left later due to warmer weather, and David underestimated how quickly the sun is starting to go down now!  So we turned a little earlier than intended, actually touching the Cherohala Skyway for about a half a mile, then hit Hwy 68, which we had never been on before.  FABULOUS road, lots of curves; Khaleesi was SUPER happy with the route ;)

Last week, I rode to work on Wednesday.  Yes, you read that correctly!  It was 33 degrees in the morning, and I MADE IT.  I was sufficiently layered up to the point that the ONLY place that was cold was my finger tips.  So my gloves are too hot for 55+, and too cold for 40-.  My chin got a little cold because the way I had my jackets layered, I tunneled the wind directly up into my chin.  Slogged through work, then reaped my reward afterwards!  It was a sunny 63 degrees and I hit my usual track of FHP to 129 solo.  David thought I was crazy, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat;)

The weekend was a bust b/c it was raining on Saturday and COLD on Sunday, but this Thanksgiving week has been lovely.  We layered up and headed out yesterday around noon.  After a brunch at the Cracker Barrel with half of Maryville, we walked out to the bikes to see Mufasa's BRAND NEW rear tire sitting on the rim :(  I felt soooooo deflated, lol.  However, with a save from my amazing sister in law and then the fantastic father in law, we were able to not let that tiny roofing nail get the best of us!  11:30 this morning, we again layered up and headed out.  David's patch job seemed to be holding, so we headed into Knoxville, then north up to Big Ridge State Park.  Not going to lie ... that state park is a lot of nothing!  It sits on Norris Lake, and it must have been dammed up because there was no water to speak of.  There were hiking trails, but I have no idea if there were any waterfalls or any other "grand finale" there.  Made our way out of the park down this GREAT little country mountain road.  The road leading to the state park was like Holy 10 mph right hand corkscrews Batman!  I KNOW I said those weren't a problem anymore, but they DO still suck, lol.  I had ONE bad turn where I just didn't set up right, and I swung way wide into oncoming traffic, but luckily there was no traffic.  We ended up not far from the IMOK dealership and went down a SUPER fun curvy road that we had test ridden a Chieftan from the dealership down ... ever since, I've been dying to take Khaleesi down it!  It was just as fun as I knew it would be, and we worked our way back home, hitting I-140 for 11 miles.  But again, I was layered up perfectly, so didn't even catch a chill.  My gloves were perfect for this ride; it was between 50 and 55 degrees today; no chilly fingertips at all :)

David adjusted my handlebars a little; made them lower and closer.

Thankful for an amazing husband that always finds a fun track to suit our desires!  No long rides for a bit until the weather warms back up and the days get a little longer.  We went just about 105 miles today, and that was pretty perfect for the weather.  Gone about 5 hours, and that was with an hour lunch stop.  Not sure what next weekend will bring; we just take things one day at the time!  Blessed to have the time and the ability to do this together! <3 nbsp="" p="">

My favorite sign!  Curves ahead!! :)

Our thwarted ride!

TN backroads heading to state parks!

Today!  Yay!

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!