We were greeted this morning with nothing but blue skies and sun with an 
occasional puffy cloudy here and there. I would guess when we pulled out of the driveway the temperature was around 58 to 60 degrees, but with our suits, it was not an issue. It was a picture perfect day, as far as the weather went.
We had to do a little tweaking of our route because sometime back in February, I can’t recall the actual date, there was a rock slide on a small portion of our route and it was still closed. Just a minor glitch and nothing the GPS didn’t fix on the fly.
My first entertainment of the day was as I was approaching the Cherohola 
Highway when I signaled a sport bike behind me, to pass me. I didn’t want to hold him up as we passed through some of the tight sweepers as we climbed into the Highway. I followed him for the next 20 or 30 miles while he attempted to leave me in the corners. They only time he created space was in the straights. He was willing to go further over the speed limit than myself. He would power up to the beginning of the corner then brake hard going into and through the corner. This is where I would make up the gap. This is actually backwards, because he had the better bike. He needs more practice. I did my best behaving across the Cherohola Highway and I kept the bike off the pavement the best that I can recall. The temperatures at 5000 plus feet was a bit chilly on the fingers, but the body suit did it’s job keeping both of us warm. In chasing the sport bike, I missed my turn for the Water Fall and I was having to much fun to turn around.
Then came Deals Gap. 318 turns, 7 miles and to tempting to behave on. 
Lori shot a very nice video and it is really hard to experience or see the speed on video, until the video shows us approaching a slow moving car or motorcycle. Ok, I was told that I was required to put this next bit in the blog, but I think it is silly. Lori say’s, I grinded or scraped foot pegs into the pavement 53 times while transitioning the gap. Who has time to shoot a video and count how many times the motorcycle hits the pavement? I having to much fun catching a sport bike on the gap, passing that sport bike on the gap, and not getting a ticket on the gap. I will post the video of that pass when I get home.
After the gap, we drove through Fontana Dam, Cherokee, and through the 
Great Smokey National Park until we popped out into Pigeon Forge area. From here we made a bee line to one of our favorite restaurants of all time. The Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge. As soon as the waiter/waitress arrives they give you a basket of Apple Fritters and Apple butter, along with a fruity drink that had Pineapple, orange, and lemon mixed. I had Fried Chicken, Chicken pot pie, Chicken dumplings, along green beans. Lori had a slab of Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. We left happily stuffed!! The only bad part about the whole deal was now I had to let her go shopping in the gift shop. She never leaves empty handed and today was no exception.
After dinner we came back to the cabin and just crashed. Tomorrow no 
planned ride unless I can just squeeze one in after the ZipLine ride through the trees. I want to head to Maggie's Valley to visit, The Wheels in Time Museum, but just do not know if it will fit into our plans. We will just take it as it comes.
No comments:
Post a Comment