Well I guess you can say that I been slacking in my duties not posting to my blog but my excuse is that we were having fun and I did not take the time to write. So let me catch you up.
With left Bristol Friday the 25th looking for the last of the good roads that we had not covered and intercept Gary an Lisa Mace in a pre-determined location in the middle of nowhere. The morning air was all ready starting to thicken from what was going to be a 90 plus day by 1 or 2pm in the afternoon. First we curled out of Bristol to the north and eventually turned east to run through Mt. Rodgers park once again. The roads through Mt. Rodgers are fun and not as busy I thought they were going to be this time year. The other thing to be aware while driving any vehicle through this park is that bicycling is big thing here, so watch for those pedals. Leaving the park, we started out on some very familiar roads that I had previously traveled so I was patiently biding my time until we hit Highway 88. Hwy 88 did not disappoint. It was curvy, it was fast, and you know I like those curvy roads. What makes me a little nervous is when it is possible to carry an enormous amount of speed into those corners. Things happen fast, so I just rolled at my skill level and didn’t push it. I do remember a certain someone ask me if I was having fun to which I replied, uh-huh.
We had a quick lunch in Mountain City and then took a roller coaster ride on US 421. I do believe that Lori left her lunch in one of those curves. The straights were short and the corners tight. The road surface was awesome and I was eating it up. I love this combination. Pegs on the ground throwing the bike left and right. It could only have been better if the trailer wasn’t there for me to drag. Once we exited this portion of 421, we arrived in the middle of nowhere at Shady Valley General Store and the Mace’s were waiting. We chatted for awhile and then set a course to there home in Morristown, TN. Once we arrived, we all spruced up a bit and took a ride in something called a SUV with 4 wheels and went out for dinner. Dinner, chatting, and the ride back was good and fun, but all were pretty tired so off to bed we went until sunrise so we could ride again. So here ends the 25th, Day 8.
So everyone was up and ready to go and who was bringing up the rear? Me! They shook me out of bed, fed me, and got me back on the road by 8:30 or 9. We filled up the machines and took out on Hwy 31 and it was a good warm up for todays ride. It was another good little twisty event but just to short for me. Our next route was Hwy 63 and it had some very nice views and a few little twist just to keep you attention. The rest of the ride we made our way to Clinton so we could have lunch and meet a friend of Gary and Lisa. We met up with Tim and Dawn, had a quick bite to eat at Subway, and then Tim lead us out town through some very nice country roads, missing all the traffic lights and traffic to reach our goal. The goal was the Devil’s Triangle. Tim and Gary both had camera’s ready to film the event and I think Tim was going to try an record me going through the road, but that didn’t work out very well. They didn’t tell me that they wanted to video tape me, so off I went. I waited on a couple of turns, but it was so much fun that I just couldn’t throttle back. I’ll have you know though, I went through the entire run and never scraped a peg. Speaking of pegs, a rider not in our group, apparently lost control of his Goldwing and his frontend slide out from underneath him. I have no idea of his speed or if he hit anything other than the road but one thing stood out. If he would have been wearing the appropriate gear, he would not have had a scratch on him. Instead he wore a regular button down shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, half shell, and leather gloves. He had a lot of road rash, but nothing that was life threating. He could have just walked away and been just pissed about the chrome he mangled, but instead he looked cool riding and now he is likely at home licking his wounds.
After the thrill ride of Dragon Triangle we heading over to the Norris Dam, took a few photo’s and then sat around chatting about this, that, and other thing. Here we parted ways as the Gary, Lisa, Tim, and Dawn went one way and Lori and I headed to Williamsburg, KY to continue our vacation. We wished we had more time to ride with the Mace’s, but the great thing is, we know where to find them and we got time to do this again another day. This was the end of day 9, 05/26/2012. We also are well over 2000 miles so far on this trip. I almost forgot to mention, it was damn hot at 93 degrees when we finally rolled into Williamsburg.
So here we are, day 10 May 27 of 2012 in Williamsburg KY and it is hot. We rolled by one bank and the temperature was reading 94. I parked my bike at lunch time and when I returned, the thermometer was ready 110 in the direct sunlight.
When we left this morning I knew that the route was not going to be overly exciting, but I knew it was going to be pretty. We drove though Daniel Boone National Park and thought for a moment that we might like to do some hiking, but I wasn’t much in the mood to hike with the temperatures. Going through park we passed a rock that over hung the road a little bit and I wanted a pictures. So I made a u-turn and traced my path back uphill toward the rock. I remember reading a sign warning truckers that the road had an extreme grade of 13% but this idiot didn’t account for that. My second u-turn to put me on the same side of the road of the rock and my eventual path, turn out to be a boo-boo on my part. Picture this, climbing a 13% grade with a 1000 lb motorcycle pulling a trailer. Start your left hand turn at about 5 mph without hardly any clutch dragging power applied and then the trailer slightly tugs backwards and the whole rig falls toward the downhill slope. Mr. Idiot didn’t have enough momentum and power applied to overcome the forces pulling the bike downhill. In fairness to me, that was really my first time to experience this exact situation and I just didn’t do the right thing. We were immediately ejected off the bike at about 1 mph, because it had slowed that much. There was no holding that beast up with my puny legs and 170 lbs of weight. I was in full armored gear and didn’t feel the ground and rolled right up to my feet. I immediately went over and ask Lori if she was ok and picked her straight up to her feet. She was in full armored gear except her pants and she skinned her knee just a little bit. I know that Mrs. Bruise will likely bruise somewhere, but it was such a slow motion fall, there was no way we could really get hurt. It was like leaning to far on a stool and falling into the floor. It was shocking how fast it ejected me, because this time I didn’t have time to tell her to get off the bike before I dropped it. No this if not the first time. I do dumb things at slow speeds. The rest of this leg of the trip was uneventful and after we arrived back in Williamsburg, I had Lori change into shorts and put on her armored pants back on. She knows I do not like her not wearing full gear, but every once in awhile she will not listen to me. It only takes one dumb second for something like this to happen, so wear full gear all the time. And Yes, yes that is the rock in the picture above that I wanted so bad that I dropped the bike and wife! :0
We got back so early today that we decided to run another leg. So we refueled the bike and took off into the heat, ugh! I remember this route from years ago and I took a wrong turn an ended up in a coal field full of active trucks driving in all directions. I still remember them looking out of their trucks down at me thinking what an idiot. Teehee. Today I made all the right turns and when I told Lori the road was about to change to dirt, bam, we went to dirt. My poor motorcycle. First I dropped it and now she is getting powdered with dirt. Wait till you see the pictures. This leg of the trip was much more entertaining then the first of the day because it was all two lanes and full of scenery and twists. What a day. Where most would be thinking why or it’s just not worth it, I had a great time. It is an adventure and I would do all over again tomorrow without a second thought.
Tomorrow we will do another ride north of Williamsburg that we be about 220 miles. Since we eliminated one of our day legs, our trip will likely end a day early. Tomorrow weather looks to be about the same as today but maybe not quit as hot. I’m reading that it might cool to 89-91 for high’s tomorrow. I guess that is better than 91-94.
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