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Ride to the Wall, Kiwi Mike Finale

Saturdays presentation of the bikes went real well.


Jay Allen’s Army bike was built about 8 years ago and it is the bike that gave him the idea for this whole thing.

The Air Force bike was built by Billy Lane. Billy’s bike was of Speedway styling. Bourget’s Marine bike was cool and Bridget made up a Vietnam era story about the bike. Dar of Brass Balls Bobbers created the Navy bike. It is interesting to see 5 builders all create something different from the other and each bike was great.

I get a bit sentimental when public speaking to crowds especially on stage about stuff like this that means so much. I’m always scared of messing up and forgetting something that I shouldn’t have. I think it went over pretty good.

While with our bikes in the staging area up on the stage before the presentation, a Military serviceman presented each of us builders with a special medallion. It read "Presented by Sergeant Major Bryan Battaglia, Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Today was the big day for the ride through Washington DC starting at the Pentagon. It was an early start leaving the Hotel at 6.15 am. Off to downtown DC to pick up the bikes and then ride together to the Pentagon. While riding from the Hotel to downtown we were crossing the Potomac River bridge and a Coast Guard helicopter passes over us. I love it when a plan comes together.

I've never experienced Washington or anything like this before which are all powerful places to see. Ted, Walt and Ray started Rolling Thunder 25 years ago and have some pull in this town on this special day. This days ride is also signifies to show Washington that bikers and these good folks have a loud voice that will be heard.

It has been very hot and humid during the last few days here and another one again today.

Our friend and Editor of IronWorks magazine Marilyn Stemp jumped on Greg's bike for some non regular picture opportunities while Carolyn was on the back of CG-1. Chris Maida from American Iron Magazine was also in close proximity.

Staging took forever, from leaving the hotel at 6.15am till we actually rode off at the Pentagon at about 12 noon. A lot of hurrying up and waiting. While waiting at the Pentagon another Coast Guard helicopter did a couple of flyovers and circled us. I love it when plan 2 comes together. My mate Dar (Brass Balls Bobbers) built the Navy bike and I looked over at him and his builder Brian and said, top that one mate. We had a good laugh.

Riding out from the Pentagon, CG-1 lead the half million bikers out, wow what an exceptional honor. From then on all 5 bikes shared the lead. 2 other Bourget bikes tried crashing in on our parade and pushing their way to the front but I put a stop to that shit. I've been on rides before and they are very rude and like to muscle their way in front of the cameras like media Ho's. This was not going to happen on my shift and I made sure it did not.

We all equally put a lot of effort and TLC into our bikes and in my case I rode CG-1 across this great nation to the nations great Capital, Wash DC. No one was going to take anything away from those 5 bikes.

The ride traveled across the bridge, down Constitution, past the White House and Capitol Building. Wow what a sight. I couldn't help but engage the siren by these 2 buildings and throughout DC as it'll be the only time I'll be able to get away with it in my lifetime.

Half million riders leaving the Pentagon parking lot takes approx 5 hours. Wow. The veterans in this country are a very strong group and it was great to see them out in force. This was their day and they shined. It was a honor us builders could give back just a little.

Today will be the last day I get to ride CG-1 for a year. While I feel a loss of not being with her, I know the benefit it will bring to many others in all walks of life while on its tour across the US and abroad.

It truly has been an awesome experience being here in Washington DC. It’s still sinking in and it’s hard to believe that our list of fantastic experiences continued on this weekend. Afterwards we just sat next to the Pharmacudical building (on Constitution) on the grassy bank in the shade to take in all the bikes still entering Constitution. A marine stood at attention saluting every rider who entered Constitution. He never quivered even once in the extreme heat.  

My final part of my speech was as follows which I think is a nice way to say good bye till our next adventure. There will be more, a trip to Alaska and then an around the world adventure and yes, of course on Indians.

Enjoy the final words and thank you for sharing in our real life experiences and allowing us to be candid. Good bye until next time, it’s been one hell of a ride!!!

This is part of my speech which I gave upon the presentation of CG-1 up on stage that hits home of our ride accomplishment and the Coast Guard.

"SEMPER PARATUS (Always Ready).

This original 1945 Indian Chief has patrolled the shores of California, endured the Mojave Desert, scaled the mountains of New Mexico, galloped across the Texas prairie, cruised the Nachez Trace Parkway, climbed the Blue Ridge Mountains, conquered the North Carolina Tail of the Dragon and slid to a stop at the Atlantic ocean.

Like the Coast Guard, this bike never faltered in its mission. In 4133 miles, this vintage machine was always ready for its next challenge. SEMPER PARATUS"!!!

Run to the wall-- the finale

Today was the day for the final run to the viet nam memorial wall. This is not just a ride but a demonstration to encourage our government not to ever forget our POW'S and MIA's. We were up early this morning to eat a quick bite and get the sccots ready to rumble. Had to have the wheels turning at 6:30. Got to the first staging point on time and hooked up with marilyn stemp,editor of iron works magizine. She rode on the back of dirty gurl to shoot the scene from the front of the crowd. Interesting ride for her as there is no seat or pegs for a passenger. I put a towel on the luggage rack and she simply hung her feet straight down. This was a very precarious position to say the least but she was a trooper. I warned her when ever I saw a bump since dirty gurl is a hard tail with no rear shocks. We had no close calls but a few "ugh. That hurt." she got some pics that were off the charts and was the ONLY motorcycle mag person with that perspective. Good on ya marilyn. Look forward to the pics. We moved several times before finally coming to a rest at the head of the line at the pentagon parking lot. This was close to 8am so a full 4 hours before the ride was to begin. As we sat ,we watched the hundreds of thousands of bikes continue to fill the 40 acre parking lot at the pentagon. There we potties and food set up to take care of the masses. People came from over 100 miles away where they had lined up in remote staging areas. Groups of 50-100 bikes would arrive with a police escort from their own locality. It kept the day from getting boring. At one point a fellow came by with a little dog dressed in a flak vest and helmet. Excellent photo op. The dogs name-Patton. Very fitting. Close to noon we were told to line up and put a fire in the hole. We were not sure of how the line up would go but were hopeful we would be in the front. Low and behold it was better than we hoped. Kiwi LEAD THE DAMn PARADE. How cool is that? The first 5 bikes were the military bikes built to honor each branch. Dirty gurl was the 6 th bike and my friend Brian from brass balls bobbers,the builder of the navy bike,was 7th. So off we go parading before a million people in the next 5 miles. Needless to say it was a goose bump moment during the entire route. People waving flags,taking pics and videos and just generally excited to see the ambiance of the rolling thunder beginning. We rolled over the bridge and down constitution avenue. Turned past the Capitol and let the moment envelop me. It was exhilarating. Never to be duplicated. The perfect denouement to the trip. I will never come back and do this again. It could not be any better. Once the run was over I sat under a shade tree listening to the thunder of hundreds of thousands of bikes follow our trail. I was spent and exhausted. The adventure was over. As the days and weeks roll on I will reflect on this experience. Probably many times. I relish the chance to feel all of the emotions again. As I relay the various stories to my wife and friends I will do my best to recreate what I felt,saw,tasted and heard. Sadly we head west tomorrow in the truck. The horse will head for the barn. Best stay out of the way. Hope you enjoyed our trip. We did our best to help you feel the good and the bad. It is not enough to see it,you have to feel it. Livin' large and heading back to reality. Dirty gurl out.

The unveiling of CG1

Such a day of highs and lows. You will have to bear with me a bit as the day was extremely emotional at times. We got a bit of a late start this morning. Things did not start down at the festival area until 11 so no hurry. Once we arrived we got set up in the bike tent and set up the few things we needed for the presentation. At that point I went across the street to what is called thunder alley. This is the vendor area for leather goods,patches,pins,food,tee shirts and any thing else biker related that people think might sell. Made the trip up and down the rows 3 times looking for a certain sticker. Did not find it so will have to order on line. Did find a couple of patches to sew on my leather rolling thunder shirt so that was cool. Also got my honey a very cool shirt. She loves presents but that is another story. Had a pork sandwich for lunch and then heard the lieutenant dan band so sat by the stage to listen. The day was warm and humid so lots of water was the order of the day. The band was actually quite good as evidenced by the folks dancing and having fun. People watching has been fantastic here and it is one of my favorite pass times. as the set wore on the songs began to get more theme oriented and less entertaining in nature. Folks began listening to the lyrics more than dancing. There were a lot of small circles with hand holding the order of the day. As I listened and watched more and more people crowded the venue. I notcied many vets both men and women crowding the stage area. As I turned around to survey the rest of the crowd I noticed two young men in their 20's. Actually it was hard not to notice them. The setting was poignant and mind blowing at the same time. The band began playing a song titled HEROES. As the sound waves wafted over the heads of the crowd and crashed against the gently stirring elm trees, these men were oblivious to everything but the beat of the music. I however was mesmerized by them and what I saw. Before me were two true heroes who had fought to preserve the very scene we enjoyed. One of them had no legs and a prosthetic arm. A service dog sat in his lap to help him with his needs. The other had no legs AND no arms. His left arm was a stump that he used to push a lever on his wheel chair and move forward. At his side was his wife gently caressing his neck as he swayed to the music. The impact of their sacrifice on our behalf was too much for me. As the song progressed and filled the air my tears would not stop. I could not imagine what I had to done to deserve their bravery. As I watched this unfold before me, person after person came to them and hugged each in turn. I could not turn away and was not ashamed to share their pain for a moment. As the song ended they blended in to the crowd and were swept along with the throngs. Multiple bands played throughout the afternoon to keep the crowd entertained. As we sat patiently waiting for the unveiling to occur several folks we had met since we got to town stopped by to chat. Vicki Golding,who I wrote about a couple of days ago, stopped to say hello. I was happy to see her as I had looked at a you tube clip of her singing the national anthem prior to a redskins/ cowboys football game a couple of years ago. It was magnificent. We wish her good luck in her budding singing career. At 4 pm the bikes were each brought on the stage one at a time. Jay Allen ,formerly of the broken spoke saloon in sturgis ,was the MC for the program. He did a terrific job. This is obviously not his first rodeo. The bikes were started prior to entering the stage so the crowd could listen to the rumble of the pipes. Each builder told the story of their bike with all of the unique history involved in the theme. Kiwi rode his bike on the stage! Why not since he rode it 4133 miles to get here. He told the story of the journey and read a piece he and I had written while sitting in a golf cart at Charlotte speed way. It was interesting to see the emotion from kiwi while talking about his citizenship and this bike. You could tell this country and what it stands for as well as this bike are near and dear to him. He is going to have a hard time giving this bike up tomorrow and will welcome it back to the stable with open arms in a year. The bike will have many more stories to tell since it is traveling the U.S. To visit vet hospitals and bases. There is also talk of the bikes going to visit the troops overseas. Noble ventures to say the least. Once the presentation was done the bikes were wheeled out to the field in front of the stage for viewing by all. Lots of folks took pics and even sat on the bikes. It was very fun for the builders to see the thrill folks were getting being so close to these very cool machines. We left about 7. Went to the Irish place for dinner again. This is the third night in a row but it is so darn good why not? Almost forgot one of the highlights of the day. As I was sitting in a chair I noticed a very tiny lady talking animatedly about riding and motorcycles. I had no idea who she was so an inquiring mind had to ask. Her name is Gloria Struck. She is the cutest little button of a lady you have ever seen. Being from new York she talks quickly and with her hands. Her is her story in a nutshell. She is 86 years old. NOT A TYPO. eighty freakin' six! She told me she does not do anything but long distance riding any more. I asked her the definition of long distance. She said she and her daughter would routinely ride 700 miles in a day. Apparently her dauhter only gets limited time off from her job so when they go on a trip they need to make tracks fast. They ride to daytona,sturgis and the motor maids conventions each year. Mind you this is from new York where it is cold during Daytona. We had a delightful conversation. I could have talked to her for hours. Google her and read about her induction into the sturgis hall of fame as well as other stories that have been written about her. She is truly a motorcycle treasure. Tomorrow is the run to the wall. This is the reason we are here. I am told it is mind boggling. I am ready for the rest of my mind to be boggled. By the time I leave here I should be a total mess. Ha ha.

Washington DC Fri, Kiwi Mike

We’ve had a few lightweight days getting a feeling for the town and trying to get a grasp on where the bike needs to be and what my duties are.

Last night at dinner we hooked up with the president of Rolling Thunder Ted and his band of helpers and the Air Force bike builder Billy Lane’s family so we organized a trip into downtown DC to be tourist for today. DC is full of things to do and it is all extremely well presented. The Vietnam Wall Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Martin Luther King I have a dream speech spot. I found myself helping a Vet trying to put flowers in the flower hole but the hole was plugged. I pulled out my pocket knife and bent down to clean out the hole for him. He was extremely grateful of the help. It is hard to explain but it is very touching being around these guys and the memorials. It really is hard to explain and being around these guys and listening to their experiences is pretty incredible. These guys only tell the truth.

Carolyn flew into town late last night so we were able to share the experiences here in DC together. Unfortunately she got in very late last night as her United Airlines flight was cancelled and so was the connector flight and it rolled down hill from there. Dam airlines. If you set a flight and a time then that’s the way it should be.

The remainder of the day we spent at the Smithsonian museum, Air and Space museum and many others. DC is extremely rich in history and it is absolutely mind blowing. After a sweatie day in the humidity that we west coasters are not used to, we ended up in an Irish pub “Irish Four Courts” for a cool bruskie. My Irish mate Josh is still back in Cali so I had his one too. Their food is top notch no matter what they served up, bangers ‘n mash, chicken pot pie, shepherd’s pie and so on, it's all so good.

Several years ago a very close friend of mine James Clark suddenly passed away and his wife Gere’ asked me to get a picture of CG-1 and myself next to the Vietnam Wall. Last night the officials said it was no problem and it will happen. Tonight it seemed everyone passed the buck and it went nowhere. So my good friend Marilyn Stemp of IronWorks magazine and Greg knew what it meant to me to get this job done so they went down to the Wall and gave me a yell, come on down, NOW. I headed off on the bike with Greg’s careful instructions so as not to cock it up and get lost and they tell me how it’s going to go down. It’s tough to get anything done around this town with police, ride security, and thousands of people in attendance at the candle light vigil it really was super challenging. So when Marilyn and Greg see an angle and say let’s go, we are in like Flinn. We got the bike right next to the memorial wall and next to the soldier’s monument. I can now report to Gere’ that we have “mission accomplished”. I was sweating like crazy but I didn’t know if it was from the humidity or me really worrying so much about being busted as these cops are very serious. The dense crowd seemed to mask the bike and we escaped unscathered.

The Vietnam Memorial candle light vigil is very moving. It’s pretty emotional and and silent at the  appropriate times and it means so much to those that have served and many others of us who did not. Greg covered it very well so I will not duplicate.

Tomorrow will be a big day presenting the bike. I'm a bit nervious.

Candle light vigil

My day was not particularly busy as we had a bit of a poster crisis this morning. Mike did not like the way the bike poster looked so we made the decision to have it redone at kinkos. Fortunately there is one right up the street and as luck would have it they are open 24 hours. Our original plan was to take a sight seeing trip to the air and space museum for the day. I told mike and Carolyn to go and I would handle the details of the poster. Mike was so overjoyed he doubled my salary on the spot. Let's see two times zero is------ still zero. Thanks kiwi. They took off and several texts and phone calls later we had a proof to look at for approval. Mike gave the pkwy comet so then the trial was to get kinkos to get it done in the time frame necessary. Originally they figured 8 p.m. And that was not going to work. By this time it was getting on to 1pm so I went out for lunch. Just happened to stop in at the print shop on my way back to the hotel. Did my best hang dog "please help me" act. It worked. Got the commitment for 6 pm. Ummmm hmmmm. Sent the rest of the afternoon working on our next adventure. Gonna be a doozy. By 5:30 it was time to head out for the pick up. Also met mike and Carolyn at the Irish place for dinner again. When you find a winning horse you better ride him until he drops. After dinner I hustled down to the venue for the candlelight vigil at the viet nam memorial wall. Met marilyn stemp from iron works mag there so we could hook up with kiwi when he got there with the bike. We talked him in and thought we had a great strategy figured out for him to get a pic at the wall. This was a personal mission for him to honor a friend and we were determined to get the pic. As we were pushing the bike toward our final destination at the wall a fellow wearing a retired coast guard hat came over to talk about the bike. He was invaluable In helping us get the bike where it needed to be and helping to part the massive crowd gathered for the event. We started getting pics with the wall in the background and they were ok. Then we got bold and pushed the bike down the walk way right next to the wall. These pics were fabulous. The final act was to put the bike in front of the memorial and shoot pics with no people other than kiwi. These pics went off the chart. Go marilyn. Can't wait to see them. It was very cool to see the folks snapping pics while we were pushing the bike down the sidewalk. Every time we stopped the crowd pushed in to snap pics faster and more detailed. Very happy we were able to get these important pics for kiwi and his mates. By this time it was approaching the main event kick off. We worked our way back to the memorial wall not really knowing what to expect or what to actually do. As we trundles down the sidewalk a very kind lady was handing out small candle like glow sticks. These were to be used once the procession started. As we were standing among the crowd a viet nam navy vet next to us began telling us what to expect and the significance of it all. You could tell he felt the happenings around him very deeply and you could not help but respect his solemn nature. He began by explaining about the bag piper leading the procession and then explained the people following behind. There are two groups behind the bag piper. The first group is the Gold Star Mothers. These are women who have lost a son or husband in a conflict. The second group is the Blue Star Mothers. These are women who have active service sons or daughters. The groups are a major source of support for current and past service members and their families. As we stood among the thousands of people you could hear a hush begin to overtake the crowd. The people who did not feel the mood change were gently reminded by several vets in the crowd to show respect. Soon the distant whine of a bag pipe could be heard as the procession began. Slowly the gold and blue star women worked their way down and around the wall. There were no sounds any where except the shuffling of feet down the walk way. Thousands held glow candles at chest height the entire time the line moved past those gathered to honor their loved ones. After the procession was finished there was a pause. Slowly and painfully the mournful wail of the lone bag pipe filled the air. There was no movement and no sound other than the sound of the bag pipe bouncing off the wall behind us all. Once the bag pipe finished the sound of taps filled the air. At the first sound from the trumpet thousands of former and current vets snapped to attention. The deep respect for their fallen comrades was almost too much to bear even for those of us who we observers and distant participants. The vivid scars of past wars bled through the silence. When it was over the person next to you had become a special part of your day and you could not help but shake hands and say good bye like you were neighbors. It was over suddenly and the walk way was void of people in minutes. Each person took away a special moment in time whether you had served or not. You had paid your respects and it felt good and right. I will not forget this nit. The place turned in to a mad house very quickly as people were trying to leave via any means possible. Lots of bikes going every which way and lines of traffic. Mike,Carolyn and I were on our own since we had all gotten there by different means. We walked around a bit and then formulated a cab strategy. Several just drove by so we got a little more creative. This should be interpreted as stand in the middle of the street and wave like a damn fool. We did and it worked. Several minutes later it was home sweet home at the hotel. Tomorrow is a big day as mike presents CG1 along with the other military bikes. I am sure there will be lots of stories.

Finally-- Rolling Thunder

I am going to be writing the blog for a bit as kiwi is busy with lots of details and meet and greet sessions. Once he is clear,perhaps even after the event, jhe will write his impressions during the event. I have no doubt neither of us will leave here the same as we arrived. We only got here this afternoon and already I can tell we are in to something bigger than both of us. The passion of those involved in the set up ,creation and performance is off the charts. No where does any one talk about any thing other than the veterans and the honoring of their service to our country. The fervor envelops you at every turn. It feels strangely exhilarating and uplifting. There will be lots of goose bump moments I have a feeling. Our day started very slowly at our hotel in fairfax. We knew we could not get in here until early afternoon so wasted time doing busy work. Once we had the truck loaded we began the journey in to the bowels of the city. We did not know exactly where we were going but had a fair enough idea to give us some comfort. Once you have travelled across the country on back roads you don't get too excited about not knowing exactly where you are. Stopped for lunch at a chinese place that was unlike anything I had been to before.once you walked in the door and were seated the ladies bring a cart over with lots of dishes pre cooked on the top. They machine gun through the choices and prices of each. At the end yu are supposed to tell them which you would like. They take the dishes back to warm them up and voila your lunch in 1 minute or less. Tis is no kidding. Not more tha two minutes after we sat down there was food in front of us. Guess that gives new meaning to turning tables fast. Most of the food was delicious. Te shrimp were whole,heads on, and were messy to eat. We were wishing we had passed on those. Headed on down the road to find the hotel. We were a little uneasy because the contact that we had been given was no longer with the company so our grand scheme for parking the rig seemed in jeprody. We both felt we were close so kiwi called for directions. Perfect timing as we were one block away. As we surveyed the parking lot and where they had the cones set up for our spot kiwi did not like it. He backed around a couple of times and finally settled on the front two spots. There she sits for the duration. We will be able to get the bikes whenever we need them as well as any luggage we did not bring up to the room. Rolling Tunder is picking up the tab for the room during our stay. This is really nice and much appreciated. I am so impressed with this group from the get go. They are passionate,considerate and focused. Before we were even out of the parking lot we met Ted Shpak,the president of Rolling Thunder. He showed us the Billy lane air force bike and of course jay allen's army bike. Very cool way to start the event for us. We also met ted's right hand,Ahab, from Carolina. As I was instructed that would be the REAL carolina as opposed to north Carolina. Learned something today. We hung out in the roo for the afternoon so I could do the wash. We have been oso the road so long if you only have 3 days on a tee shirt it is considered clean. We won't even talk about socks and underwear. Luckily I have no sense of smell so carrying the dirty wash is no big deal. Poor Carolyn has been on the road since 4 a.m. Trying to fly here. First non stop was cancelled out of LA and then she missed her connection in Houston. We hope to see her soon. Kiwi went down to the front desk to retrieve some packages and came back with instructions to get ready for dinner in 5 minutes. Not a problem for me--tie dye shorts,no sleeve tee shirt and we are off sportin'. Once we got down stairs the day began to pick up significantly. Met Billy lane's sister. He built the air force bike. Met several of her friends and relations as well. They are in town for the presentation. Jay Allen,owner of broken spoke saloon in sturgis, also joined us. Jay was instrumental in the selection of the builders and actually,I believe, came up with the original idea of the bikes to honor the branches of the military. We headed off up the hill towards a place called Irish Four Corners. Lots of folks here so we had a big group for dinner. Sat with Ted,Ahab and Troy(as Cathie says"my boy toy Troy"). Cathie is ted's honey and they are like peas and carrots. So cool to see. Cathie brought her friend Vicki Golding. Vicki is from Australia so she and kiwi had a few discussions I was not privy to. As an aside Vicki won the military idol competition in 2006. Google her to hear her fantastic voice sing the national anthem. Ahab and I had a great discussion about life,love and the pursuit of happiness. The more jack and coke he had the better we thought life was treating us. Funny how much you can find in common with someone you just met from another part of the country. We left feeling like we were buddies and would talk again. Cathie's story is magnificent. Se is the co-founder and executive director of an organization called cammo. This is an acronym for The Center For American Military Music Opportunities. What they do is help vets get involved In the music industry whether it be stage hands,sound folks or singers. The entire organization is made up of and dedicated to vets. Se is a dynamo of energy and as she and I discussed a collector of ANY stray cats that need a hand to get started. Truly and amazing person and well suited to be with Ted. I was captivated by her litany of opportunities she has helped garner for vets. Hope to see this person agai this week end and learn more about how she touches so many lives and still has time for more good deeds. As an aside the food at he Irish place was off the charts. I asked the waitress what I should have if this was the only time I would eat here and she did not hesitate. I was some concoction of bleu cheese,potatoes and lots of different fish like salmon,a white fish and scallops. This was all on a bed of dark rye bread. Can't remember what it was called but it was memorable. I had to leave before the party broke up so I could get the blog posted. A guy's work is never done. I had the title of P R department but was also given security detail tonight. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. I know this is going to be an emotionally draining week end but I want to feel it all deeply so the impression will never leave. Mike and I are happy to share with you. Hope you enjoy.

Dc clean up day

Based on our typical day on the road this was a vacation. Our mission today was to clean up CG1 and get him ready for show and tell this week end. Kiwi started by taking the exhaust pipe off and removing the battery. Art needed access to all areas to get the bike to show quality. Kiwi pushed the bike across the street to the Harley shop( not the bathroom) and let art have at it. No pressure washing. This needed to be a hand job. We went to lunch at the same Mexican place as yesterday. It was that good. Hung out for a while and then went to check on the progress. Art figured he was done. Kiwi spent another 2 1/2 hours getting the bike to show quality. Must have been a miscommunication on the level of expectation. By the time kiwi called to help him push it up the hill I was getting worried. We got the bike back to the room and set to work rearranging bikes in the truck in order to transport tomorrow. Kiwi also had to find an auto parts store to get some brake cleaner. Easier said than done. People around here have little or no idea where things are located. Kiwi was pretty frustrated by the time he got back. We took a peek at the eastern horizon and were not happy. Black clouds rolling in with lots of thunder. Kiwi hurried to get the exhaust back in place and secure the battery. We loaded dirty gurl and then got CG1 on the truck minutes before the clouds opened and wept their voluminous tears. It rained like a damn fool for about 20 minutes but we didn't care. The bikes were secure and it was time for a beer. Tonight we are treating ourselves to a big steak as a reward for a mission well done. Tomorrow is moving day as we head for the Arlington suites hotel which is the rolling thunder headquarters. Let chapter 2 begin.

Washington DC, Kiwi Mike, Checkered flag.

We were off to a slow start this morning. We looked out the motel room door and it was sprinkling plus the waves crashing on the shores sounded too good to leave early.


We made our way to Fairfax as the CG bike is having a thorough detailing tomorrow by Art of Hog Wash. Art sets up in Fairfax Harley parking lot and we found a motel right across the road that is a tad above our usual standards but oh well. The Mexican lunch stop didn’t have any table cloths so we are still happy campers. The taco’s were exceptionally good, tons of shredded beef and tasty too. Top notch tucker (food for down under). Korean BBQ for dinner tonight. Heineken’s this afternoon are appropriate for us.

We checked into our digs and even though we are close to DC I said to Greg, our ride isn’t complete until we ride into DC and get our pictures taken there. I know I won’t sleep until we’ve accomplished that part of our trip. We figured the big stick (Washington Memorial) should stick out like an old Indian smoke signal calling us (Harley guys wouldn’t get that). So we cruise down on our Indians and we notice an ideal and unofficial spot to pull our dirty steeds up to and out of the way of the traffic. Off we jump and take a gazillion pics before the cops probably handcuff us here as they will have NO sense of humor. As we jump on our bikes we noticed the Whitehouse right in front of us. We were only paying attention to the monument and didn’t see the Whitehouse on the opposite side of the road. So off we get and do the picture thing again quickly and we are outa town. That was a picture opportunity of a lifetime right there. We left our bikes running the whole time for a fast getaway and back to the motel we head. Good times.
At the motel check in desk is the USA Today newspaper, wow I haven't seen a newspaper for 2-1/2 weeks. I'll read it in the Harley room later.

Tomorrow we just kick back which will feel weird. Come this Thurs-Fri onwards we will be pretty much dedicated to Rolling Thunder. And Carolyn comes into town. I haven’t seen my lovely wife for a while so that will be way cool.

We did it, 4133 on 2 Indians. The 1945 was a full Kiwi restoration and engine rebuild. Greg’s 1937 has the 2nd Kiwi 84” engine ever made and the 1st rigid frame electric starter ever made. These machines are a fine testament of what my guys produce. THEY kick ass!!! As my buddy Wally says, “When the green flag drops, the bullshit stops”. Post it Dano!!!!
WE DID IT. And just like the Coast Guard moto, Semper Paratus (Always Ready), The CG bike was up to the challenge. She's got some battle scars (dirt and filth) but she never quivered from her original mission and she stood sturdy every tire rotation. While tomorrow she will shine in all her original glory, her flags will tell the tale of her travels. Thank you to the Coast Guard for giving me this wonderful opportunity to make you guys shine. SEMPER PARATUS!!!

Washington DC. 4133 total miles

WE MADE IT! Kiwi will post the injuns in front of the Lincoln memorial and also the white house from the other direction. Guessing constitution avenue has not seen a 37 and 45 injun for a while if ever. We felt like we were shittin' in REAL tall cotton. Looked like the police did too as they were across the street waiting for us to put our hands in the air as we drove off. Some folks just don't know a good photo opportunity when they see one. We left Virginia this morning in the mist. Knew it was raining in the dc area so were not too anxious to get going. I even went back to sleep after my 5 a.m. E mail sending and paper reading. We originally thought we might have a bit of a challenge with the red neck gps trying to get in to and around dc. Not a problem. We actually had to get to patriot Harley where the bike will be detailed tomorrow by our main man art. We flew up the 95 freeway and headed down the 123 for fairfax. While sitting at a stop light we asked a tow truck driver for directions and off we went. Drove right to the spot. As luck would have it there was a motel right across the street. When we tried to check in they had no rooms. Ummmmm bummer. Then the guy said I have a 1pm. Room hold so if you can wait for 6 minutes I will maybe have a room. The guy did not call or show up so at 1:00.01 I had my visa on the counter. Got the room so we are set for tonight and tomorrow. Had a great Mexican lunch across the street. Best damn enchiladas I have had for a long time. Real big pieces of chicken not the usual mystery meat. Got some sketchy directions to the Washington memorial and just figured we would see the damn thing sticking up in the air and work our way to it. Old injun trick. Ha ha. Worked like a charm. We pulled as closeto the thing as we could and just parked the bikes. Got some fabulous pics. As I said before ,we were out of there one step ahead of the police. They might not have the same sense of humor as officer moss and sergeant felts when we were apprehended yesterday. Found our way back to the hotel no problem. Even stopped on the way so we could sop up some heinekens tonight. We have no miles to travel tomorrow so are not concerned about when we get to bed or get up. Feels pretty weird right now and almost a let down. We have had soooooooo much fun seeing and experiencing America I don't want to stop this way of life. If not for my beautiful and wonderful bride back home I might just keep going. It will take us a couple of days to get reset and ready for the true nature of the trip which is to ride for those who are not able. This humbling experience will never be forgotten and perhaps not duplicated by us. I am overwhelmed by what we have accomplished. It will take some time to process the event and also get ready to experience a whole new ambiance when the rest of the 450,000 bikers get here. We will continue to post the blog each day and record our dc experience. Thanks for following the blog. We hope you might have gotten some samll pleasure following our journey. We now begin the dc adventure which will be chapter 2.

???? East Coast baby, Kiwi Mike

Well we be shittin’ in some real tall cotton right now as we are on the shores of our mystery city and we hear the waves breaking from our motel room. We splurged a bit over budget but the music of the waves is what we wanted to hear. Job 1 is we've got to get our bikes shot on the beach here on the east coast after giving each other high fives and a big hug. We found a beach front opening and start taking pictures, then I had a brain fart to ride the Coast Guard bike right out on the beach. I rode it out and we start taking pics. After a while we take Greg’s Dirty Girl bike pics as well. We notice behind us what looks like a motel but without any signage so we leave the bikes where they are and wander over to inquire. The motel lost its franchise and it’s in bankruptcy and a bit run down but it’s right on the beach and twice over budget but this place will do us perfect. Hook us up lady, we wanna be right on the beach hearing the waves. Well as I’m writing this we have the door open and listening to the music of the waves crashing on the beach.


So as we leave the registration desk and make our way back to our bikes on the beach, 2 cops are standing next to our bikes. Sergeant Felts and Officer Moss told us we couldn’t be on the beach and asked for our ID at which time we told them where we came from and what our mission was. They were 2 cool guys and I said well I’m glad we got our pics before you boys showed up. We all had a good laugh so I said since we have come this far and we’ve had a rather boring and wet day till now, we gota get a pic with you 2 boys to spice things up. We had some fun and some dam good laughs together. They said they will keep an eye on our bikes this evening.

We parked our bikes at the motel and went to a bar just a block down the road and sat on the deck right on the beach enjoying a few beers to take it all in. Greg lit up a cigar and I was just mesmerized by the sound of the waves. This is an awesome feeling.
Dinner was awesome on the wharf with front row seats right on Maryland water.

It’s been an adventure to get here but to be on the water at the opposite end of the US feels really darn good. Even though we aren’t quite in DC yet it feels like we have accomplished our mission, from coast to coast baby. That’s an accomplishment in itself.

I’m in love with my 1945 Chief. I have a 1944 Chief which is exactly the same bike and it’s my Death Valley off road bike. I ride that bike bike with confidence all over Death Valley and nothing can kill it, rocks, sand, gravel, embankments, ditches, dry creek beds, mountains and everything else in between. I’m going to miss the Coast Guard bike since she will be going on tour for a year. But I still have my wife Carolyn who I will get to see Thurs evening in DC. She waits up every night to receive my pictures to upload them to the blog and FaceBook. Thank you Carolyn!!!

?????? 3931 total miles

We are in a mystery city tonight. What I will tell you is that the surf is pounding in our ears. What a feeling to see the right coast surf after a lot of hard fought road miles. We high fived and hugged with joy at the end of the journey. Thursday the adventure of rolling thunder begins. Is the fun ever going to stop? I think not as long as there are roads to ride and people to meet. We have been truly blessed on this ride. No wrenches have been turned other than to change tranny fluid and oil. This is a magnificent testimony to kiwi and his boys in the shop. Technology and preparation wins every time. I doubt there are any other 2 vintage Indian chiefs that could ride side by side for over 4,000 miles and not turn a wrench. Call it bragging if you want,I could give a shit. It is unimagineable for most riders, vintage or not. we have been in and out of rain all day. Nothing steady but just enough to make you wear your rain gear. Freeway was the order for most of the day as we needed to make tracks to the sea. Tomorrow we have to be in Arlington at patriot Harley for our man art to detail the bike on Wednesday. Also have kiwi's truck being delivered there so we can load CG1 up after the detail and keep him clean. Once we hit the beach and finished our celebration we put CG1 right on the rocks for a major photo session. Took lots of pics for tomorrow's blog. It will be worth the wait. Took some of the kids together and then dirty gurl alone. Our plan all along was to stay at the beach and eat fresh seafood. Turned around after the photo shoot and there it was-- our hotel right on the beach. Shittin' in tall cotton baby! We went in to register and yakked with the desk folks about our trip. Came out and what to our wondering eyes appeared? The freakin' police are waiting for us. Oops. Oh oh. How were we supposed to know you can't park on the beach. Well we had to give up our I D and wait to be checked out. Hoping my parking ticket in LA did not show up. We did our best schmoozing act while officer moss was radioing to head quarters. Sergeant felts could not have been nicer helping us figure out where to eat and sights to see in town. Of course we checked out but we could not let them leave with out getting a pic of the 4 of us with our arms around each other in front of the bikes on the beach. Sergeant felts asked to please not post it on you tube. 10/4 mate. We knocked off early today. Went down the beach and burned a macanudo gold label washed down by a couple of ultras. Life is VERY good. Tonight we already checked out a sea food place and reserved a table by the beach. We be eating fresh fish tonight. DC tomorrow baby. Bring it on.

Oxford NC, Kiwi Mike

We had a super nice and latish breakfast with Wally, Regan and Regan’s sister Terra who just had her pre wedding girls party the night before.


It was fun going over the day before races and the girls party.

Our rule was still in motion, no place with a table cloth. I had an omelet as it was going to have to tie me over till dinner time as we had to pound out some miles.

The seat and wind in our faces felt good however the down side is we are on the super slab highway (freeway) for a while. We’ve got a mission to do and we’ve got to knock off the miles. Riding on the super slab is not our idea of fun. It’s impersonal and not the part of America we enjoy.

We had had several late nights in a row which were catching up with us so we figured to call it quits at around 5 tonight. We pulled into the 1 motel the sign on the freeway advertized and one of 1 front doors was boarded up and had a sign on it to say use the other side door. I open it up and I’m in a tiny little lobby which I could touch all 4 walls with my arms stretched out. I press the button for service and behind the darkened glass window in front of me a red dot Indian appeared. Picture being in a tiny room with a small glass window that u have to communicate with the person and slide the money under the window in a drawer. The guy behind the window was in a darkened room like he didn’t want to be identified so I said, man its pretty dark back there, don’t you have a light. He pretended he didn’t understand but he understood when it came to dealing with money. 50.00 for 2 people, cash only, no refunds plus a 5.00 key deposit. I left.

We went up the road to gas up and 2 guys on modern tricked out Jappy sport bikes pulled in and were impressed with our bikes. We asked if they knew of a decent place to eat and they led us down the road to a nice Italian restaurant which had excellent food.

From here we went another mile of so down the road to some decent motels that we could pick from. We were under budget for about the 3rd time ever.

I did make an error the other night writing the town of Mocksville (I wrote Mucksville). This was the town Diane’s Diner was in. It coincidentally was also the town Regan was from. I have no doubt that town is NOT the same without her. Go Regan!!!

Oxford nc 3685 total miles

We were all making three tracks in the sand this morning. If it is possible to have too much fun (and I am not convinced it is) we might have come close to the precipice yesterday. After all how many goose bumps can you have during the day and none of them came from sex? No answer forthcoming. Once we pounded on everyone's chest to get going and fueled the psyche with some coffee we were ready to tackle breakfast. Waited for regan and her sister to arrive after their bachelorette party so we could all eat together. Headed toward the shop so we could just load the bikes and haul when we were fed. Had a nice chance to visit at breakfast and talked about everything from soup to nuts. Wally and regan are top notch, neat people and welcome I my home any time. Not an offer I make lightly. Around noon we packed the bikes and headed north. Kiwi and I made a pretty drastic route change for this week. Originally we had planned to ride the rest of the blue ridge parkway. Kiwi would like CG1 to see the Atlantic ocean since he started at San Diego. Not a problem. We are pounding up the 85 today and tomorrow morning. Will get off on the 360 I think and head for Chesapeake bay. We found a town called Chesapeake beach that will do just fine for a pic. Should be there sometime tomorrow for the event with a short shot Tuesday toward Washington. Freeways are really boring and full of traffic even on Sunday around here. We just kept our head down and pounded he ponies. Stopped at a hardees for a thick shake to cool off about mid afternoon. We had decided to stay where ever the second tank of fuel ran out so ended up in Oxford. We are both exhausted from having just enough fun and need a good night sleep. Once we pulled off for fuel we decided to at before finding a room so we could just unpack and crash. The first motel we stopped at kiwi soon exited and said we will keep going. Have never seen him turn one down but he had the bad vibes going and we trust our guts on the road. While we were fueling a couple of black fellers on crotch rockets came over to yak with us. They about shit their shorts when we told them where we were from. Said they would rather die than ride that far. Real biker types. Ha ha. The shorts and tee shirts with sandals were the first clue. They did turn us on to a place to eat called george's. It was Italian and fabulous. Kiwi had lobster ravioli that damn near floored him it was so good. Low and behold we were told about another motel on the other end of town. King's crown sounds like our kind of place. Damnation we are under budget tonight! $45 all in. Woohoo. Before we could park the bikes we were descended upon by 3 goofy red necks. Could not understand a word they said and they did not respect our space drooling over the bikes and talking stupid shit. We tried to just leave and go to our rooms but the sumbitches followed us. I just unpacked my bike and went inside. Found kiwi with the tv turned up to max volume so as to drown out the shit for brains. He was asleep. Sure you could have ridden further mate. Gotta love 'em. Sleep hard and head out for the sea. Sadly will leave north Carolina in the dust. I love this state and will be back with my honey to show her this fine place and it's people. Bye for now tobacco road.

Charlotte NC, Kiwi Mike day 2

It feels good to get up a bit later than usual, have a leisurely breakfast with friends Wally and Regan, relax and do some washing. Holy smokes, my pants finally get a wash after 2 weeks of wear.


Wally is driving us around which feels real nice to be passenger.

Wally's shop is super dooper nice and we did an oil change there. Its how I like a shop to be and what we have too. You can lay on the painted floor and do the things to your bike you need to do and your clothes are still clean. Ernie is Wally's step father and when we get to the shop Ernie has it opened up and ready for us to do our stuff.

Around 2pm we head off to Charlotte Motor Speedway and pick up some Mickey D's on the way.

The track is impressive and massive. The high banking turns are unreal. Wally is very highly respected with many race team folks acknowledging him as we walk around.

We were walking thru the race drivers high dollar motorhome section and we hear hey Wally. It was Carl Edwards and next thing we knew we are in his motorhome chatting away.

Wally is our man!!! He is Sr test engineer of one of the top teams (Joe Gibbs Racing Home Depot, M&M and FedEx) because he is darn good. Wally spent 10 years on the road as pit crew and as a crew Chief.

Wally hooked us up with the top level passes which enabled us to be and wander anywhere. Some of our favorite spots were right up against pit wall near Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Jimmy Johnson. The sound is unbelievable which no TV can transfer the sounds and feel of being there in person. The cars are doing 185 miles an hour and it is super fast and impressive in person. These guys put their nuts on the line every race.

I had a very interesting conversation with No 20 team Home Depot tire man (1 of Wally's 3 teams) about tires. So to become educated in what his job is I asked what's the tire mans job entail. Let me tell you that it is very entailed and a job in itself of what he has to go through to match up 4 tires to the car. Each tire is hand made and about 35 tires are made per shift. He aims to get 4 tires made by the same guy at the factory on the same day as each worker makes it a little differently. This is just a small insight into his job. There are so many codes and things he has to figure out that it is a specialty job in itself. Everyone has their place in this organization and there are no slackers.

The pits stops did not last long at all. We got to sample pits stops at the Home Depot and Lowes pits. I'm glad I got video of them as they are precision to the max and well choreographed. It'll be fun reviewing them later on.

The last race I was right up against pit wall and right next to Jimmy Johnson's pit (1st pit to exit pit row). When he won it was quite the spot to see 1st hand the excitement from the pit crew and Johnson himself driving into the pits to congratulate everyone.

It was also good to catch up with Gerald Rinehart (Rinehart Exhausts) and Rutledge Wood (American Top Gear). Both good guys.

Thanks Wally and Regan for a fabulous time.

I'm amazed at the experiences we have had on this trip so far. Another outstanding day.

Charlotte race day

Tis is the first day we have been in the same place for two days in a row. Couldn't have picked a better plan than to share space with kiwi's good mate Wally brown and his wife regan. Wally works for joe Gibbs racing and was able to hook us up with pit passes for the all american sprint car championship yesterday. I have never been a NASCAR fan and never been to a race. We had Friday nit stock car races but not this kind of gig. Unless you have been to one of these races you simply can not imagine the size and scope of the cars,teams,stands,track and people. Just the physicall act of getting all of the people and equipment in place is unbelievable. Of course the setting with a gentle breeze to keep you cool and the action of the pits enhanced the experience. We got there plenty early to avoid as much traffic as possible. We were fortunate that Wally has been in the industry for many years and is well respected by all. As we walked around we were introduced to the inner circle of NASCAR elite. Pretty sure kiwi was on sensor overload for most of the day. At one point someone yelled at Wally from inside one of the 2 million dollar driver buses. Did not know it at the time but we were about to be introduced to NASCAR royalty. As we entered the bus we were shaking hands with Carl Edwards. Sat down and yakked about the race and the vintage scooters we were riding. Pretty soon his beautiful wife and kids rolled in and we spent time meeting them. Carl needed to talk with Wally privately so off kiwi and I went to work on some rolling thunder stuff. Found out later how big Carl Edwards is in the NASCAR circuit. One of the top 5 drivers in the whole shootin' match. Holy crap! Super nice guy and too bad his car blew up during during the race. Your my boy number 99! We continued bumming around the pit with Wally explaining in intimate detail about how the whole process works. It is intricate and fascinating from an insiders perspective. Every team has many many parts. Each part has it's own job that must be done at precisely the correct time to try and propel the car to victory. In last nights case the winner took home $1,000,000. WOW! Let me tell you they were concentrating. Watching them prepare a care and do the pit stops is like watching a bunch of ants performing a highly intricate dance and symphony at the same time. They never talk but just go about their work efficiently and productively. We watched a lot of the race from pit row next to the cars. My first pit stop was one I will never forget. Wally said watch closely as they do not last long. I was concentrating as hard as I could with the roar of the engines going on around me. The car skidded to a stop. Before it even stopped moving this team of ants was enveloping the car changing two tires and filling with fuel. Total elapsed time--- 4.2 seconds. Probably would have been 5 seconds if they had washed the windshield. Never seen anything like it. The longest any car was pitted to change all of the tires and fuel was 12 seconds. My camera does not work that fast. Kiwi was going to take a video but it was so short it wouldn't play back. Dawg this is another world. This race was a different format than they usually run. It was split in to 4 quarters with a two minute drill at the end for the cash. The winner of each quarter got to start In that position for the last sprint. It was very key to win the first segment. The 48 car did just that and coasted the rest of the other three segments knowing he had the pole for the finale. Once the last run started he just pounded the gas and easily won the race. Truly exciting and enjoyable. Thanks Wally for an unbelievable first NASCAR experience. We waited an hour before trying to get out of the lot. Still took us two more hours to get home so the clock said 1 a.m. By the time we opened the door to the house. Well past my bewitching hour so no blog last night. We are on the road agin richer for having been here and swathed in clean clothes. We will see what the day brings and take it with pleasure.

Charlotte NC, Kiwi Mike

Well we have come to the conclusion that NC signs suck. At 1st we thought it was us but even others said the same thing. And to make matters even worse, if you ask anyone for directions, they just don’t know especially gas station folks, unbelievable. Even this afternoon I asked how to get from the gas station to the 77 freeway (say 2 miles away) and the answer was I don’t know. Even asking others got the same answer. Wow, don’t you guys get out a little bit???


We headed to Mucksville for a 9 am breakfast with my good lady friend Marilyn of IronWorks Magazine. She asked where would you like to eat and we said any hole in the wall diner but our main criteria is no table clothes. She emailed us the address and the town was Mocksville so we head for Mocksville only to find out Diana's Diner was 10 miles before the town and we passed it by. Say what. So you are telling me the diner is not even in Mocksville yet the address is Mocksville. Yep. Wow. So we back track 10 miles and its in an old abandoned gas station and the diner still looks that way so it’s so easy to pass up. Another good feeding place. We hd a delightful breakie with Marilyn. She’s a real live wire and enjoyed our stories and we enjoyed her as well.

Outside we were taking some pic with Marilyn and an old boy walks up to me and says Indian, I used to have one of them when I left school. I still got the wheels off that bike and some other parts, right O, lets strike deal which we did. While we were standing there his mate Dick rolls up and next thing you know we are having another good conversation. Like is good out here in the boonies.

There are plenty of critters out in these parts. Yesterday my face shield was plastered with gnats. These little buggers have their way of getting in from the underside while riding.

Eventually we get to the Denton Antique mc club swap meet which is in a wonderful privately owned fairgrounds setting.

We ride in and park on the inside and I couldn’t get away from my bike for ages to have a look around because of all the questions.

I put my name down for the long distance award but was told you have to be here Sun. Well that sort of sucks cause we won’t be here. Oh well silly AMCA rules. So what happens if you are a church go-er and spend all day in church on Sunday, do they penalize you for that.

There were many nice show bikes there but I’m into rider bikes, bikes that are ridden. One of my customers Howard Crist was there and showed me his nice bike. He has over 20,000 miles on the engine rebuild we did several years ago. Howard’s a rider and is very proud of his bike. Nice catching up with you Howard and Leanne.

Speaking of churches, many of the signs in front of the churches have interesting sayings in front of them making you have to think pretty hard. If the Lord ever lands on earth he’s going to have a lot of choices of where to land.

The roads today have been very flat compared with the last few days which makes for a welcomed change, just free running roads but then you have to worry about signage so it’s still no picnic.

We’ve noticed quite a few mopeds and scooters on the roads around here even way out in the open roads. These things might get up to 30 mph and if a car is behind they can’t pass the scooter because of oncoming traffic on these 2 lane roads that it doesn’t take much to back up traffic.

We arrived at Wally’s shop where we parked the bikes for the evening and to do an oil change on them tomorrow. Wow, what an outstanding shop. Wally’s is a very particular person and his shop is spic and span. Wally then drove us to his home to hang out with him and his lovely wife Regan. It is so sweet to be driven around and not have to worry about road signs. Dinner was killer at a local seafood place and along with our same rules, no table cloths.

Charlotte 3507 total miles

Will blog for as long as my eyes stay open tonight. Starting at 11:15 is a little out f my zone but we'll git-r-dun!. Started the day bright and early as we had to head off down the road to mocksville nc to meet marilyn stemp,editor of iron works mag. Se has been a friend of mike and carolyn's since they started their business in 1988. We were supposed to meet her at a place called diane's diner on highway 64. We looked a the map and figured we had this one wired. Blasted in to mocksville and kept looking for the diner to no avail. Finally had to ask a young lady at the gas station. She obviously had a lawn care business so we figured she would know her way around town. Boy did she. I heard kiwi say"are you shittin' me?" turns out the diner was 10 miles back out of town. Off we went concerned that we had ridden right by the place the first time. No worries mate. The place is as nondescript as it could be. The sign is so faded you can not read what it says ules you study it very hard from a stand still. Marilyn had watched us ride by so she knew we would be back soon. Let me just say this lady is absolutely terrific. We had a blast telling ride stories and yakking about the motorcycle industry in general. The 2 hours went by way too quickly. Se took some photos before we left so those should be Fu to look at some day. We hoped to catch up with her at Denton but never did see her. Thanks for a great morning marilyn! After that we were off to Denton for the amca swap meet. Since I am the brides maid I just had to hang out while kiwi worked. Got myself a jug of home made root beer and lit a cigar while sitting on a bench under a pine tree. Now I ask you what better way to let the day wash away could there possibly be? Had some great people watching and the root beer was killer. The guy charged me $7 but he was quick to point out that I could get free refills for life if I kept the bottle. I was equally quick to point out that the likelihood of mee needing free refills for life was nonexistent since I was on a motorcycle fro southern California. It didn't register with him because he said bring it next year and I'll fill it up. Riiiiiight! We left Denton about 6:30 heading for Charlotte. Only 1 1/2 hours behind where we were shooting for. No matter. We figured out a map and headed off wit no red neck gps for a guide. We were winging it. For us this has proven to be dangerous. We did great tonight however. Got to wally's shop with a minimum of issues. Wally is kiwi's good mate who works for joe Gibbs racing. We are hooked up with pit passes for tomorrow's race. More on that tomorrow. We dropped the bikes off at wally's shop and met his step dad Ernie. Felt really weird being in a truck and not having to worry about directions or some one following you. I just sat in back and rolled the window down while Wally drove us to his house. Met his lovely wife Reagan. They are a delightful couple and are very nice to let us stay here for a couple of nights. Get this- we even get to wash clothes. I am on my third day with this shirt. I haven't changed because my other shirts have more days on them. Pants have seen some rai but are still well used and unchanged since the day we left. Can you say biker trash? Loving it! We ate a late dinner at a fish place by their house. Great meal and wonderful company. We tld stories and also learned about bachelorette party favors from Reagan. I tried to swap my race ticket and take her place a the party but it didn't work. Ha ha. Time for the rack as it is almost mid night. More tomorrow if I think of anything. Racers start your engines.

Wilkesboro NC, Kiwi Mike

Well today sort of started out crappy.


We wanted an 8am start so we can go up to Laurel Springs NC (about 225 miles) to visit my good mate Paul Hyden however everyone from the American Iron ride was in the cool little restaurant and the server was a bit inundated with orders (and so was the 1 cook) so we finally got out of there at 8.30. I don’t think they were expecting so many folks at once but they were doing the best they could and everything was cool. The food was darn good.

So off we go and we get on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) but we head off in the wrong direction and it’s about 35 miles before we realize it. Keep in mind MADD Mike was not at the helm on this one. So shit a brick, we are burning up valuable time and scarce gas which is super hard to find on the parkway. Signage on the parkway really sucks big time so it doesn't take much to mess up. No notice where services are or how far they are from any exit. Down under we call that “Piss Poor”. There are other words we use in America but they aren't appropriate here.

Anyway 1-1/2 hours later we are back at our start point (10am) and down 70 miles in gas. I was a bit frustrated as I really wanted to see Paul at his house. It’s something personal for me because when Paul was working in Dearborn MI (Ford) and I was traveling through on I-80 to a show he would always take the time and make the drive and meet me in Toledo no matter what time of the day or night it was. I figured it would be nice to ride to him for a change.

I figured out the distance to our next gas stop and I should have been drifting into the gas station barely on fumes so I had to conserve gas. Down every hill I would switch the ignition off and kick it into neutral which down under it’s called Maori overdrive (I believe the SoCal equivalent is Mexican overdrive). I even turned in the high speed needle on the carb 5 clicks to lean it down so stretch my fuel. This step can be dangerous for engine failure but since we were cruising at low speeds and it was very cool out and I believed I knew what I was doing, the risk was minimal but the gain was BIG.
Well it worked as I picked up another 11 mpg so that amounted to 33 extra miles.

Somewhere along the line Greg and I got separated so I waited at one of the lookout points for half hour and he was a no show. I asked several who stopped by if they had seen him and they said no bikes were on the side of the road. Well I needed to take a Harley by now and it was 20 miles to the gas stop and with no gas to spare so I could not go backwards to check for him myself. I elected to press forwards and once at the gas stop I headed for the Harley room as job 1. I waited about an hour here with no Greg showing up. So I decided to go back along the same road to check for him. I asked several other bikers along the way and they all said they had not seen anyone. I then head back to the same 20 mile spot and noticed one of the American Iron riders there and he said absolutely there was no one else on the side of the road. I checked my phone and Greg left a message that he bypassed the gas stop and was 15 miles past it waiting for me. So I turn around and burn up 40 miles worth of juice to get back to the same spot and say once again, screw it, I’ll push my luck once again. This was a LONG distance in between gas stops but hey, let’s make an adventure out of it. So I leaned down the carb high speed needle again and switched the ignition off down every possible little incline and once again I picked up an extra 11 mpg. I was on fumes when I rolled in. I did find 1 down side though. There are some pretty dark tunnels and as I was going down through 1 of them I forgot to turn my ignition switch to lights. I was way into 1 tunnel that had a curve into it and things went real dark, oh sh-t, this could get ugly. I had run out of light and was fumbling around trying frantically to find the switch which was taking way too long. I'm used to driving in darness with old bikes and their primative electrics but I had upgraded to Cycle Electrics 12v generator and Headwinds 12v headlight and I needed em on and now. All eneded ok but it was a bit hair raising.

The riding today along the Blue Ridge Parkway was awesome and I got to see most of it twice. The speed limit is 45 mph and the curves are nice and gentle. I especially enjoyed the curves when I was back tracking for Greg I would take em at 60 just hauling down the highway. I still hate motorhomes, pricks think they own the road and most are very uncourteous as they will go slow and not pull over to let anyone pass. They are in their own little lala land.

The official ride dinner and meeting spot was at Cross Roads Harley in Wilkesboro NC so I called Paul and said that he’ll have to come down to meet us which he was more than happy to do so. It’s about 3/4 hr ride from his place and since he’s retired he’s happy to burn up time.

Wilkesboro Harley is a very nice facility with very nice staff and the HOG members put on a nice dinner for us. I was starving as the last meal I had was breakie and I was worried about Greg till we eventually met up at around 3. The hot dog didn’t even touch the sides, 2 more hamburgers please. Bert Baker of Baker Drive Train was giving out special awarded T shirts but his aim is always to embarrass people. He went easy on me this time.

After the evening festivities and everyone had left, Paul and I were BSing on the front verandah of the dealership and out pops Micah (Cross Roads HD business manager) and joins us for a BS session. It soon didn’t take long to realize his passion for bikes especially Buell Motorcycles and Eric Buell himself. Next thing service manager Mike drives around and he joins in the conversation. He says When I saw you pull up on that bike I said to my buddies, see there, that’s a real rider right there. Check out that well worn jacket, good helmet and expensive boots. That guys for real. I replied, well Mike, let me tell you the story about my boots. We engaged in a lot of great motorcycle conversation, great motorcycle people and my favorite, Harley’s antiquatedness. I told them that Harley makes the 2nd most antiquated motorcycle in America. I make the most antiquated which is always good for a laugh.
We finally departed at about 10.30pm. These guys are great and it was another one of those great experiences that turned a shitty day into a real winner. I can’t speak highly enough about this great dealership and its people. Thanks guys and ladies. And thanks Paul.

On the ride was Pete Hill, a Legendary Harley Drag bike racer who held many records back in the day running a nitro Knucklehead. This Harley guy has my respects as he's bad to the bone and a cool guy. He did the 1/4 mile in around 7 seconds at just under 200 mph. Nice job mate. I even had a pic taken with Pete and he agreed to doing the same with me, an Indian guy. Just sometimes an Indian and Harley guy can come together on some mutual turf.

I do have to mention that Paul ran Fords engine dyno labs from 3pm onwards and his best buddy Russ (who owns a 48 Chief) ran the earlier shift. I met these 2 guys on the Century Ride Home in 2001 which was Indian’s 100th anniversary ride to Springfield. I met them in Gettysburg and we engaged in some conversation and we’ve been mates ever since (and likewise with Russ too). They take the time every year to ride to the Davenport Iowa show to come and hang out.  These guys have given me the opportunity to see some very cool secretive stuff within Ford hense my change in vehicles to Fords.  Best of all Ford didn't take Gov bail out money but that's a whole another conversation.

Today we added an extra 110 miles to our mileage count because of back tracking. Oh well, it’s all in the adventure.

Looking forward to having breakie tomorrow with my roadie girlfriend Marilyn, Editor of IronWorks magazine. She’s such a sweetheart and Carolyn allows her to treat me well while I’m on the road. I'm a lucky guy. I already checked, there isn't a Waffle House in the town we are to meet.
Also looking forward to seeing my mate Wally Brown Jr and Regan. Wally is Sr test engineer at Joe Gibbs Racing. An FYI, Wally’s grandfather was an engineer back in the day with the Indian Motorcycle Co. I had been reading his writings for many a year before we hooked up. Wally has us hooked up with pit passes for the Legends race at Charlotte Sat eve.

It seems every night I’m done with the blog around 12-1am and then have to get up early each morning to make some miles. Tonight it’ll be 2 am.

Wilkesboro nc 3305 total miles

Well it finally happened. We had our first really shitty day of navigation. It would happen on a day when everything had to be perfect in order for us to do our agenda for the day. Our original plan was to head out early and truck to laurel springs to meet with kiwi's buddy Paul. It was a 200 mile trip but we figured the way we ride we co uld knock it off in 5 or 6 hours even on the blue ridge parkway. Sounded good. Right out fo the gate we turned toward gatlinburg and headed full bore down the parkway. Didn't really plan any turns so kiwi was in the lead since he is far superior to me on the twisties and deserved some fun. He would get way ahead and then slow for me to come into view only to disappear again. I think he was having a blast until I finally daunt him and said I thought we were on the same road as yesterday and it couldn't be correct. Unfortunately I was right and we had gone 25 miles in the wrong direction. Damn! Headed back to correct our mistake but had blown an hour and a half by then. By the time we got on track instead of being well ahead of the kickstart run we were well behind it. We trudged forward fairly sure we could make it to the next gas stop even though we were goig to be on fumes. Kiwi had been coasting down the long down grades to conserve his fuel. We finally daunt the kickstart boys and got tangled in their mess running down the road. Much different running with a large pack than with your mate. By the time they had all passed me kiwi was no where in sight. I wasn't too worried as I am like the tortoise and the hare. Guess which one I am? Ha ha. I always catch them some where on the side of the road or a gas stop. It was a pleasant ride at my chosen sped until my flatty gasped to a halt on a long down grade. WTF? The only thing it could be was fuel so I switched to the right tank. Drty gurl roared to life and purred down the road. Problem was kiwi had the map, the roads were not marked with gas stops and I did not know where I was in the big scheme of things. Saw some bikes on bmw's on the cut out so stopped to ask them about fuel. They said the only fuel was 12 miles down the mountain where they had just come from. So I had to make a decision: go forward with limited fuel not knowing when or if I would find fuel or head down the mountain where I knew I could make it to fuel. Down the mountain I went knowing full well that I was losing valuable time but beter to lose time than be stranded on a 12 0/0 down grade with no options. The road down the mountain was a goat path at best. The hard tail was hard tailing me to pieces. Finally got down and could not find the station. Even passed a cool looking golf course so I knew I was close to some kind of civilization. Was just ready to stop and ask where I the blazes the fuel was when what to my wondering eyes should appear but cyndi ray's. Damn near kissed the pump. Got fueled up and went in to pay the tab. Two nice young ladies were behind the counter. Their names were Terra and Cindy. We had a great time yakking about the bike(terra liked the name dirty gurl) and also the mission kiwi and I were on the present the bike at the pentagon. Gave them a poker chip and they promised to check the blog. Hi girls! This was in cruso nc and by the way terra told me they are having a down home hoe down next week on the 26 th. Yu are all invited I am sure. Wish I could be there. Back up the mountain I went to hit the trail. I was pretty sure I had the rest of the day to myself and was working on my plan for the next gas stop. Got stopped at a construction hold up and had to wait for a while. Finally we took off up the hill. Before long I recognized the bikes behind me as those from the kick start. I smiled like the tortoise that had the last laugh. They all passed me again which made me happy to no end. I was looking for my mate but he was no where to be found. Fnally stopped to wait for a bit and one of the guys came back and told me kiwi had gone back looking for me. I called him and left a message not knowing when he would get it if he was riding. He did finally call and headed back my way. Thankfully I had packed several packages of my home made beef jerky and it made a tasty pic nic lunch. Slammed some water I had bought in cruso and popped a couple of glucose pills to keep the blood sugar steady. Once kiwi got to my spot we rode hard to get to wilkesboro. His friend Paul who we were supposed to meet at his house in laurel springs instead met us at the Harley shop I wilkesboro. We got there at 6:30 just about the time they were feeding the masses. Lots of folks around so it was a rousing success. After a quick bite to eat I headed to the hotel to check in and left kiwi to his socializing and alone time with Paul. Looking for a good night sleep tonight after a couple of hard days of riding. Easy day tomorrow as we head to the amca swap meet in Denton. It's all good. Dirty gurl out.

Maggie Valley NC, Kiwi Mike

Last nights stay at the Two Wheel Inn was way cool and since it’s with fellow motorcyclists there's instant camaraderie. They have 18 units plus 2 cabins however I'd definitely recommend this place to anyone but in the busy season you had better book ahead as Barry said it rapidly fills up.


1st off we have to gets Greg's shifter altered as it’s in the way of his leg when he rides. Barry the owner of the Two Wheel Inn made a call to his mate Dave who owns Automotive Boat and Repair in town. We roll in and he throws over a heat resistant blanket behind the shift lever, fires up the torch and here we go. Perfect.

10.30 Breakfast at Pa and Nanna's. Real cool joint with 5 little tables tightly squeezed together. Good cooking, great atmosphere too. Our waitress was a 7-8 year old little girl, presumably her grand daughter. Loved it.

The route changed a bit/a lot for the day as Greg got the low down from the locals on some highly suggested roads many others don’t know about.

1st stop was the Fontana Dam on the Little Tennessee river. We were told it was the 2nd largest dam to the Hoover dam but the cool part about this dam is that you can walk to almost any part of it and enjoy it unlike most others out west that have so many security restrictions.

Todays riding was absolutely off the charts and in all honesty too much to comprehend or even begin to put it into words.

We attacked the Dragons Tail which was pretty cool. It’s something like 318 turns in 11 miles and it’s pretty full on. One of the bikers staying at the Inn showed us a car wreck the day before so we not only did we have to concern ourselves with crotch rocket motorcyclists but also idiot 4 wheelers. Greg was pretty beat up after it or maybe stressed out as he’s mostly a flat lander kinda guy from Minnesota. Me, well coming from New Zealand you have to be used to twisty, windy, hilly, mountainous and narrow roads. A lot of my riding was also on loose gravel roads which really spices up the ride. It’s an intense piece of road all the same and you have to be paying attention all the time. The 1945 handled it extremely well and it was doing it so well in fact that I did at least half of it with just 1 hand on the handlebar with the other one taking a video and taking pics. This bike is just so awesome and kicks butt in the twisties. I wish I knew how to upload the video for everyone to see. I was getting dizzy just looking at it on my laptop. I hope Greg covered where we went as it seemed like we were all over the place. We ended up by accident in a National Park loop on Cadez loop or something another. It wasn’t where we were to be and it became a 1 way 11 mile loop. People would stop and others would just pull out and do 1 mph. They had no concept of anyone else sharing the road. And if there was a motorhome, oh boy, they were king and owned the road. We found an escape route and ended up on a gravel road that ran though the creek bed and low and behold there was a bear cub on the middle of the road. So where there is a cub there is a mama bear and ya don’t want to get between her and her cub. We just sit tight if there is such a thing on a motorcycle (no protective cage like a car) and here comes mama bear with a few other cubs. Quite a sight to see indeed. We also saw a little deer and a wild turkey along the way. Still had to fight traffic to get out of there, stop/go, 1st gear, clutch in and out. We want out!!! It was about a 2 hour mess up but cool all the same.

All of the roads here are off the charts and there is no doubt I will be back for more. We must have done over 5000 curves today as there was not a straight piece of road anywhere to be found.

We finally got into Maggie Valley at 6pm and check into the Holiday Motel. Rob and Gabbi own the place and are 2 super nice folks. It’s a very cool place. Then we are off to Wheels Through Time Museum which Dale has done an amazing Job at assembling one fine collection of bikes and memorabilia over his career. What amazes me is his infinite knowledge of old stuff. You can find guys who specialize in certain bikes but he has so much knowledge all jammed into 1 guy. I know what it takes to assemble knowledge on bikes and mine is pretty narrow focused on Indians compared to his knowledge on everything early. Dale put on a nice hamburger and hot dog dinner for us all who were on Buzz Kanters American Iron sponsored Kickstart Classic ride. I caught up with many guys from all over the US, Kansas, NJ, Fl, MI and so on. And always colorful and in true form, Bert Baker of Baker Drivetrain. He is certified crazy.

Mon nights dinner still has some carry over residual effects. All I ate for dinner was vegetables as in turnip greens, green beans and pinto beans. Everything was so good that I went back for 2nds and more on the pinto beans. The down side is Greg wakes up to me playing musical tunes and I’ve mastered some fine ones at that. He knows when I’m awake. It’s a skill I have mastered over a lifetime.

Tomorrow there are no Waffle Houses (Awful House) on the route so I get another free pass.

Maggie Valley NC 3042 miles

Where do I even begin today? Got a bit of a late start because we wanted to tweak the shift lever on dirty gurl. It had been hitting me under the thigh and popping into neutral at the most inopportune times. Lots of near accidents for me and I got tired of the adventures. Asked Barry from 2 wheel inn if he knew of any welders in town. He called his buddy dave from boat and automotive repair. Dave said he would fix me up so off we went to his shop. We hung out while he finished an oil change. When he was done he came out to see what we had. We told him what we were looking for and he had us pull in to the shop. Didn't even have to take the shift lever off. He put a torch blanket over the tank and cylinder,lit the torch and started heating the lever. When it was red hot we bent it forward and up. Let it cool and then tried it out. Still needed some tweaking so we heated her up again and bent some more. Came out perfect. Thanks dave. We enjoyed meeting you and appreciate your willingness to help. Had breakfast at a local place called PA AND NANNA's. PA and NANNA's were both there so that was fun. Had a killer egg and bacon sandwich on Texas toast. Their little grand daughter who looked to be about 8 was practicing taking orders. It was pretty cute. Had gotten directions for the day from barry's wife at 2 wheel inn. Put them in my red neck gps holder and read my arm all day. Lots of turns on our route. Today's ride was a number of different things to me. Here are a few: exhilarating,exciting,breathtaking,challenging,rewarding,terrifying,adventuresome,long,exhausting. Well you get the idea. We took the back roads to our main destination-tail of the dragon. Along the way we stopped at the Fontana dam. They tell me this is the second biggest dam in the world behind Hoover dam. It is relatively unknown. You can walk right out on the dam or talk with the nice couple in the info area. Glad we stopped. had fun showing Ken,the fellow at the desk, the bikes. Also gave him a poker chip. I am sure he was on the web site before we drove away. Right ken? We headed on down the road to tackle the dragon. There were a lot of bikes at deal's gap which is the start of the tail. This road is like no other. There are upwards of 385 curves in 11 miles! All manner of vehicles are on the road from late model bikes,cars,trucks,vintage bikes:),and cafe racers. Trying to all coexist is difficult at best. To give you an idea of how this works you are advised on the web site to travel in the right portion of your lane to allow faster bikes to pass. And pass they do! Doesn't matter where you are a cafe bike will come roaring up behind you and pass however they can- right or left side(both happened to us today). Before you can blink an eye they are gone around the next curve. To a northern boy on vintage Indian this damn near makes you turd your pants. I am in to riding safely and this defies all things normal for me. It was very disconcerting to say the least. When we got done with that 11 miles I was exhausted. Little did I know the day was not over by a long shot. As an aside I have a sticker on my front fender now that says"I FREAKIN' rode the dragon". we headed up and over the mountain to a town called Townsend. Time for fuel and lunch. Got the low down on the black bear cafe and had to stop. The special was spaghetti and meat sauce. Make it two. Excellent meal and more than either of us could eat. Back in the saddle for the final push to home for the night. Thought we had it all dialed in but we took a right through something called " the scenic loop" when we should have taken a left and headed to Cherokee. Now let me tell you about the scenic loop. It is one lane one way. This means you keep going forward. Oh oh. Oops! First of all very slow,secondly the road goes from asphalt to pitted,bumpy gravel. Oh boy,my favorite! So here we are wondering WTF when all of a sudden we come over a little rise and there is a damn creek running over the road-on purpose, like you are supposed to enjoy this shit. We both make it through that unscathed and keep heading up the gravel path. All of a sudden the jeep in front of us(notice I said JEEP) stops dead. We are trying to figure this one out when out of the woods comes a bear cub. Holy crap! Is this animal kingdom? We're not done yet. In about 30 seconds mama bear and 2 more cubs come trotting across the road. Very cool! Sometimes getting lost can lead to the best adventures. We finally got turned around and headed toward Cherokee. Too bad it was 50 miles up and over the mountain- again. I was exhausted by then but we had to go since we were expected in Maggie valley at the kick start classic. Reveryone met at the wheels through time museum. If you have never seen the museum it is well worth the trip. It has all things with wheels that are old and cool. The great thing is that every piece in the museum runs! They will actually start it for you if you ask nice. The ride is hosted by buzz kanter of American iron magazine. Thanks buzz for including us in your ride. One hell of a day. Kiwi has some great pics he will be posting. Enjoy! I am going to bed since tomorrow we take on 250 miles of the blue ridge highway.

Robbinsville NC, Kiwi Mike

The rocky formations in TN are way cool and we start out with some good up and down grades. One of the down grades has 2 truck run away ramps which is a pretty serious down grade. We are on the freeway for a while in order to get around Chattanooga and our bikes hold their own on the freeway. Thank goodness everyone seems to leave us alone especially the big rigs hauling ass past us.


Greg is leading (MADD Mike no good with turns this early) and we pull off for breakfast and the choices at the intersection are Waffle House or McDonalds. Thank goodness Greg picked Mickey D's. I was getting a bit worried, 2 Waffle Houses in a row, please say it aint gunna be so.

A gentleman came up and asked us if it’s ok to take pictures of our bikes. Sure mate. He went to town and was fascinated by them even rolling around on the ground. Maurice is his name, super nice guy.

After Maurice drove off a Yamaha 650 twin bobber rolled up with no fenders on it as well as his mate and wife on a late model Harley tourer. They were fascinated by the bikes which caught their eye while on their way to the Jack Daniels distillery tour. We had a nice chat for quite a while. His wife said to me quietly, you know they aren’t going to leave until you fire your bikes up, she laughed. Good times.

Off down the road we go heading for the narrower roads and hills of NC.
We enjoy the way many folks speak and spell around here. We’ve seen several signs that spell Yellow as Yella, hmmmm.

After a few hours of riding we figure we better get some lunch before going into no mans land of no services. We ask a lady walking down the sidewalk of a good bbq place and she sends us to a place called Michaels. We pull up to Michaels which is in a nice shopping center and their sign reads “Casual Dining” Boy this is so unlike us. We walk in and it’s not what we have been used to for a while. The food was good but it was an unentertaining lunch as we have been used to all sorts of colorful characters. We’ve gotten used to eating at cool out in the middle of nowhere places on the side of the road. This nice place was not us.

We made a change in ride route to Robbinsville so as we could ride the Cherohala Skyway. Wow what a great piece of highway, narrow 2 lane road with trees over hanging the road in places that went up to about 5500 ft. The view spots were awesome overlooking everything for as far as the eye could see. It would have been even better if you didn’t have to listen to the Harley riders loud exhausts in the distance. Then in rolls 2 guys from Boston on their late model Harley baggers with their feet high on the highway pegs mounted on the front crashbar looking like 2 cool goof balls. It’s a narrow, twisty tight turns uphill road and there is no way you are going to ride it looking that cool. Then they struck up a conversation about how wet and slippery the roads were. Funny how we came over the same roads and they were bone ass dry with plenty of traction. Then they continued to brag about their bikes being paid for. Well let’s see, you could add both of your bikes together and it would still come up to way less than ours, dam dickhead posing city slicker townies. Maybe you 2 posers should go back to riding school and learn how to ride IN BOSTON!!!I come from the country in NZ and I sure as know a wanker when I see one and I was looking at 2 right now. 

The weather gods were with us once again for most of the day except for just a few miles near the bottom near Robbinsville which is our home for the night. The rain made the roads real slick so we just babied our bikes in. I’m sure the 2 posers chickened out way way back and stopped at one of the covered spots along the way. WANKERS!!!

Greg asked several people in town where the Two Wheeled Inn is and each one gave us bum directions but we eventually found it. It is way cool and set up just for bikers. As we roll in the husband and wife owners are sitting in a chair in front of the check in office and get up to greet us and we all start chatting. Way cool folks and I’d highly recommend this place to anyone. It’s pretty handy to town, just 2-1/2 miles. Nice.
Each room has a little garage beside it to hold 2 bikes. It’s just made for motorcyclists.

NC is absolutely a motorcyclists wonderland. Just gota watch out for the city slicker posers but we know how to shut em down with our Harley jokes. We be good ambassadors from the left coast.

Robbinsville nc 2815 total miles

Started o ut the day from Winchester tennesee. We made a route change and decided to blast through Chatanooga on the freeway rather than the back roads I had mapped. Our goal was to be done with freeway and past the big city ASAP. I knew the freeays in chatanooga were very congested and full of trucks so I had a bit of anxiety about this part of the trip. We delayed breakfast until we headed down the road for a while. Once I hit a exit we had a dilemma- waffle house or Mickey dees. I made kiwi eat at waffle house yesterday so figured he could have his oatmeal today. As we were eating breakfast a fellow named Maurice came in and asked if he could take pics of the bikes. Of course we said yes but had no idea what he was going to do. He must have taken 100 pics from all angles of both bikes. Several times he was on the ground taking picks of something or other. Not sure what he will do with them but he surely had a great time taking pics all the while his wife was sitting on the car waiting. Go Maurice! We continued our eating until the next batch of hawkers came by. I wasn't too long before two fellows cranked their bikes into the parking lot and screeched to a halt beside the bikes. One fellow was on a rat bobber made from an old yamaha. He knew his bikes and had a wild appreciation for both of our scoots. When we finally went out to take off we started a conversation and had a blast yakking with them. They were on their way to tour the jack Daniels distillery for the second time. FYI the distillery is in a dry county. Consequently no sampling. Hmmmmm. Wat is wrong with this picture? We took several pics with them before we took off. They listened to the bikes all the way down the entry ramp and mike hit them with a loud wail on the siren. I have no doubt they damn near pooped their pants when they heard it. The freeway was every bit the shit hole I thought it would be. Trucks everywhere roaring close to your ear and the wind puling you in every direction. This went on for 30 miles as we traversed the 24 freeway and then veered off on the 75 freeay to our exit for Cleveland tennesee. Thanked the big guy upstairs for our safety. We pulled over for fuel and again met some folks that steered us in a different direction for the afternoon. We made our second route change and decided to ride the cherahalla sky way. I wanted to do this road but did not know we could do it on the way in to robbinsville. Had our first faux pau for lunch today. We asked a local where to get good barbecue. Se pointed us to a place called michaels. It wasn't a bad place just about 10 steps above what we are used to. Not sure we belonged in there and it put us way over budget for lunch. Ribs were third best we have had on the trip and we have only had them 3 times. After lunch we headed out for the cherahala skyway. my heart was pumpin' and my corpuscles were jumpin'. The road did not disappoint. I have been in north Carolina mere hours and I can tell you I will be back many times. The scenery is breath taking and the people are exceptionally friendly. Killer combo! As we climbed to the top of the skyway we were struck by the dense foliage everywhere as far as the eye could see. Mountains stretch for miles in every direction until the horizon eats them up. Every mountain looks like a huge green emerald reaching to the sky and they never end. Makes you want to ride every one of them just to see what is behind the curtain. When we were almost to the top of the mountain we stopped at a turn out where several other bikers had also decided to peek at the spralling scene below. Of course whe we pulled up they all headed over to our bikes to see what the he'll had just arrived. They were all newbies and had no clue what was before them. As we tried to educate them a couple of them wanted to know if we stopped at the Harley shop at the bottom of the mountain. We asked why we would do that? To buy a tee shirt and see the bikes they said. I looked at one of the freshest faces with his shiny new chaps and unblemished jacket and said " a Harley is what we take in the morning before we ride for the day". He kind of looked at me and then the light went on. Yu could see In his eyes his realization that he was a dumb shit and had been exposed. His buddies had a good laugh at his expense as well. Needless to say they left shortly after our interlude. Damn I hate myself sometimes---not! Stupid is as stupid does as a famous Alabaman once said. We headed down the mountain with kiwi in the lead. You know what that means- no more turns for the day. We laugh about that every day because it is so us on this trip. Before we got down the mountain it started to rain a bit. Careening down a moutnain road In the rain is not my idea of fun. Te pavement was new so it had the slick sheen to it as well. Both kiwi and I were running in first gear and taking it really slow. Made it to robbinsville in good time but could not find the 2 wheel inn where we were staying. Stopped to ask directions from a young girl in front of a gas station. She was sitting in the sun with her small child and could not have been more than 15. When I asked her directions she said did I know where the high school was? I said no I did not. Se said good because it is not by there. Honest to god this was the conversation and it went down hill from there. She went through a series of rights and lefts and I thanked her for her " help". As I was on the bike ready to leave she came running after me and said she forgot a turn. I did not wait to hear her final word. We drove around for a bit and could not find our motel. Finally asked another fellow and he got us straightened out. The place we are staying is called the two wheeled inn. It is only for motorcycles. Each unit of the ten on site has it's own garage that will hold 2 bikes. Pretty cool and the only bike hotel in the country. Found it o the Internet and am very glad I did. The owners greet you as you drive in the driveway and are most accommodating. I wanted a beer and a gar. The gar I have but found out that this is a dry county. Oh nooooooo! Never fear. As people leave and beer is left in the fridge the owners take it and keep it for the next scooter trash like me who want a beer and can't get one. I collected two beers and they were I the fridge while we were at dinner. We ate at a local place called lynn's cafe. I was. Ery good but the best part was desert. Neither kiwi or me are desert people but the waitress sweet talked us in to it tonight. Their specialty is deep fried cheese cake with ice cream in the middle and caramel drizzled over the top. We got one helping with 2 spoons. Not sure if licking bowl is approved in north carolina but scooter trash gets away with murder. :) another great day in a string of many. Who has more fun than we do? Not many. Tomorrow will be more of the same but better