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