RUNNING THE DRAGON and WHEELS THROUGH TIME

 Friday morning greeted our band of misfits with clear skies and awesome temperatures, promising to reach

Keith and Tiffany

close to 90 by mid afternoon. After an awesome breakfast of bacon (lots and lots of bacon ... obviously not a vegetarian in the group), sausage, scrambled eggs and a fair dose of coffee, we were ready to roll out to our first day of exploration.

Our road captain, Jim, had done his home work and confidently guided our group out of Gatlinburg and into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, where we wove our way through shaded two lane black top that pretty much defines a motorcyclist's dreams. By the time we came out of the little corner of the park we had traversed, I turned to see huge grins and nods from my fellow riders and could tell that we all shared a true

Charles making breakfast Friday morning

appreciation for the ride that had just begun for the day. 

Onward we went from one fantastic road to the next and to some incredible over looks. Until (drum roll please...) we came upon the route 129 ... also known as Tail of the Dragon, the primary destination of the day. This road is a motorcycle mecca of sorts, 318 curves in 11 miles. At the end of the ride, we stopped at the touristy little gift shop and watched the myriad of motorcyclists

come and go, BMW's, Indians, Harleys, crotch rockets. And a slew of fast cars and hot rods go flying up the road. 

From there, we rode on towards Maggie Valley. We were already in North Carolina, which is where the Tail of the Dragon Ends. Maggie Valley is home to Wheels through time, but first we stopped at Bear Waters Brewing, down the street, and had some of the best service and fastest food we had ever enjoyed. And the food was excellent, as was the selection of brews. 

One of the many bikes at the museum

Our RC Jim Martin

Then is was on the the museum where I have to confess, I was the last one to come out, finding our entire group sitting on their motorcycles wondering where I was! LOL  I could have honestly spent another hour or two there, as there was so much to see and learn about. I will do a later post with a bunch of photos of the various displays as I nearly wore my phone battery down taking photos! And they claim that all of the motorcycles in the museum run! 

We headed back to Gatlinburg and finished up our ride with a little under two hundred miles for the day, but two hundred twisting two lane black top that left everybody with huge smiles and full approval for our road captain's choices for the day. 

Well, I best wrap up this post as there are three men in the kitchen now, cooking Saturday morning breakfast of french toast and sausage (and yes, I got a photo! LOL) so I will need to vacate the diningroom table shortly. And then, we will be on to our next adventure! So more photos will certainly follow. Looking forward to another fantastic ride today. Stay tuned! 

Peace all!