Riding the Dragon!

Enter the Dragon!

Beautiful, beautiful. Just beautiful! 318 turns on 11 miles, the Tail Of The Dragon (US 129) in the Great Smoky Mountains is motorcycle heaven. I rode it, turned around, went all the way back, then turned around and did it a third time, just for the sheer joy of it! I felt like a kid on a roller coaster, it was like snowboarding on the road. I thought to myself, just for this it was worth all the effort. And it was nice to see how my riding got ever more fluent, and I admit, faster. With every ride it got smoother. And now I know that when I go really low in a curve, the first thing that scratches the road is my heel, not the foot peg. I think that's good. It means there still is some reserve left when the scratching starts.

A colleague.

Tennessee dealership, complete
with dragon, concert stage and
smoker, caller "stinker."

Need a car? Grab one!

Earlier that day, I had some insurance communication going on, then sent my broken laptop to Asus for their Accidental Damage Program. I hope it is covered, since I get the feeling that both my and the other party's insurance will bail out of this. Then I went to a Harley store to get some parts installed. It was already 6pm when I actually got to the Dragon, then spent more than planned but amazing time there, so it was already dark when I continued through the Smokies to find a motel. That night ride in the mountains was really cool, beautiful, it had a feel of its own. But let

me tell you, riding a bike at night near a body of water gets you ridiculous amounts of bugs on your helmet's screen. It's like rain at times. And when you have a massive firefly smashing on the screen, it gets a little weird... At an unmanned gas station in the middle of nowhere I filled up (we need that direct-at-the-pump self-service credit card payment system in Germany!). Then I just sat there for quite a while, and listened to the night.

Later at around 10pm I found a motel still in the Smokies. The first situation I encountered was a beardy old prototype southerner chatting with the 80-year old lady at the reception / living-room-with-a-window. “No, I won't smoke in the room.” - “No joints either!” - “Oh, I would smoke a joint if I had a good one! Love you, honey.” Then I approached a table where two old fellers where sitting. Their self-described riding style: semi-aggressive, but not foolishly. I loved that! We exchanged stories and cracked jokes, chatted about our rides on the Dragon, and of course had done the same U-turn to get that picture with the road sign, they on the Skyway, I on the Dragon. They had done an Alpine tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland a couple years ago, their life's dream. I told them I'm from there and now am following my dream here. And I got some more tips on great roads to ride. I had a blast of a time! They're really cool guys.

Tomorrow I'll do the Cherohala Skyway (US 143), aka "The 100 Million Dollar Road."

So you don't forget where you are!