Tuesday, May 20, 2008
SUNDAY/RAINY DAY
Before getting to sleep let me tell you what was going on in the park. There were motorcycles doing burnouts... AWESOME. The main reason that it was awesome was because this camp ground had a burnout box just for you to do that!! There was then a drunk ass that hopped into his Mustang and couldn't figure out how to do a burnout without launching his car and then slamming on his brakes. Persistent guy though, but his fun finally ended when he tried on last time and the car lurched about a car length and he jerked the wheel hitting some gravel and throwing it all over a truck and another guys bike. The next day we heard that the owner of the bike had chips in the paint and it was a custom paint job so they were trying to get a hold of the guy in the Mustang to pay for the damage.
I mentioned that I thought that 22 bucks was expensive, but after checking things out in the park here is what it offered for that. Showers, Pavillion, fire pits, paved parking at your site, a BIG deck on the side of the office w/Direct TV, DVD Player, Stereo, Beer on tap!!!, and the owner would take your order for food and cook it in the kitchen she built.
So on with the morning. The rain was coming and we knew it so we decided to get a couple of runs on the dragon. This time we were starting to become more confident on the bikes and turns. It is a quick learning curve here because all you are literally doing is judging speed and taking turns for about 13 minutes straight. We were starting to take the corners faster and leaner farther. We were reeling more riders in now and very seldom having people come up behind us except for the squids. The knee dragging leather suit wearing power ranger looking fellas are called squids because of the way the shoot down the straight aways to slow up at the corners and then shoot down the straight away again sort of like how a squid propels itself.
Other riders were good about updating you about cops by either patting the helmet to signal a cop ahead of you or patting down in the air saying to slow down.
So here we are at Deal's Gap Resort and it was a Sunday so there was a decent crowd there.
This is looking the other way. You can see that there are bunkhouses so you could stay RIGHT at the end of the dragon and ride it all day if you wanted. Toward the right you can see the Tree of Shame where you can donate a part from your wrecked bike if you wish. Many have dates/names/and short descriptions of how they wrecked.
Oh yeah, there was about every kind of sports car going through as well. Turbo 350Z's, Porsches, Corvettes, rhd 300zx, etc.
The required nice lady was found to take a pic of us both.
Want a T-shirt?
My new horn must be pretty popular around here... even chrome.
Alright, so we get back to camp as the rain starts pouring down. We showered and the owner lady named Sherry made us some lunch. A Canadian guy pulled up on his bike and said that he was separated from all his friend and they must be trapped in the rain somewhere. He said they trailered all their bikes down from Toronto about 16 hours. You can see their trailer in the back of the picture of my tent if you look. The really did say "Eh" a lot.
From here on out is when things got really cool and Adrian became possessed in a way as well. Let me tell you a little more about this place. We met quite a few people hanging out on the deck and everyone shared some stories.
Here's a shot of the deck so you can see that we definitely weren't roughing it here! You could sit up here as long as you wanted and watch satellite tv and use their phone for free.
Meet Willy- Of course he couldn't tell his story, but his story was that he was brought home by one of the owners Sherry and Jody/husband. While Sherry was gone one day Willy decided to eat a goat. The problem with that was that they are Sherry's goats and Jody saw Willy slam this goat to the ground. Jody also happens to be an avid hunter. Jody wasn't really attached to the dog apparently so he took about a hundred yard shot with a rifle and put one through Willy's neck. Willy dropped, then got up and ran. Jody told Sherry when she got home what happened and that he ran off to die. Sherry pointed at Willy sitting right behind him. They then paid a few hundred at the vet and Willy hasn't attacked a goat since.
Dutchess -
You think she's going to tear your face off Cujo style right. Nope, she actually smiles when she's happy.
Here's a picture of Sherry the owner hanging out after cooking some pizzas for the Canadians.
So we both had some patches that we bought and learned that "Burt" the guy that sells some patches and stickers lives in a cabin on the campsite and he'll come down and sew them on if we go get them. It was probably about 8 or 10 o'clock (who cares) and he came down with his rebel flag pajama bottoms on saying that he had just finished smoking a big fatty. He had been kinda rained out earlier since he sets up outside so he was happy to get a little business. He was in such a good mood that after talking a bit he brought me down some apple pie moonshine. I had no idea moonshine could be so smooth.... Burt was from New Mexico and is an ex-marine that used to be in a biker gang.
Here's a pic of his truck and him sewing the patches on in the back of his rig.
More pics from Adrian's camera later and the rest of the nights happenings...
I mentioned that I thought that 22 bucks was expensive, but after checking things out in the park here is what it offered for that. Showers, Pavillion, fire pits, paved parking at your site, a BIG deck on the side of the office w/Direct TV, DVD Player, Stereo, Beer on tap!!!, and the owner would take your order for food and cook it in the kitchen she built.
So on with the morning. The rain was coming and we knew it so we decided to get a couple of runs on the dragon. This time we were starting to become more confident on the bikes and turns. It is a quick learning curve here because all you are literally doing is judging speed and taking turns for about 13 minutes straight. We were starting to take the corners faster and leaner farther. We were reeling more riders in now and very seldom having people come up behind us except for the squids. The knee dragging leather suit wearing power ranger looking fellas are called squids because of the way the shoot down the straight aways to slow up at the corners and then shoot down the straight away again sort of like how a squid propels itself.
Other riders were good about updating you about cops by either patting the helmet to signal a cop ahead of you or patting down in the air saying to slow down.
So here we are at Deal's Gap Resort and it was a Sunday so there was a decent crowd there.
This is looking the other way. You can see that there are bunkhouses so you could stay RIGHT at the end of the dragon and ride it all day if you wanted. Toward the right you can see the Tree of Shame where you can donate a part from your wrecked bike if you wish. Many have dates/names/and short descriptions of how they wrecked.
Oh yeah, there was about every kind of sports car going through as well. Turbo 350Z's, Porsches, Corvettes, rhd 300zx, etc.
The required nice lady was found to take a pic of us both.
Want a T-shirt?
My new horn must be pretty popular around here... even chrome.
Alright, so we get back to camp as the rain starts pouring down. We showered and the owner lady named Sherry made us some lunch. A Canadian guy pulled up on his bike and said that he was separated from all his friend and they must be trapped in the rain somewhere. He said they trailered all their bikes down from Toronto about 16 hours. You can see their trailer in the back of the picture of my tent if you look. The really did say "Eh" a lot.
From here on out is when things got really cool and Adrian became possessed in a way as well. Let me tell you a little more about this place. We met quite a few people hanging out on the deck and everyone shared some stories.
Here's a shot of the deck so you can see that we definitely weren't roughing it here! You could sit up here as long as you wanted and watch satellite tv and use their phone for free.
Meet Willy- Of course he couldn't tell his story, but his story was that he was brought home by one of the owners Sherry and Jody/husband. While Sherry was gone one day Willy decided to eat a goat. The problem with that was that they are Sherry's goats and Jody saw Willy slam this goat to the ground. Jody also happens to be an avid hunter. Jody wasn't really attached to the dog apparently so he took about a hundred yard shot with a rifle and put one through Willy's neck. Willy dropped, then got up and ran. Jody told Sherry when she got home what happened and that he ran off to die. Sherry pointed at Willy sitting right behind him. They then paid a few hundred at the vet and Willy hasn't attacked a goat since.
Dutchess -
You think she's going to tear your face off Cujo style right. Nope, she actually smiles when she's happy.
Here's a picture of Sherry the owner hanging out after cooking some pizzas for the Canadians.
So we both had some patches that we bought and learned that "Burt" the guy that sells some patches and stickers lives in a cabin on the campsite and he'll come down and sew them on if we go get them. It was probably about 8 or 10 o'clock (who cares) and he came down with his rebel flag pajama bottoms on saying that he had just finished smoking a big fatty. He had been kinda rained out earlier since he sets up outside so he was happy to get a little business. He was in such a good mood that after talking a bit he brought me down some apple pie moonshine. I had no idea moonshine could be so smooth.... Burt was from New Mexico and is an ex-marine that used to be in a biker gang.
Here's a pic of his truck and him sewing the patches on in the back of his rig.
More pics from Adrian's camera later and the rest of the nights happenings...
Saturday 5/17
Saturday came and I awoke (hell I was alive and not in jail so all is good) with a little bit of a hangover and some puffy eyes. I downed a lot of water and ate a Cliff bar and that helped quite a bit. Adrian was complaining of a headache but trying to look tough.
We decided to load up and head to The Dragon's Tail. It wasn't a bad ride there except there was still some soreness from the day before since any initial rides to prepare as much as possible were still never close to the length of the ride to Nashville. We followed the GPS towards Robinsville, NC which is on the South side of The Dragon's Tail. When were close to Deal's Gap I recognized the area and decided to look for a camping spot in that area because we were very close to the start of the Dragon's Tail. We stopped for gas and I asked a couple people about camping spots nearby and the second mentioned a place called Punkin Center Campground. I was actually able to pull this place up on the GPS!! We pulled into the place and it was setup just for motorcycles. You could of course trailer your bike in and whatever and park your car there, but they did not allow just a car or any RV's at all. We paid the $22 just to camp which I wasn't too happy about and setup camp.
There was still a little daylight left and I was pretty excited about being so close to the Dragon's Tail so when Adrian mentioned we should ride it I didn't hesitate.
This will give you an idea of how the turns just seem to keep coming and coming!
I figured he might be too sore, but I think he was excited as I was. We had all the bags off the bikes which I know made mine feel like a rocket when compared to being fully loaded. The sun was beginning to set as we entered the start of the Dragon's Tail. This is pretty much a 2nd gear race track that happens to be a public road. You can get into third (maybe 4th depending on gearing) if you want to push it on the straights and brake hard for the curves. We were taking it easy since it was his first time and the sun was going down so the asphalt is cold, but caught up to a guy on some sort of old crotch rocket in front of us. This guy was NUTS! I was hanging behind him with Adrian behind me and then I noticed that on almost every turn this guy was cutting into the oncoming lane. This is a two lane road. One lane going each way and almost every corner is cut out of the side of a hill so you can't see what's coming around the other side. About the 3rd time I saw him do this sure enough there was a car coming around that caused him to jerk the bike over throwing sparks and narrowly be missed by the car. We're talking about 2 feet maybe. I backed off and signaled Adrian to do the same.
Talk about hurting wrists from pushing so hard on the handlebars making those turns. There are turns where you could get down to first gear they are so tight. When we arrived at the top it was getting dark and Deal's Gap Resort was closed, but they were having mini bike races that were pretty funny.
Bad picture because of the darkness, but there were about 5 of these guys.
We rode the Dragon back from the resort all by headlight in the dark. That was pretty cool!! We ate some food and then hit the sack. Of course I was up later than Adrian, but I only made it through about half an hour of The Hitman on my portable DVD player.
The cops can be quite a problem there sometimes. Here's video that is a bit entertaining, then boring, then entertaining.
We decided to load up and head to The Dragon's Tail. It wasn't a bad ride there except there was still some soreness from the day before since any initial rides to prepare as much as possible were still never close to the length of the ride to Nashville. We followed the GPS towards Robinsville, NC which is on the South side of The Dragon's Tail. When were close to Deal's Gap I recognized the area and decided to look for a camping spot in that area because we were very close to the start of the Dragon's Tail. We stopped for gas and I asked a couple people about camping spots nearby and the second mentioned a place called Punkin Center Campground. I was actually able to pull this place up on the GPS!! We pulled into the place and it was setup just for motorcycles. You could of course trailer your bike in and whatever and park your car there, but they did not allow just a car or any RV's at all. We paid the $22 just to camp which I wasn't too happy about and setup camp.
There was still a little daylight left and I was pretty excited about being so close to the Dragon's Tail so when Adrian mentioned we should ride it I didn't hesitate.
This will give you an idea of how the turns just seem to keep coming and coming!
I figured he might be too sore, but I think he was excited as I was. We had all the bags off the bikes which I know made mine feel like a rocket when compared to being fully loaded. The sun was beginning to set as we entered the start of the Dragon's Tail. This is pretty much a 2nd gear race track that happens to be a public road. You can get into third (maybe 4th depending on gearing) if you want to push it on the straights and brake hard for the curves. We were taking it easy since it was his first time and the sun was going down so the asphalt is cold, but caught up to a guy on some sort of old crotch rocket in front of us. This guy was NUTS! I was hanging behind him with Adrian behind me and then I noticed that on almost every turn this guy was cutting into the oncoming lane. This is a two lane road. One lane going each way and almost every corner is cut out of the side of a hill so you can't see what's coming around the other side. About the 3rd time I saw him do this sure enough there was a car coming around that caused him to jerk the bike over throwing sparks and narrowly be missed by the car. We're talking about 2 feet maybe. I backed off and signaled Adrian to do the same.
Talk about hurting wrists from pushing so hard on the handlebars making those turns. There are turns where you could get down to first gear they are so tight. When we arrived at the top it was getting dark and Deal's Gap Resort was closed, but they were having mini bike races that were pretty funny.
Bad picture because of the darkness, but there were about 5 of these guys.
We rode the Dragon back from the resort all by headlight in the dark. That was pretty cool!! We ate some food and then hit the sack. Of course I was up later than Adrian, but I only made it through about half an hour of The Hitman on my portable DVD player.
The cops can be quite a problem there sometimes. Here's video that is a bit entertaining, then boring, then entertaining.
Friday Night 5/16-
(all pictures of this night Adrian is supposed to get to me)
We had plans for Adrian's friend to stop by around 8 so we both showered up and I was able to get in a little bit of a nap beforehand. We set around for an hour until 8 screwing around with the sensitivity on the bike alarms and taking a walk around looking for this mysterious Houlihan's that the GPS said was only .2 miles away. Never found the damn thing. 8 came and went and Adrian talked to her again and she said it was taking her longer than expected. She showed up around 9:30 and we left in her car to go get something to eat. We stopped at a barbecue spot, but I pointed out that they were closing in about 20 minutes and we should go somewhere else. I asked about finding some place that was a bar and grill and a little more fun than just a restaurant. She drove us to a short strip of college bars/restaurants and we went in a place to eat that had a live band outside on the patio. Very cool place, but I can't remember the name of it. Had a few Woodchuck ciders and an awesome ruben on the waiter's recommendation. Adrian had never had a Woodchuck and now he has a new favorite beer since he did. There was good conversation and with a little buzz I was contributing quite a bit to it actually. Met a couple friends of hers and I had a crazy girl trying to get me to come talk to her.
Paradise Park-
This place was in a long stretch of bars on both sides of the street. There are colleges all over this place so the bars were very cool and there were friendly people everywhere. There was a bit of gridlock on the street and LOTS of cops on bicycles which I wasn't happy to see because I knew I'd be pissing outside of the car if we parked behind a building after sitting in traffic so long. Cops on bicycles are sneaky. So Paradise Park is made to be like a trailer park. The front windows of the place slide open like a huge sliding glass door and the floor of the place is putt putt green astro turf stuff. Many beers were had here. There was also a live band that was pretty good and besides the required country fodder they were playing they often played some good requested songs. Later in the night a guy came out of the audience and sang Santeria perfect which was a good song to hear. We were ushered out of the bar sometime after 3 and headed back to the car. A few minutes after we left it was apparent that Adrian's friend shouldn't be driving so we pulled over and he took the wheel. She instantly went to sleep. You know I've never been to Nashville and neither has he...... Where the hell are we and where are we going?!? We decided to get on the highway running around the city and look for the exit that we turned off of earlier in the day to the hotel. We didn't see it for awhile and we decided to pull off and try for directions again after the first time didn't lead us anywhere. As we were on the offramp the car ran out of gas. I saw that the gas gauge wasn't functioning before, but figured that surely she would have kept a good amount of gas in the car. Guess not. So here we were having all drank, lost, and out of gas. Thankfully there was a gas station about a 1/4 mile down the road so I gave Adrian some cash and he took off on foot. About a minute later a cop rolled by...... I thought that Adrian would come back in the back of that car, but he didn't. He came back and we fueled up after awhile found our way and I was able to get to sleep after having been up since 3:30 the night before. The pics will be posted when I can.
(all pictures of this night Adrian is supposed to get to me)
We had plans for Adrian's friend to stop by around 8 so we both showered up and I was able to get in a little bit of a nap beforehand. We set around for an hour until 8 screwing around with the sensitivity on the bike alarms and taking a walk around looking for this mysterious Houlihan's that the GPS said was only .2 miles away. Never found the damn thing. 8 came and went and Adrian talked to her again and she said it was taking her longer than expected. She showed up around 9:30 and we left in her car to go get something to eat. We stopped at a barbecue spot, but I pointed out that they were closing in about 20 minutes and we should go somewhere else. I asked about finding some place that was a bar and grill and a little more fun than just a restaurant. She drove us to a short strip of college bars/restaurants and we went in a place to eat that had a live band outside on the patio. Very cool place, but I can't remember the name of it. Had a few Woodchuck ciders and an awesome ruben on the waiter's recommendation. Adrian had never had a Woodchuck and now he has a new favorite beer since he did. There was good conversation and with a little buzz I was contributing quite a bit to it actually. Met a couple friends of hers and I had a crazy girl trying to get me to come talk to her.
Paradise Park-
This place was in a long stretch of bars on both sides of the street. There are colleges all over this place so the bars were very cool and there were friendly people everywhere. There was a bit of gridlock on the street and LOTS of cops on bicycles which I wasn't happy to see because I knew I'd be pissing outside of the car if we parked behind a building after sitting in traffic so long. Cops on bicycles are sneaky. So Paradise Park is made to be like a trailer park. The front windows of the place slide open like a huge sliding glass door and the floor of the place is putt putt green astro turf stuff. Many beers were had here. There was also a live band that was pretty good and besides the required country fodder they were playing they often played some good requested songs. Later in the night a guy came out of the audience and sang Santeria perfect which was a good song to hear. We were ushered out of the bar sometime after 3 and headed back to the car. A few minutes after we left it was apparent that Adrian's friend shouldn't be driving so we pulled over and he took the wheel. She instantly went to sleep. You know I've never been to Nashville and neither has he...... Where the hell are we and where are we going?!? We decided to get on the highway running around the city and look for the exit that we turned off of earlier in the day to the hotel. We didn't see it for awhile and we decided to pull off and try for directions again after the first time didn't lead us anywhere. As we were on the offramp the car ran out of gas. I saw that the gas gauge wasn't functioning before, but figured that surely she would have kept a good amount of gas in the car. Guess not. So here we were having all drank, lost, and out of gas. Thankfully there was a gas station about a 1/4 mile down the road so I gave Adrian some cash and he took off on foot. About a minute later a cop rolled by...... I thought that Adrian would come back in the back of that car, but he didn't. He came back and we fueled up after awhile found our way and I was able to get to sleep after having been up since 3:30 the night before. The pics will be posted when I can.
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