A friend of mine was sent to Tennessee to take pictures for her company. She works for a dental company and the person setting up this show wanted to incorporate Harley-Davidson motorcycles in with the itinerary to spice up the lectures. Anyway, I was invited to go along and of course, I accepted. I'd never been to Tennessee and I've always wanted to to go Dollywood!
We flew into Knoxville and as always, each airport has its own identity. This one immediately had a "down home" feeling or perhaps even a bit back-woodsy. So we stopped to check out the gate where there were rocking chairs offered to passengers.
(rocking chair at the airport)
Next up, was the Harley-Davidson dealership where this dental convention was suppose to take place and our home for the next 4 days. The place was huge! Not only was there a HD store but also a pavilion for people to hangout, have a live band, bbq, etc.
(Maryville Harley-Davidson, Tennessee)
(the wall of the Pavillion at the HD store)
(Inside the pavilion)
(Nascar 38 and an old Harley peddle bike)
(inside the Harley store - bikes galore!)
(Course, you can't have a Harley party without the kegs!)
The first day was full of setting-up but the following two days had scheduled rides - the first called Tail of the Dragon and Cherohala Skyway. It borders Tennessee and North Carolina and is a hotspot destination for bikers and car enthusiasts. The Tail of the Dragon is a 11 mile stretch of road containing 318 curves in the Smokey Mountains. Unfortunately for us, for these two days it was suppose to rain. But we rode anyway... there's something about 100 bikers all riding in the rain together. When I looked in my rearview mirror it was really cool to see all these headlights strung out for a few miles. I was amazed at the courtesy of all the car drivers. It was a huge change from California driving where people try to run you off the road. These Tennessee folks gave us space, didn't tail-gate, would actually stop on the highway entrance to let us passby before they entered. It was such different riding and most enjoyable for there were hardly any cars on the road!
(I did the HOG (Harley Owner's Group) fly & ride program where you fly in and rent a bike. I got the Heritage Softail... just alittle bigger that mine with an engine of 1584cc and 200 pounds heavier. Amazingly though, it was easier to back up on this bike. But I prefer mine in comfort!)
Over time, the speed limit for the Tail of the Dragon has been reduced in order to decrease the amount of deaths. For 2008, there have been 3 deaths becuase of the curves and trees. People either ride off the road or go so fast they ride into a tree... The highway patrol have a huge presence to monitor the speed limit. In a way, the rain was a blessing because this group of people are from all over the US and each has their own riding style. For the most part, everyone rode well but there were a few that were not as experienced. I think the rain kept everyone in check due to the slippery roads and there were no speed demons.
We took a short break in Deal's Gap, North Carolina. It's the officially ending of the Tail of the Dragon and the beginning of Cherohala Skyway. There is a tribute tree full of scrap motorcycle parts from fallen riders. As we left here, we lost half of our group. Apparently, they didn't take the turn when the road split and they ended up having to go through the dragon once again in order to return to the HD store in Maryville. The group kept getting smaller - people would pull over either for the view or nausea. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take very many pictures - I didn't want to get separated from the group and get lost. I am glad we pulled over a few times for a break... the curvy roads, the slow speed, peaceful traffic - it was all lulling me to sleep! The cool part was there were photographers along the road that took our pics as we rode by. We could view them and pay for them online if we chose to. There were 3 companies total but I forget 2 of them... bad memory!
For the rest of us, Cherohala Skyway was very scenic. Both were but the latter being 60 miles of beautiful scenery full of trees, valleys and the Tellico river. We rode through the Cherokee National Forest (Tenessee)as well as the Natahala National Forest (North Carolina) hence the combined name Chero (from Cherokee) and hala (from Natahala). Going up the mountainside, with an elevation of 5,000 feet was really awesome. The trees were just about changing color so looking around there were the green, yellow and orange in some bits of the forest. Plus, the cool weather and a bit of fog. It looked like we were riding into the clouds!
(Tellico river)
(Carrie and I above Tellico River)
(Smoky Mountains)
(Tree of Shame - tribute to fallen riders at Deal's Gap, North Carolina)
(Deal's Gap, NC)
(View from Cherohala Skyway - Smoky Mtns)
(Taking a break)
In all that ride was about 6 hours... leaving at 11 and returning at 5. There were other events at the Harley store but I was determined to check out Dollywood in Pigeon Forge. Considering it was only 38 miles away, I couldn't not go. I was planning on going by myself since many of the other riders were worn out but my friend joined me - I think she didn't want me going by myself which was alot safer. For most of the people that rode, the ride today was the longest. Seems like people only go 50-60 miles or one guy said he rode 100 miles around his house then returned on home. Again, for me that's just a warm up and I was ready to go for more. I guess I am a bit of an extremist... for that 6 hour ride just wasn't enough. But then again, it's beautiful country and it all reminded me why I like riding so much.
Unfortunately, Dollywood is not like California theme parks where there are stores outside of the park. It was just one huge parking lot and you had to take a tram inside. But as we arrived, they were closing so I totally missed out. It also began raining again. I also wanted to check out the other HD stores since there are three that are Smoky Mountain HD. We also wanted to rush back becuase it was getting dark and me of course, having an avid imagination wanted to return as soon as possible. (Even though I don't care for scary movies, I have seen Wrong Turn and Texas Chainsaw for there's alot of forest and it can hide many things.) Anyway, we did go to the Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg HD stores. By the time we got on our bikes for our return trip, the rain was quite steady. We had 2 routes to choose from - return the way we came which is longer or take the short cut. The short cut was recommended to me before since it's extremely scenic but this was night time and rain. We decided we'd take the shorter route - highway 73. We were also low on fuel. But if we didn't get lost, we could make it back with a few extra miles to spare in the tank. But one of the guys in the HD store said, make sure you keep fuel in the tank... there's a fuel shortage in North Carolina. But as we passed the gas station, we forgot to stop. The rain was still coming down and we just wanted to hurry back. Little did we know but the road was almost like the Dragon! Tons of curves, we were blinded by oncoming traffic and I was blinded by my friend's headlights who was riding behind me. I didn't dare look around - there were either cliffs or river water if we rode off the road. I spent most of the time concentrating on the road. I noticed there were leaves on the ground and was cautious since you can slip on the wet leaves... then I noticed several were moving - in addition to the leaves there were also frogs jumping across the road. For most of the ride we went 30mph but there were some spots that we just had to go 10mph since we couldn't see that far ahead - it was sooo dark! At one straight away I did look around - I had leathers on so I stayed dry but my friend was wearing jeans. I was looking for a place to stop to see if she wanted to put on her rainsuit. I saw something, I didn't know what it was but some sort of animal was watching us on the side of the road. I didn't want to stop - that creature kind freaked me out so we just kept driving. Later on of course, I looked it up on the internet and found out it was a cougar. I also saw a deer coming back on that road. There wasn't too much traffic either on that road. It wasn't marked very well and since I was leading I began doubting my directional sense. Luckily, every once in a while there was a car but it was always on-coming as with the bikers we passed.
The weather was getting a bit cooler too. When I first got my bike it ran hot - the engine was burning my leg but that night as we rode back to Maryville, I was glad the engine was hot - it kept me warm! I stayed dry except for my boots and the bottom portion of my pants... I'm glad I brought my leather pants with me versus chaps! Watching the news that night, we found out the rain was actually part of Tropical Storm Kyle (that later turned into Hurricane Kyle).
(Went to Dollywood and all I got was this pic)
My hands turned black from my water soaked gloves.
Carrie didn't get as soaked as I thought.
Course, we were almost to the HD store when I slipped. By the time we returned to town it was almost 930PM... Luckily, the event at the Harley store goes until 10 but we weren't sure if anyone would be there except for the live band. Anyway, I knew the entrance was coming up soon but it was so dark you couldn't tell where the highway divided so you could cross into the Harley entrance. We were going slow but still not slow enough. As soon as I saw the divide, I braked (yes, it was still raining). I'm really not sure what happened but I either braked too hard or hit an oil patch but I jacknifed. For sure I thought Carrie was going to drive right into me. But luckily enough, she was further from me than I thought. Then my next thought was I'm going to drop the bike... or ride into the ditch. But the ditch is at least a 3 foot drop so that means, the bike would fall on top of me. 700 pounds of metal just might hurt a bit. But as I eased off the brake I got the bike to straighten out and again luckily enough, I didn't do either one. Whew!
(mini bike - you can actually ride it!)
(Martin, from CA - one of the guest dentist speakers)
(Noel, from FL - one of the sales reps)
(Mark, from TN - the organizer and sells dental products)
(Mark, Carrie, Mark)
(Mark, from CA - one of the lab techs)
(Felicia, from TX - sales rep)
(Mike and his wife Jill, from CA)
(Mickey, from NY - our sweep vehicle).
(Lab techs from NC)
We met this guy on the road... yes, that's his dog in his jacket. He's a legend in TN... he takes his dog everywhere. When it was younger it used to sit on the tank.
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