Wanderings and Musings

Monday, June 23rd 2008 - I’m heading towards the Great Smoky Mountains today, and specifically to ride ‘The Tail of the Dragon‘ at Deals Gap. It’s a famous road for motorcyclists because of the 318 curves in 11 miles.

After almost a week without really having any curves to ride, I’m excited to be carving up the roads again. And to see what all the fuss is about for this particular road.

But first I have to get there… and from where I stayed the night (St. George, SC) to where I want to go is about 300 miles. To make sure I get there with plenty of sun and daylight left, I decide to high tail it on the freeway. Not as interesting as the smaller highways, but definitely faster.

The main observation I had as I was driving along the freeway today was how the police are no longer around to “Protect and Serve”. I passed numerous vehicles on the side of the road who may or may not have been in distress, but although there were many police patrolling the freeways, not once did I see them assisting. They were all out hunting for speeders, in search of that all mighty dollar for their departments.

The police should not get any of the money from ticket revenue, it should go straight to the highway fund or schools or something else worthwhile. This would stop the predatory practices you see now. In South Carolina I was passed by a few patrol cars that were traveling in packs of 2 or 3. I got the distinct feeling of them being predators on the hunt. And the little rabbits (cars on the road) quickly scurried out of their way. Then about 4 miles down the road, they pull of to the median and set up their ambush for some unwary rabbit going a whole 7 mph over the speed limit. Ridiculous!

I made it to the Smoky Mountains by about 2pm, and it was a gorgeous sunny Monday. Using my GPS, I found what I was hoping would be the correct path to the Tail and began warming up my body and tires for the coming curves.

Once I found the road, I was so excited and ready to ride that I passed right on by the little bike gathering places that even on a Monday were full of other bikers and went straight in for the road adventure. I was pushing it hard, and I mean hard, through the curves. Probably a little over confident and with a little bit of need to prove myself… to myself.

Although it was a Monday, it was still pretty crowded coming in the opposite direction, but traffic in my direction was astoundingly clear.

Flying around tight curves at high rates of speed, I was getting a great shot of adrenaline… my drug of choice. There are tons of pictures online of the cars, bikes and trucks moving across their lane into the other lanes as the turns are so tight on this road, so I was being very vigilant about staying in my lane even when pushing it extremely hard, and of watching for oncoming traffic and the possible lane crossings.

After about 8 miles of excellent solo riding, I caught up to a group of other sport bikes, and passed as the opportunity presented itself. I was feeling very ‘on’ to my riding game, until I let something distract me… just for an instant… and as I regained my focus I notice that I’m heading straight for a ditch on an inside corner at about 60mph!! It’s one of the pucker moments where you only have a split instant to react and aren’t quite sure you’re going to make it. I leaned at the proper angle to keep my tire on the road as I avoided the ditch, but this put me over into the oncoming lane for about 2 seconds. Luckily there wasn’t anyone there at the time, and I was safely back in control. Another lesson learned about keeping your focus totally in the moment when you are riding that hard.

Before I knew it, I was out of the curves and done with the Dragon. It really is a short ride compared to many of the long ones we have out in the West. Overall it was enjoyable, but too crowded for my tastes, and the curves were probably not as technical as many other roads I’ve ridden on… just more dangerous. They’re more dangerous because of the traffic, some have weird cambers, and there are some freaky ditches that drop off the sides of the asphalt giving you no room for any errors.

As the adrenaline starts to wear off, I’m feeling a bit exhausted from the long ride I’ve already put in today, and the long ride I still plan on doing seems a bit daunting.

I ride on heading in the direction of Kittyhawk on the coast, still about 500 miles away. I make it to Greensboro about dark, and head off in search of a place to ninja camp. There is a national forest down south of Greensboro, but I can’t find anything but farms and houses for the life of me. Finally I find what looks to be a private hunting reserve, and weasel my way back onto a dirt road to a dense strand of trees and camp out for the night.

Up early in the morning, I ride on towards the coast. Another beautiful day of sunshine greets me as I ride. The traffic is light until I reach the outer banks crossing over Roanoke Island. All the history of that island start to come back to me from high school or grade school or whenever I learned about the colonists left on the island that disappeared.

The traffic on the outer banks is horrendous! I guess it is a vacation area, and people are on vacation (dang them!). I can’t even imagine thinking this would be a pleasant way to vacation. Little did I know how much worse it the traffic would get as I went further north.

On into the Wright Brothers National Memorial, I check out where the first powered flight happened. What an amazing experience it must have been to figure out a way to overcome the limitations of gravity and soar into the air. And… to live your passion every day like that! Wow!

It’s getting late in the day, and I still have to make it to Richmond, VA before dark. Time to jump back on the horse and ride! I soon pass out of North Carolina and on into Virginia…

Tags: Motorcycles, Travel