Day #71 October 20,2007

Day #71
Saturday October 20, 2007

Ashville, NC to Asheville, NC
96 miles today (27,993 – 28,029)
13,562 miles total
35 states total (+Wash. DC and Canada)

A pretty chilly morning, but the sun is shining brightly. Should be a gorgeous day. I got dressed and had breakfast at a Shoney’s several miles down the road. Of course, the waitress wanted to know all about the trip once she discovered what I was doing. The leathers were a dead giveaway. She and her husband hope to ride to the Grand Canyon this coming summer.

After breakfast, I cleaned up the tent some, organized, showered and tried the internet. No service this morning. I figure it’s their down time or something. So I took the ride into Maggie Valley to see the Wheels of Time motorcycle museum. Lots and lots and LOTS of old Harley stuff, including a motorized HD tiller and a HD log saw. Several old cars, a plane or two. They claim that everything in there will run. I would guess there are a couple of hundred old bikes in there. They had some good vignettes set up for different periods. One was a hill of dirt about 12’ or more high with various hill climbing bikes on and around the hill. Another was an old garage, with a gravel floor, complete down to the oil stains and spills on the gravel. The display with the tiller and saw was built around what appeared to me to be an old mining scene. Some of the motorized things were on rails.

The afternoon ride was beautiful. Lots of traffic in the little town of Maggie Valley. Every motel I saw said NO vacancy. I hope to ride across the mountain into Gatlinburg and do the Tail of the Dragon tomorrow. I’ll have to leave early if I’m going to do all that in one day. And I’ve got to work in the remaining nearly 70 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway yet, too.

I’ve met several other bikers here and picked up some good information. A Knoxville, TN couple warned me about the sport bikers up on the Deals Gap road. And a Stuart, FL man (where Natalie’s sister lives) is going to try to connect me with some of his buddies who have gone into the Keys several times. And a nice couple with 2 kids from South Carolina pulled in late yesterday afternoon in a big Monaco Coach. She warned me of a big football game this coming weekend that will have the I-95 traffic tied up for miles or days. These folks purchased their coach from Lazy Days in Tampa, I believe he said. I remember engraving Lazy Days on lots of Country Coach sales awards. Both Monaco and Country Coach are manufactured in the Eugene and Junction City area of Oregon.

It’s been a pretty relaxing, peaceful day. I didn’t really intend to ride at all, even the 96 miles. But since I had no internet I decided to enjoy the weather.

The "Clyde" pic is for my friend in Eugene, Mr. Beebe!