Home Again

Hello,

Our trip is over..... Pulling into the driveway was bittersweet. We were glad to be home but a bit sad that our journey was over and the motorcycles were going in the garage for the first time in over six weeks. We rode 7706.7 miles, which is 1,706.7 miles over our budget. That sounds like a typical government contract, doesn't it.....

The last leg home was mostly interstate. We left Will and Trish's house Sunday around 11 am and rode to Gettysburg, Pa. It was July 5th, so we stayed to watch and talk with the last few re-enactors still there from the 2009 re-creation of the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg... I caught a Confederate General from the 1st Maryland wearing WalMart socks and sandals. I smiled, and he quickly pointed out that the rigors of duty of the last few days had given him blisters. His camp followers were still de rigeur, and some of ladies were barefoot!!! Then a Confederate banjo player strode into the circle and began playing and singing doleful southern tunes.. In its own way this was relaxing We got an impromptu history lesson about the 1st Maryland Volunteers. The unit actually formed up in Virginia by Marylanders who fled south to join up "to defend the South in the War of Northern Aggression"....hmmmm... interesting point of view.... Finally we decided to spend the night in Gettysburg and ride home on Monday.

Monday morning after breakfast we met an Italian motorcyclist who was making a short tour of the east coast on a BMW 1200. A friend let him borrow the bike for a week. He started at his friend's house in New Jersey, came to the Hudson Valley and West Point, then to Philadelphia, over to Gettysburg, and last he wanted to see Washington DC. He was spending a week on the bike and then he was going to spend a week with his friend. We wished him well as he pulled south on route 15 as we went north.

We were on the road by 9am and home at 3pm... My Kawasaki has a sweet spot right around 80mph where everything becomes quiet and really smooth.... I couldn't stay there very long on the interstate... We gassed up twice, once near Hazleton, Pa and again at Post Jervis, NY. The gas at Port Jervis was $2.49.. about the same as in DC. The gas in Texas was $2.59 and that's where they make it... The gas in Dutchess County at $2.83 is the most expensive we've seen on our trip.... We stopped for a late lunch at Cafe Maya on route 9 in Fishkill and then we rode the last 10 miles home. ... and into the driveway at 3pm Monday, July 6th.

Marc set up all our e-mails into a blog, with all the pictures. Check it out!!

http://hjacrossamerica2009.blogspot.com/

Man, do I miss my tuba. O.K. please quit smiling and thinking of bad tuba jokes... but it's been a long time since New Mexico State U and I have some new music that arrived while I was away... so a nice practice time with a hot cup of tea seems in order....

Ouch....I immediately broke my tuba. A small plastic part that connects the second valve rotor to the lever split open... This is a pretty common failure and Miraphone has replaced the plastic part with a metal part. Earlier this spring it happened to the first valve. According to Matt from Dillon's Music, the second valve was right on schedule. I think he was hinting to replace the parts on valves 3 and 4 now...but that 50 cent part costs $20....Matt is sending it out today. So, I practiced long notes, without A, E, C# etc., and enjoyed a nice slow cup of Earl Grey.....

We had some interesting news while in DC. Our daughter-in-law Trish works for a company that supports and represents Job Corps to Congress. Interesting that a government program has a private group to represent it. Trish's company often represents some VA hospital programs and university programs too. Trish wrote up a memorandum to make September 23, 2009 as Job Corps Day, and some congressmen are submitting it for a vote!! Then at a separate event, Trish met Chef Robert Irvine in Atlantic City, New Jersey.. Chef Irvine is famous for his program "Dinner Impossible" on the Food channel. Anyway, the result is the possibility that on September 23rd there might be a "Dinner Impossible" for Congressmen in Washington DC using Job Corps students as the kitchen staff. There also might be company sponsorships for financial help too... Let's hope the stars line up and everything works out. Way to go Trish!!

Job Corps will be 45 years old on September 23rd. Job Corps takes people with no employable skills and trains them to have a skill that is needed in the job market. ,Some examples are nurses aide, home health care specialist,, culinary skills, etc. For many people this program is an important first step to becoming a wage earner with a real job...

If you write a congressman, please give your support for Job Corps. This is a blatant recruiting effort to help keep Job Corps a vibrant and effective program. Thanks!!

This afternoon I had to go food shopping (gasp!!).. I got the keys and got in the car. Where's the clutch? Oh, there it is, on the floor, and not in my left hand.. And the throttle and brake are in the wrong place too, not under my right hand..

Good grief, feet are so slow compared to hands... Sigh.... reality is sinking in.... The ride is over..

Home Again

Harris and Jeannine

Oh, Shenandoah.. Oh, Shenandoah

Hello,

It's Sunday, July 5th, and we are finishing up a relaxed Fourth of July weekend with our son Will, his wife Trish and their two cute pugs, Hercules and Annie (both rescued).. Soon we'll have to get packed for the last leg of our trip, and some of it might be in holiday traffic.. Argghh..

Last Thursday morning we started down our last 80 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway .. The north 200 miles of parkway are in Virginia and the south 300 miles are in North Carolina. The Virginia landscape is different from North Carolina, less mountainous and more rolling and leisurely, with farm vistas interspersed with sections of shade and mountain laurel. This is relaxed riding at its finest.... except...

Jeannine was leading on this motorcycle reverie when a deer walked out onto the parkway.. Jeannine slowed down and the deer carefully looked both ways before crossing the road, just like mommy taught her.. Jeannine downshifted into first, and we cautiously started to pull away when BING, another deer jumped right out in front of us... Whew.. I guess we'll have to watch for deer... not the day to be speeding down the parkway!!

A little while later we saw a big turkey vulture off the road and all of a sudden it took flight, but just couldn't gain altitude and headed right for Jeannine, flapping wildly and intensely.. Jeannine really got on the binders that time and the vulture just missed her head. I thought it had hit her windshield... Both of Jeannine's feet went down, then back up as she nearly stopped and then motored on.. with a remark on the radio "That one was CLOSE".. It sure was..

We were soon at the north end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, having covered much more than the advertised 490 miles with our extra excursions. We rode into Waynesville, the nearest town, for a lunch break. We try to pick local places rather than chains or fast food for our meals... Most times we get a pleasant culinary surprise. Not this time.

We returned to the south entrance of Skyline Drive of Shenandoah National Park, right across the street from the north entrance of the Blue Ridge Parkway... Skyline Drive is a beautiful 105 mile ribbon of road going across the ridge of the Shenandoah mountains. It meanders in constant easy turns through forests and fields. Once again we rode through beautiful "tunnels" of mountain laurel in bloom and cool forests interspersed with farmland and vistas. We had ridden part of Skyline two years ago, but the southern part was closed for construction. Now we would do the whole trip in one afternoon.

Jeannine slowed WAY DOWN and pointed to her right... a bear cub on the side of the road, calmly sitting on his haunches and eating berries and watching us go by.. About a mile later I saw a mother and her cub in some rocks on the left side having their own snack of berries.. We saw more deer crossing the road, some hawks, and maybe even a falcon...It was a real wildlife treat. In short we saw 8 deer and three bear Thursday... We spent the night in Front Royal, Virginia and on Friday we headed for DC and Will's home..

Music??

Last night Will started laughing and said "You got to hear this, a violinist in the National Orchestra made a violin out of a baseball bat."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9LXHrzOVYA

Will's question "Can he hit a baseball with his violin too???"

So far we have ridden about 7400 miles. It will almost be time for a third oil change when we get home, and Jeannine will need a new rear tire....

We dodged the rain on the return trip. Our closest call came when we were sitting in a restaurant watching a cloudburst.

Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia sure are beautiful in June.... no question about that...

Vroom, vroom...

Harris and Jeannine

The Blue Ridge Parkway.. Miles of Smiles

Hello,

Just an additional note about Deal's Gap... The speed limit on the Dragon is 50mph, and on the Dragon's Tail it is 30mph. The road is impeccably maintained.. There are also cars on the road and occasionally a truck or RV drives the Gap.... We saw all three....

Jeannine and I both appreciate how much the Lost Wheel's "Safety Day" helped us on this part of the trip, especially the obstacle courses and Ed Busse's turning and braking lessons.. Thanks Trish!! Thanks Ed!!
When's the next one??

It's Fourth of July and we are now relaxing at my son Will and Trish's house in Alexandria Va. Last night we enjoyed some delicious Mexican in DC, and for the Fourth Will is preparing BBQ spare ribs and Trish is preparing all the rest. Life is cool and easy....

For our return we have ridden our motorcycles from El Paso, Texas to Washington DC without going on the Interstate. Yup, mostly two lane roads, including a few hundred miles of desert and 600 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive. Sigh, well almost no interstates... We tried to stay off them, but we had to go on about 5 miles of Interstate to get around Dallas, and we couldn't get across the Mississippi River without going on I-155 for about 10 miles. We also didn't do the Blue Ridge Parkway from end to end. We had to jump off a couple of times for gas, and part of the road was closed for construction, so we can't say we rode it 100%, but darned close.. Getting off and on the Blue Ridge turned out to be as big an adventure as riding it...and I'm glad it happened the way it did..... We also had a snafu just a few miles from DC when VA-55 merged with I-66 but that was soon fixed. I'm claiming we were really on VA-55. It just looked like an interstate for a few miles. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.....


After Deal's Gap there are two ways to get to the Cherokee Indian Reservation and the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The first way is to ride Deal's Gap a second time and take NC 28 to Cherokee. The second is to take TN-441 over Newfound Gap to Cherokee.. The bikers at the Princess Motel raved about 441, so on Tuesday that's the way we decided to go. How to get there?? I let Garmin Zumo decide. We went through some beautiful wooded roads in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and over a one lane wooden bridge for a unique trip to Cherokee. Nice ride....


Cherokee NC is an interesting combination of tinsel town and Indian Heritage. There were the typical tourist traps with their souvenirs along side some really nice shops with beautiful and sometimes expensive Indian crafts. The streets and some of the shops are labelled in both English and Cherokee. The Cherokee have their own written language with symbols different from our alphabet. All through town there were full sized painted bears, similar to the popular painted ponies. The Cherokee Indians are known for their beautiful basketry, pottery, woodcarving, and painting. We spent too much time looking at their beautiful artwork. As one honestly said "This over here is what I love, and that over there is what keeps food on the table"... Not everyone has been doing so well, with some shuttered shops ....We asked a local Cherokee Indian where to eat for a late lunch, and she said "Go to Paul's, it's where we go". Paul is a Cherokee and his frybread "Indian taco" and chili on frybread are delicious and highly recommended.... on the porch with iced tea is best...


We got onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and headed north a little late in the afternoon.. The first thing we noticed was that there were twice as many motorcycles as cars.. What gives??? We soon found out.. a 4000 ft elevation change from 2000 ft to 6000 ft in 30 miles, and then back down... Switchbacks. Twisties. Loop-de-loops (!).. Tunnels.. More switchbacks.. Vistas... More twisties... Whoopie!! YESssss.... Awesome!!! ..


The first 150 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway, from Cherokee to Blowing Rock, North Carolina might be the best 150 miles of overall good motorcycle riding anywhere. (Yes, we mean that..) . Shade, sun, solitude, vistas..Viva North Carolina!!

My trip planning for the Blue Ridge Parkway consisted of finding the entrance and heading north. Not too sophisticated but who cares. Here we are in the Nantahala National Forest and then the Pisgah National Forest having a great time, going around constant curves and essess, waving to other motorcyclists, and smiling a lot.. Grinning is fun!! But after a while the sun seems to be going down and so do our gas gauges.... and we haven't seen an exit for the last 40 miles. A quick stop and check of the map tells us why: the gas stations and motels are a few thousand feet lower than we are. Finally an exit, NC route 80. We take it. The stop sign has beside it an ominous yet inviting yellow sign: "Not recommended for RV's and cars with trailers". Of course its too late for an RV or a car with trailer to turn around.. We turn onto NC-80 and its almost like the downhill section of Deal's Gap but this time we're fully loaded with our gear.... Yipes!! Whee!! #$%^!! WOW!! Awesome!!... 10 miles later we're at a gas station and we are both awed and grinning... The guy at the station is a biker and tells us that NC-80 is a really popular ride with the locals. We decide to make a beeline for a motel rather than head back up 80 to the the Blue Ridge Parkway.


Wednesday morning we head for the Parkway by the RV compatible route but we see detour signs.. We decide to go straight and get on the parkway anyway, but after a few miles on the parkway we run into "Parkway Closed" signs and a barracade.. Instead of following the Parkway detour signs (suitable for RV's and cars with trailers) we click on Garmin Zumo and get "shortest distance" directions for the next obvious parkway entrance, Deep Gap.. Garmin leads us on some amazing back roads and byways of North Carolina, and back on to the Blue Ridge Parkway at Deep Gap...It surely wasn't the "shortest time" route but what a nice ride...I don't know exactly where we rode, but it sure was beautiful..

We ride on the parkway until the gas gauge once again starts to quiver, and then look for another escape route.. Sound familiar?? NC route 43 (at mile marker 85) heads to the town of Bedford, NC and looks sort of inviting but maybe intimidating, in part because it has the same RV warning sign. We go south onNC 43 and it suddenly becomes as steep as NC 80, but it has been recently repaired and covered with fresh tar and gravel for about 3 miles. YIKES!! I sure know how to pick 'em. We motor carefully on down, this time cautiously and often in first gear. I was a little nervous about what Jeannine would think after this, but all she said was "Wow!! That was interesting!".We find food, lodging and gas in Bedford and call it a day. We met a Park Ranger who told us about an 18 wheeler moving van that tried to go up NC 43 in spite of the signage.. It got hung up on a switchback and it took two big tow trucks all day to get him unstuck.

Never a dull moment...... and miles and miles of smiles in North Carolina.....

Harris and Jeannine

Deal's Gap, Tennessee

Hello,

Deal's Gap?? What's that??
..

Deal's Gap is a notch in the mountains between Marysville, TN and Robbinsville, NC. From the north side of the gap flows the Little Tennessee River. From the south side flows the Cheoah River. The Little Tennessee has been dammed up to make lakes. Why anyone would build a road up those steep gullies heading to the top is beyond me, but if you look askance at the map, you can see the profile of a dragons back, with the head up north, near where US 129 meets US 411 and the tail which goes through Deal's Gap to the North Carolina border. This section of US 129, called The Dragon, is about 25 miles long. The famous part is the Dragon's Tail, the last 11 miles before the NC line.

Some riders, including us, ride a loop about 120 miles long, heading south on route 129, the Dragon, making a right turn onto NC 143, which is the Cherohala Skyway, a curvy and beautiful road in its own right, and then back north again on TN route 360, another curvy road, back to the start.

We were told that there are a couple of places you have to visit as part of the Tail of the Dragon experience. One is the Deal's Gap Resort at the south end of the Dragon's Tail, with its "tree of shame" of broken motorcycle parts. . Another is Wheeler's Cycle Shop, a little further south on 129.

On Sunday we showed up at the Princess Motel on route 411, the motel closest to the north end of The Dragon, US route 129. There were quite a few bikers already there, and most of them were "multiple repeat offenders" on the Dragon. We might stay at this hotel again for the ambiance, but frankly it is on our "do not recommend" list.
Chatting with the "experts" they advised:
Don't ride the Dragon on the weekend if you can avoid it.
Ride it in the morning, not the afternoon.

On Monday morning we were off. It was a beautiful, glorious day, and a beautiful, glorious road...

As we rode down the head and back of the Dragon the turns just weaved, and the vistas were fantastic. Then we were in the woods, with beautiful shade and about 5 degrees cooler. Then suddenly the road started to climb. There were countless switchbacks so tight you thought you could reach out and touch your own tailight. Some switchback corners were so sharp and steep I was in first gear. Now I could understand how riders could miss a shift and just fall off!! Keep the speed up.. This is the Tail of the Dragon.

The experts were right. Get into a rhythm where you are tipping or swinging the bike, not "turning" it. I found that by not accelerating on the short straights between the turns I was just about set up for the next turn. The Tail of the Dragon is about smoothness and turning, not about twisting the accelerator and grabbing the brake.


One thing for sure: there is no room for error. There is no shoulder to this road. Sometimes there are tree trunks right next to you. Sometimes there are tops of trees. Don't look down. Some of the turns are scary tough, and they are never ending... Then you are at the top of the gap, and you get to go down the other side with the same scary turns but this time downhill. Yipes! Then the Deal's Gap Resort is on the left. There are no more turns and everyone has their blinker on and turning into the parking lot. So do we. We buy our little Dragon Decals for our helmets, and we buy our T-shirts.

What a ride. WOW!! Let's do it again!!!

It turns out (pun intended) that the turns in the Dragon's Tail aren't never ending. There are exactly 318 turns in 11 miles. Some of the more famous curves have names: The Whip, Pearly Gates, Guard Rail Cliff, Hog Pen Bend, Triple Apex, Leo's Lair, Brake or Bust Bend, Busa Bash Bend, Carosel Corner, The Gravity Cavity, Grace's Esses, Parson's Curve, Crud's Corner, Beginner's End ... etc...

There are a few guys who ride the Tail to work every day!!..

Most guys turn around and ride the Dragon's Tail back to wherever they started. We set off to do the 120 mile loop. We stopped for lunch. The ride on the Skyway is just awesome, with one-tenth the riders... We made it back to our motel in time for supper....

How fast did we go?? We averaged about 30+mph for the whole loop, almost five hours riding time, almost 8 hours including stops.!! The odometer was 130 miles round trip from the motel. I guess we averaged about 17mph on the Dragon's Tail itself.. Quite a change from some of the high speed riding we were doing in Texas!!.

On Tuesday morning we packed up to ride to Cherokee, NC: the Cherokee Indian Reservation and the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Harris and Jeannine