Hold the Turkey and Pass some Dragon!

You know how little comments can make big impressions? Wednesday afternoon, out of the blue, my co-worker (and probably biggest reason I now ride) PJ said, "You know, this trip would be the perfect time for you to go ride the Tail of the Dragon..." and the wheels started to turn.

For those of the uninitiated, the Tail of the Dragon, also known as Deal's Gap, is a road which winds its way through the Tennessee mountains, just past the NC border on US129, snaking its way through 318 curves in 11 miles. Back up and read those last five words...that wasn't a typo. What's even more fun is that the entire road getting to that section is full of great sweeping turns, tighter twists, with views of lakes, dams, mountains, frosted grass (at 9:30 a.m.) and for this trip, blue skies.

My Thanksgiving day started auspiciously enough with my first ever breakfast at Waffle House. When I pulled the bike up across from the huge plate glass window, I felt about a dozen pair of eyes on me from heads of patrons turned to watch. It was packed in there, but I did manage to score a booth and peruse the laminated one page menu. I stayed on the safe side, and just had two eggs, toast and hashbrowns (scattered only, not smothered, covered, chopped, diced or any other variety). I overheard the following side of a phone conversation while I was there when waitress answered the phone, "Travelers Rest Waffle House....ummm, I'm getting ready to put a credit card through. Can you call back in about three minutes and I get your order then? Thanks." This wasn't because she couldn't multi-task, but because she had to have the phone line for the credit card machine to make the call. Whoever was on the calling side didn't seem to mind the delay. I finished my coffee right at 8 a.m., and headed out the door after one last bathroom break.

It was cold. I started out around 37 degrees, but after climbing into the NC mountains, I lost a few degrees, down to about 33 or 34. I stopped at the first rest area and put on another layer, glad of the extra warmth, and thinking I might have under-packed. Back on the road, I got onto I-40, heading toward the infamous rock slide, but got off around Waynesville, on one of those combo higways (74/23/19). I continued to climb, and occasionally would go through clouds. Not fog, mind you, but full-on clouds. As it was still fairly early, I went through many shaded sections that still had frost on the ground. Did I mention it was cold?

Finally, at Bryson City, I pulled off and fueled up before my run on the Dragon. That was the last town of any size before getting to Maryville, TN on the far side, and while I probably had enough to get to Maryville, it would just stink out loud if I didn't, and I didn't want to risk it. I headed out of Bryson City right around 10:30, with the next stop being at Fontana Dam. By the time I stopped there, it had warmed up into at least the 50s, and it was a nice view. One other couple had stopped up there as well, and they wished me a safe journey.

From that point, it's still a few miles before you get to US129, but the road is already getting fun. I took a few pictures at the beginning, but put the camera away, deciding to err on the side of caution, since having the bike take a nap at this point would have really put a kink in things. In the westbound lane, once I got onto 129, there were three vehicles (including yours truly). There was a blue Toyota Tacoma Prerunner in front of me, and a smaller, mid 90s BMW sedan that came up behind me, whom I let pass me. No one else came along behind me, so I was free to take the curves as I wanted to without having the pressure of holding anyone up. I was on an unfamiliar road in the middle of stinking nowhere, my tires have approximately 10k miles on them, and the bike was loaded with luggage, so I wasn't trying to get any major lean on, but I did come close to scraping my boot on a couple of nice turns :) Near the top is an overlook for another dam and a nice photo op. From there, it was all downhill, and the road went right past the huge spillway, running along the irregular margin of the lake. All told, I only passed five westbound bikes while I was on the actual Tail, and probably another four or five once I was lower down. Turns out it really was a perfect day to ride it after all, Peej!

Once back onto normal country roads, it's about 40 miles to Knoxville, and from there I picked up I-75 going north to Lexington. The forecast for the day was for the lower 50s, but it was clouding over, and I wasn't feeling the warmth. I'd planned to stop just north of Knoxville to call my aunt with a time idea for my arrival, get fuel and get food. The plan didn't go so well. I pulled off at Lake City, TN, and got fuel, swinging around to the Cracker Barrel behind the Shell station for lunch. Only problem was, the parking lot was full and people were standing outside waiting to be seated. It was around 1 p.m., and apparently not everyone in Tennessee cooks his own Thanksgiving dinner.

I circled back around and got onto 75 again, figuring I'd stop at the next CB. It was a while before I saw a sign announcing the next one was in 11 miles. Whew. Rode for a bit, and saw another sign...two more miles. Yay! Rode past the next exit, looked to the left of the interstate and saw the Cracker Barrel sign. Stink! There hadn't been anything I'd noticed right at the exit to advertise it. Sigh. I'd really been looking forward to stopping, but figured I'd try one more time to get a Cracker Barrel. Finally, there was the billboard and an exit number. It was exit 41. I had that number memorized. It was wonderful to pull off, because my face felt like it was starting to freeze. Once I got inside to normal temperatures, my face and neck were super flushed, but at least I only had a 10 minute wait to be seated.

Gotta say...sad to say...of all the Cracker Barrels I've been to (and that's a LOT), this one is at the bottom of said barrel. Exit 41. London, KY. Since it was Thanksgiving, I deviated from my normal BLT, and got a turkey sandwich plate. What they brought me (the first time) looked like a snack someone in the back might have concocted, except for the fact it would have been a poor excuse for a snack! The fries were a dark amber color due to the fact they had been brutally cooked to utter death. I tried one, and not believing how bad it was, tried another. Yep. They were bad. The sandwich hadn't been assembled or cut in half. It had refrigerator cold sliced turkey on it, a pile of lettuce, two tomato slices and two slices of cheese. No mayo, no presentation, no grilled bread (as it was advertised). No cole slaw, as is part of the combo.

I started to nibble on the turkey, because the sandwich was too dry to eat without mayo, and the bread was too pasty without being grilled, but even the turkey...one section of the half I was nibbling through had one of those tough ends that's primarily cooked skin and no meat. I kept hoping my waitress would come back by, originally hoping for ketchup to cover the fries and mayo to moisten the sandwich, but by the time she did finally stop by, I'd decided it wasn't worth trying to salvage. She asked how it was, and I told her I was rather disappointed, and showed her the charred fries and chewy turkey bits. She apologized profusely, said they'd make another sandwich and her manager would bring it back out. She was half right. What she brought back out looked 73,000% better than the first mess...nicely assembled, golden fries, toasted bread and mayonnaise on the sandwich. Never saw the manager other than him gabbing with the big table over there and with another couple standing to the left. Schmoozing, but not 'managing' in my book. Or blog.

I called my aunt when I sat down to order, and it was 2:30 (a long old way past that first Cracker Barrel) and I checked the weather. It was 43 degrees outside with a windchill of 36. That's 36 if you're standing still. Sit on a bike and go highway speeds? At least it wasn't just in my head....it actually was cold. I left there around 3 p.m. and traveled pretty much without incident until I got to Wilmore, which is a little town just west of Lexington. Going through Lexington, however, it did start to sprinkle. Nothing horrendous, and by the time I got to my aunt Karen's place, there was still a handful of daylight. It was nice to get inside her home and warm up. I confess I left a mess of layered clothes in one corner of her kitchen that didn't move much at all during my stay there.

I got in at about 4:55, and within 30 minutes, my cousin Anna showed up, with her two kids in tow. The last I saw her, her daughter Sidni was still in a car carrier, and now she's an eight and a half year old girl who seemed to think I was ok (even if she could tell that her mom and I were cousins, since we were just alike). The original plan for my lodging was for me to return to Lexington and stay at my cousin Daniel's house, but it would be empty since he and his wife were with her family for the day. Since it was just nasty, cold and dark out, Karen offered to have me stay at her mobile home, which was already taxed with four others, but I was very thankful to accept the offer.

There were a total of 24 people expected at dinner on Friday, and so Anna and I went with Karen and the kids up to the fellowship center at Asbury College where it was going to be held and started doing preliminary setup for the cooking and eating, arranging couches, tables, centerpieces, pots, pans and place settings. After an hour or so, we had it in pretty good shape and headed back to the trailer, where the three ladies watched a BBC version of Sense and Sensibility. (Anna's 15 year old son Micah couldn't handle that much estrogen and beat a hasty exit to bed.) The movie didn't end until about 1:15 a.m. and we all stumbled off to bed.

I'm going to end this entry here so you don't fall asleep. Go take a nap, eat a snack, and come back later for the next two days' worth of exciting adventure :)

Time's a Flyin'

Dude. Has it been a month? Yeesh.

In that month there have been four Saturdays (as is usually the case) and three of them were beautiful. Sunny. Warm. Beckoning. Tantalizing.

Three Saturdays ago, I had to do yard work. This wasn't just a mild courtesy for the neighbors. I hadn't mowed since probably mid June, the leaves were starting to come down and I still had some plants to get in the ground from the last bestowal from my plant benefactrix. I really needed to be able to get my mower started (the carb was fouled and I couldn't even get the ruddy thing to turn over). Thankfully, Mr. Rogers is my neighbor, and he is kind enough to doctor my lawn mower when I can't get it started. While I sat on their deck and visited with his wife, he took the carburetor off the mower and cleaned it out, putting everything back together, with Riley sniffing alongside, wanting to be a mower repair assistant. It was wonderful to hack down the weeds, plant the summersweet and trumpet vine, and rake a huge pile in the side yard. Riley enjoyed the cushion of leaves in the sun Sunday afternoon when I got home after church.

The next week, I started getting all fixit lady minded (drip), and on Wednesday decided to (drip) tackle two items that had long (drip) been plauging me. One was a (drip) particularly abominable light (drip) fixture in my dining 'area' ('room' is too grand a term), and the other was a (drip) faucet that had (drip) been leaking for probably two or three, or mmrfphg months, and it had finally started to annoy me. I took the cartridge out of the cold water handle side on my American Standard gooseneck that I'd put in about five years ago and headed off to Home Depot. Normally, they're all over you, asking if you need help, if you've found what you need, if they can help you, or if you need them to peel you a grape.

Wednesday nights are evidently not normal, because there wasn't anyone to be found with a helpful lift to his brow. I walked from the plumbing department to the lighting department and managed not to be accosted. Didn't see what I needed in either department, and finally got a warm greeting as I was walking out the exit. Drove to the HD in Greer, and found more of the same...Wednesday night is not their forte. I finally managed to tackle someone who was trying to mind his own 'Kitchen' business and he took me to the plumbing area I'd missed, and called on his little walkie talkie for someone to come to the plumbing department. Apparently no one informed him of their Wednesday policy, because no one showed up. Ever. It ended up with a 'sorry, but you probably need to check up at the plumbing supply place up the road because I can't find what you need and really don't have a clue.'

After my two quests at Home Depot, I did stop in Lowe's to see what they might have, but they carry not the American Standard brand. I browsed their ceiling light selection while there and found something that I thought would be serviceable. It wasn't great, but it was cheap and passable...enough to get past the flickering antiquity in place. Once I got back home, I tried to put the old cartridge back into the faucet, but now it had gone from the occasional, though regular drop to a drippity drippity, drippity, drippity, until I had to just turn off the cold water at the shutoff valve. I mean, cold water at the kitchen sink is over rated anyway, right? At least I had the light I could put up. I turned off the breaker, took down the old, crusty, brittle mess and put up the new little modest globe light. It looked small on the ceiling, but if it did the job...that's what counted, right? When I flipped the breaker, it came back on obediently (no sparks), but it had two massive strikes against it. It only held two 60 watt bulbs and the globe was amber, and when it was the only light source on that side of the room, it was dim, and it was a very yellow dim. The room suddenly had a bad case of jaundice. The ceiling ceased being white. The wallpaper took on a sickly hue. I thought the last light was bad, but that was just because it flickered and it was old and dirty. This new one was painful to look at when it was on. It was depressing! If I turned on the light by habit, I had to turn it right back off as a reflex. Yech!

Thursday, I found out the plumbing place up the road actually had the part I needed (happy dance!) and they had 15 in stock. They were $6 cheaper than ordering it online from the manufacturer and they opened at 8 a.m., so Friday morning, I got my faucet cartridge in hand (I'm loving Imsco!) and Saturday morning I returned the awful light to Lowe's. On a whim, I stopped in to a local lighting store down the street from Lowe's and ended up finding something that I thought would meet my needs. The faucet took about 15 minutes to fix and the light took a little longer. About 98% of my tools are at a friend's house, so I was having to strip the lamp cord with scissors and round up some odd and end screwdrivers, but I managed to get everything put together before going to a dinner with church folks Saturday night. If the old light was dim, the new light looked like I'd managed to somehow tap into the sun and would need a nuclear plant built nearby to sustain the draw. I like it :)

The windows were open at the house and I heard a lot of bikes ride by as I was laboring inside, but having the drip dry up and the light replaced were enough of a tradeoff, that I was able to wait for another day to ride.

This past Saturday, it started cool, but ended up being a mild and beautiful day, which was a perfect day for the wedding of one of my best friends. She'd asked me to be a bridesmaid, so instead of riding off into the mountains, I was sitting in a chair at 9 a.m. having my hair crafted and makeup applied to go with the black dress and three inch heels (and I'm no shorty!) It's kind of nice to get cleaned up nicely every once in a while just to prove that I can :) I forgot to take my camera for the big day, but I might get some pics later to post. We'll see.

So in light of the fact that I've not ridden for the last three beautiful Saturdays, I plan to make up for that and ride out on Thanksgiving Day up to Kentucky to visit some cousins I've not seen for years. I'm especially looking forward to spending time with one who lives outside of Seattle, and with whom I spent a few summers with while growing up in Kansas. The forecast has been its usual fickle self, and up until this afternoon, it was showing snow showers in the forecast for Lexington on Friday. It's calmed down now to a.m. clouds and afternoon sun, but the lows are still going to be dang chilly, down to 27 on Friday. Lord willing, I'll be heading back on Saturday afternoon, so it will just be a short trip, but I'm in the mood for a mini trip :) I'll see if I can have some kind of adventure while I'm gone...just to keep it interesting.