The Ramblings of a Uralogist- A cross country ADVenture on three wheels

[madeouttaglass]

I have to start with last night. I was checking out a moderate motel when I met a nice couple outside. They had driven their newer Shelby Mustang and towed a dresser HD behind another car. They were also planning on hunting dragons the next day. They just weren't sure which weapon they'd use. Talking with then convinced me that I should stay there for the night. I'm irritated that their names escape me.
This morning I rode the Cherahola Skyway to 129 (Deal's Gap, The Dragon) Lots to be seen there. Beautiful scenery and some neat man made stuff. Notice the guy half way up the crane. This stuff was huge!






I've been lucky enough to ride the dragon on my VF1000R and FJR1300 a few years back. I've always thought the oncoming traffic is the biggest danger around there.
On my way there I saw this fantastic topiary and had to turn around. The creator of these masterpieces happened to be in his front yard and came over. I got his card but can't find it now. (Things get a little disorganized after three weeks on the road and no wife for a few days.) He's even gone to AbuDabi to make some for bigshots over there.
Edit- His name is Joe Kyte and his amazing work can be found at www.topiaryjoe.com. Go check it out.

The master:



An old Porsche he's finishing up:




Today was a Monday with perfect weather and the amount of bikes and cars weren't bad. After a pit stop at the store I was getting ready to ride the famed 11 miles when three Harley Pirates rode past on one dresser and two RoadKings. I finished putting on my helmet, gloves, and checking things and took off a ways behind them. In less than a minute I and a GSXR750 pulled over because we were on the HD's asses. We gave them a good minute, then left again. The GSXR disappeared but I caught them all in another minute or less. The HDs were in full parade mode. I pulled over again. I noticed that a bolt on my plexifairing was loose. I pulled off my gloves, finger tightened it but it was still loose and a distraction. I opened my tank bag and pulled out a zip tie to hold the bolt. Failed at the first attempt, got a second one and it did OK. I closed up the tank bag, wrestled my gloves onto my sweating hands, then took off. I caught up with the Harleys and GSXR as they finished the 11 miles. Was I going too fast? I think three guys were going too slow.
I'll have to look for the pictures on 126slayer or killboy. I know that there is at least one ugly one of me doing a bad flying the chair. I blame the pirates for throwing off my game with a heavily loaded sidecar.



A random shot of the area.


After my runs of the Dragon I stopped across the road and met Ron and Nancy who run tailofthedragon.com. They are happy Florida transplants that sell Deal's Gap stuff, rent bikes, and even vacation rentals. Since Julie and I do the latter, we talked for a while. As I said before, more great people that I've been lucky to cross paths with. I wish this picture they took of me at their place would show better detail of their sculpture. It is a steel dragon's tail with a built in road, wrapped around a pocket bike. It is really great work.





Gotta add a state.




There was a two stroke gathering at Deal's Gap. You should of heard the one with the stingers.







The Tree of Shame. Made it through on three bikes and haven't left anything yet. Knock on wood.









As I was getting ready to leave the couple with the Shelby and HD dresser from last night and 50 miles away walked up. They had chosen the Mustang but were going to come back for a week next year.

I thought this paint job was stunning.





Then it was on to the parkway.

[madeouttaglass]

I think I know this girl.



I've always admired this clean little gas station, grocery store, and motel. I've stopped everytime for an ice cream.



The southern entrance to the BRP.



It gets dramatic very quickly.









You can see the cut of the road through the mountaintops. This is looking north towards the Mt. Pisgah Lodge where I'm spending the night. I also ended up here a few years ago when I was riding my newly purchased FJR home from Orlando.


Meet Chris W., the guy who checked me in at the lodge. I'm glad that he was here. We immediately started talking bikes. This is him with his everyday ride. A damn clean bike. Chris is interesting as hell. He's been around the country, knows a ton about birds and has even hiked the entire appalachian trail. I'm sure that if he had more time I would have learned more interesting things about him. Great to meet him.

[LawHawg]

Your story has been so cool, I had to stop lurking and register and make this my first post telling you how much I have really liked your adventure. Hopefully and if everything goes as planned I will be going on a 3 week ride at the end of July, going from Naples Florida to El Paso Texas, to Libby Montana, Sturgis, and then back to Naples. Reading post like yours really get the heart pumping and makes me long for my trip. Thanks for all of the great ideas... and screw you at the same time because I see a new bike in my future.

[madeouttaglass]

Good morning LawHawg, and welcome to the asylum. Thank you for the kind words. ADVRider can be a dangerous place. It and Pashnit.com played a large part in my motorcycle trips. The people you meet here and on the road will make you glad you started reading stuff like this.
Best of luck on your trip. I encourage you to use both websites for your planning.
Please take the time and write up a Ride Report when you do your ride. Many of us live vicariously through other's reports. (I have on a good number of them.) I've also gotten many great ideas from a few members from their reports and in the trip planning sections of these forums, and in my case also SovietSteeds. I've found that it has made me relive the day in more detail than if I just fell into a motel bed at the end of a day.

[100mpg]

Running? For sale?

Uh, great RR btw! Stirring up my own wanderlust once again...

Originally Posted by rkop0787

[madeouttaglass]

A few shots of the Dragon.
Edit- the pictures were down so I replaced them with some that KillBoy got of me. The first picture and comments actually start on the page before, but this page has two good shots. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...54662&page=729

[AeroEngineer]

Originally Posted by madeouttaglass

A few shots of the Dragon. Yes, I admit it. I got out of the lane just to get the chair up. No oncoming traffic, so please spare me the flames.

http://129slayer.photoreflect.com/st...9&g=1WPV009M05

The photos show 2 other urals within a short period of time from you, did you meet up with other riders?

[LZFiat]

Howdy Tom:

Hey if your stopping at Pisgah and taking the BRP if I might say in case you have not been.
You will be going through Asheville. If your getting hungry at that point might I suggest French Fryz......
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ba...ed=0CA0Q_BIwAw

Absolutely Great Burgers and real Milkshakes. Just a short jaunt from the Parkway.

Another great place is 12 Bones (2 locations). There is one in Asheville proper and one not far from french fryz on a side road (old converted Gas Station) that would be better in your situation.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=...-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Hopefully links work>

So glad to see Pea-Eight-Ore is coming to ride with you. Isn't the BRP great. Just love it. Could definitely consider the Asheville area a place to live if I could find a job there.

Holy crap with that Bike Museum.. Most Excellent. All that time I spent in Huntsville and Birmingham for work and never knew... Is Burt Monro's bike really there??

Thanks for the posts and thanks to the ADV board for this great forum. I dont have the Balls to throw a leg over a Bike with all the texting nut jobs on the road nowadays. You see things so much better-different being out in the open. Wish more people could appreciate it.
safe trip home guys
LZ

.

[akadvntr]

Originally Posted by madeouttaglass

Meet Dorris of Shamrock, Texas. This nice lady really made my day. She was so pleasant and informative. I wish she were my neighbor. After we talked for a while I bought the T shirt and some post cards. She then gave me a copy of an Irish blessing that really fit the day.

May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm on your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields and, until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.



I think that many of us will recognize the place where she works or volunteers. Ramone's from the movie Cars!



If you look closely you can see that they even have the neon restored. Simply beautiful. I think it might make a great Ural dealership. The Desert Rat looks right at home.



I hope I don't screw up the story when I say that the town or county got a government grant to fix the place up. This is one of those things where I don't mind my tax money going. This country needs to save a few old buildings. We'll never have 1000 year old buildings like europe if we keep letting every 90 year old one fall down.









Doris's little blessing did work. The day was as nice as you could ask for and I had a good 45+ MPH wind at my back. The bike ran happily at 65 and even 70 today.

Appreciate your ride report so much! These pictures brought back memories of my childhood when we lived in Shamrock, Texas for a short time. Awesome place for a young kid to wander around. Now I have to take the bike back there and see it again.

[Marine By Choice]

[QUOTE=madeouttaglass;18582218]I have to start with last night. I was checking out a moderate motel when I met a nice couple outside. They had driven their newer Shelby Mustang and towed a dresser HD behind another car. They were also planning on hunting dragons the next day. They just weren't sure which weapon they'd use. Talking with then convinced me that I should stay there for the night. I'm irritated that their names escape me.
This morning I rode the Cherahola Skyway to 129 (Deal's Gap, The Dragon) Lots to be seen there. Beautiful scenery and some neat man made stuff. Notice the guy half way up the crane. This stuff was huge!






I've been lucky enough to ride the dragon on my VF1000R and FJR1300 a few years back. I've always thought the oncoming traffic is the biggest danger around there.
On my way there I saw this fantastic topiary and had to turn around. The creator of these masterpieces happened to be in his front yard and came over. I got his card but can't find it now. (Things get a little disorganized after three weeks on the road and no wife for a few days.) He's even gone to AbuDabi to make some for bigshots over there.
Edit- His name is Joe Kyte and his amazing work can be found at www.topiaryjoe.com. Go check it out.

The master:



An old Porsche he's finishing up:




Today was a Monday with perfect weather and the amount of bikes and cars weren't bad. After a pit stop at the store I was getting ready to ride the famed 11 miles when three Harley Pirates rode past on one dresser and two RoadKings. I finished putting on my helmet, gloves, and checking things and took off a ways behind them. In less than a minute I and a GSXR750 pulled over because we were on the HD's asses. We gave them a good minute, then left again. The GSXR disappeared but I caught them all in another minute or less. The HDs were in full parade mode. I pulled over again. I noticed that a bolt on my plexifairing was loose. I pulled off my gloves, finger tightened it but it was still loose and a distraction. I opened my tank bag and pulled out a zip tie to hold the bolt. Failed at the first attempt, got a second one and it did OK. I closed up the tank bag, wrestled my gloves onto my sweating hands, then took off. I caught up with the Harleys and GSXR as they finished the 11 miles. Was I going too fast? I think three guys were going too slow.
I'll have to look for the pictures on 126slayer or killboy. I know that there is at least one ugly one of me doing a bad flying the chair. I blame the pirates for throwing off my game with a heavily loaded sidecar.



A random shot of the area.


After my runs of the Dragon I stopped across the road and met Ron and Nancy who run tailofthedragon.com. They are happy Florida transplants that sell Deal's Gap stuff, rent bikes, and even vacation rentals. Since Julie and I do the latter, we talked for a while. As I said before, more great people that I've been lucky to cross paths with. I wish this picture they took of me at their place would show better detail of their sculpture. It is a steel dragon's tail with a built in road, wrapped around a pocket bike. It is really great work.





Gotta add a state.


Where did you get the map for the fender? Can't seem to find the small ones. Thank you for such a great ride report.

[madeouttaglass]

Originally Posted by MarinByChoice

Where did you get the map for the fender? Can't seem to find the small ones. Thank you for such a great ride report.

PM inmate reactortrip, he sells them in the vendor forum.

[joenuclear]

I've noticed you post more often after shipping Mama home.

[madeouttaglass]

Originally Posted by joenuclear

I've noticed you post more often after shipping Mama home.

Mama has been my wife for over 25 years. We are usually together 24/7. It is odd to be without her this long.
Only reason I might be posting a bit more is that my thick skull has learned a few quicker ways of doing this.
Soon it will be a memory. The ride is almost done.

Yesterday I left the Mount Pisgah Lodge to head to the Peaks of Otter Lodge roughly 300 miles down the parkway. My older brother had spent the two previous days riding from Lake Ontario to Peaks of Otter. His second day was spent riding in extremely thick fog on part of Skyline Drive and most of the 80 miles of the Blue Ridge.
Here are a few shots of the Blue Ridge between these two nice lodges.










About 35 miles was added to that 300ish between lodges. There is still a detour on the parkway that Julie and I had to use last year when we drove the RV to our niece's wedding. I was frustrated but stopped for gas at little old place and met another nice local. Here's another time where I should have bothered this man for his name and picture. He asked where I was from and than told me that he and his adult sons have gone salmon fishing an hour from my house for the last eight years. He pulled out a couple packages of pictures and told me all about the fun they had together at fish camp. Only after I left did I think to get the camera out to remind me about this man. Here's what they call them Toy-yoders down there.


Another little historical place to stop on the parkway.


For the first time in three weeks I stopped to put on my raingear. I was approaching a hill and it was very dark in front of me. When I shut off the bike I heard thunder close by. A couple of drops fell as I wrestled the stuff on over my leathers and riding jacket. I immediately started to roast. I climbed the hill and saw that the dark sky was only a dark cloud that wisked to my right. Clear skies after that. I was almost at a visitor's center and pulled in to peel off the gear I had put on three minutes earlier. I met Ken and Maxine who were riding the parkway. They didn't believe that my bike was a 2010 and had been cleaner than their bike only three weeks ago. Like many, they thought it was some old war machine.
Nice folks.



Maybury mill and the historical buildings around it.










I clicked off these pictures when I thought that I was going to hit my first real rain of the ride. I wanted to have a record of the mess from 3/4 of the country. Some of these bugs died in Washington and Oregon. By the way, the bike is not leaking a drop. The oil mess is from my "field oil changes". What spills stays.













I meant to post this picture of my deodorant stick a couple weeks ago. This is what happens at Death Valley at 106 degrees.

[madeouttaglass]

Originally Posted by AeroEngineer

The photos show 2 other urals within a short period of time from you, did you meet up with other riders?

Sorry, nope.

[Marine By Choice]

Originally Posted by madeouttaglass

PM inmate reactortrip, he sells them in the vendor forum.

Thank you. Just sent PM. Be safe, Keith