40 Years, Deal's Gap and no bike.....

[autopilot]

If you all will indulge me for a moment, I’d like to relate the latest entry in the Autopilot’s journal.

 

Spent a few days in the mountains with my wife, celebrating 40 years together. Hard to imagine, sometimes. We did more stuff right by accident, than most do on purpose. Praise the Lord for that, ‘cause I sure didn’t have anything to do with it! Well, moving right along…I will likely draw some barbs for this but we were in the vicinity of Deals Gap and didn’t take the bikes on this trip. Given the road and driveway going to the cabin, it’s probably just as well that I didn’t bring them. I’m not sure I could have gotten the truck & trailer to the cabin from the road. Even if I could have, I’m not at all sure I could have negotiated that rutted up, washed out, rock, mud & gravel imitation of a driveway with either of the bikes. One side was literally 500-800 feet down the side of the mountain, if I dumped the bike, we both would be toast. It would be a month before anyone could find us, assuming they even knew where to look.

I had nothing to do with renting the place and these little tidbits of information had not been clearly disclosed prior to our arrival. Needless to say, if I had arrived with my full-sized pickup with motorcycle trailer in tow, I would have been one un-happy camper.

 

Now, the major secondary roads (129, 143, 28, 19, 74) in & around Robbinsville, NC, on the other hand, were phenomenal and I most definitely plan to go back with the bike(s) for them. I won’t be staying at this particular place though, you can be sure. Heck, I had to do a 3 point turn with my wife’s Ford Escape, as small as IT is, to get in or out of the driveway in one direction.

 

Couldn’t do the Tail of the Dragon the day we drove over there. It was closed most of the day due to a fatal trike crash. 67 year old guy from Arkansas died when he drove off the mountain around mile 4. I was told that someone was taking pictures and he turned and waved to them. In just that bit of time he lost his bearings, lost control and that was it. The Dragon had claimed yet another. Prayers up, for the family.

 

On a brighter note, I saw a couple of 2nd gen. Ventures up that way. One was a silver over (bronze?) They were 2 up on the Cherohala Skyway, headed toward Robbinsville. (I vaguely remember someone in the forum talking about going up there and having a bike that color, but I couldn’t find the post when I got back) The other was a blue over black….can’t remember exactly where I saw that one. (Think it was on 129 going to Deals Gap) I thought I saw a silver Venture, but I just had a glimpse and can’t be sure. Up there, even cagers have to pay attention to driving! These sightings would have been in the 6/21-6/24 time frame. The downside is that I ONLY saw those couple of Ventures. I’ve never seen so many Harleys in my life. They were everywhere! I was relaxing on a bench in Bryson city after lunch one afternoon, while the wife did a little shopping and spoke with 3 couples on H-Ds from Michigan. (Harley has a gorgeous black cherry color)

 

So, that was our little mini vacation and 40th Anniversary, at least those are the main points . Not much to mark forty years, as celebrations go, but the fact that we made it this long seems to be an accomplishment, these days! One thing for sure....Me and a bike will be back! Ain't love grand?

[royalstarjac]

The wife and I rode up there on our 07 Blue and Black on Sat 6/21. Maybe that was us!-Jack

[Roy Hoffman]

I was at the Dragon with sveral friends on 6/23 with my midnight around noon, spent 4 days around that part of the country and never duplicated a road. Awsome riding and very biker friendly people.

[TxVenture]

autopilot, congrats to you and the Mrs. on 40 yrs. That is something to be proud of in todays times. We celebrated 41 yrs in May.

 

Don H.