After yet another long day in the saddle, we pulled into Deals Gap, 15 minutes before the office and restaurant closed. Keeping our unplanned planning as spontaneous as always! We settled into the room, cracked open a couple of beers and went to meet up with our other biker friends...well they didn't know they were going to be our friends but they had a good idea it was coming!
Our neighbor on the left, Lee from just outside New Orleans is a walking map of which routes to ride for the most thrill. Literally, there is nothing you can't ask him about the area. He has been coming to stay here every year for 18 years. His daughter lives nearby and it gives him purpose to plan the trip to see her and her family, and throw in a bike trip to boot. His wife died almost 12 years ago, a second marriage to a "Cindy" ended with her being in Atlanta, "just where she should be" was his opinion.....by the way, he did mention that not all Cindy's are like me! We chatted and teased each other as he as replacing a piece on his HD. When I made a smart remark about his patience, he laughed and asked me if I knew sign language....I showed him our metric version to which he had a great chuckle.
On the other side of our room were 4 nice gentleman from Ontario.....they were nice, but Lee was my favorite conversationalist. A couple of doors down were Jeff and Nate from Michigan. They had left the wives at home for a trip to the Dragon. Great guys....Jeff had an FJR, same year as Larry's, except custom shopped to the nines.....was even running a car tire on the rear wheel, odd...damn odd...we chatted bikes for the longest time, he telling me that his wife bikes as well and how she bought him his first sport touring that he thought he had missed out on purchasing himself....first time he had ever cried he said...he introduced himself after sharing the stories about his wife and their bike purchases/sales and trips. When I gave him my name he chucked out loud as his wife's name was also Cindy....couldn't wait to tell her he met a Cindy riding an FJR.
All in all the parking lot was fairly quiet except for people pulling in to ask for a phone...some young guy didn't quite kick the Dragon's ass so he was sitting up on the tail waiting for an ambulance. What they originally thought was a couple of sprained ankles turned into a possible fracture. Luckily there was a paramedic staying at the Gap who went up to assist. North Carolina and Tennessee don't see eye to eye on who should pick up who on which part of the 11 mile ride.......apparently Tennessee got this round and showed up reluctantly more than 3 hours later...point being, keep the rubber to the road and your wits about you...and most importantly, ride your level. Some of these guys do the tail a couple of times and get over confident, or so I was told by one very fortunate young man over breakfast. He had dropped his bike the day before but walked away with his bike and his body intact albeit a slight limp from a banged up knee.......the result is usually not a positive one.....three ambulance responses and four other spills in less than 24 hours...no wonder these states don't want to respond...they should have their own services just for the Gap...instead of ambulance, just send the idiot van.....
We retired early so we would be fresh the next day.....hope I won't need an idiot van.....
PS....we were off the grid, no cellular or wifi, hence no update last nite....
Wow..wow..wow! This sounds like a large adventure! I am so glad you 2 are having a blast. Been looking at where you are/have been and there seems almost too much to take in. Can't wait to see your pics and hear you smilin' stories! I see there is also a "Moonshiner 28" run along with several others. Will you be tempted?? haha! Take care, ride safe and enjoy every second! Love, MA
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