We shake the Dragon's Tail !!!

Leaving Nashville, we eschewed the speed advantage of the Interstate for a more sedate and scenic route along Hwy 70 which ran almost parallel to it for much of the way; but we were in no hurry and all three of us dislike the hustle of the Interstates. The route, whilst running east, also dropped in a slight southerly direction. It was a pleasant though unremarkable ride apart from the town names through which we passed. Lebanon, Sparta and Athens all came and went, quite an international trip without ever leaving Tennessee !We had lunch at a Subway shop and then rode on until we stopped for our dinner supplies at a Walmart in the town of Englewood. As we pulled away from the store we stopped up at a set of lights alongside a guy riding a Honda Magna. Caroline leaned across and asked if he knew of any campgrounds in the area at which he beckoned us to follow him into a store car park. Having given us full instructions to a State Park which, as usual, had a campground, we all set off once more. However we hadn’t gone but a few hundred yards following the Magna before he again pulled off and beckoned us to follow. George had had another idea, and suggested that we could all camp in his garden for the night! After a brief 3 way chat, we all agreed and set off to follow George to his little homestead. Arriving at a cute, pale blue painted, traditional wooden home on a sizeable corner plot, complete with the usual collection of vehicles, some running, some not, we discovered a small flaw in Georges cunning plan…. The Wife! Mrs George was not quite as keen as her motorcycle riding husband to have their garden and their lives invaded by a bunch of scruffy, foreign bikers. George did his best to persuade her but when the subject of “bathroom” came into the equation she stood her ground and we beat a hasty retreat after thanking George for his attempted kindness and good thoughts. We even went so far as to invite him to join us at the campground during the evening as he seemed a genuinely nice guy and really keen to meet and talk to real travellers and fellow bikers..

Dawn with her Suzuki GS500F

The campground George had suggested was in the Hawasee State Park, a little way south of Etowah on Hwy 30 and only a few miles from his home. It was a good choice (apart from the little fact that there was no other option close by). A pleasant little site, it conformed to the usual format of such sites with a ring road along which the individual sites radiated on either side of the road. Running our usual routine of a couple of circuits of the site before selecting our nights abode, we spotted another bike at the far end of the site on which sat a lone young girl, we all waved as we passed but continued on our way to a large site we had spotted near to the start of the loop and convenient for the toilets and water. Once we had set up camp, Jim went for a stroll around the loop and encountering the girl once more whom seemed to be all on her own, he invited her to pop down later and join us later.

Dawn arrived just before our dinner was ready but as she was a veggie, she refuse our offer of food, assuring us that she had already eaten; George, much to our amazement, arrived shortly after! We hadn't thought for one moment that he would be allowed out after such a faux pas. However it was very evident that his cell phone went unanswered throughout the evening in spite of ringing loudly several times!!! George had recently retired from a career as an History teacher in a local college. He was a fable sort of guy and was interested to hear tales of our various travels and adventures, as was Dawn. Now you know that it is always said that there are three taboo subjects when it comes to after dinner conversations; Sex, Politics and Religion. I’m not sure why, but I always seem to have to buck such conventions and it sure makes for some fun conversations as long as having started the ball rolling you don’t take it all too seriously; or at least not as seriously as the person you have goaded into full fledged rant!!!!

Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you’re looking for fun!), George, whilst on the surface a gentle, unassuming family guy, underneath, just like the cartoon character, he was one of those All American, small town, narrow minded bigots that you meet from time to time. I, in all innocence (and nobody who knows me will believe that) asked George what he thought of Donald Trump! Having seen the odd clip on TV and on-line over the past few weeks of his various foot in mouth gaffs, I was curious as to how he was being perceived but the average American. As a retired professor I thought George would give a soundly reasoned response. Oh, and boy did he! He saw Trump as something between a God and Saviour, certainly someone well worthy of (and likely!!) to become the next most powerful man in the world, The President of the United States.

I’d like to say that that shut me up, but of course it didn't! From there the conversation ranged from the Ku Klux Klan; whom though they were “Misunderstood” and a great organisation, doing lots of good in the community; to the inevitable Religion, where I think he astounded us all by spouting huge texts from his bible ( I say “his” as I have no idea what version it was, but it certainly didn't sound like anything I had heard before) in which he basically advocated the extermination of all “non-believers”. Sounds a bit like the rhetoric I have heard coming from organisations like IsIs to me. And this from a man who had access to the vulnerable, and impressionable  minds of youngsters to radicalise with his bigotry. All in all, quite an entertaining evening. Like all who practise the ancient art of Devil’s Advocate, I just sat back and let him go, with of course the odd interjection to keep things flowing!!!! Amazingly, we parted as friends who just held rather different views of the world, but I don’t think I’ll be keeping in touch.

Dawn, having been invited to join us for breakfast, then asked if she might join us for our ride north as she was heading home to Pennsylvania which was roughly the direction in which we were all heading, or at least, I was; with Jim and Caroline still a little uncertain. I think like me she was getting a bit lonely travelling alone and was happy to have company if only for a day or two.  We had decided to stay two nights on the Etowah campground to enable us to run The Tail of the Dragon unhindered by out baggage and somewhat top heavy machines and dawn was happy to come along for the ride. Leaving the campground, Caroline, as usual, took the lead with Dawn, at 22 years old and by far the least experienced rider, following, me at number three and Jim bringing up the rear. It worked well in that way, as Caroline has a phenomenal, almost photographic memory for routes and road number, whilst she and Jim have an intercom so can keep in touch if either Dawn or I were to make an unscheduled stop. Caroline is also a very, very good rider. Although she has only been riding for a little over two years, she has ridden virtually every day during those two years, in more countries and in more different conditions, than most riders will cover in a lifetime. Whilst she may not be the fastest rider on the roads, she makes damn good progress, rides very smoothly and most importantly, safely; in fact she is a joy to follow, and it’s not often I say that about another rider. I generally prefer to either lead or play tail end charley at the rear, where either way I can set my own pace.

The four of us left the Hiwasee Campground quite early as we had kit to worry about packing. The plan was to head up the Tail of the Dragon via back road through Tellico Plans and then drop around to the south west to run the Cherohala Skyway on the way home; it would be a very full days riding totalling around 240 miles over some allegedly testing roads; 318 bends in 11 miles should test anyone’s mettle! And so yet another myth get de-bunked! Yes, The Tail was great fun to ride; a little to stop-start for my taste, there was just no way you could really get a nice rhythm flowing. I had taken the lead a little before we hit the first of the bends at Caroline’s suggestion. and was happy to do so, as it also enabled me to pick up the pace just a little. As I have already said Caroline is certainly no slouch and rides the bends beautifully. It seemed that it was over almost before it had started. One of the great joys of US and Canadian road is that they go on, and on, and on, and…. At 11 miles you come to Deal’s Gap, a burger joint and gift shop where Caroline kindly bought us all stickers and I bought… yes, yet another T-shirt; well it would have been rude not to! Then instead of taking the direct route to The Cherohala Skyway, we hung a left and took the long way round on a road that in my humble opinion was every bit as good as the Tail. Lunch stop was the ubiquitous Subway and so back to base for a delicious barbecue kebab dinner, fresh giant prawns for Jim and I, veggie for the girls.

Dawn had obviously enjoyed her day as next morning saw our little team of three become four as we set route for Asheville and the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway.