And then I found a $10 bill at Deal’s Gap

At the last minute, the collarbone crew (minus Chad celebrating his “event”) gathered for a trip to Deal’s Gap.  As expected, minutes before rolling out, the SV wouldn’t start.  A bad regulator / rectifier is the alleged culprit which could explain the need for new batteries so often in my bikes.  After a little bump start, we meet over at Brendan’s for further diagnosis.  For some reason, we felt the need to measure the voltage in our ears as well.

 

The star of the this photo is:
A. Brendan.
B. the Blackbird.
C. the new flip flops from the Nantahala store that are no good now because Brendan lost one off the back of his bike while riding.

The bikes are being prepped.

 

Hold it… squeeze it… pump it… now bleed it!  The things that we do for our bikes.

Since the SV battery was already weak, Todd suggested that I not run so many extra electronics on my bike.  Hmm… I wonder who has the bike with the satellite radio, GPS, and radar detector and not pictured are the heated grips and heated gear leads ; )

Red shirt, red bike, red trim on my Givi luggage.  The bike was ready to roll 20K soon.

First stop was the Grass Roots.  They had just put down some concrete parking to welcome the bikers.

They had a very interesting menu that did NOT include chili.  Wait, it DID include chili, but initially it said it didn’t.  They supposedly had the best Pu Pu platter in town too.

I ordered the Bale of Hay which is “crispy, crackly, crunchy fried spaghetti” and was quite tasty!  I do love some crunchy foods.  Brendan’s sandwiches looked like they were about to set sail.

 

I liked that the little old lady ordered a huge slice of chocolate cake to eat alongside her lunch.  I think she’s got her priorities straight.

 

Todd singlehandedly moved all of our bikes to the new concrete pad.

This may not seem like much of a photo but this is where Todd and I got pulled for speeding.  They say they always prey after the slowest and weakest in the pack because Brendan and Jason whizzed past us going much faster.   Todd was clocked at 70 and I was doing 73.  I was more focused on the gravel parking lot than the trooper behind us.  Then Todd further explained to the cop that he’s from Ohio and I’m from Charlotte but we met on the internet – eww!  Whatever Todd said worked because we didn’t get a ticket so it’s not so bad traveling with an attorney : )

Here Todd tells the story and we have a photo of the potential jail birds.

 

The gas station is a popular spot for bikes gathering and bikers drinking.  Interesting.

Tim arrived and got room 7 all ready for us.

Brendan showed us what a 40 liter top case can handle – the essentials!

The accommodations were biker friendly with a hooks for jackets and helmets and a wire shelf for extra gear.

Staying at Deal’s Gap was a neat way to socialize with other bikers.  The fella says, so that’s a Blackbird 1100, right?  Then he looks at the twin bike beside it (sans displacement decals) and says, how big is that one?

This was the cast of this weekend’s show: Jason, me, Brendan, Tim, and Todd.

We were just a few yards from the tree of shame.  The real shame was they wanted to pilfer good plastics off the tree.

Todd took the new hard bags on their maiden voyage then promptly took them back off.

We enjoyed a few moments of rest.

Then the boys loaded up and crossed the Tail of the Dragon for some eats.  Tim got to be the designated rain suit carrier.

 

Tim also brought enough WD-40 to share with everyone at Deal’s Gap.  Not only did he bring a full sized can but he brought an industrial sized can!  Here Brendan is showing it off.

I stayed back and chit chatted with some Canadians at the bonfire and had my first Caesar as well.  These guys trailed down over 16 hours from Ontario to ride our roads.  Wow!

 

Let’s just say that no karabiners or S-biners were hurt in this incident.

Who needs a GPS when I printed out a Google map that I don’t know how to read?  Between the two Mio’s, three Zumo’s and printed maps galore, we still managed to need to pull over countless times.

Tim is always drawing down at every get together.  To match up with last trip’s photo, I took another of what I thought was a decorative gun.

More analysis of the tree of shame for potential good parts.   Guess who’s bike is under the cover?

Todd shows off his slimey map that he desperately tried to find a replacement at every stop.  Brendan must have been sick of our group because he tried to sit with another group at breakfast.

We made a pitstop at the place covered in confederate flags.  Good stuff.

The rain tried to catch us but we kept navigating away from it.  Plus, we donned rain suits for the morning to ward it off and it worked.

Somehow we managed to find every gas stationa round without pay at the pump.  When you don’t have pay at the pump, you spend a lot of time waiting around which is probably why they’re trying to sell us more boiled peanuts.  Who needs peanuts when you’ve got snacks in your top case?

 

We finally make it over to TWO in Suches and lo and behold, they weren’t serving food.  Evidently, they only serve food when they feel like and I guess they weren’t in the mood.  The whole parking lot was full of hungry bikers but they still wouldn’t turn on the grill. 

You can see the place has a lot of rules… against one percenters too!  I’m not sure if this pirate here counts.

 

This is the look of tired and hungry bikers. 

 

Tim got hold of my camera and see what he found interesting to capture in photos.

We moved along and found a little restaurant with outdoor seating.  At first it seemed like a good idea until we were immediately offered a menu choice of burgers, burgers, or burgers.  The waitress took our order with sweet loving openers like, “hey buddy” or just a slap on the arm to get your attention. 

As we gassed up, we met Daniel, a fellow first gen SV rider and joined us on the Cherohala Skyway.  The fellas converse with other bikers to determine the po po situation.

 

Along the trip, my odo finally rolled the big 20K!

I did make it to one scenic overlook to add some clothing as the temps starting dropping.

After a full day of riding we make it back only to get chastised for rearranging benches.  Tim and Jason are the culprits.

Todd, me, and Brendan are merely the audience.

Our neighbors were riding in style.

What’s weird is that there was one small child sitting by the bonfire late at night.  What’s not weird is that Todd was once again cleaning his bike.

Sharing a room with five people is rather interesting when one person snores and then another person catches the snore.  Add some bed rattling, bunk squeaking, and pillow pulling to the mix and hilarity ensues!  Fortunately everyone had ear plugs and I, of course, had an eye cover as well.

The next morning, everyone gets their bags packed back onto the bikes.

Tim is one with his bike.

Another artistic Tim photograph of the Charlotte crew.

Todd has a little snack and cappuccino while Jason still looks asleep at our first gas stop.

Next stop was a bit longer as the Parkway was closed due to an accident.  A bicyclist almost helped cause another one as he decided to ride directly perpendicular to my path as I was powering out of a corner.  Scary!

The car flipped Saturday night and they were just pulling it out over 24 hours later.  The owners of the car are in the photo.  Where’s Waldo?

Brendan gets scolded for getting too close to the accident scene.

 

I had to become one with nature and ask for tissues to relieve myself outdoors.

This Goldwing had some awesome landing wheels that drop at the push of a button to help steady the bike at slow speeds.

The boys look on as we decide to just wait it out as Grasty’s Towing saves the day.  What a name!

Jason officially kills his rear tire after it’s already dead.

We chose a beautiful spot to enjoy one last meal together. 

It’s been decided that stuff white people like includes restaurants with awesome mountain views.

 

Once again, it was another great episode in the Antirider Rider’s show of life.  The moral of this episode is that no matter what the story is or how it goes, if you end it with, “and then I found a ten dollar bill,” everyone will be happy.  So no, I didn’t really find a ten dollar bill but I sure did have an awesome adventure!  Until next time…