Route: 129S,28S, 74E, 19S, 40E
By the numbers:
1 - lying shipping company
1 - instance of me hitting on a woman with a prosthetic leg
2 - perfect, tan legs on a gorgeous coed at UT Knoxville
2 - CA beers on tap
We woke up before the sun was up again. As we wandered, bleary eyed, downstairs to the Starbucks we wondered how cold it would be when we hit the road. By the time we got upstairs the sun was up and we suspected we knew the answer as the mist hang in the fall air of Knoxville. We both got out our cold weather gear and got our bikes ready for the fabled "Tail of the Dragon". More here: http://www.tailofthedragon.com/
Sure enough, it was cold as we hit every light on our way to 129S. Fortunately, my spirits were lifted as we passed UT Knoxville and the most perfect pair of tan legs walked past us in the cross-walk. I think I might need to spend some more time in Knoxville. So far, the majority of the women in Knoxville have been very good looking...
We approach the dragon and it's cold. I assume I'll warm up with a little adrenaline and the lower speeds and take a few pics before it gets too twisty.
The Dragon was impecibly maintained so it was easy to see the road blemishes caused by crashed bikers. I guess the "Tree of Shame" claims far more bikers than I suspected. We take a moderate pace aware of the danger and we realize we have the road to ourselves. Nice. Moments later we see a few bikers pass the other direction and they tap the top of their helmet which means there's a cop up ahead. Our already moderate pace dropped even lower.
The similarities with the Dragon and our local roads were apparent. Why go 2000 miles away when I can ride the same roads in the Santa Cruz mountains? Or beat them with HWY 36 in Northen CA?
We noticed two other bikes approached us at the end of the road so we let them pass.
We crossed the NC state line and the Dragon is over. 318 turns went by so quickly.
As we pull into the main parking lot we see the two guys that passed us walking by. Anthony and Randy were nice guys from Atlanta and we chatted over coffee discussing the intricacies of our bikes and the local roads. They encouraged us to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway and that there were many great roads in the area with far less traffic and photographers. No doubt.
We head off down 28S and think that this is a great idea. The scenery is gorgeous.
But 45 minutes later we find ourselves in a maze of connected roads with little progress towards our hotel room in Durham. I reprogram the GPS and we follow the circuituitous route finally making our way back to 40E. We stop for food - breakfast for lunch again!
The remaining 200 miles to Durham seemed very long. My ass protested every 10 minutes anf I couldn't find a decent position. Ah well...only 6 more days left.
We finally made it to the Marriott and check my messages. It was the shipping company and they said they would be in NYC in the middle of next week - not 10/10 as I had requested. I call them back and find out that they can't pick up on a specific day. Naturally, I'm not pleased because this throws a wrench into my precious schedule. Turns out, the guy who took the order (and my money) was fired for making promises the company couldn't deliver. The offer to refund my money didn't mean much. We'll talk on Monday and figure it out. So, now I have to stay on schedule if I want my bike picked up. I have options, I just font like them too much. All part of the trip, right?
We ask the doorman for recommendations for beer and some semblance of nightlife (we hadn't seem much to this point) and he grabs the shuttle keys and says, "Let's go!"
We end up maybe 7 blocks away at Brightleaf Square but wandered around deciding what our stomachs wanted for dinner. We settle on The Federal which is crawling with Duke students (as was every other place we walked by). We pull up a seat to the bar and look at the beers on tap - two were CA brews. Good ones too (Stone smoked porter and the Lagunitas IPA). We had ridden 3200 miles at this point and I'm having a CA beer since I've never seen it on tap. We even scored a Young's Double Chocolate Stout before calling it a night.
We headed to the sound of the music to Devine's Sports Bar and saw a live band outside. Then we noticed that there was music next door too. We grudgingly paid the $5 cover and headed in. Like The Federal, Devine's was filled with Duke students and Tim and I watched them come and go. I head in for our last whiskey and I'm next to a cute blonde next to me whom I noticed had a bit of a limp and couldn't bend her right knee. I've seen this before in dozens of knee surgeries so I decide I'll make some small talk and start with her knee. Bad idea. I ask her about her knee and she looks at me and says, "My knee is fine other than it not being there." I have a puzzled look on my face. She quickly continues, "I have a prosthetic leg." and smiles. I instantly blush and start apologizing. She was very gracious and said it happens all the time and it's not a big deal. I head back out to tell Tim and, yet again, he laughs at how smooth I am with the ladies. No wonder I'm single. Maybe I need that "Wife Hunting" book after all...
All of today's pics can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pacifisticuffs/sets/72157607712280044/
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