Day 1 - The Ride Up

Well, there it was...40 days - 40 nights kinda rain roarin against our metal roof, rousin me from my slumber 'bout 5:00 am Friday morn. T-minus 4 hours for departure on our ride to Tuggles Gap, Virginny...and it wasn't lookin good at all. Well, at least it was warm out, and I gots 'nuther hour of sleep before showerin 'n shavin and drivin our son to school before headin out. This ride would take us…"us" bein me 'n the missus…to southwest Virginia...'bout 300 miles one-way...to a li'l motel and restaurant called Tuggles Gap right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Some local friends are joinin us on the ride, and we'll be hookin up with some friends from South Carolina along the way. We also have three other couples meetin us at Tuggles Gap...two from eastern North Carolina and one couple all the way from Buffalo, NY...they must like us a lot! Anyways, I pull the covers over my head mumblin the all too familiar phrase, "Well, it won't be the first, nor last time we get wet on a ride."…and drift back off to la-la land.

Much to my surprise...and delight...when I rise at 6:00, the rain's gone, leavin in its place a gloomy and threatenin sky. Flip on the news, and there's the weather front runnin parallel to our intended route...all the way to Virginny and beyond. Oh well, mebbe we'll get lucky and run behind it all the way. Yeah, right!

The bike's all packed and just waitin for our bums. One quick call to our local friends, Wes 'n Nancy, to find out they're all ready...and we fire up ole Rattler and head out to meet 'em at the local H-D shop. We get to Smoky Mountain H-D 'round 9:00, and find Wes 'n Nancy inside havin coffee...even tho it's still an hour away from openin time...good people at this shop indeed. We fire 'em up and head out towards Newport, TN along backroads where we pick up US-321 north.

We roll into Johnson City, TN 'bout 12:30...a half-hour late for meetin up with our friends from SC, Cuz 'n Sonia. Cuz doesn't really mind our tardiness so much 'cept it gave Sonia 'nuff time to get bored and spend a few bucks on the scratch 'n lose games inside the store. So far...so good...no rain. Well, at least for us...seems Cuz 'n Sonia had been dancin in the rain most of their 160 miles to Johnson City...but it's stopped for the moment and we're all in good spirits. Anyways, we're all hungry 'bout now...and since I'm leadin the way...they left it up to me to pick a spot to eat. Now, I wish I could lay claim to some extraordinary ability to predict 'zactly when the rain would hit...but alas, it was pure luck that I happened to pull into a Sonic drive-in, and up under the awnings for lunch just seconds before the sky opened up, and let out the wet stuff in buckets. Seems everyone was in the mood for some burgers anyway…and noone complained 'bout my choice of eateries while we woofed down our chow, and watched the rain from under the dry Sonic pavillion.

Seems my timing is runnin pretty good this day…for now anyway. As we're finishin up our grub and gearin up for some more ridin, the rain just up 'n quits. We take advantage of the lull, fire 'em up, and head out towards the mountains of Virginny. Just a few miles up the road, we turn off on TN state route 67 north. TN-67 turned out to be a beautiful ride along some nice climbing sweepers, with the Fall colors gettin better as we ascend into the hills. But, ya know, it's a funny thing 'bout mountains and the weather...the peaks seem to just reach up and grab hold of passin weather fronts and hold onto 'em for a while. I just know this has to be...'cause the previously mentioned weather front was movin east, stayin ahead of us...'cept for the portion of it in a holdin pattern over the mountain we were climbin...where, for some of us, we tasted rain for the first time on this particular ride. It's a shame too, 'cause we rode thru some of the prettiest country, and didn't get the cameras out very much at all. We took a short butt break as we wound our way up 67, which also turned out to be our only Kodak moment of the first day's ride. From left to right, meet Moonie (use your imagination on how she acquired that nickname), my li'l sweetie, CK (remind me later to tell that nickname story), and Loosie (because of the ride law, "what happens on a bike ride, stays on a bike ride", I cannot reveal the source of that nickname hehe).

Anyways, once we were up in Virginny, we jumped on US-58 east, of which a portion is called the Mount Rogers Scenic Byway. The ride over the Byway was akin to the fantasy shots ya see in the movies…dense forest heavily sprinkled with beautiful mountain laurel and rhododendum…the occassional glimpse of a mountain stream…leaves fallin all 'round us as we plied this twisty, foilage lined ribbon of asphalt. I highly recommend this stretch of road, but try to plan to ride it in the dry, as it feels a bit treachorous on its twisties in the pourin rain, with few guard rails, and covered in wet leaves...a buncha wet leaves! I really hate wet leaves…worse than gravel, and almost as bad as ice. Luckily enough, the rain was the on again-off again kind...so we did get some welcomed breaks from the wet stuff along the way. Well, at least 'till we were 'bout 50 miles from Tuggles Gap...at which point, the rain decided it would just stick with us the rest of the way...and pour it on a li'l harder just for good measure. Mother Nature has a warped sense of humor! The rain is gettin harder 'n harder…the sky's gettin darker 'n darker…and it's gettin to where I'm guessin at the road as much as seein the road. So, we pull over at the one store we could find along this stretch of road, and re-group on the gear…replacin shades with clears as the heavy, rain ladened clouds are turnin our day prematurely dark…much darker than your usual rainy day. It was at this lonely li'l store in what was obviously the "middle of nowhere" ya hear so much about that I believe our friends in tow started questionin whether I knew where the hell I was goin. Wes even made it a point to thank us for invitin 'em along. I think he was bein sarcastic...well, unless I really didn't know where I was goin. hehe

As it turns out, I DID know where I was goin…whew, mutiny's not a pretty sight…and we eventually roll into the Tuggles Gap Motel 'bout an hour later than planned...soaked thru 'n thru…chilled to the bone...eyewear resemblin frosted bathroom windows...and did I mention the rain quit just as we pulled into the parkin lot. I told ya Mother Nature had a warped sense of humor! Of course, all our friends from NC and NY are already there...relaxin in some comfy, DRY chairs and enjoyin some brews under the front awning. They proceeded to tell us how they sat there and watched the adjacent mountaintop disappear under a heavy rain cloud as it rolled in. I informed them we got to see that particular event from an entirely different perspective. For some reason, they seemed to get a chuckle outta that...buds, huh! After we get unpacked and into some dry clothes, we all enjoy a right good dinner at the restaurant next door. I highly recommend their burrito plate…mmmmm…mmmmm….mmmm. Once we were all fat 'n happy, we proceeded to annoy the neighbors as we loudly caught up with old friends 'round the campfire. Actually, we got a headstart on annoyin the neighbors in the restaurant...where they had us rumbustious (look it up...I had to) bikers pretty well isolated in the back section...but still had to close the doors to our section less than halfway thru dinner. Hey, we DID take good care of the waitress...and the other diners?...we'll never see them again...right?! hehe

After dinner, we all hung out 'round the fire…re-tellin familiar stories…catchin old friends up on new stories…all the while, the ambiance was gettin rather windy and alcholic…ya know, the perfect endin to a good day's ride. Hey, even a day ridin in the rain is better than a day at work, eh. Well, gotta turn in…headin out early for some scenic ridin tomorrow, and a Brunswick Stew Party tomorrow night. Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite…and if'n they do…change yer nasty sheets fer cryin out loud! See ya tomorrow.