My Asheville report

[Tina]

BlankWe arrived Saturday night around 7:30.  Bill, Jeanne, Barb, Rich, and
Terry were there already.   Frank and Gary (AKA Brewster) showed up while I
was checking in to the hotel.  They managed to make it a day early.   I had
a few SCRC members from my chapter come up with me (Steve, Chris, Gary and
Pam).  When we arrived we quickly unloaded and then went to dinner at
Bono's.  The rest of the night has already been shared earlier.

Day 1:  Sunday
We rode the BRP to 151. (same as what Barb reported in her email)

Day 2: Monday
Doodles, Ray, Tom, Lenny, Lori, Gary (AKA Brewster) Pam, Gary, Steve, Chris
and myself all headed to Deal's Gap.  The day looked a little iffy as far as
the weather was concerned but we started out for the Gap anyway.  We hit a
few sprinkles on I40 not long after we headed out.  Thankfully the sprinkles
ended about as quickly as they started.  We stopped at the crossroads of
time for a break before riding the gap.   After a short break we all took
off to do the dragon.  We stopped at the pull off near the end of the
dragon.  This was the first time riding the Dragon for Ray, Tom, Gary, Pam
and Chris.  They all enjoyed it.   After resting for a few minutes we headed
back through the gap back to the crossroads of time.  By this time the
clouds were starting to roll in and get darker.  We stopped at the
Crossroads of time to regroup and head to Robinsville for lunch.  We headed
south on 129 and no sooner than leaving it starts to rain.  We stop at a
little restaurant off of 129 to catch lunch hoping the rain would end by the
time we eat but it just got worse.  We finished lunch and everyone put on
their rain gear (at least we were dry when we put the rain gear on).  Since
we ended up finding a restaurant before Robinsville we decided to head north
on 129 back towards the Gap and take 28 home.  Seemed like a much faster
route since we were only 2 or three miles from 28.  We hit some heavy rain
all the way down 28 until we got to the gas station next to the little
motel.  We stopped there for gas and the rain started letting up.  The rain
was so hard coming down 28 that we were only going between 5 - 10 mph.  We
were all thankful that the rain let up.  The rest of the way home we didn't
see anymore rain.

Day 3: Tuesday
Doodles, Ray, Tom, Gary, Pam, Steve, Chris and myself went to Mt. Mitchell.
We had a long day the day before and wanted to do a shorter ride this day.
The ride on the BRP was great (as usual).  We headed up the road Mt.
Mitchell and as we were getting closer it was getting a little colder and
more foggy.  The visibility that day wasn't good at all but the ride there
and back was enjoyable.  We all had a good time.

Day 4: Wednesday
This day had a 70% chance of rain so some of the folks decided to cage it to
different places.  Doodles, Ray, Tom and myself took off for 151 (since they
weren't here on Sunday when I did it then).  We rode 151 down and back up.
We all looked at each other and said let's keep riding.  It hasn't started
raining yet so let's get as much riding in as possible.  So we continued to
head South on the BRP and stopped at Graveyard Fields scenic over look.  We
took a few pics and then discussed what we should do from here.  I had done
a search on the internet the night before on water falls in the area and
wanted to go fine Bridal Veil falls (where you can drive behind the falls
and take a picture of your bike).  On the way to Graveyard fields overlook
we passed the SR 276 which was in the directions for Bridal Veil Falls.  We
decided head to the falls.  We headed South on SR 276.  This is a nice road
to ride.  It has some nice relaxed twisties.  We took SR 276 to 64 East.  We
took 64 East to Bridal Veil falls.  Dry Falls is just East of Bridal Veil
falls.  64 is another good road to take.  There was a lot of ups and downs
and twisties.  We did go through some road construction which was a pain but
for the most part it was a good ride.  After visiting the falls and taking
pics we continued East on 64 to 23 north.  We stayed on 23 north until I40.
We put in a couple hundred miles in.  We managed to skirt the rain for the
most part of the day.  There was one part while on 64 that it started to
sprinkle so we put on our rain suits but shortly after we did that the
sprinkles stopped and we didn't see anymore rain for the rest of the trip.

Day 5: Thursday
Those that were helping with the BBQ decided to do a short ride in the
morning so that we could be back in time to go shopping for the BBQ and set
it all up.  We took a two hour ride on the BRP and came back to the hotel to
head off to go to Sam's Club.  Dale, Jeanne and I went shopping while some
of the other's stayed behind to set up the eating area.  We came back from
shopping and everyone jumped right in to help unload and start the
preparation.  I'd like to thank Rich, Lenny, Frank, Dan, and Greg for
cooking the meat!!  It was all GREAT.  I'd also like to thank Barb, Vicki,
Kim, Bill and anyone else I might have missed that helped out setting up the
tables and preparing the rest of the food for the BBQ.

Day 6: Friday
Friday was a wash out.  We had planned to do Deal's Gap and the Cherahola
Parkway.  The plan was to get a quick breakfast and be back for KSU at 9am.
Chris and I headed to McDonalds for a quick breakfast but by the time we got
back to the hotel it was raining.  Dale, Mike and Lori Engle follow through
with the plans and headed to the gap.  I hung out at the hotel for the day
and those with cages went out did their own thing.  Later that evening we
all piled in to Gammon's RV (12 of us) and 4 into Rich and Barb's SUV and
headed to Lonestar for dinner.  Dan, Terry, Capt Jim and Laura met us up at
Lonestar for dinner.

Day 7: Saturday
Saturday was a depressing day.  Most of the folks headed back home.  Weather
wise it was the nicest day all week.  The sun was out and not a dark cloud
in the sky.  Chris, Pam, Gary and myself headed to the Gap to do the ride
that was rained out on Friday.  We wanted to ride the Cherahola Skyway and
since we were there do the gap one more time.  Gary and Pam head straight to
the cross roads of time while Chris and I go with Lenny, Lori, Mike, Lori,
Bill and Jeanne for Breakfast.  Jim Gammon wanted to ride the gap as well so
I told him if he wanted to head up there with his RV I'll watch Jimmy while
he rides the gap.  So Jim loads up and heads to the gap while I'm at
breakfast.  As I pull into the cross roads of time I see Jim off to the side
of the road getting ready to unload bessy so he can run the gap.  The timing
couldn't have been any more perfect.  I pull up to let him know that I'm
here and I'll watch Jimmy.  He suits up and runs the gap.  About 30 minutes
later Chris, Pam and Gary head out.  Not far into the gap, Chris over shoots
a turn and runs off the side of the road (mountain side).  He brushed the
side of the mountain with the right side of his bike and then it goes down.
We had trouble getting it started.  Him and Gary had to push start it down
the Gap.  Finally when it started he turned around and headed back to the
cross roads of time.  The bike wasn't running right and it was missing the
left mirror so we loaded it up on Gammon's trailer and went back to the
hotel and called it a day.  Chris didn't get hurt.  He had full armor on.
He was a little sore the next day but all in all he was fine.

Day 8: Sunday
We left around 8:30 to head home.

I'll upload my pics to Ofoto for everyone to see in the next day or so.  All
in all I had a GREAT week.  Even with the threat of rain we still put on a
lot of miles.  We didn't let that stop us from riding.  ;-)



Tina Crumpler, 2nd Officer
SCRC Greater Bay Chapter #294
Visit the Greater Bay Website
Visit my personal website
Days until we leave for Sturgis

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