Off To See The Dragon...

Well, the Dixie Stampede was fun and tasty......and our roadtrip was off to a great start!  Uh....and then it wasn't!  After the dinner show, we went to the parking lot to ride back to our house.  As I turned on the bike's ignition, the engine fired up.....but the lights didn't.  We had no lights!  No headlights.  No panel lights.  What the heck?

First thing in the morning, I called the local Harley Davidson dealer and was told the nearest service station was 25-30 miles away.  I scheduled an early morning appointment to get this light situation fixed.....and off we went!  It wasn't until we arrived at the Smoky Mountain Harley Davidson that we heard about The Dragon!

We were told that if you're on a motorcycle in eastern Tennessee, you MUST experience “The Tail of the Dragon.”  Within the next hour, we were heading for Deal’s Gap to experience 318 curves in less than 11 miles!  Holy crap!  I’m not ashamed to say that I hate twisty roads, but this was an experience you just have to do ONCE!  We were warned to 1.) keep our speed at 35 mph, 2.) stay on the very OUTSIDE part of the road, and 3.) allow all the crotch rockets to pass you.  Oh…and one more thing.  BEWARE OF THE 18-WHEELERS TRYING TO NAVIGATE AROUND ALL THE CORNERS!!!  This was definitely not a road suitable for any large vehicle, especially a tractor trailer!  Luckily, we only encountered one such truck…and from the look on the driver’s face…he took a wrong turn somewhere (lucky him!).

We had to snap a quick pic of the Route 129 sign.  It was mentioned that these road signs are stolen all the time as souvenirs by motorcyclists who survived The Dragon's Tail.  Jenesa and I didn't have room on our bike to steal the sign, but we took a photo-op nonetheless.  Oh....and the little problem we had with our bike's lights.....it turns out when we unplugged our GPS at the Dixie Stampede, a small piece broke off the connector and got lodged in the 12volt socket.....which blew the light fuse on the bike.  I guess what they say is true...when life hands you lemons.....make lemonade!  We sure did, and enjoyed it on our adventure down the Tail of the Dragon!