We got back from our trip to Deals Gap, NC on Wednesday. A wonderful time was had by all. (Brian, Kevin and his girlfriend, a new gunner named Dan and Melita and I.) We rented a house up in the mountains for a few days. The roads were amazing, especially US 129 on the Tennessee border, also known as the Dragon. Incredible! We got there late Saturday unpacked and unloaded the bikes. Woke up first thing Sunday and rode to the Gap. A nice ride that takes you through some beautiful mountains and by the Dam that was used in the movie the Fugitive. We stopped to take a few pictures and pressed on as the Dragon only laid a couple of miles away. I made my first run up and back with Melita riding with me. We stopped at the top to pause and reflect what we had just experienced and to take a few more pictures. At the bottom there is a small gas station/souvenir shop where most people stop to rest an! d swap stories. We let the ladies off and rode the Dragon solo. WOW! After a few runs we all where getting tired and hungry so we headed back to our rental house. Once there we decided to have a barbecue and everybody except Melita and I went into town to buy food. After they left I got on the MV and rode another road called the Cherohala Skyway.
We were staying only a mile away from where the road began. Another very nice road but not near as twisty. It began to rain so I headed back. We ate, drank and became merry. Soon afterwards Melita and I jump into the hot tub! Woke up the next morning and the rain had not stopped. Dam! Well, instead of wasting the day we got into the trucks and headed off to take pictures and do our souvenir shopping. I wanted to go ride the Blue Ridge Parkway on this day but the weather just would not cooperate. Oh well, maybe next time. The weather channel said Tuesday's weather was not going to improve from the day before so Monday night we all were getting a little down. Looking out the windows Tuesday morning things didn't look good, so Dan decided to pack up and head to some friends of his in South Carolina. Brian stayed in bed and Kevin and I got on our bikes and took to the roads for what we were expecting to be some wet weather riding. However, about 15 minutes up the road the clouds parted and the roads began to dry. We heade d to the Dragon! After a couple of hours Brian showed up and we spent the better part of the day just going up and down the most amazing road man has ever built. Melita showed up in the pickup a short while after Brian and even drove the Dragon in the truck! She drove back home and Kevin, Brian and I rode up and down the Dragon one final time and headed back to the house. When we got back, I switched bikes, back to the Duc and took Melita for a ride up the Cherohala Skyway. Brian went along with us and we took a few more pictures. When we got back we went to pay our balance owed on the rental house and met the owners. Wonderful people. He and his wife run the Tail of the Dragon website. While there, the operator of
Killboy.com showed up. He takes pictures of people riding the Dragon and sells them on his site. It was kind cool to met the people that I have spent the past couple of months looking at their websites to plan for this trip. The next morning we unwillingly loaded up the trucks and headed for home dreaming of the next time we could come back. Once we returned home Melita immediately started creating a new webpage to document the trip.

Hope you enjoy our page as much as we enjoyed putting it together!! Hugs and Ass Slaps all around, O'D & Melita