I smell it in the morning only but mostly gone.

MM:

It looks like the Lynchburg weather next week will be 10 degrees warmer....night and day.

Could we ride next week?

I could ride down Wednesday afternoon and hopefully arrive before dark.  We could ride Thursday/Friday, and I could go home on Saturday? (Weather permitting).

Could we ride next week?

I could ride down Wednesday afternoon and hopefully arrive before dark.  We could ride Thursday/Friday, and I could go home on Saturday? (Weather permitting).  
.......................................................

Next week (Tuesday) we're going to the airport to pick Anders up .   He plans to stay a month then drive to his new base in Norther California .   So , next week is going to be all about having our young man back home for a while.   I suspect I'll be making excuses just to slip a ride around the block in for a while.
So
Basically I'm grounded for the month of October , but at the same time glad to have my son back home for a while.    

The Kick Stand Lodge closed for the season yesterday.....looks like I will be staying at Deals Gap.

I will be leaving after work on Tuesday, riding all day Wednesday and Tuesday......not sure yet about Friday.

The rates at Deals Gap are a bit interesting - but I can understand why they have done this.  To camp in a tent is $20 a night for 1-2 persons, you get a free bag of ice daily......and you can park whatever car/truck/trailer you brought - however if you just want to park your truck and trailer it is $40 a day!  This is a result of folks hauling their bikes down to the Deals Gap Inn and parking their trailers and unloading their bikes and then riding......without getting a room or campsite.  They just don't have enough parking available to allow free parking.

The rain chances for the next few days are slight.  They promised me a 80 degree day yesterday - it never happened and I dressed a bit too light and was on the verge of being chilly all day.  I rode the Dragon a couple times, then rode down 28 all the way to GA, then rode back up 107 to Cashiers, then rode on 281 over to Sylva....then the boring 4 lane ride for 35 miles west on 74 to get to 129 to ride back up to Deals Gap.  I rode 160 miles yesterday.  (I need to find a better way to get from Sylva back to Deals Gap without the 35 mile ride on 74 to make this a better day ride).

I think today I will take the Dragon north and then go west to Telling co Plains, ride the Cherohala Skyway, then Wayah road.

The Deals Gap resort is all spiffed up and they have repainted the hotel building, the bathrooms and showers are really clean, and the folks work really hard here to keep the place clean.  Every morning they blow the leaves off the parking lot and tidy up.  The campfire circle at night has had a lively discussion ......one fellow has had problems with his Harley for two days straight.  His bike was cutting out and shutting off while riding - he took it to the dealer and it turned out his electronic key FOB has a battery that was dying.......when the bike didn't sense the FOB the engine would shut off, and then the jerk of the bike would wake up the FOB and the bike would turn back on.  Then yesterday when he got up and tried to start the battery it was dead - $260 to come pick up the bike and a $160 battery and he was back in business.....hopefully!

MMRanch wrote on 10/22/20 at 08:51:46:



My pleasure!  I am getting to know these roads pretty well.  Today was able to get ride north on the Dragon and get to Tellico Plains without using a map or getting lost - then I was able to ride the Skyway and get over to Wayah road, then find 28 to ride home all without a map!  I am not using a GPS as I don't have a mount or power supply for one on the Cafe' bike.  

The bike is running really well and the Michelin Pilot Activ tires are sticking to the pavement just fine and they don't seem to be wearing out quickly......maybe the lower temperatures are easier on tires than the 90+ that is normal when we come down here in summer.

I am not sure what I will ride tomorrow - but I have decided to stay and ride on Friday as the weather here will be nice.....and at home it will be cold and rainy.

This photo is a lake on Route 72 that was along the way from the Dragon over to Tellico Plains.

On Friday the weather forecast was a bit iffy.....so I decided not to get too far away from Deals Gap - this decision may have cut my ride a bit short for the day.  I rode north on the Dragon, then rode the Foothill Parkway and got to ride on the new section for the first time.  The old section from 129 over to Townsend as a 45mph speed limit - the new section unfortunately has 35 and even 25mph speed limits!  The pavement is really nice for the entire 34 miles and I ended up riding about 40 mph....and on the way back I got behind a couple of sport bikes and we ended up going much faster (I stayed back far enough that if they got caught by radar.......it was not obvious that I was riding with them and going at the same speed).