God's own country

Yáll welcome in the South

In God we trust

We salute our flag, respect our military & emergency services persons.

Primitative Bapish Church?

These were the actual signage as I left Cherokee North Carolina and headed onto 129 State road to Tennessee.

Yes indeed I was in God's country, no Democrats, Asians or Muslims could be seen, plenty of coloured folk many riding motorcycles but no babbling ignorant Asians pushing in front of you at check outs infact No I reflect no Hispanics either, the maid ho cleaned my motel room a fine young Southern girl.

No before yáll turn off and acuse me of being racists or homophobic (no gay rights here) I am only relaying the lifestyle of Southern USA. Most blocks have at least one church and yes they are well attended looking at the over flowing car parks on Sunday mornings. These signs are every where later in my photo album I asked permission to photograph inside a shop and what you see is both real and all for sale. The only thing not for sale was the free bibles at the door.

So what was the reason for my third visit to North Carolina in recent years. Quite simply the roads.

These are not just any roads but rank as some of the top ten motorcycle rides in the world. My task this trip was to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway on a motorcycle as opposed to my previous use of a motor car and to ride and more importantly survive one particular 17km stretch of road rated a road in the top 5 in the world.

This particular stretch has a number of names some simply call it The Dragon, others Deal's Gap, some refer to it a Tail of the Dragon. Whatever you chose thousands of motorcycle riders daily come to Deal's Gap to take on 318 bends in 17kms.

I did and enjoyed it so much I did it again so over 636 bends in some 40mins (I took at photo break) and obiviously I survived, as did my Indian so it now proudly carry's a 2017 I survived Tail of the Dragon sticker. I will also feel much more relaxed riding my Red Triumph now as it already had a sticker from a past conquest with the previous owners, Greg & Kerrie.

The title of this blog in part is rounded tyres, well if you are not a motorcyclist let me explain. When riding long distances especially on highways the tyre tends to wear unevenlly in the centre so by doing so many bends both left and right it wears more evenly and allows the gripper sides to come into full contact with the road surface when the bike is leaned over around cornors.

Believe me at The Dragon even the Indian was leaned way way over, both foot pegs showing no rubber but worn steel on the edges! My boots also exhibit a lack of smooth shiny leather on the sides and heels. I admit i was there to fully enjoy the bends like I was on a sport bike.

A little side story. I was in a group and as we progressed they dropped off and let me past except one rider on a KTM then he moved over I passed and he followed, often at a distance. Sure enough when I arrived back at Deal's Gap Resort he pulled up beside me. "Man that thing goes I could not keep up you must have been doing 80kms (the limit is 60)"Me well actually it was 120 on the exits" xxxx Man he replied ""I have never seen a cruiser get dumped into the hairpins then just stand up and rocket out of the cornor like you did" Me"come from riding the Isle of Man roads" By then his mates had arrived so I went to the cafe and looked out the window as they lifted the foot begs and photographed them. gee must be a lot of woose riders over here (the Police were heavily patroling but only on the straits given appropriate names such as Revenue Straight, Radar Straight).

I also rode an other well known haunt called Mooshine 29. Similiar but not as extreme as the Dragon.

Incidently movies such as Deliverance & Black Asphalt have been made on these roads and the surround lands also the road featured in the movie version of The Fugitative where Dr Kimball crashes off the road into the river.

My day was not finished as I had also come to see Fontana Dam built in 3 yrs during WW2 to supply electricity to Alcoa Alumina to allow the manufacture of aircraft to support the war. This massive dam on the Lower Tennessee River also serves to allievate flooding of the surrounding farm lands and towns such as Murphy. It forms part of the Tennessee Valley Authority Scheme (TVA) and is similiar to our Snowny Mountain Authority. Pitty Governements listen to much to The Greens instead of building dams and generating what is really Clean Green Electricity. The Fontana dam alone generates over 238,000kwh of cheap electricity true doing that with wind turnbines or solar panels, and this dam is still working some 70+ years after construction how many wind turbines even last 20 years?

Taking a different scenic route back to Cherokee I stopped for an Ice Cream at a local store and took numerous photo's where while appearing to be a museum it is a fully functioning store all goods for sale. I got the ice cream and was invited to sit on the stores porch where rocking chairs were provided and eat the ice cream with payment defered until I had finished. Try doing that at your local supermarket or McDonald's. Incidently I was also offered the freehold of not only the shop but the campground attached at a reasonable price but I declined, with such great roads if I lived there why would I want to be behind a counter all day!

Arriving back in Cherokee I carefully measured the distance from the Üpon These Hills"drama ticket box back to my hotel, a mere 800m. I changed and walked down to the ticket box. Closed! Tickets at the door. Men said follow road which I did never did he tell me the actual theatre was 2.8kms up in the hills. Well walking briskly I made it before the start time but not quick enough. The lady in front of me also wanted one ticket, she was offered a free one that the original purchaser left as someone in there party changed their mind. Well at least I got a seniors discount and plenty of exercise after a hard day in the saddle.

Unto These Hills- what is it well a drama passion play preformed in a open air amphi threatre by members of the Cherokee Tribe and tells the story of the Nation from pre settlers to present day. It is a dramatic re enactment that saw many people leaving after portrayal of murders and violent acts. Over 2000 people attend in peak summer season nighly and you get to meet the cast after the event.

Perhaps, as would be fully expected but knowing,caring citizens, one of the final scenes after the death of an Indian lady the cast sing Amazing Grace in Cherokee and not a sound, apart from some people crying and the actual singing was heard.

My Sister and I have the recording from our previous visit and I would suggest if you have not heard it before go to UTube and simply type in Amazing Grace in Cherokee only then might you gain a better appreciation of this blog.

Also go to the photo album of the same name to see the scenery I experienced