Today we rode first to Deals Gap and the Dragon, a road with 318 curves in 11 miles. We did not want to be here on the weekend as it will be very crowded with all speeds of motorcycles with all capabilities of riders, sports car clubs, casual (slow) car drivers observing the bikes and of course there will be the police. So we left shortly after 7 and arrived at the Deals Gap store at 8:30. We did not stop but went right on by and up the road into the first of the curves. We took it easy as Linda does not like curves and steep lean angles and none of us like speeding tickets. We were into the road less than 2 miles when we saw the first police car. Then we speeded up. At the end of the 11 miles we stopped for awhile and finally returned toward the store at a brisk pace. Linda did not complain so we kept it up until we arrived at the other end which is where the store is located. We did have to pass 2 bikes and a Cadillac Escapade which is much easier said than done in a reasonably safe manner. The police were busy writing tickets to 2 other bikes. If you crash on this road you have been bitten by the dragon. We did not crash so we can say that Linda has slain the dragon. When we arrived at the store that parking lot was quite a bit more crowded than when we first passed by. And the crowd increased. It was now impossible to ride the road briskly so it was good that we had left early. We bought t-shirts which is unusual for us but this place is special and known around the world. And we had ridden it together. If it had been a weekday I would have taken a couple of passes alone but definitely not today. We went up the road one more time albeit very cautiously because of the traffic on our way the Cherohala Skyway. It was another beautiful mountain top road but this was our third day of them and it was a little harder to appreciate the sights we were seeing. We returned back to our motels where I took my GPS apart to see if there was any visible problem but to no avail. So we will need to stay close to CnC the rest of the trip or buy a GPS which I do not want to do. Tomorrow it is 360 miles to Savannah, Georgia by way of South Carolina. 225 miles today.
Oggi era un giorno molto prevenduto. Era il giorno del drago. Il drago e' una strada famosa fra i motociclisti. 318 curve in 11 miglia. Buonissima. Linda non piace le curve, ha paura, ma per oggi lei era molta corragia. Abbiamo guidato la strada una volta con veloce media e poi un altra volta velocemente. Quando si guida questa strada senza cadendo per terra si ha ucciso il drago. Adesso Linda ha ucciso il drago. Brava Linda!!
At the start of The Dragon
Alla comincia del Drago
The straightaway
Un sezione dritto
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