So today our ride went through Tennessee and Carolina. It was a 210 mile ride though beautiful mountain terrain. Our group was 14 people of all makes of bikes. We lined up in the Holiday Inn parking lot at 8:30 and then off we went. We went through some really crazy loop d loop roads up in the hills and the straight roads were a joy to open the throttle on.

I was the only girl that rode her own bike in our group. I think I may be the youngest girl riding here on this ride. We got through the am ride with very little fanfare. No one dropped or had a blow out. It was a lovely time. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that is actually a b&b (southern style) an a winery (in their basement). The food was incredible and I had to go check out their wine. I bought a bottle of Zinfandel to bring home to Don and of course I had to buy a t shirt that says "living in Zin". We were just about to suit up and head out when guy named Rich came up to me and said "you are a joy to follow behind". He stated that I am one of the few that he has seen that feels the road and follows the feel. I was really humbled and thanked him.

We carried on and went through some really fun high elevation roads through TN at the edge of the smokies. The roads there are all guardrails and no shoulders. Really challenging stuff but so fun to ride. Really gets your adrenaline pumped. I experienced my adrenaline when I was coming through a nice sweeping turn to only hear tires screeching ahead of me. I was following Fred and up ahead was a beat to heck Chevy Cavalier hurtling towards us and bouncing off the guardrail. The driver got it righted and kept bouncing down the guardrail on the offside (not a threat to us anymore) but you could see the girl's whites of her eyes. I slowed to see if she was ok, but I guess around here you just unhook your car and keep driving LOL. When I looked back again I noticed the other side of her car (the one NOT involved) was also beat the heck so she must be a pro at this.

At our last stop for a water break two other riders came up to me and asked me if I was on the "lowered honda". I explained to them that it was a stock bike but because of my height I really needed to be that low to the pavement. They then thanked me saying that I was wonderful about pointing out the gravel and hazards as they were riding behind me. When you ride in a group, if you see hazard on the road the best thing to do is point your foot off the side of your bike to show the person behind you that there's something to look for. They both stated how they felt I was talented on a bike and asked how long I have been riding. Again, humbled beyond belief. They decided to ride on my tail the rest of the ride today which proved to be an interesting ride!

So even with my 40 sunblock, my face is still more colorful!

So near the end of the ride today we all took a wrong turn and had to turn around in a gravel driveway. 12 our of 14 bikes made it. One bike got bogged down in the gravel and couldn't get out without a bunch of people pushing and a guy on a Goldwing ended up dropping his bike in the gravel. Thank you to my "purple nurple" for not laying me in the gravel :)


Ok off for dinner! Hope everyone is well.