Good Ole Boys

The concept for this trip was hatched over the winter by Dad, who wanted to take a couple days to ride to Charlotte and take in the brand-spankin'-new NASCAR Hall of Fame and museum. I don't think of us as rednecks, you might disagree, but we do like the simple things. And bottom line, we're gearheads. We love to ride, we love to drive, and we love to take stuff apart and make it better than it was. The only thing that kept us us from being racers ourselves is pictures of Ben Franklin. We don't have enough of 'em.

Anyway, he invites us along, and immediately I add a day to the trip and a bunch of stuff to the itinerary. I wanted to ride some of the Blue Ridge Parkway again, and see the Wheels Through Time museum in Maggie Valley, NC, and take Donna on the Tail of the Dragon (as seen in prior blog linked at right.) We didn't have enough time for Dad to get the Dragon on the itinerary, but he did a great job of laying out an awesome ride.

After a 500-mile day on the Interstate, the morning agenda was an invigorating ride through the serpentine roads sprawling the hills of Appalachia, headed to the antique museum in Maggie Valley.

Moonshine country.

The roads were awesome when not wet, which was only about half the time. The other half was spent gingerly negotiating hairpin turns and scanning the asphalt with unbroken focus. We made it to the museum in late morning and unsuited.

Wheels Through Time is awesome. Dale Walksler and his son went right to the top of my list of coolest people I've ever met, and I could listen to them talk for days. That is, when I wasn't listening to their toys run, which is the whole point of this place. Every car and motorcycle runs, and they happily fire up whatever visitors have an interest in. A place like I have never seen before, in a part of the country unrivaled for motorcycle riders. Paradise.

We stayed longer than planned but less than we wanted to, and headed over the ridge one last time towards Charlotte. Dad was devastated that the BBQ pit he'd read about was closed, and we swung and missed a second time before lucking into a decent joint a half hour short of Charlotte. At least we hadn't had the rainsuits on since leaving Maggie Valley, and in fact I put on a dab of sunscreen before leaving Bridge's Red BBQ. We got to Charlotte, showered, and hit the town. A round of top-shelf tequila for the boys, a couple margaritas, and some nachos, all enjoyed on an outdoor patio downtown. This is livin'.