I am at the Two Wheel Inn, a side of the road motel in Robbinsville, NC run by Linda and Barry, a hard working couple that relocated from Florida 13 years ago. The pillows are hard, the air conditioner is noisy and the towels are small and nonabsorbent. I love this place anyway. The proprietors are kind and thoughtful and the motel caters only to bikers. Lots of salt of the earth travelers who appreciate the outdoors, enjoy meeting other people and spend their vacations exploring this big land of ours. One cool feature of this place is that everyone gets their own motorcycle garage.
I've never seen that before. It's a nice touch for those traveling with fancy expensive bikes.
It was a 175 mile stressful ride on the curvy mountain country roads from Greenville yesterday afternoon. Intermittent rains made the roads slick and the tight turns forced slower speed. That said, I'm glad I did it rather than waiting until today. The views were to die for (not literally).
Glorious beauty everywhere I looked.
I pulled into Two Wheels in Robbinsville just after dark. After chatting with Barry and Linda, I dropped the bags in my room and scooted to town to find a restaurant. There weren't many non-fast food options open. I ended up at the El Pacifico Restaurante Mexico on Bypass Blvd. once inside, I took off my heavy bike gear, slumped back into my booth and asked for tall ice cold beer. To my utter dismay she responded "Sir, Graham County is bone dry. You have to go 30 miles down to Murphy to get alcohol." Ouch! I ordered the bottomless lemonade instead and paired it with a basket of tortilla chips with salsa and the enchiladas special. Way too much food but of course I ate every bite.
The reason I didn't leave Greenville until 4 p.m. was because I was at our women's soccer game. What an incredible performance. With a couple of days to recover from their Thursday overnight bus trip, slightly lower temperatures, a good training session on Saturday and a hunger coming off a bad performance Friday night, they came out on fire. It was one of the most dominant performances since I've been associated with this team. Northeastern probably had possession 65-70 percent of the time, outshot Furman 24-6 and won the game 3-1. Furmans only goal was on a penalty kick from a phantom foul in the box.
The game was so much fun. I loved sitting on the bench with the team, feeling the intensity and focus and watching them enjoy this beautiful game.
I'm honored to have had a front row seat. I'm looking forward to flying back Friday in time to watch them play against St. Joseph's at home.
http://youtu.be/jT2e4XG9KaI
If you are in the area, stop by. The game is at 6 p.m. At Parsons Field in Brookline.
I'm really excited about today's riding. After munching on the two boxes of Kellogg's low fat granola that I took from yesterday's Hampton Inn continental buffet breakfast, I'm heading over to the Tail of the Dragon, the 11 mile, 300+ turn stretch (Google it) known to motorcyclists as one of the most challenging but exhilarating rides in the country. People come from all over to ride the Dragon. The two guys in the room next to mine came up from Houston to "slay the dragon", as they put it. Later today they are turning west and heading to California to tackle a similar challenge just north of L.A. A couple of middle-aged guys trying to exhaust their bucket list before it's too late. I know the feeling.
When I got back from the Mexican restaurant, I chatted for 15 minutes with them and a father & son team from Asheville who had trailered their bikes to do some riding up in the mountains. They generously offered me a beer but by then I was too full, too tired and in bad need of a shower. I declined but suggested we have a nightcap together tonight instead. I hope it works out.
I'm off to meet the dragon. Wish me luck.
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