Jane and I bid farewell to her sister Beth and family and once again hit the road. It was a hot rainy morning on the gulf coast but we were heading north towards the sunshine. We had two days of riding in front of us to get to the Tennessee/N. Carolina line and the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort.

Jane was surprisingly spry having had drank herself into a self-inflicted amnesia the night before in the French Quarter. The mountain of luggage we piled up at Beth's back door somehow crammed into the bike's storage areas once again. It is amazing how much junk will squeeze into the nooks and crannies of a bike if u really put your mind to it. Bourbon St added a few more T shirts to the collection forcing me to get creative with the packing.

We left New Orleans exhausted and wet in anticipation of a few days in the smoky mountains. Jane and I agree that we both love the smoky more than anywhere else we travel to. The heat would dry us off as we leave the rain behind and hoped the mountains would bring cooler temps our way.

We rode into the night knocking down as many miles as we could before calling it a night in Tuscaloosa Alabama.

That put Louisiana, Mississippi and half of Alabama behind us before stretching out at the Days Inn for some much deserved down time. Kicking back munching on some crackers and cheese pillaged along the way seemed quit peaceful after several days of partying with assorted relatives across the Gulf Coast.

Day 12 was sunny and bright. We rolled across Alabama, cut across the corner of Georgia and shot up into North Carolina grinning eat to ear as we climbed into the mountains. I put complete faith into the GPS getting us where we were going. The damn thing spit us out about 15 miles from where the actual address is for the resort but that was close enough. The last few miles up the mountain side on rt 129 was a great twisty way to end the day.

We hit a Wal-Mart before getting out of "the world" and grabbed some groceries and beer before rolling up into nowheresville and the sanctity of rural living. We had reserved one of the two rooms with a kitchen and I was looking forward to throwing together some home cooking after what seemed like an eternity of restaurant meals.

We rolled up to the top of the mountain at about 8PM. The resort closes up at 7 but after a few laps of the lot we found a note taped to the office door directing us to our room. Jane stretched out and relaxed while I threw together a dinner of smoked sausage over rice and beans. I was having fun slinging food in the tiny kitchen and quickly fell in love with a heavy long handled fry pan provided by the motel.

Deals Gap is a ghost town before the sun goes down but comes to life at the crack of dawn with more bikers than you can shake a beer at. I was like a kid on Christmas eve trying to get to sleep in anticipation of living the "Gap" the next day...