Rode the Dragon's Tail By Bashan (Read 5,482 times)

[Bashan]

The wife and I were sitting around imagining what we were going to do over the Fourth and it hit us at the same instant! Ride the Dragon's Tail at the North Carolina/Tennessee border. It was only about four hours from Birmingham and we towed the scoots on our trailer. The Dragon's Tail is a public road that has 318 turns in just eleven miles. Here's a map:

We took the Pegasus and Sue's Silver Streak. Here are the two mighty warriors waiting to be loaded on the trailer the day we left:

Yep, you'll notice the Peg is just about naked and that's the way she's going to stay. I like my scooters naked so I can look at all the neat mechanical parts.

Here's my pretty wife Sue checking the trailer after I loaded the scoots up:

Of course I had to check them too! Notice my home made wheel chocks:

We actually had to drive through the Tail to get to the Deals Gap motorcycle resort. The road is just awesome:

Check out how the GPS looked:

We finally got to the resort so we could park the trailer and get the scoots off:

There were a gazillion bikes there but we were the only scooters:

The standard routine is to ride the Dragon's Tail to Tellico lake and take a break:

Here's Sue and me trying to keep from falling into the lake:

Here's some shots of us riding the Tail:

This sign is just before you get to the resort:

It was an experience we'll never forget. We plan on going back soon and riding south from Deals Gap into the national forest. But alas, it soon ws time to load up out precious bird Cleo:

And head back to B'Ham:

Home sweet home in the driveway:

Time to undo the Canyon Dancer handlebar tie downs and call it a trip:

We ordered some high res pics from a professional pgotographer who records folk's ride on the Tail. We should get them in about two weeks and I'll post them. Rich

[Alleyoop]

AWESOME RICH!!! Wish we had something like that around here. That is a nice scenic and leisurely ride and enjoying the outdoors.
Alleyoop

[benellibob]

lol i love the look on your face whilst riding. makes me think of the latest batman's joker

"WHY SO SERIOUS???" haha

looks like fun. i will be riding the tail on the scoot when its done, and in my CRX when i get my license back...

[LUKE]

very nice pictures , and that trailer is neatly done,i like the homemade wheel chocks...thanks for sharing..

[mike74820]

i have the same silver scooter been a blast to ride it for last 2 years

[jct842]

that looks like it was a real nice trip. beautiful scenery, I would have to be real careful to look at the road once in a while to stay on it! nice design on chocks, remove them and you got your flat bed back. my knee is getting better by the minuet and i am thinking......just don't know how long my back could hold up. john

[Bashan]

Jul 7, 2011 18:33:02 GMT -6 benellibob said:

WHY SO SERIOUS???

I'm trying to keep from getting killed!

Jul 7, 2011 21:40:21 GMT -6 LUKE said:

i like the homemade wheel chocks.

Thanks, I made them out of particle board and they worked great. I'm just glad it didn't rain, they might have melted.

Jul 18, 2011 18:51:30 GMT -6 mike74820 said:

have the same silver scooter been a blast to ride it for last 2 years

That scooter has been an absolute workhorse, never misses a beat. It's down right now because the motor mount bushings are trashed from towing it to Toledo and the Tail. I've got the parts on the way but they can't get here soon enough, my wife wants her scooter back!

Jul 20, 2011 14:32:12 GMT -6 jct842 said:

i am thinking I could ride it......just don't know how long my back could hold up. john

It really doesn't take all that long to ride the Tail, I bet you could do it John. It woul be a hell of a drive from Arkansas though.

There's several photo services that station themselves along the route. Then you go to their website after you get home, pick the ones you want, pay them (of course), and wait for them to be processed. We finally got the hi-res pics via their download service and I reduced them on the Bucket so they wouldn't take so long to load. I know thery're just more of Sue and me but I bought 'em and I'm usin' 'em!

I think somebody's chasing me!

Maybe I lost her;

Nope, here she comes with a big grin:

After resting at the lake you have to get back (white socks!? sheesh.. ):

[debby]

My husband and I are planning on riding the Tail of the Dragon in the fall. Last spring we rode the Blueridge Parkway from Cherokee to Linville Falls on our scooters. We saw lots of motorcycles, but like you and your wife, we were the only scooters. Of course we also had to trailer the scooters since we are coming from Florida. We both have a Honda Reflex. His is yellow and mine is red. I am new to the forum so I don't have photos posted yet.

[rgmarsing]

Welcome debby.

[LUKE]

good for you!! im going to Daytona this August. i already have 2 plane tickets for me and my morphous,, yes, the scooter is flying with me. no lie!

[justbuggin]

how much does that cost for your scooter ticket and the parkway is a great ride i want to do the parkway some time on blue and the tail of the dragon looks the be agreat ride as well

[automotoguy]

Wouldn't it be cool to get a big group of riders together and do the dragon on Chinese scoots?

I would totally ride up and do it with everyone. I've done the dragon several times over the past few years and its lots of fun.

[mike6736]

Luke...Tell us more about the scoot on the plane...

Magoo

[LUKE]

gullible

[mike6736]

That is what I though.... another yamahammer statement...

Magoo