Bonding With the Bike

After leaving my Marines, I headed a little further south, to Robbinsville, NC, to spend some time on the wonderful twisty roads of the area.  I took Highway 129 and rode Tail of the Dragon... five times.  Once I finished with that, I headed toward Robbinsville to check in to my room.

I should have followed the signs instead of the GPS on my bike, but I didn't.  I ended up hopelessly lost.  I probably rode every mile of a nearby Cherokee reservation while trying to find my bearings.  At one point, I ended up on a rock/dirt road that led to the most difficult riding I've encountered - ever.  This was more trail than road, full of large rocks, ruts and mud puddles.  I eventually reached a point where I knew that continuing down that road would lead to disaster, but turning around was tricky in its own rite.  I have to admit, this was the most concerning moment of the entire trip.  I was in the middle of nowhere, with no phone cell service and I had no idea how far I was from the nearest help.  I was nervous that I'd drop the bike while making the 500-point U-turn on that teeny, hilly, muddy road, but I made it out.  From there, I finally found a sign, but went the wrong way...

I had planned to ride the Cherohala Skyway; it's beautiful.  I didn't want to do it exactly then, but that's where the wrong turn took me.  If I'd have turned left, I'd have been in Robbinsville in minutes. I ended up going right and following the Cherohala Skyway for its entire route... in the pouring rain... which brought a bunch of that famous Smoky Mountain fog... and road crews were doing tree trimming, so there were areas covered in crushed wood, leaves and random other debris on the road.  The water soaked through my rain gear.

I'd like to clarify that I was never scared or worried on the Skyway.  My plan was to get somewhere that had cell service and write down directions to the hotel, but something better happened.  I got into a small town and gassed up.  Another rider was there at the same time, and we chatted about our situation.  It turned out he was going back to Robbinsville as well, so I just followed him.  Once we got back, we hit a diner and swapped rider stories.  After dinner, I retired to my room and enjoyed the sleep of the dead. 

To the uninitiated, this might sound a bit harrowing.  While my brief off-road adventure gave me a moment of concern, I was not horribly worried, because my life was not in imminent danger.  From my perspective, running the tail was perfect, followed by a misadventure.  And let's face it: Misadventures make the best stories.

We Interrupt This Broadcast

I received a call from my older daughter yesterday, informing me that her husband's mistress showed up at their doorstep.  This woman has had to endure far more than her share of hardship, and more drama than any one person deserves.  I am going to refrain from further comment for the moment, and focus on supporting my daughter and grandson.

We now return you to your regularly schedule blog posts. 

My Marines

Continuing my story about my Epic Vacation... 

I arrived in Pigeon Forge on Thursday, for a reunion with a bunch of buddies from my Marine Corps unit.  The cabin we stayed at was actually in the countryside, roughly halfway between Pigeon Forge and Sevierville.  Calling the place a cabin is a bit of an understatement though.  It was three stories, with a pool table, a swimming pool, two hot tubs, and a two-lane duck pin bowling alley.  The kitchen had two stoves, two dishwashers, two refrigerators, and the dining room had two massively long tables.  It was absolutely wild!  We spent a ton of time on the deck off the main floor, consuming adult beverages and just catching up.

I hadn't seen one of the guys who showed up, Bob, in over 30 years, and as is typical with my Marines, it was like we hadn't missed a beat.  Everyone got along very well, as is always the case.  While we generally avoided the goings-on of the world, we did briefly talk politics.  Military people tend to be on the conservative end of the spectrum, so I was the odd man out in my political leanings, but we were all respectful.  For the most part, we talked about our lives and re-hashed our old war stories.  The fun part of this is that our time in service overlapped, and we were all deployed at different times, so had new audiences when we bragged about how we saved the world from communism.

We saw a mama bear and her two cubs a couple of different times while we were there.  They were close, but not dangerously so.  The first time we saw them, momma was foraging in the woods behind the cabin, and the second time, they were exploring a giant dumpster in the driveway of the house next door, which was under construction.

We went into Pigeon Forge twice.  One day we went and raced go karts, and on the second visit, we took a redneck comedy bus tour.  Both days included a visit to the Old Smoky moonshine distillery.

The meals were cooked at the cabin, and they were kind of organically planned.  We had big breakfasts of bacon and eggs, and out dinners consisted of burgers, steaks, and chicken, all cooked on the outdoor grill.  Everyone willingly pitched in to cook, serve, or clean up.

Everyone who attended this trip agreed that it was a massive success, and we are very much leaning toward the same location next year.  The fun part is that even if we double the number of people attending, we will have plenty of room to put everyone up in the cabin.

Tune in next time, when I talk about my motorcycle adventures.

Epic Vacation

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I took a little vacation last week.  The vacation was essentially split into sections... traveling to the first destination, a reunion with some of my Marine Corps buddies, some motorcycle riding in the Smoky Mountains, and traveling home.

The reunion took place just outside of Pigeon Forge, TN.  This is a long way from my neighborhood, so I split the commute over two days, since I rode the bike.  Day one I traveled to Indianapolis, and day two landed me in Pigeon forge.  For the most part the ride was pleasant and uneventful.  It was brutally hot, but this didn't really bother me.  I made sure to stop every hundred miles or so to pound a Gatorade and rest.  As the day warmed up, I wore an evaporation vest under my jacket, which helped keep me cool.  Later on, I swapped out the vest and just soaked my t-shirt.  This didn't last as long, but it provided more cooling because the shirt wasn't as heavy, so I got better air flow.

The scenery was nice, especially on the second day, traveling from Indy to Pigeon Forge.  The mountains were particularly scenic.  The only real headache I experienced was getting from Pigeon Forge to the cabin.  My GPS didn't play nicely, so I found myself riding to a turn, stopping to confirm my location and next turn, repeating ad nauseam.  GPS problems became a recurring issue later on, but I'll expound on that more later...

 Tune in tomorrow when I talk about the reunion. 

Harsh Karma

I recently found out that my ex has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure.  I don't know the details, because quite frankly, I'm not all that interested.  The only reason I care at all is because it impacts my kids.  This is where it gets interesting:  It turns out they're not that interested either.

If you recall some of my previous writings about her shenanigans, you will remember that she has been a less than stellar parent, which is a charitable way of phrasing things.  It's more accurate to say that she's been manipulative, neglectful, and generally selfish.  Her behavior has been so bad for so long, that both kids recently cut off communication with her.  When she contacted them to share that she was hospitalized, their reply was something to the effect of I wish you well.

One of my girls asked my thoughts.  I replied by saying "When you girls were younger, I saw how she treated you, and I hated it, but I knew I had to play the long game.  I know I wasn't perfect at it, but I tried diligently to not bash on her, while also not excusing her behavior.  I knew my bias, and also kind of understood that bashing on her would do no good.  The best thing I could do was be there for you, and hope that one day you would realize how poorly she treated you, and that you'd eventually see her for the person she is.  I just didn't realize how harsh that outcome would be."  When challenged on the use of the word harsh, I clarified that a harsh consequence is not always excessive... sometimes it's justice.

On the Road Again

I'm heading out for a little vacation.  I'm jumping on the bike and heading out for a reunion with some of my Marine Corps buddies.  I may or may not post while I'm doing my thing.

Oh, You Loony MAGA-ites!

You can't make this sh!+ up! MAGA doesn't believe that climate change is real, but they're fully on board with the idea that an individual can purchase the materials to "geoengineer" extreme heat or cold, just to make things inconvenient for their supreme leader.