I was working on an upcoming post about our plans for a little vacation we were going to take in two more weeks. Harley and I were going to go with Big Ed and Red Light Roxanne to St. Augustine, FL and spend a few days playing tourist. We have been to this beautiful place twice before, and it is one of my favorite spots to go visit. Red Light Roxanne and I were especially looking forward to returning to the San Sebastian Winery, for the tour and of course, the wine tasting! Well, plans change and decisions had to be made.
Harley gets a call from Big Ed the other day that they may have to back out of the trip. (This is where you hear that ear grating drag of the needle across the vinyl.) Zzzzzzzpppppttttt!! What? No vacay? Being business owners, employee issues came up and they may have to cancel the trip, because they need to stay and cover the business. I understand that this is what they have to deal with, but it's a real bummer. Well, we waited until the next day to hear the final decision from Big Ed, and it was confirmed. They can't go. I was really disappointed, but not any more so than our friends. I know we could still go ourselves, but since we've been there twice before, we didn't think we wanted to go there again without our friends.
After moping around for a day, with deflated excitement over lost plans to play and have fun, Harley and I decided that maybe we could still do something else. After all, we have our time off scheduled and the house sitter is booked. This is sort of how our convo went.
Me: I hate we had to cancel the trip.
H: Hmmmmm.
LONG PAUSE...
Me: Maybe we can still go somewhere?
H: Hmmmmm.
LONG PAUSE...
Me: Maybe we can go up to North Georgia or Deals Gap and do the Tail of the Dragon.
H: Hmmmmm?
NO PAUSE...
Me: You know, Tail of the Dragon... 318 curves in 11 miles. Hellbender 28 is right there too.
SHORT PAUSE...
H: Let me see the Atlas.
Woo Hoo! A new plan is born! That's right folks, we are still going on vacay! Instead of going south to Florida, we will go north to North Carolina. We put the word out to a couple of riding pals from Panama City, that we were forming a new plan for vacation to Deals Gap. The Beaver has always wanted to do the Dragon, so he said we can count him in and our friend the Lone Ranger may also join us. Even if we end up going by ourselves, this will be cool and fun, because it will be our first time. My excitement has returned!
Rick, over at Keep The Rubber Side Down, went to Deals Gap this past Spring with his boys. Rick, I'll be over again to reread what you said about it. I can't wait until I can post my experience as I attempt to slay the dragon! Sounds awesome!
Ride on! Lady R
17 comments:
Bummer when a plan gets ruined, but when the time is already taken off, and said for, you gotta just go an do something else. I had a similar thing happen to me this year with a big Canadian fly in fishing trip. I ended up riding my motorcycle instead. Win Win!
Hope you two have a blast at the Dragon! Can't wait for pics, and post.
Sounds like a blast. Have fun and ride safe. I laughed when you posted your conversation with Harley, because I can hear him "Talking" just like you described...LOL
Bucky
mr. m...I still feel bad for my pals, Big Ed and Red Light Roxanne. I'll be seeing RLR next week though. She's having a Luau and I'm riding my Glide down for the weekend. Woo Hoo!
bucky...You know how Harley is. A man of few words. He says have them all!
It's great that you could turn things around! Can't wait to hear all about it upon your return! Go slay that dragon LadyR! :)
Whew, I was getting worried there halfway through the post. "No picts? No stories?.
Mount your noble steeds honorable and valiant knights of the bar and shield. Ride forth to slay the dragon. May you return with treasures to show and tales to tell.
ann...thanks girl! I'll let you know how it comes out.
Dave..."Mount your noble steeds"?
"Knights of the bar and shield"? Oooh! That got me so psyched! I loved the "ride forth to slay the dragon" part too! I'm going to have to read this again right before I leave! LOL! Thanks for the colorful prelude!
Yeah for you! I'm sorry Ed and Roxanne won't be able to go on their trip, but so happy you and Harley will get out and do something new. I'm looking forward to reading all about it! Have fun, be safe!
Enjoy the vacay! Looking forward to the post and pics.
Dave- you kill me!
Lady R,
You will have a blast taming the Dragon. Me and 3 of my friends rode to the Dragon last summer. Great road and country there. Couple of suggestions for your trip. If you camp this place is worth a consideration.
http://www.ironhorsenc.com/
Also make sometime to ride over to the Wheels Through Time. Plan for a couple of hours there.
http://www.wheelsthroughtime.com
Enjoy your trip and ride safe,
fasthair
Ya know for a second reading youre blog i thought sturgis is in two weeks and well........ no such luck i will take photos and tell you stories when we come back. Not to late to fly out ill pick you and harley up? sound like you have good plans anyway have fun
b.b. and dean...thanks a lot!. I'll do my best to get some good pics!
fasthair...thanks for the info. We are raelly looking forward to it, and we hope to run it more than once. We tried to get a place at the "Iron Horse Lodge". Looks like a real cool place. We didn't have much notice to make plans, so we will make do. I'll let you know how we do.
ultra...Ah, Sturgis. Not enough time, and not enough money. That's about it.
Everyone needs to ride the Dragon at least one time. It is best to do it on a weekday when it's less congested. Watch out for all those sport bikes! Those guys are fast, crazy, fearless, and amazing!
Thanks for the warning Rick. I knew you were just there and I was hoping you'd let me know of anything to watch for. I've watched a couple youtube videos of the Dragon, and I see these crazy boys! I just hope I don't get in anybody's way.
Everything happens for a reason. Maybe road gremlins were lurking in Florida this year, and your change of plans is saving you from them?
I also read Rick's postings about his trip, including the Tail of the Dragon. Some of our gang in Blackstone has also done it. You should enjoy it, as long as you don't mind scraping your boards from what I've heard! Can't wait to hear about it.
Joker...I'm psyched! I've scraped boards before. It keeps you on your toes, that's for sure!
Sorry the plans with your friends fell through but THE DRAGON!!! I can't wait to hear a report and see pictures! We are going down in the fall! I am counting the days!!
HAVE GREAT AND SAFE TIME!!
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