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6-10-03
Photos from June 6-8 are available now.
This week's hi-res sample was shot by Keith. I love the composition here...what do you folks think?
(click on the image for the full version)
At least 3 semis came through Friday. I escorted one, heard about the others. This is obviously not going to stop until the DOTs of NC and TN get serious...or somebody dies. Jacob, Noah and I are working on a message to get out and raise awareness. More on that soon...
Saturday it rained...a lot. Sunday was beautiful...traffic was low. You would have thought a plane crashed about noon though. A Bandit went down near the state line with minor injuries, and 2 TNHP squad cars, 2 TNHP motorcycles, 2 Blount County EMS vehicles, and an Ambulance rolled in. I'm glad he was taken care of, but that's a long trip and a lot of money for a single rider.
6-5-03
TNHP may be setting up roadblocks and checking licenses this weekend. A Maryville newpaper says they will be doing it this week on "Calderwood Highway", which is basically Hwy 129 just before you hit the Gap. (thanks rob =)
6-2-03
Photos from May 31-June 1 weekend available here.
There's a new campground with cabins for rent that may be of interest to those of you coming from the North/West. It's about 12 miles north of the Gap, on 129. They are quite friendly and will bend over backwards to accomodate any of our needs. They'll even keep pets, trailer your bike in the event of a breakdown or accident, anything. Really nice folks. Check 'em out!
Ya know, sometimes I can't help but laugh at my fellow riders. I heard one lock his rear brake, (culprit of 90% of the accidents) and sideswipe an oncomming rider before dumping the bike and taking out another rider in a head-on right in front of me while I was hidden down in a creek, (taking pictures!) where they couldn't see me and I couldn't see them until they collided. (stood there with the camera like a dummy, didn't get a shot) Now that's nothing to laugh at. Neither rider had on gear other than helmets, and I feared the worst. After running up to the road, helping them out, (they were ok!) moving their bikes, offering them a ride down to the store, getting Keith to get some oil dry and a broom from the Store, and cleaning up the fork oil on the road, I leave and the guy who caused the incident said it was basically my fault. He saw my car (a neon) parked back in the campsite, thought it was a police car, so he crashed. Okay.
TNDOT had some contractors out painting stripes on the road Friday. The stripes weren't that bad in the first place, so I stopped and talked to some of the guys to get a little insight. Cool bunch, one I talked to was a previous sportbike rider. He explained that the stripes that were on the road already, were just raw paint and would wear off soon. They were putting down a polymer layer of colored plastic with grit in it, that would last 7-10 years. (so they won't be back up there for a long time) The new stuff is slicker, more reason to keep it in your lane. They had a spill in one corner with their new equipment, (see below) but said it would be cleaned up.
Sunday FOUR state troopers in 3 squad cars, with a K-9, traveled an hour from civilization to come hassle some tourists having a good time in a remote forest. They were sitting at the overlook shooting radar, loving their new 30mph speed trap. Funny how right across the North Carolina state line, the speed limit is 25mph higher. Gosh, I wonder which state is trying to gouge drivers? They even asked my boy Deepak, while giving him a ticket for a whopping 48mph, why he was wearing leathers, "did he expect to crash?" Yeah, when the semi runs him off the road.
Ron and Nancy may have a new endeavor up their sleeve, more info soon...like they need one more activity. Monte once said they were like the mafia, they have their hands in everything.
Highlights!
5-27-03
Note to self: Buy stock in Deet.
To compliment the poison ivy and mosquito bites from last week, this week I added about a hundred chigger bites to my body. I love the outdoors.
There was a plethora of cruisers at the Gap for the Memorial day weekend. Appearantly there was some police officer's riding group that was doing their annual thang. (see, some cops know how to enjoy a good road!) There were a couple of spills, as reported on TailoftheDragon. Friday was slow, so I took Ron and Nancy's FZ-1 for a ride. Saturday and Sunday Keith and I shot photos. They can be found in the store here.
I came home Sunday, but Keith stayed through Monday, so there will be a few more shots from late Sunday and Monday added soon.
5-21-03
The photos from last weekend are available in the store. Thanks for all the nice comments so far. One of the handy things you can do with the new storefront is create a photo album of your pictures to share with your friends. Just click on "Show More Options" when you're looking at the thumbnails, and you can then select thumbnails and create an album. Copy the URL when you are finished and share it with others. Here's one of Julia I put together.
I'm not making very much profit per order, but I hope to offset that by selling in quantity. That way, nearly everyone can get a photo of themselves, and my costs are covered. We should be around this weekend. Keith and I are planning to check out Bruce Almighty in Maryville Friday night...