Austin MotoGP trip Day 10 Toronto, ON, Can to Austin, TX, USA Apr 2013

[PaulG]

Day 10 Tuesday April 23, 2013
Pearl, MS – Robbinsville, NC, 849 km (528 mi)
I 20/I 59 East – I 24 North – I 75 North – TN 322 East – TN 72/US 411 East – TN 115/US 129 South (Tale of the Dragon)

Another very long day ahead of us.  About a 7 hr. drive  just to get to North Carolina through Mississippi, Alabama, a piece of Georgia, and Tennessee.  Then the bad decision to do Deals Gap/Tale of the Dragon after all that mileage.  I must learn to be more assertive and speak my mind...    The drive northwards was fairly uneventful, except for the increasingly decrepit interstate the further we got.  Oh yeah, and my encounter with the legendary/mythical reputation of southern racism. But its not what you may typically think.

We were stopped for gas and a bathroom break at a busy roadside stop.  When I went to the bathroom there were only three urinals.  As I approached there was a guy in the left one, but the middle one was full of garbage. So I sidestepped to the right one and began my business.  Then I hear this muttering and it's the guy beside me who was already there when I came in.  I thought he was talking on a blue-tooth, but then I heard comments such as "cracker", "white boy", blah-blah-blah, while staring at the wall in front of him.  Hmmmm... that's odd I thought.  He wouldn't be talking about me would he?  Oh yeah, it was a black guy saying this – er, sorry, an African American.  He finishes and leaves... I finish and go to the sink to wash up... he's at a sink washing up and staring at the mirror still muttering about crackers and such (maybe he was hungry?)...      I take a step back to dry my hands and stare at him and was about to say ...     "Oh never mind", I thought, just leave.  I left the bathroom with him following me still muttering.  I wasn't so much bothered by being the target of reverse racism (after all I am "white"), but I couldn't figure out the reason for his vitriol, other than racism needs no reason I guess.

After a few miles back on the bike it dawned on me.  Could he have thought I was the racist because I preferred to pee in a clean urinal, rather than the one beside him that was festooned with garbage? I'll let the sociologists figure that out.   





VIDEO Day 10 Part 1

http://youtu.be/MXv-hNuKFV8


The interstate through Alabama, especially around Birmingham, was in pretty bad shape. Since 80% of our mileage was on it, it made for a rough day. We finally made it to Cleveland, TN in the late afternoon and managed to book a room in the Two Wheel Inn in Robbinsville. NC.  There was no direct route to there, so we had to continue north, then east, then come south through the legendary Tale of the Dragon. I wanted to do this preferably the next morning, but the decision was made and since it was more or less on the way, we did it.  I wouldn't recommend it after being on the road for eight hours already.  Those 300 turns in 11 miles requires your full concentration, not only for the road, but for the steep drop off into the numerous valleys that the road skirts. Being the middle of the week and early in the season there was minimal traffic on it, but I was always on the lookout for those murderous transport trucks.  Just type it into Google or whatever, and you'll see what I mean. 

At the end of the day we finally rolled into the Two Wheel Inn  http://www.twowheelinn.com/  just as it was getting dark.  This is an awesome place.  Each room has its own garage with a roll-up door, just enough for two bikes or one bike with all the gear.  Since they weren't busy they threw in an extra garage for free.  If you plan on touring this area of the U.S. this is a definite place to book a room.  A great launch point for the hundreds of miles of mountain roads that surround this part of the state.  Prices are reasonable, but book early or try the "off season".  Basically from May to September they are full seven days per week.





VIDEO Day 10 Part 2

http://youtu.be/25uw8R7HrqM


The last post coming, the Cherohala Skyway, and getting lost in Georgia, and a stop in Virginia to see a humongous ship, then home.