Good evening everyone. It's Friday night and I'm getting ready to wrap up my visit to Fontana. Tomorrow morning we'll be getting up early and heading out. The weather forecast for tomorrow is grim all across the Eastern United States, and into Ontario, and it looks like we'll be dealing with unpleasant weather for the trip home. It's unfortunate, but unavoidable.
It was a calm day today, and in the end we didn't really get up to much. We did make a drive into Robbinsville with some of the drivers from Kentucky to get Mexican food for lunch, which was a lot of fun. This evening we also participated in the annual Brew Swap, an event hosted by Jay's friends from Detroit Tuned. The concept is that you bring local beers from wherever you live, and then everyone trades so that you can try beers from all over the country. It's a great concept, and if I lived in the U.S. I'd probably have brought a case of 24 to trade. As it is I don't feel like bringing beer back with me, and I have to drive tomorrow so there's only so much I can drink tonight, so I didn't really get the full Brew Swap Experience. Too bad they don't hold it earlier in the week. It was still fun to get out there and see what everyone brought.
Well, I'm going to wrap this up now. Jay is staying on an extra day, which means it's just Gray and I to swap off driving the whole way home, and it should be a long drive for us both. I'm going to try to get to bed early tonight and wake up rested and ready to roll tomorrow. Don't expect any word from us tomorrow unless I manage to squeeze out a mobile posting from the road, but I'll try to post some final thoughts on the trip either Sunday or Monday.
Friday 30 April 2010
On The Move
Hello again everyone!
It was a busy day today, and as the title of this post implies, I didn't spend a great deal of it holding still. I've been slacking in the exercise department this whole vacation, largely because I tend to work out in the evenings after dinner, but that time frame hasn't really been free for jogging this week. To ensure that I got some exercise today I started my day off with a jog. Normally I find working out before breakfast to be morally reprehensible, but I had to make an exception today. It was a difficult jog today, I'm not used to any change in elevation at all, and those changes tend to be drastic around these parts.
Following my meager attempts at fitness I had some breakfast and then joined Jay on a run to the Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort. As the name implies, it's a hotel catering to motorcyclists that sits on the far end of The Dragon. It was nice to finally see this iconic location, which would have been a normal sight had The Dragon actually been open. Also, the drive between here and Deal's Gap (known as The Hellbender) is an absolute riot. Jay said he actually prefers the Hellbender because he finds The Dragon to be a bit nauseating, where the Hellbender is less technically challenging and therefore a little more enjoyable to drive.
Deal's Gap has a particularly sobering reminder of how dangerous the driving is around these parts:
The Tree of Shame. Yes, those are little bits of cars and motorcycles tied to it. The Dragon, and frankly the entire region around it, is not for the faint of heart.
We had a good lunch at the Resort and I got to gawk at a variety of excellent motorcycles:
The complete absence of anything in the 125cc range emphasized the wisdom of my decision to leave my bike at home. There are a few hills around here that I think would make my bike cry.
On the way back through the Hellbender we stopped off at the bottom of Fontana Dam. I'd been to the top a couple of times, but standing at the bottom of that massive structure really drove home the scale of it.
Also, a cool picture of Jay's car... which doesn't hurt.
The river beyond the Dam is quite pretty up-close too:
After chilling out below the Dam for awhile we headed back to the Village. I rested up for a bit and then decided to take a hike out on the Appalachian Trail. It's such a huge trail that I wanted to hike a small portion of it while I was here.
I started hiking just south of Highway 28, close to Fontana Dam. I had no particular destination, I was just hiking until I felt like turning around again. The trail itself provided a fairly natural goal for me though, as it just continued to wind up and up one small mountain, and then continued on towards the peak of another one. When faced with an upward path I am in no way capable to turning around half-way. The bulk of the trail was on the North face, so small breaks in the trees offered up views of Fontana Dam, which gave me a good sense of how high up I was getting. Once I hit the peak of the mountain I was aiming for and the path started to turn downwards I turned around and walked back the way I came. It turned out to be a really excellent hike; it was beautiful, relaxing, and I didn't see another soul the entire time I was out there. I had to strap my camera to a tree just to get a photo proving I was really there:
Here are a couple more shots from the trail:
That second shot is from the peak, and if you look at the full-sized version you should be able to see Fontana Dam below me through the trees.
After I made my way down I actually walked over to the area of the Dam that I kept seeing to try to determine which peak I had made it to. I took the following photo from the top of the Dam, and I've marked where I believe I was with a blue dot:
After that I wandered over to other side of the Dam and make my way down to the water's edge. The water was beautiful and clear, I really think this would be an excellent place for a paddling/camping vacation:
When I got back to the Village we all got together for dinner, and I've been just kicking my feet up and relaxing since then. It's pretty late now and I'm just about ready to call it a night. I have no idea what tomorrow holds, and I plan to just play it by ear. It will be my last day to enjoy the area before Saturday's long drive home, so whatever I do I'll have to make the most of it. I'll let you all know how it turns out.
It was a busy day today, and as the title of this post implies, I didn't spend a great deal of it holding still. I've been slacking in the exercise department this whole vacation, largely because I tend to work out in the evenings after dinner, but that time frame hasn't really been free for jogging this week. To ensure that I got some exercise today I started my day off with a jog. Normally I find working out before breakfast to be morally reprehensible, but I had to make an exception today. It was a difficult jog today, I'm not used to any change in elevation at all, and those changes tend to be drastic around these parts.
Following my meager attempts at fitness I had some breakfast and then joined Jay on a run to the Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort. As the name implies, it's a hotel catering to motorcyclists that sits on the far end of The Dragon. It was nice to finally see this iconic location, which would have been a normal sight had The Dragon actually been open. Also, the drive between here and Deal's Gap (known as The Hellbender) is an absolute riot. Jay said he actually prefers the Hellbender because he finds The Dragon to be a bit nauseating, where the Hellbender is less technically challenging and therefore a little more enjoyable to drive.
Deal's Gap has a particularly sobering reminder of how dangerous the driving is around these parts:
The Tree of Shame. Yes, those are little bits of cars and motorcycles tied to it. The Dragon, and frankly the entire region around it, is not for the faint of heart.
We had a good lunch at the Resort and I got to gawk at a variety of excellent motorcycles:
The complete absence of anything in the 125cc range emphasized the wisdom of my decision to leave my bike at home. There are a few hills around here that I think would make my bike cry.
On the way back through the Hellbender we stopped off at the bottom of Fontana Dam. I'd been to the top a couple of times, but standing at the bottom of that massive structure really drove home the scale of it.
Also, a cool picture of Jay's car... which doesn't hurt.
The river beyond the Dam is quite pretty up-close too:
After chilling out below the Dam for awhile we headed back to the Village. I rested up for a bit and then decided to take a hike out on the Appalachian Trail. It's such a huge trail that I wanted to hike a small portion of it while I was here.
I started hiking just south of Highway 28, close to Fontana Dam. I had no particular destination, I was just hiking until I felt like turning around again. The trail itself provided a fairly natural goal for me though, as it just continued to wind up and up one small mountain, and then continued on towards the peak of another one. When faced with an upward path I am in no way capable to turning around half-way. The bulk of the trail was on the North face, so small breaks in the trees offered up views of Fontana Dam, which gave me a good sense of how high up I was getting. Once I hit the peak of the mountain I was aiming for and the path started to turn downwards I turned around and walked back the way I came. It turned out to be a really excellent hike; it was beautiful, relaxing, and I didn't see another soul the entire time I was out there. I had to strap my camera to a tree just to get a photo proving I was really there:
Here are a couple more shots from the trail:
That second shot is from the peak, and if you look at the full-sized version you should be able to see Fontana Dam below me through the trees.
After I made my way down I actually walked over to the area of the Dam that I kept seeing to try to determine which peak I had made it to. I took the following photo from the top of the Dam, and I've marked where I believe I was with a blue dot:
After that I wandered over to other side of the Dam and make my way down to the water's edge. The water was beautiful and clear, I really think this would be an excellent place for a paddling/camping vacation:
When I got back to the Village we all got together for dinner, and I've been just kicking my feet up and relaxing since then. It's pretty late now and I'm just about ready to call it a night. I have no idea what tomorrow holds, and I plan to just play it by ear. It will be my last day to enjoy the area before Saturday's long drive home, so whatever I do I'll have to make the most of it. I'll let you all know how it turns out.
Wednesday 28 April 2010
What's That In The Sky?
It's the sun! Woohoo!
For the first time this whole vacation we've had a full day of beautiful weather. I can finally post some pictures of this beautiful village without them all being dreary and overcast. So, without further ado:
That's our cabin!
I think that may be one of the more original cabins. Pretty cool, but I'm happy to be in something slightly more modern.
That's the fireplace in the main lodge building. It's pretty crowded in here right now, so I'm sitting right beside the potted evergreen in the left of this photo as I type this.
And how do you like THAT Mini? What a cool car. This place is really filling up today. Everywhere you look now there are 30 Minis in your field of vision. The village is starting to get pretty loud as turbo-charged Minis rip around. It's making for a really interesting environment. As cool as it is to see all those cars together though, I was happy to get out of the village and into the woods. Jay and I took a short hike around one of the nearby trails which turned out to be really nice. Here's a few choice pics of that little jaunt:
A lot of landscape reminded me of Northern Ontario, except of course in that last shot... I don't remember any giant dams near Killarney. Jay and I had visited Fontana Dam yesterday, but it was a bit dreary, so I went back again tonight with Gray and Susan so that we could all see it in the sunlight.
I think those photos do the region far more justice than my previous, cloudy attempts.
I'd really like to write in a little more detail rather than just letting my photos speak for themselves. However, as I previously mentioned, it's a bit crowded in here, and so I'm sitting beside the fireplace and twisted in a bit of an uncomfortable position in order to type this. Hopefully I'll be able to get a table tomorrow so that I can write without concern for the wellbeing of my spine.
I hope this finds you all well. I'll check in again tomorrow.
For the first time this whole vacation we've had a full day of beautiful weather. I can finally post some pictures of this beautiful village without them all being dreary and overcast. So, without further ado:
That's our cabin!
I think that may be one of the more original cabins. Pretty cool, but I'm happy to be in something slightly more modern.
That's the fireplace in the main lodge building. It's pretty crowded in here right now, so I'm sitting right beside the potted evergreen in the left of this photo as I type this.
And how do you like THAT Mini? What a cool car. This place is really filling up today. Everywhere you look now there are 30 Minis in your field of vision. The village is starting to get pretty loud as turbo-charged Minis rip around. It's making for a really interesting environment. As cool as it is to see all those cars together though, I was happy to get out of the village and into the woods. Jay and I took a short hike around one of the nearby trails which turned out to be really nice. Here's a few choice pics of that little jaunt:
A lot of landscape reminded me of Northern Ontario, except of course in that last shot... I don't remember any giant dams near Killarney. Jay and I had visited Fontana Dam yesterday, but it was a bit dreary, so I went back again tonight with Gray and Susan so that we could all see it in the sunlight.
I think those photos do the region far more justice than my previous, cloudy attempts.
I'd really like to write in a little more detail rather than just letting my photos speak for themselves. However, as I previously mentioned, it's a bit crowded in here, and so I'm sitting beside the fireplace and twisted in a bit of an uncomfortable position in order to type this. Hopefully I'll be able to get a table tomorrow so that I can write without concern for the wellbeing of my spine.
I hope this finds you all well. I'll check in again tomorrow.
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Is There A Mini Dealership Around Here Or Something?
Greetings all! I'll start by apologizing for my late post, it's been a fairly active day, despite the weather. The rain has been coming off and on all day, but it really isn't slowing anyone down around here. A lot of the Mini drivers have arrived today, and the village is starting to fill up with Mini Coopers. There are hundreds of Minis driving around the village now, and people are starting to make the (safe) assumption that everyone is here for Minis On The Dragon. Just as I sat down here to write this I had a couple from Florida walk up to me and ask me if I was a Mini driver. It's an incredible group of people. I've been wandering around with Jay meeting all of his friends from the Michigan club, and I'm constantly amazed by the people. It's such a diverse group of people, but all that matters to them is that they're Mini drivers, and that makes everyone instantly friends.
Fontana Village is really an incredible place to be. The term "Village" is very appropriate. It's a typical hotel, with normal hotel room, but then a series of cabins extends out from that, reminding me of the Killarney Mountain Lodge. The only difference is that there are dozens of cabins all along a series of winding roads, literally forming a village. Here's a shot of our cabin in the village:
It's a great place, and we're really enjoying being here. The weather has been rough this whole trip, but the forecast is calling for a dramatic improvement over the course of the next three days. The rest of the time we're here is supposed to be sunny, and increasingly warm.
The drive here was quite the experience as well. Since the Dragon is closed due to the rockslide at its Northern end we took the Cherohala Skyway in to the area. Here's a picture of the road from one of the rest stops:
Picture miles and miles of just that. Up and down, side to side. It's quite a wild ride.
Here's a view from one of the rest stop of what the un-paved portion of this region looks like:
Now that's what I'm here for!
Today Jay and I went out to Fontana Dam to take some photographs. It was a bit rainy, but we got a bit of a break and it wasn't coming down too hard. Fontana Lake, created by the dam, is spectacular, and just getting this brief view of it makes me want to come here again on a paddling/hiking/camping vacation.
This evening has been spent hanging out with the Mini drivers. The group from Washington D.C. put on a spaghetti dinner for everyone. A couple Mini drivers showed up to their cabin:
Yup, those are all Minis. I've been spending a lot of time getting to know everyone, and it's got late here. I'm going to wrap up this day shortly, but I wanted to check in first. Enjoy the meager, and cloudy photos, I'll do my best to post some sunnier ones tomorrow.
Fontana Village is really an incredible place to be. The term "Village" is very appropriate. It's a typical hotel, with normal hotel room, but then a series of cabins extends out from that, reminding me of the Killarney Mountain Lodge. The only difference is that there are dozens of cabins all along a series of winding roads, literally forming a village. Here's a shot of our cabin in the village:
It's a great place, and we're really enjoying being here. The weather has been rough this whole trip, but the forecast is calling for a dramatic improvement over the course of the next three days. The rest of the time we're here is supposed to be sunny, and increasingly warm.
The drive here was quite the experience as well. Since the Dragon is closed due to the rockslide at its Northern end we took the Cherohala Skyway in to the area. Here's a picture of the road from one of the rest stops:
Picture miles and miles of just that. Up and down, side to side. It's quite a wild ride.
Here's a view from one of the rest stop of what the un-paved portion of this region looks like:
Now that's what I'm here for!
Today Jay and I went out to Fontana Dam to take some photographs. It was a bit rainy, but we got a bit of a break and it wasn't coming down too hard. Fontana Lake, created by the dam, is spectacular, and just getting this brief view of it makes me want to come here again on a paddling/hiking/camping vacation.
This evening has been spent hanging out with the Mini drivers. The group from Washington D.C. put on a spaghetti dinner for everyone. A couple Mini drivers showed up to their cabin:
Yup, those are all Minis. I've been spending a lot of time getting to know everyone, and it's got late here. I'm going to wrap up this day shortly, but I wanted to check in first. Enjoy the meager, and cloudy photos, I'll do my best to post some sunnier ones tomorrow.
Monday 26 April 2010
Live From Fontana
Well, we final hit our ultimate destination. We arrived this afternoon at Fontana Village and got ourselves settled in. This place is stunning, and our cabin is really nice. I'd post pictures right away except I'm dead tired and just can't summon the enthusiasm to treat the subject with the appropriate amount of energy. Just wanted everyone to know that we are alive, well, and happy. I'll take a good run at telling you all about this incredible place tomorrow after I've rested up a bit.
Thoughts From the Road #3
We're at our first rest stop on the Cherohala Skyway. For my thoughts on the drive up here see my previous post from a moment ago. The drive is excellent and the views are stunning. Time to get back on the road.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
Thoughts From the Road #2
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
Sunday 25 April 2010
Howdy From Nashville
Well, I didn't end up doing any mobile posts today, we were on the move a lot and I didn't get the chance. In exchange for my lack of micro-blogging I will do a proper post now, with some pictures.
To start off with, here are some pictures proving that I'm actually moving through these fine United States:
Today marks my first time (that I'm aware of) in the fine state of Tennessee. We didn't let ourselves sleep in too late this morning, and got going fairly early. As soon as we'd had some breakfast and checked-out we got on the road. Before leaving Louisville though I got this fantastic picture. Corey can determine if this should go on Failblog or not:
Win.
Anyway, as me made our way through Kentucky towards Tennessee we noticed something interesting. A fairly brief way into the drive the GPS was telling us that we would be arriving around 11:05, which was surprising given that our watches were all ready about 10:00, and we were expecting a longer drive. Then we got on the main stretch of the interstate, and the GPS said we were to continue straight for 120 miles. Given that we had 120 miles to cover, and the GPS was expecting us to be there in slightly more than an hour we felt that the posted limit of 70 mph was going to be prohibitively restrictive. It didn't take us long to realize that Nashville is in a different time zone and that we were about to roll the clocks back an hour, but it did make for an amusingly puzzling couple of minutes.
We got to Nashville around 11:00... local time, and were greeted with a very picturesque skyline:
That's not the greatest view of the skyline, but it's hard to take a good shot through the window of a Mini Cooper that's moving at 120... ahem, excuse me, 70 miles per hour.
We made our way to Chappy's on Church, a restaurant with a very well regarded Sunday Brunch that Gray wanted to try out. It was a big restaurant with lots of tables, but they decided to tuck us into our own private little room... presumably because we're all so hideously ugly:
What was really incredible was that each of these little rooms had a name, and ours was Bacchus, and was themed accordingly. I don't know if someone warned them we were coming, or if that's just an amazing coincidence, but either way it's a good thing it was so early. Surrounding Graydyn with images of his god can be disastrous. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus)
What a meal! The restaurant is Creole themed, and they started us off with a turtle soup, which is not something any of us had tried. That was really delicious, and was followed up by a really nice salad. I had a crab salad main, with Jay and Susan trying a couple different fish dishes, and Gray grabbing the Eggs Rockefeller. Follow that up with a lovely slice of cake and I was throughly defeated. Oh, and they kept the champagne flowing the whole time. Whew, what a way to start the day!
Despite being barely capable of movement or speech after the enormous meal, we made our way to a local park at a waitress' suggestion and wandered around there for awhile. Of course, if there's one thing you can't miss while in Nashville it's the Parthenon! Yeah, that's right, you heard me:
Yes, the good people of Nashville have constructed a replica of the Parthenon in the middle of a park. You might be wondering why. I ask you - why not?
After a bit of Parthenoning (yup, new word) we decided to make our way to the hotel and check in. I got my Netbook hooked up to the WiFi and checked WikiTravel for some advice on where to go next. One of their suggestions grabbed me as a way to see something iconic and do something useful at the same time. I'd completely forgotten to grab the cable for hooking my camera up to my computer, and this new one doesn't have a built-in XD card reader. That meant that I'd be unable to get any of my pictures off my camera. Also, I'd been finding the touch pad on this computer somewhat irritating, and wanted a proper mouse for it. So I was searching for a mall, and found that there's one built around a landmark only slightly less well-known that the Nashville Parthenon - The Grand Ole Opry. We went out to the mall, I got a card reader so that I could upload some photos, and a little travel mouse with a retractable cable. We then went and admired the staggering building that is the Opry House:
From there we went to Jack's BBQ. This decision was in no way based on any of us actually being hungry, I assure you. It was simply a place that Graydyn desperately wanted to check out, and was going to be closing long before any of us managed to be hungry again. So, we went and stuffed ourselves with wonderful smoked pork, brisket, and ribs. I may not need to eat again any time this week.
Since then we've just been hanging out near the hotel. We went for a brief walk and I got a better shot of one of the more striking buildings of the Nashville skyline:
Please observe the AT&T building - center of photo, looks like Batman. Apparently the locals actually refer to it as the Batman Building. Jay disagrees, claiming it's clearly an homage to Optimus Prime.
We didn't get far on that walk before it started to rain. The weather's been a bit bleak the last couple days, but given that Mississippi was apparently wiped off the map via Tornado yesterday I guess we can't complain about a bit of rain.
I made some use of the hotel fitness room this evening in an attempt to burn off some of the 299,792,458 calories that I've consumed today, and I think I'm rapidly approaching the time where I need to turn in for the night. Starting to feel pretty sleepy.
The plan for tomorrow is to get up around 8:00 again and get on the road towards the border with North Carolina. The state of The Dragon is still up in the air, so we'll have to see if it will be an available route to Fontana tomorrow. If not we'll have to swing south to the Cherohala Skyway to get to Fontana, adding a lot of time to the trip. Either way, it will be great to finally get to Fontana Village and really settle into this vacation.
I'll post tomorrow once I've got a more clear idea of how the day is going to play out. I hope this post finds everyone well back home.
To start off with, here are some pictures proving that I'm actually moving through these fine United States:
Today marks my first time (that I'm aware of) in the fine state of Tennessee. We didn't let ourselves sleep in too late this morning, and got going fairly early. As soon as we'd had some breakfast and checked-out we got on the road. Before leaving Louisville though I got this fantastic picture. Corey can determine if this should go on Failblog or not:
Win.
Anyway, as me made our way through Kentucky towards Tennessee we noticed something interesting. A fairly brief way into the drive the GPS was telling us that we would be arriving around 11:05, which was surprising given that our watches were all ready about 10:00, and we were expecting a longer drive. Then we got on the main stretch of the interstate, and the GPS said we were to continue straight for 120 miles. Given that we had 120 miles to cover, and the GPS was expecting us to be there in slightly more than an hour we felt that the posted limit of 70 mph was going to be prohibitively restrictive. It didn't take us long to realize that Nashville is in a different time zone and that we were about to roll the clocks back an hour, but it did make for an amusingly puzzling couple of minutes.
We got to Nashville around 11:00... local time, and were greeted with a very picturesque skyline:
That's not the greatest view of the skyline, but it's hard to take a good shot through the window of a Mini Cooper that's moving at 120... ahem, excuse me, 70 miles per hour.
We made our way to Chappy's on Church, a restaurant with a very well regarded Sunday Brunch that Gray wanted to try out. It was a big restaurant with lots of tables, but they decided to tuck us into our own private little room... presumably because we're all so hideously ugly:
What was really incredible was that each of these little rooms had a name, and ours was Bacchus, and was themed accordingly. I don't know if someone warned them we were coming, or if that's just an amazing coincidence, but either way it's a good thing it was so early. Surrounding Graydyn with images of his god can be disastrous. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus)
What a meal! The restaurant is Creole themed, and they started us off with a turtle soup, which is not something any of us had tried. That was really delicious, and was followed up by a really nice salad. I had a crab salad main, with Jay and Susan trying a couple different fish dishes, and Gray grabbing the Eggs Rockefeller. Follow that up with a lovely slice of cake and I was throughly defeated. Oh, and they kept the champagne flowing the whole time. Whew, what a way to start the day!
Despite being barely capable of movement or speech after the enormous meal, we made our way to a local park at a waitress' suggestion and wandered around there for awhile. Of course, if there's one thing you can't miss while in Nashville it's the Parthenon! Yeah, that's right, you heard me:
Yes, the good people of Nashville have constructed a replica of the Parthenon in the middle of a park. You might be wondering why. I ask you - why not?
After a bit of Parthenoning (yup, new word) we decided to make our way to the hotel and check in. I got my Netbook hooked up to the WiFi and checked WikiTravel for some advice on where to go next. One of their suggestions grabbed me as a way to see something iconic and do something useful at the same time. I'd completely forgotten to grab the cable for hooking my camera up to my computer, and this new one doesn't have a built-in XD card reader. That meant that I'd be unable to get any of my pictures off my camera. Also, I'd been finding the touch pad on this computer somewhat irritating, and wanted a proper mouse for it. So I was searching for a mall, and found that there's one built around a landmark only slightly less well-known that the Nashville Parthenon - The Grand Ole Opry. We went out to the mall, I got a card reader so that I could upload some photos, and a little travel mouse with a retractable cable. We then went and admired the staggering building that is the Opry House:
From there we went to Jack's BBQ. This decision was in no way based on any of us actually being hungry, I assure you. It was simply a place that Graydyn desperately wanted to check out, and was going to be closing long before any of us managed to be hungry again. So, we went and stuffed ourselves with wonderful smoked pork, brisket, and ribs. I may not need to eat again any time this week.
Since then we've just been hanging out near the hotel. We went for a brief walk and I got a better shot of one of the more striking buildings of the Nashville skyline:
Please observe the AT&T building - center of photo, looks like Batman. Apparently the locals actually refer to it as the Batman Building. Jay disagrees, claiming it's clearly an homage to Optimus Prime.
We didn't get far on that walk before it started to rain. The weather's been a bit bleak the last couple days, but given that Mississippi was apparently wiped off the map via Tornado yesterday I guess we can't complain about a bit of rain.
I made some use of the hotel fitness room this evening in an attempt to burn off some of the 299,792,458 calories that I've consumed today, and I think I'm rapidly approaching the time where I need to turn in for the night. Starting to feel pretty sleepy.
The plan for tomorrow is to get up around 8:00 again and get on the road towards the border with North Carolina. The state of The Dragon is still up in the air, so we'll have to see if it will be an available route to Fontana tomorrow. If not we'll have to swing south to the Cherohala Skyway to get to Fontana, adding a lot of time to the trip. Either way, it will be great to finally get to Fontana Village and really settle into this vacation.
I'll post tomorrow once I've got a more clear idea of how the day is going to play out. I hope this post finds everyone well back home.
Saturday 24 April 2010
Safe and Sound in Louisville
Greetings all! Just wanted to check-in and let everyone know that we're safe and sound in Louisville. We're just getting settled in, we've got dinner reservations in 2.5 hours, but aside from that I've got nothing really to report. I'm happy to not be sitting in a car at the moment... for whatever reason my lower back doesn't like the seats in Jay's Mini. It's good to be up and about. Also, it's remarkable how much prettier Kentucky is than Ohio.
Those are my thoughts for now, I may have more to report on after dinner.
For those who are interested in cross-referencing this vacation, I recommend checking Jay's blog at http://jabbles.blogspot.com/
Tomorrow it's off to Nashville. I may make another post from the road, since I see that my mobile posting this morning worked as expected. A collection of small posts rather than a handful of large posts may prove to be the theme for this vacation. Time will tell.
Those are my thoughts for now, I may have more to report on after dinner.
For those who are interested in cross-referencing this vacation, I recommend checking Jay's blog at http://jabbles.blogspot.com/
Tomorrow it's off to Nashville. I may make another post from the road, since I see that my mobile posting this morning worked as expected. A collection of small posts rather than a handful of large posts may prove to be the theme for this vacation. Time will tell.
Thoughts From the Road
The theme to "Ghostbusters" is playing on Sirius channel 8, this is a good start to a trip.
We just got on the road and are making our way to the American border. I'd set up this e-mail address earlier, but hadn't tried it out. The theory is that any e-mail I send to it will be posted to my blog. Hopefully it works out that way.
"Bustin' makes me feel good!"
Sorry, theme song again.
The GPS says we'll be in Louisville by 2:00, but I just wanted to get some thoughts down as we leave. We were up at 6:00 and made quick work of getting rerady and on the road. I'm feeling pretty good, which may be largely due to the fact that I love my parents' shower. If they had an internet connection I might just take my vacations there. I wonder if that's why they don't have the internet...
Anyway, I'm riding co-pilot with Jay, Gray and Susan are following us. I should put down the phone now and get myself fully into road trip mode. I'll update again from Louisville, or sooner if something of interest comes up.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
We just got on the road and are making our way to the American border. I'd set up this e-mail address earlier, but hadn't tried it out. The theory is that any e-mail I send to it will be posted to my blog. Hopefully it works out that way.
"Bustin' makes me feel good!"
Sorry, theme song again.
The GPS says we'll be in Louisville by 2:00, but I just wanted to get some thoughts down as we leave. We were up at 6:00 and made quick work of getting rerady and on the road. I'm feeling pretty good, which may be largely due to the fact that I love my parents' shower. If they had an internet connection I might just take my vacations there. I wonder if that's why they don't have the internet...
Anyway, I'm riding co-pilot with Jay, Gray and Susan are following us. I should put down the phone now and get myself fully into road trip mode. I'll update again from Louisville, or sooner if something of interest comes up.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
Tuesday 20 April 2010
And Here We Go!
Alright everyone, it's the Tuesday before I leave for vacation, which means it's time to start abandoning the once-per-week format for the blog. I'm guessing that I won't have a whole lot to report during the lead-up to the vacation, but expect some updates starting Saturday. We'll be leaving Toronto Friday night, but just going as far as Petrolia, so no updates from the Internet Free Zone. We'll be in Louisville on Saturday night though, and with any luck I can find an internet connection somewhere (hopefully the hotel!) and make a blog post. I will, of course, have my new Netbook with me, and there's a WiFi spot in the lobby at Fontana Village, so at the very least you'll be getting updates come Monday. I'll try to keep them coming regularly at that point.
On the motorcycling front, I did a good amount of riding this weekend, even though Saturday was cold, rainy, and miserable. Sunday was gorgeous, and I covered about 200km in one nice long trip up North to Keswick. The unfortunate thing there is that after 200km my knees were aching, my hands and feet were going numb, and I was starting to get cold. I think it really solidified in my mind just how impractical it's going to be to drive the bike all the way down to Detroit in order to have Jay's buddy take it down to Fontana for me. It's a small bike, and it's just not built for long distance travel. It's uncomfortable at speeds above 80km/h, it's fairings do nothing to deflect the wind, it's just not a touring bike. I also think that it's the perfect bike for the kind of driving we'll be doing down in Fontana though, and I know that I'm going to regret not brining it. It's just not practical, sad as that is.
This should still be a phenomenal road trip though! I've been getting the car prepped for a long journey. Sunday I got the oil changed, put in through the car wash, and vacuumed it out. In the evening Gray and I made some repairs to a crack in the bumper, cleaned the windows, and put some ArmourAll on the dash. The car's probably feeling pretty good right about now.
Well, that's all for now. Check back regularly and I'll keep you all posted on any developments. As Jay said to me earlier, the prospect of just having a week off work is starting to get pretty exciting. Add to that the fact that this should be a really fun trip, and I'm getting pretty pumped for this weekend. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone, and I'll touch base soon.
On the motorcycling front, I did a good amount of riding this weekend, even though Saturday was cold, rainy, and miserable. Sunday was gorgeous, and I covered about 200km in one nice long trip up North to Keswick. The unfortunate thing there is that after 200km my knees were aching, my hands and feet were going numb, and I was starting to get cold. I think it really solidified in my mind just how impractical it's going to be to drive the bike all the way down to Detroit in order to have Jay's buddy take it down to Fontana for me. It's a small bike, and it's just not built for long distance travel. It's uncomfortable at speeds above 80km/h, it's fairings do nothing to deflect the wind, it's just not a touring bike. I also think that it's the perfect bike for the kind of driving we'll be doing down in Fontana though, and I know that I'm going to regret not brining it. It's just not practical, sad as that is.
This should still be a phenomenal road trip though! I've been getting the car prepped for a long journey. Sunday I got the oil changed, put in through the car wash, and vacuumed it out. In the evening Gray and I made some repairs to a crack in the bumper, cleaned the windows, and put some ArmourAll on the dash. The car's probably feeling pretty good right about now.
Well, that's all for now. Check back regularly and I'll keep you all posted on any developments. As Jay said to me earlier, the prospect of just having a week off work is starting to get pretty exciting. Add to that the fact that this should be a really fun trip, and I'm getting pretty pumped for this weekend. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone, and I'll touch base soon.
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Thoughts of Road Tripping
Our departure for Fontana, NC is rapidly approaching, and it's had me dwelling on the nature of the Road Trip. It's something that I've not done in quite awhile, and the prospect of getting out on the open road is exciting. Even the lead-up to the trip is different when you're driving as opposed to flying. If we were flying I'd just be concerning myself with what I'll need to have when I'm down there. With the Road Trip component it's like I'm planning for two trips. There's still the consideration for what I'll need while I'm there, but there's also what I'll need for the trip down. When flying I just want a few forms of entertainment, but when driving my options in that space are limited. For the Road Trip I'm more concerned with things like music, and snacks. Of course, travelling with Jay I'm not too concerned about the snack situation, I have a feeling he's got that well under control.
I grabbed something cool the other day, mostly for Graydyn's sake. It's a device that plugs into the cigarette lighter (yes I know they don't light cigarettes anymore, but that's always what I'll call it) and give you a normal 3-prong power outlet, and a USB port for charging devices. Gray's Game Boy doesn't hold a charge very well anymore, so I'm sure having an outlet will be appreciated.
It'll be nice just to get out there on the road. We're taking our time getting down to Fontana, with a couple overnight stops along the way, so it should be a lot of fun.
For those of you who are interested, Jay posted a map of the resort we're staying at on Facebook, I'll repost the link here:
http://www.fontanavillage.com/downloads/villagerooms.pdf
Apparently we'll be in cabin 506.
I grabbed something cool the other day, mostly for Graydyn's sake. It's a device that plugs into the cigarette lighter (yes I know they don't light cigarettes anymore, but that's always what I'll call it) and give you a normal 3-prong power outlet, and a USB port for charging devices. Gray's Game Boy doesn't hold a charge very well anymore, so I'm sure having an outlet will be appreciated.
It'll be nice just to get out there on the road. We're taking our time getting down to Fontana, with a couple overnight stops along the way, so it should be a lot of fun.
For those of you who are interested, Jay posted a map of the resort we're staying at on Facebook, I'll repost the link here:
http://www.fontanavillage.com/downloads/villagerooms.pdf
Apparently we'll be in cabin 506.
Check out the main site at www.fontanavillage.com for info on where we'll be staying.
I'm getting myself fairly well positioned to have my motorcycle down there with me. I've got 640km on the odometer right now, and I'm confident that I can hit the 1000km mark by the end of this coming weekend. That will put me past my break-in period, so hopefully I can take it in for it's first service sometime next week. With that out of the way I'll be comfortable taking the bike down, I'll just have to get it to Detroit so that Jay's buddy Chad can get it on his trailer and down to Fontana for me. That will really all hinge on the weather next Friday. If it's nice enough to ride then I'll bring my bike down. If not then I'll just have to go without. Fingers crossed for some nice weather!
Speaking of motorcycling, it's supposed to be a nice day today, so I think I'll take the bike in to work. I'd better start getting geared up. It takes me a lot longer to get going when I'm on the bike. I guess that's because riding a car doesn't require special pants.
Have a great day everyone.
Tuesday 6 April 2010
Here Be Dragons
Just a few more weeks and I'm on the road again! Our trip down to Fontana, NC is rapidly approaching, and I'm getting pretty excited. It's been a long time since I've gone on a road trip, and I'm looking forward to it. As Jay mentioned in last week's comments, it would be very nice to get past the break-in period on my bike before we go down to the Dragon just in case I actually get to bring it. The long-range forecast is calling for a whole lot of rain over the next couple of weeks (it IS April) so it's hard to say how much riding I'll get to do. After this weekend I had 303km on the odometer, but that leaves 697km to go in the break-in period. That's a lot of riding, but I think I'm up for it.
I'll apologize right now to Jay, since he knows more about the Dragon than I do, the posts I make leading up to our trip are likely to be pretty boring for him. Sorry dude!
If you'd like to get a sense for where we're going, and why we're going there, check out this video:
http://vimeo.com/8092191
It's a chase-cam video shot by local photographer Killboy of his wife running the Dragon in her Mini Cooper S. It's a brilliant video that showcases just how awesome that road is. It also showcases some of the dangers. Observe at about 3:45 in that video and see how close they come to disaster there.
Another video that makes the dangers quite clear is this one:
http://www.break.com/index/driver-slams-into-rockslide.html
The web address gives away a lot there. I find that video particularly interesting. It's been floating around the Internet for awhile now as a comedic video. People find it very funny how this guy could slam into such an obvious obstacle. He really does make the dangers of the area fairly clear though; he was coming around a turn and was watching the commotion on the side of the road, and by the time he looked forward again it was too late to get stopped. This is the real danger of any blind corner - you don't have a lot of time to react to a dangerous situation, less so if you're speeding, and if you allow yourself to become distracted you won't see an obstacle until it's too late.
A good lesson to be learned from both of those videos, but let's not get too caught up in the danger posed by this epic road. There's also a phenomenal natural beauty, and some thrilling driving to be experienced, and it can be done so safely by anyone who keeps their head on their shoulders. I'm getting really excited to get in there and dive into the action.
I'll apologize right now to Jay, since he knows more about the Dragon than I do, the posts I make leading up to our trip are likely to be pretty boring for him. Sorry dude!
If you'd like to get a sense for where we're going, and why we're going there, check out this video:
http://vimeo.com/8092191
It's a chase-cam video shot by local photographer Killboy of his wife running the Dragon in her Mini Cooper S. It's a brilliant video that showcases just how awesome that road is. It also showcases some of the dangers. Observe at about 3:45 in that video and see how close they come to disaster there.
Another video that makes the dangers quite clear is this one:
http://www.break.com/index/driver-slams-into-rockslide.html
The web address gives away a lot there. I find that video particularly interesting. It's been floating around the Internet for awhile now as a comedic video. People find it very funny how this guy could slam into such an obvious obstacle. He really does make the dangers of the area fairly clear though; he was coming around a turn and was watching the commotion on the side of the road, and by the time he looked forward again it was too late to get stopped. This is the real danger of any blind corner - you don't have a lot of time to react to a dangerous situation, less so if you're speeding, and if you allow yourself to become distracted you won't see an obstacle until it's too late.
A good lesson to be learned from both of those videos, but let's not get too caught up in the danger posed by this epic road. There's also a phenomenal natural beauty, and some thrilling driving to be experienced, and it can be done so safely by anyone who keeps their head on their shoulders. I'm getting really excited to get in there and dive into the action.
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