Friday a bunch of us took off and rode over to Maggie Valley to visit my favorite museum in the entire world. That's right once again we visited the Wheels Through Time Museum and once again it was a great time. We got together and took off from the Deals Gap Resort riding down Hwy28 otherwise known as the Moonshiner. This is a FUN road with enough speed, and a nice road at a more relaxed pace. For the museum ride we had some fun for sure, especially on the way back. I used EVERY bit of the tread on my tires in those corners, scrapped the pipes and wore down the patch on my saddlebag. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The ride over there was fun, but getting there was even better....
Lining up to go.
Riding Hwy 28.
Lots of fun curves on this road.
The scenery is BEAUTIFUL in this area of the country. It's not a co-incidence that the two trips I take every year (BMR and the Bastard Bash) are to this area.
Near Bryson City, I took this one over my shoulder and hoped that it would be OK. It actually worked really well I must say.
Once we got to the museum, Dale had us park all the bikes along the entrance sidewalk for a picture to put on the museum's facebook page. After that Matt rolled up on the Jack Pine racer and asked if I wanted a ride. Of course I said yes! I get on thinking we're just gonna putt around the area when all of a sudden I'm up in the air with a death grip on the handles I was holding. I guess Matt trusted me to be smart enough to know what to do when he took off. The crazy part was that he was HAND shifting gears with me up in the sidecar. Luckily Vin and Samuel got some pics of me riding.
Vin took this one, can you imagine holding my big ass up the air in that sidecar rig AND letting go of the bars to shift?
Samuel took this one and the next one.....
It's great to have friends who capture the cool moments for you. Matt is a great guy and ALWAYS takes good care of us when we're there. I hope he gets to make it to BMR next year to just hang out.
The racer itself
Another view
Where I was kneeling for the ride.
One of the other guys got to ride as well. I don't think either of us quit grinning until the next day.
Some of you probably saw the American Pickers episode where they found this old belly tank racer. We finally got to see it in person and it is even cooler than I thought. It is one very well thought out and executed ride. Here's Dale showing us some details.
And of course since everything in the museum runs he had to zip around and show off for us.
You can tell that he REALLY enjoys his work.
Artsy shot of Matt behind the racer.
Matt explaining some details about the beast.
Matt in the museum starting up an ACE for us to see and hear. Very cool bike and like most from that time the details and craftsmanship are unreal.
Even seen a shaft drive Harley tranny? Well you have now, it was made for a knucklehead powered three wheeler that was built for the military in WWII.
One of the first bikes Dale ever built, a kick ass old servicar chop that sits in the Chopper Graveyard.
Matt explaining about the old flexi-sidecar racers.
Showing us the original wheel that came with the sidecar.
That's it for today, by the time you read this I'll be on my way up to the other side of those same mountains for a family getaway and to celebrate my birthday. I'll finish this one up when I get back.
Lining up to go.
Riding Hwy 28.
Lots of fun curves on this road.
The scenery is BEAUTIFUL in this area of the country. It's not a co-incidence that the two trips I take every year (BMR and the Bastard Bash) are to this area.
Near Bryson City, I took this one over my shoulder and hoped that it would be OK. It actually worked really well I must say.
Once we got to the museum, Dale had us park all the bikes along the entrance sidewalk for a picture to put on the museum's facebook page. After that Matt rolled up on the Jack Pine racer and asked if I wanted a ride. Of course I said yes! I get on thinking we're just gonna putt around the area when all of a sudden I'm up in the air with a death grip on the handles I was holding. I guess Matt trusted me to be smart enough to know what to do when he took off. The crazy part was that he was HAND shifting gears with me up in the sidecar. Luckily Vin and Samuel got some pics of me riding.
Vin took this one, can you imagine holding my big ass up the air in that sidecar rig AND letting go of the bars to shift?
Samuel took this one and the next one.....
It's great to have friends who capture the cool moments for you. Matt is a great guy and ALWAYS takes good care of us when we're there. I hope he gets to make it to BMR next year to just hang out.
The racer itself
Another view
Where I was kneeling for the ride.
One of the other guys got to ride as well. I don't think either of us quit grinning until the next day.
Some of you probably saw the American Pickers episode where they found this old belly tank racer. We finally got to see it in person and it is even cooler than I thought. It is one very well thought out and executed ride. Here's Dale showing us some details.
And of course since everything in the museum runs he had to zip around and show off for us.
You can tell that he REALLY enjoys his work.
Artsy shot of Matt behind the racer.
Matt explaining some details about the beast.
Matt in the museum starting up an ACE for us to see and hear. Very cool bike and like most from that time the details and craftsmanship are unreal.
Even seen a shaft drive Harley tranny? Well you have now, it was made for a knucklehead powered three wheeler that was built for the military in WWII.
One of the first bikes Dale ever built, a kick ass old servicar chop that sits in the Chopper Graveyard.
Matt explaining about the old flexi-sidecar racers.
Showing us the original wheel that came with the sidecar.
That's it for today, by the time you read this I'll be on my way up to the other side of those same mountains for a family getaway and to celebrate my birthday. I'll finish this one up when I get back.
