Kathy Lynn Parnell

Author’s background – Kathy started riding the Bitch Pad later in life after HoneyBun entered the scene & when asked why she doesn’t ride her own bike, she’ll comment that she’s “an accident waiting to happen” & she “trips over her own feet”, never mind “getting lost in malls”! No microphone or Bluetooth for this chick, just the sounds of the bike, the stereo & the world around her. She can sleep while riding, which is crazy but true. She has a camera that takes great pictures on the fly & enjoys regaling anyone within ear-shot about a memorable ride.

My HoneyBun & I packed the bike & headed down the road, no specific destination in mind, or so I thought. We turned West on I-40 (not my favorite blacktop) & stayed on it for a spell.

It was another beautiful day for a ride, with lots of fellow bikers enjoying the same. Hmmm, are we going to Asheville? Nope. Maggie Valley? Nope. Cherokee? Nope. Geez. I give up. The journey matters more than the destination, or does it?

The odometer clicked over 45,000 miles while I lost myself in the passing scenery. 40 became 74 & 74 became 129. Where are we going? I don’t believe I’ve been here before. The North Carolina countryside was beautiful (blue sky with big fluffy white clouds, green grasses & vines, tall lush trees with hills & mountains in the distance, radiant flowers along the exits, & bales of hay in the fields with cows chewing & swishing their tails).

About 4 hours had passed when we rounded a corner & came upon a place called Deal’s Gap, with dozens of parked bikes out front. There’s a huge metal dragon on the side of the road giving away the secret. Holy Cow! This was on my bucket list! So, now we are on The Tail of The Dragon, famous for its 318 curves in 11 miles. As I mentioned, it was a beautiful day, so I’ll bet there were hundreds, if not thousands on “The Tail” that afternoon.

Cars, hotrods, motorcycles, trikes, you name it, everyone was on this little two-lane strip in the middle of nowhere. So cool! Wouldn’t it be nice to be the only one on it, so you could lean into the curves & cross over the double solids, maybe hitting the throttle a little bit more? Honestly, my Man does a great job keeping our big cruiser upright, with me moving around on the back, taking a million pictures.

Thankfully, there are professional photographers camped out along the corners clicking off a countless number of pictures, available online. HoneyBun bought every single one he could find! Hehehehehe!

The Tail crosses into Tennessee (how many curves were there?) & we continued on to Sweetwater for the night.

Bucket List item ticked off. Happiness isn’t around the corner; happiness is the corner!

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