Nixon and Me: Adventure Time

The Dragon - Day 1 - Part 1

This blog is finally going to get out of the rebuilding phase and get back into the funny stories again. In case you didn't know, I've been frantically trying to get Nixon roadworthy again so that I could take her up to Tennessee for the second annual "DoTheTon.com Summer Get Together" or DTTGTG2011 as it will henceforth be known. As you have seen, I succeeded.

6 AM Friday morning I went over to my parents where Nixon is currently housed and did an extensive pre-ride check, checking all of the bolts and fluids and lights and everything I could think of. I packed as many tools into my backpack as I thought I could stand and headed out!

Since my shakedown ride ended with a Fail, I was pretty nervous about the trip I was undertaking. But as some wise people once said "somewhere in between boring and suicidal lies adventure". I fired her up and left about 7am headed for Asheville, NC where I was to meet CCRider from the forum (I'm going to use their screen names to protect the innocent......er guilty). Nixon chugged along great all the way up to Asheville. I stopped for gas and then met CCRider at the first overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Hwy 191 intersection. Although I have been on the forum for over 3 years now, this is the first member I actually met in person.

His bike is the same model as mine, but yet so different. I love custom bikes. We headed west on the Parkway stopping a couple of times. At one stop I noticed my rear sprocket looked funny. There are two bracket things on there that keep the nuts from coming off. One of them had somehow come apart and got chewed up by the chain. I did my best to use what was left of it and we continued on. After a few more hours of riding, we stopped at the base of the Tail of the Dragon and ate lunch at Deal's Gap.