Here I am in Waynesville North Carolina, just W of Ashville. My good sailing buddies, Dick and MaryAnn Brashler are both "putting me up, and "putting up with me", in their beautiful summer home high up in the Smokey Mountains.

I arrived here, in NC, Wednesday afternoon after a 2 day ride from Boston where I spent Friday night (after a freezing ride down from Montreal), Saturday, in the cold, and Sunday in the cold and rain, with my other sailing friends Glenn and Laurie Myette on their beautiful new sail boat. Thanks to Glenn's triathlete daughter, Tracy, we attended a real fun live performance of "Hootie and the Blowfish". I left Boston early Monday and rolled down to Waynesville over 2 sunny and warm days.

Yesterday, I rode with Dick (behind me on my bike) through the fantastic back roads of the Smokies to a really neat little German town of Helen, Georgia...you'd think you were in the German alps. This ride with Dick meant a lot to me because we talked about riding together like this over thousands of miles of blue water sailing on Dick's boats, and now I was able to take HIM for a ride. We had a great day.

Tomorrow we are going to check out "The Tail of the Dragon" with Bob, a biker friend of Dick. It's about a 3 hour ride from here.

Legend says a Dragon lives in the mountains of western North Carolina. He tests your skills on US129 with 318 curves in 11 miles. Everyone who comes to ride the Dragon will always remember it.

Check out the Dragon's web site...it's amazing...

http://www.tailofthedragon.com/

I should be leaving Waynesville early Sunday (13th) and try to make 500 miles to Memphis TN., and then Monday another 500 miles to Dallas TX., where I will do a major service on my bike. Then it's SW to Presidio TX. where I will cross into Mexico.

Stay tuned...