Day 2. Maggie Valley to Mt. Airy. It's always Christmas in Spruce Pine!

Nokia solved the problem with Egberts wake up machine. But now they have to fix something else. What if the owner of the Nokia woke up by the sound of the Nokia machine, gets out of bed to use the bathroom and goes back to bed to fall in sleep again. Hey Nokia, what about that??

This morning the seats and shields were frozen, it was cold.

After breakfast in the hotel we took the I40 to Asheville. We thought the Blue Ridge Parkway should be open from Ashville, but that was just for a few miles.

We tried to follow BRP and ended in several dirt roads with gravel, wet mud hairpins and holes.
That was a challenge, but both bikes (GW and ST) found their way without any problem. This route could have been made by Little Panic. ( For the US guys, Little Panic is not a Cherokee Indian, but a member of the Dutch forum, who always integrates non paved roads in his (for the rest) excellent routes).

We had lunch in Spruce Pine. The girl at CVS advised us to go to JP. (For the Dutch readers: this is not the prime minister of the Netherlands).
JP has, of course, the best burgers in town. His chain consists of 1 restaurant.
Whenever you are in Spruce Pine, TN, have a burger at JP!! Great stuff!!

JP (smiling) and Egbert (??)

They told us in this place it is always Christmas. That's why they have the Christmas tree year round in the corner of the restaurant.

I ordered turkey, but they ran out. Should I come back for that at Christmas??

We met the owner of a 1957 Oldsmobile. He wanted to sell it for $35000, but that is way more than it cost when it was new! I think he was kidding ;-)

We asked JP where we could start BRP up north without further interuptions and after a few phone calls he came back with the information. We should go to Grandfather Mountain (also a GW rider I guess) and enter BRP at Blowing Rock.

That was a great advise! We went off the BRP to take a part of US 608, as Uncle Phil told me. That was a beautiful detour.

After almost 300 miles Marc and Egbert told me they wanted to stop, so we went to the closest hotel. We got a big room with 3 beds, WiFi, indoor pool, business  center and bvreakfast included. In this area Matlock is born (I have to add this information, in case you would think we missed our historical and cultural part today).

To compensate this unaffordable investment, we had diner at China King.

All you can eat buffet for $8,99. 

As most of you know, I am a Chinese food expert and I can assure you, this is worth the money!

When I am writing this blog, Marc and Egbert are watching a movie with Clint Eastwood with their eyes closed.

I am a little worried about Marc.

Yesterday he was talking about renting the GW. The excuse was simple.

But today he offered me to switch bikes. Fortunately I got a brainwave and told him I was not insured on this bike....I did not want to be inpolite by telling him I am not a grandfather.

He is getting more and more excited about the Wing. He even told me this bike could even in Belgium give a lot of fun. Where will this story end??

It was a great day! Sunshine, dry and twisty roads, good food and company.

Statistics:

Temp low: 32º F

Temp high: 55º F

Distance 298 miles

Tracklog: