Deals Gap, North Carolina

We were going up to, um, Maryville, Tennessee to the Smoky Mountain, uh, Bike Fest, and then I wound up, uh, taking a detour on the way back, which took us over through North Carolina and Georgia and back into Tennessee, and, uh, and it was...

We ran the Tail of the Dragon, which is 311 turns and 13 miles, and I do it all the time by myself.

The wife had never been on it, and, uh, she didn't care much for it.

Once I got to the top, I was gonna try to run it backwards, and she goes, "No."

Rewind several decades ago.

I can still vividly recall my shocked disbelief when the unknown rider I just followed at a very brisk pace through Deals Gap removed her helmet once we'd pulled into a parking area and a cascade of long blonde hair fell out.

Girls didn't ride motorcycles solo, and they sure didn't pilot top shelf sport bikes blitzing the twisties on a seriously challenging mountain pass like this one.

It wasn't that I thought women couldn't do such a thing, nor did I have any notion they shouldn't.

Check some places in Tennessee and see how long it would take to get there.

Chris, for you to go from your house to Deals Gap, Tennessee, it'll take you 11 hours and 45 minutes.

Oh, wow.

Yep.