Sexy bolt! I think Clay found his bike!

Look at that face!

Back at the international motorcycle show! Had a blast watching stunt riders flipping their dirt bikes over concrete, looking at all the shinny new toys and the vintage classics.

Due to the lack of internet and phone services this trip shall be documented in one post!

Day 1:

Early morning and long hours of driving to get to Deal’s Gap NC. Not much happened. Miraculously nobody fell asleep at the wheel!

In Knoxville if you can get past all the construction and slight getto feel to the atmosphere there are some pretty cool architectural features. The food …. Meh!

Once we arrived at the Gap there was a mandatory trip up the Dragon’s Tail then down to Topoco Lodge for dinner. They had the fire pits lit!

Day 2:

Early to rise then off to the Road to Nowhere! The tunnel was freaking awesome and of course as soon as the bikes were parked up the side I shimmied! There are many instances during this trip were you’d never believe I was afraid of heights! We came across some horses on our way out. They were interested but spooked so they were kept away as we rode off.

From there we rode into Bryson. Mountain Perks:  great Angel bagel! They scorched my soy cortado but Joe says their chai latte was the best he’d ever had. Note: they used Harney and Sons! ;3 The atmosphere of Bryson seemed similar to Delaware, OH.

Back at the Gap I admired some cool bikes. Vintage, bobbers, and slingshots … and this little T-Rex thing! We did another trip up and down the Dragon’s Tail. I’m still nervous and ride way too slow! Ab’s friend Lee came in riding shorts and a helmet! O.o Boy tore up the mountain. Got some video of all us riding the Dragon’s Tail and into Robbinsville for dinner at The Hub. Again great food! This time I got an “Autumn Twilight” which was made perfectly!

Day 3:

Long day for Dan and I. Down the Dragon’s Tail … like all the way down till we hit some of the shops. Then back up the Dragon’s Tail to pick up Joe and ride the Skyway to Tellico Plains. There’s this little Deli which for the past 2 years has been closed on the day’s we’ve gone. So we’ve been heading to this wee run down looking BBQ joint with the best brisket! This year I got loaded pork nachos! Domg!

After gorging ourselves and leaving smelling of a smoke house (love it) we FINALLY headed to Bald River Falls! Per my style I skipped down the mountain, stripped myself of riding gear and stepped into the frigid water! Skimmed across the river and shimmied up the falls! In my haste I flew right past a copper head (Joe got video)! Having left my camera at home for fear of it getting broken or hijacked I relied on my phone for all my photography needs…..ya I know….

I did get beautiful images of the falls and even got to model my hippi-ness at the river tried to push me from the rocks. While up there I found another wee snake and once I get a signal I’ll have to look up what it was. Before we left the falls I abandoned some chainmail earrings!

Back to Tapoco Lodge for dinner. This time we had dessert! & wine! We built a fire in their pit just because we could. I’m really surprised they didn’t send someone over to do it for us …. for fear we’d burn the place down!

Riding back up 129 I had a bit of a mishap. The first few corners were fine if slow but then this car comes up behind me with his brights on. He turns them right off, however, I immediately get squiggly. Thankfully the driver turned his brights back on so I have a great view of the turns ahead and though slow I am able to corner without going off the mountain! Once to the resort and off the road he high tails it up the Dragon’s Tail! Looked like Kill Boy’s white car, Dan says it sounded like him too. I’ll have to ask when I see him.

Day 4:

A trip through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Still sore from the day before I trucked through it. This time it was just Dan and me all day so we had a cruiser’s pace which suited me just fine! I got to see much more of the scenery. We had a minor (9mile) detour into Cade’s Cove! Yah for me … not so much for Dan! I must say it was quite beautiful down in that wee valley. Lots of gorgeous horses and 2 bucks just munching away of the grasses. We did end up going off road-ing a bit as the cut through road wasn’t paved and passed through a creek with 6” high water.

The parkway was a long arduous journey with no place to stop for gas. We stopped off at a few places to enjoy the views!

In Cherokee we enjoyed Paul’s Family Restaurant. Dan partook of a Bison burger and I an Elk. The Elk tasted like a deer, go figure, and Dan says his Bison tastes like chicken. O.o We didn’t stay in this poor town for long (it’s decorations offended me >.>)

The most direct road back to the Gap, 28 had the BEST views! Thick fog rolling down the river … or would it be up the river? Either way FOG! I wanted to stop so many times to take pictures. Like at this red brick building on the river being swallowed by the fog. Domg my heart throbbed!

Then relaxing by the pit at the Gap … finally bored!

Day 5:

Today is a day for going back in time. A scenic ride along 28 up and over into Maggie Village where the Wheels Through Time Museum resides. My rear tire was a bit bald. I had already worn down to the second layer or rubber but I was gonna keep going till it died!

Once in Maggie Valley we planned to eat at Moonshine Grill but them being closed we headed to the busiest joint in town; Legends Sports Grill. Good food but nothing unique to the area. Well perhaps their mushrooms. A pleasantly spicy batter!

It appeared to my untrained eye to house only American historic rides. Which is fine if not an accurate portrayal of the history of bikes. Apparently they all run! Which is awesome! We watched an episode of some Barn show were the curator of the museum went looking for parts and more rare bikes. The Crocker that he picked up was in the museum and I was kinda happy that I found it! There were some cars and carriages that were also very cool.

After a few hours wandering around we headed back. This time through Robbinsville to stop at Pop and Nana’s Kitchen for some ice cream.

Day 6:

Time to leave…. But first a trip up and down the Dragon! Our new buddy Joe from Florida stopped and invited us for a last morning ride before he headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway to visit more friends. It took some convincing since my tire is just about bald … I had the worse ride of my whole trip! At the look-out we did some off road-ing (Dan rode mine up the gravel road) for a cool picture of our bikes and the rising sun!

From here we raced down the mountain (I tumbled … lots of breaking and fuck-ups) into Robbinsville for breakfast at The Hub. This time I got french toast and a soy macchiato, and Dan got a smoked pork omelet. So good! With our lack of looking at clocks we did end up checking out late.

I've had a busy couple of weeks! Firstly, let me just say that I finished the cbus 

coffee experience. At least the ones I was intetested in. I may eventually try the rest that aren't chains. I sent Dan off to get my shirt since he was close by. It's awesome! There are 2 I'll be visiting again.

I researched an old metal pot that was passed down to Dan and me. We thought it was a small foundry but it appears more like a glue pot. So no high heats!

Made a cold brew system for my business!

Some long over due mending.

More mending

My bike all taken apart to clean for our trip

Georgia chewing on shed

Got rained on when we were running errands for the coffe shop!

2nd plantern all planted

Started a soap stamp

This wood sucks. I totally sliced my thumb! It's going into time out!

Relaxing ride with the guys!

I'm back! I was out of town battling the Dragon! What is the dragon you ask. Well let me tell you! It is the best and scariest road around. It's technically rout 129 down in Tennessee and North Carolina but this 11 mile section is called 'the tail of the dragon'. & for good reason. It's got 318 turns! Yes you heard right!

Crazy right! So day one: we unload our bikes and at mile 6 I lowside my Ninja. Yup, laid her down just at the end of the turn when I was about to set her back up right, I ran out of road, hit the dirt and down we went on our sides! She pinned me too. I couldn't get out from under her until this nice Harley stopped and lifted her back tire up so I could snake out. The guys I was with all raced back once they found out I'd dumped it but by then I was able to start the bike and away we road back to the room to assess my damages! Nothing major just some crazy bruise on my calf which has only gotten bigger and darker as time goes on! >.>

After that I learned that a full leather suit is nice! Not that I wrecked again this trip. Thank the gods!

We mostly ate food we cooked but some meals we had out at some local haunts. Tapoco lodge, bottom grill, great pizza and the view ... OMG right on the river at night with mostly full moon. So romantic! Their cupcakes were amazing as well! Thank you Killboy photographer for recommending it to me!

The last day there I spent a good 4 hours out on the dragon taking photos. I found a few wicked corners [Parson's Curve, and Copperhead Corner] that had some lovely spots to climb and hide from my targets! At Parson's Curve I had a lovely rock about 12' high I think, that I perched on. & Copperhead, (I didn't know the names or I wouldn't have gone into the trees) were I planted myself on a tree root at first, then with the Killboy photographer once he showed up and let me use his lens .... so freakin' nice! I'm soooo freaked when I let people borrow my camera, and that's people I know not complete strangers!

Pulled pork sandwich

Barbeque

Unloaded and ready to go

Keeping Busy

This is how I show my depression to the world. By putting out crafts of all types and keeping myself very busy so that I might not have to think about that which is killing me inside. In the past few days it hasn't been helping but with time I imagine this pain will become as manageable as all the others. In light of my crying myself to sleep and waking up with those horrid crusty eyes I treated myself to a Starbucks Soy Pumpkin Latte and a warmed blueberry muffin after dropping Daniel off at work. He's driving my rental home tonight. Since I'll be heading back to Virginia in the morning with father and cousin Esther. My pumpkin cozy still fits Starbucks cups beautifully!

My quote of the day "You're really spoiling me this morning!" They got a kick out of that. The guy who rung me up said they try or always or something like that ... I can't remember (it's my alzheimer's kicking in).

So yesterday; my day off, I spent the whole time either in front of the stove or my sewing machine. I started by waking up really early (10am ;3), grabbed a backpack, and hopped on my Saoirse and took off for The Andersons. Totally without eating breakfast first. I warn you, don't try that at home! Lucky me they were making things all over the store so I helped myself to some samples ... watermelon, apple slices with honey peanut butter! So yum! Anywho, I filled both my backpack and saddle bag with Pint Ball jars, rolls, grapefruit (because I was freakin' hungry), some liquor, Darjeeling loose tea, half a gallon of apple cider and a large red bell pepper. Then tromped home!

My colors! Don't you love them!

Once there I put everything away, jumped back into my jammies and started cooking. I put the bell peppers in the oven (I had some green ones from mothers garden) and sat down to sew.

I made a lovely knitting/crochet needle scroll that I have been meaning to make for quite some time just never got around to. I realized after I was sewing on all the pockets that the lovely tan fabric with the brown reliefs is reminiscent of fall and the other two are more spring. In the end as long as one doesn't look too closely it still works. I blame the ornery children who were distracting me while shopping for these fabrics!

Once the peppers were scorched I put them into a calonder in a bowl and covered them for 2 hrs (which I continued to sew during).

1hr till time, I put the apples, cider and water on the stove to cook. After about 30 min I had to take them off and puree them then put them back on with spices and sugar. At which point I had to do some juggling. I had to make sure the apples didn't scorch and peal and seed the peppers. I actually was able to do all this with out making too big a mess. Since I was not actually thinking freely but rather concentrating on each task at hand I never thought to take photos so sadly there's no photos of my peppers or apple butter ... sorry! I did get photos of my peaches and Jalapenos from my other jam I made!

I'm sure you can guess what these are!

All in all I finished cooking at about 5pm. I didn't finish my scroll until 10:00pm. Then I had to take a damn shower! Oui! My day off went by super fast!  I clearly slept in too long!

I got 3 and a half pints of apple butter. The half I brought to work this morning for everyone to enjoy. & I got 1 jar of roasted bell peppers with garlic. I'm so getting ready for winter ... can ya tell?! Next up I believe is pumpkin butter. I just love pumpkins! Unless of course mother wants some roasted peppers.

I'm slowly adding to this span but in the mean time it's all paternal.

I found this on my jump. I made it a while ago when I was really board. It's my blood line following my for fathers, going back till I reached the bonny shores of England at which point it gets harder ... for me anyways. They were all listed as farmers which I guess is were I get my desire to have my own land to toil in. Slowly I will be adding their other children and making it look less like a tree branch and more like chaos!

Also without a photo is the blanket I'm knitting for Bare Baby Photography. It's a chunky knit with i-cord edges for her newborn photography and a pair of fingerless gloves I'm making for a friend client. I'm slowly getting a lot of commissions, I think everyone is realizing I need the crafts to stay sane.

Best Quote

"The motorcycle is what the horse used to be. It allows you to be part of your environment and experience it in a very intimate way." ~ Laurence Fishburne

International Bike Show

I went to the International Bike Show in Cleveland over the weekend with Daniel and his father since none of my work friends could come. Everything about it was awesome:  the bikes, the people, and the shows.

The Convention center was huge:  the part containing the bike show, and the parts that were blocked off I bet would have doubled the size. They had this farris wheel in the center of the room all lit up and working. The top went out the ceiling; lucky for the riders and really the rest of us that they built a glass wall around the top to accommodate the breach. Otherwise the freezing wind and sleet would have been raining down on all below.

I'm guessing but at one point I bet they had a carousel. Before walking into the roped off bit separating food from entertainment was this wicked cool armored horse. So of course the horse lover that I am I had to photograph it!

They had this game; a plexi glass box with arm holes like you'd find in a science project only without the gloves, two tubes inside, and a fan that forced these little red and white ping pong balls into the air. The balls were mostly red. The purpose of the game was to reach your arm in through the holes with their little sleeves and grab 5 white balls from the air and put them into a little clear tube before the other person could do the same. It looked challenging and was but I still managed to win a hat very quickly. I vaguely heard the lady's commentary about quick reflexes and strategy or maybe it was study! Before I had worked up the nerve to play I watched some people go at it a few rounds then signed up. The prize was a Yamaha baseball cap and a chance to win an Ipad. Daniel won his round as well and once we walked on he said "I'm glad I didn't play against you!".

Due to the nature of conventions there was a lot of free stuff! I'm a little mad at myself for being nervous to jump right in and challenge myself with their games. I could have gotten myself a green Kawi beanie had I braved the challenge of designing a custom paint scheme for a bike. But no I chickened out and waited till just before we left. So all that was left was a white Kawi baseball cap. I've come to realize that I don't look the best in a baseball cap! I guess it's just another project I'll have to add to the things I wish to knit for myself! I will also add that the lady for this booth also complemented my skill and creativity for the paint job. She's "never seen anyone do the line like that" nor "this that type of precision before". You'd think with all the complements I'd be more confident. *shrug* I must be defective.

There was this brother team of dirt bikers who were stunting. Photographing them was a challenge as well since I had to hold my camera in the air over my head and attempt to aim at them and shoot. Thankfully uncle Ken taught me a few tricks for candid photography that he learned in the air force, they came in handy pointing my lens in the right direction without looking through the view finder. I might just get good at photography! So back to the stunt team. They climbed the blue contraption in the center, doing wheelies and stoppies at the top ( I guess they are actually called back and front wheelies according to these boys.) They had one or another boy laying on the ground and jumped their bikes over said person. The one even used a 1 wheeled bike to jump the guy laying down. I definitely like the parts where they hopped around on their back tires. Though most of my photos for this advent came out blurred I did manage to get a few good ones.

That's about it for the shows and games; that we watched anyways. Mostly we walked around, chatted with some people and ogled the bikes. Some of those customs were HOT! I can't choose a favorite and I can't describe all the different bikes that were there or this would turn into a novel (and considering my following would be pointless to write so much) so I'll attempt to detail the best!

Starting our running was this little green chopper hidden off in a crowd. Fully custom with a dragon head, scales down the back fender and front forks! She was a beauty! All chromed out:  an evil little dragon to be sure. I don't have any specs or detail really about this one since it was hidden away. Just a cool photo!

Another was dedicated to Jack Daniels.  Complete with air brushed portrait and wooden suicide shift topped by a Jack Daniels shot glass. A bar stool seat and a mini wooden barrel (I'm none to sure what that was for besides looks). Slick little bike though probably not street legal!

Then we had one that was definitely not street legal! Slapped to the ground, all steel and hard welding! Shinny to be sure with some questionable components ... like a wrench welded to the frame and a pair of vice grips looking to be holding the tire on. These two were on the other side of the bike then what you see here but trust me they were there! I'm guessing it runs since there was some fluid in the tubes but with such a low center of gravity:  as this poor artsy looking gent found out, hard to balance. I hate pointing out peoples embarrassing moments but the poor thing turned a becoming shade of red! I'll admit I blushed for him! Mainly because I was thinking about sitting on the bike. The sign did ask you to but the seat looked a little ruff.

This one I'm taking home! I can wish right! It's not a custom bike just a newer ninja zx-14r. I tried to get Daniel to text in to win this bike but he wouldn't do it. Probably because he doesn't want me on something so big. It'd really leave his CBR in the dust. ... and probably kill be while it's at it! The think apparently has balls and tries to buck off anyone foolish enough to try to take her out! That's not quite how it was phrased to me but I'm sure you get the picture! A whole lot of power for something so light. Not that it was all that light. I would hate to have to pick this one off the ground when some dumb ass tips it over like seems to happen to Saeorsie. I WANT to kill them when they do that to her ... I WOULD kill them if they did that to this one! Oh and don't be fooled by size. This bike was A LOT bigger than me!

I found a booth with some pretty cool patches. It was a very popular booth. Lots of trouble with personal boundaries! There were a few that I would have liked to have had, however, I ended up purchasing this purple phoenix with bat wings that said lady rider on it's center. The stitching though mainly purple does have some pink but I'll live ... even if some of the pink are rhinestones. >.>; I also purchased a few for Daniel, I let him pick them out with only a few suggestions from myself. Of course the one I thought was perfect for him wasn't part of this deal of 3 for $10 so he ended up not getting it. Perhaps I should find a way to make it for him instead. Oh, it was an eagle with it's wings spread wide and perched on a rectangle with "Ireland" spelled out. One of the eagles wings was colored like the American flag and the other the Irish flag. Very well done I thought! Perfect for my redheaded, Irish boy!

Wow! Okay so what else happened?! I met some models and photographers and may have gotten myself some jobs. The one model lives by me (small world) and is looking to build her portfolio so I passed along my info and can't wait to hear from her. I've been looking for people to model for me besides my sister for some time. If this girl contacts me I no longer have an excuse not to do it. (mostly it's my friends excuses!) Then this other booth was for calendars and the gent their asked "are you a photographer" and I said yes and he's like "we're planning a guys calendar ... [and] I'm not shooting it!" We all got a chuckle out of that. I got his card so I'll have to look into it. I'm not sure how Daniel will feel about me photographing half necked men though! We'll see! It does appear as though he's more than just photography so I could potentially work with him on a number of fields.

And on a final note:  apparently I'm hippy-ish! So says a model! I can dig it!

Iron Pony Celebration

Saturday, April 16th my boyfriend and I rode to Iron Pony a local motorcycle shop that was having a #1 in the Nation Celebration. It was a cold and rainy not to mention windy day but we braved the weather and rode our bikes. Thankfully I have leather chaps so I staid mostly dry if very cold!

Besides the weather I took my camera and got some great images if I do say so! I was a wee bit worried since it was so dark and gloomy but I guess I didn't need to be. I want to post all my images but I'm going to leave the most of them for kane to do with as he wants first.

The monster girls! I'm debating if they are hired models are actual girls who work for monster. Either way I took this image for a co-worker who drinks these things constantly.

I got to see some nice bikes, like an old 60s Kawasaki and his huge Red Bull Honda. I got pictures but I didn't bring them with me so I can't post them. If you'd like just ask and I'll post them. There was also this little monster electric car which some guy was zipping around. The wet pavement made him spin out and crash into my boot. It's a good thing I had just stood up or it would have crashed into my camera. I would have been a very unhappy girl. And probably wouldn't have all these awesome photographs.

Kane Friesen and Carley Ann Rose

Thanks to this awesome stunt man and his love of the Ninja (Daniel claims that he has to say stuff like that since they are his sponsor) I really want to pursue photographing events. I image that if this was a sunnier day and I had been able to find my second and larger memory card that I would have more and better images to share.

Sure I chopped his head off but it was one of the few shots of him standing on the tank.
Such a brave ... or would that be 'insane' man!

And my favorite though probably a show of bad photography!