17th July 2018
Late start this morning… am on my way to Maryville, some 200 or so miles away, just west of the Smoky Mountains.
But first, I want to do some washing as I seem to have a lot for some reason. Next door to the laundromat is an O’Reilly’s auto place… ahhh I wonder if they will let me borrow an adjustable spanner? I know they do rent out specialist tools, but a spanner hardly fits that description, lol. I put my washing on then go next door. Again, I think there is an issue with my accent, even though I call it an adjustable wrench, they don’t say spanner here, they don’t seem to understand that I need a very large one. Basically the bag is still bashing into the license plate and I’m worried that if the plate snaps off and I lose it I’m going to have major problems shipping the bike home. I assume I can’t get a new plate made up as it’s a foreign number… I might be wrong, but don’t want to chance it. Therefore, I need to slacken off the rear axle nut to move the license plate away from underneath the saddlebag.
They do have a large spanner that I could buy, but where will I put it afterwards… it’s massive. They also have large sockets and I ask if I can try them. The woman says ok and proceeds to follow me out. I’m not going to steal it, but I guess she doesn’t know that. The first one is too small, it’s 1 1/4 inch, I go back and swap it for a 1 1/2 inch and it fits… now she can see how big it is the penny finally drops and she gets me a big adjustable wrench… I am then able to sort it out and I do buy the socket just in case it needs adjusting again.
Back on the road… there is another Harley shop near to my motel, but I had decided not to bother… until that is, I get lost leaving Nashville and stumble across it, so of course it’s fate 🤔
Am soon on my way towards the Smoky Mountains. I have already booked a motel in Maryville… it’s the closest I could get to the Tail of the Dragon without paying a fortune and this wasn’t cheap, so I hope it’s going to be outstanding compared with some of the gaffs I’ve been in.
Oooo there’s one of my favorite shop names..
These only seem to be in these southern states.
I pass through…
There’s no name on these two, but I just liked the look of them…
One thing I have been contemplating since I saw the inverted fire engine… postboxes… there are some very weird, but also wonderfully individual works of art in front of some homes and I was thinking of photographing some of them. However, I don’t like the idea of stopping outside private residences taking photos without permission, but this one I just had to…
I mean, how cool is that… think it’s an MZ or Jawa… if so, best thing for it cos they were crap bikes!!
Am now starting to climb and the road is getting increasingly twisty…
I arrive at my motel and am very pleasantly surprised. It is excellent and the room is perfect. Even better, there is a KFC right next door and given my disastrous attempt the other night I am definitely having some and I don’t even have to ride there.
No, No… too spooky, enough to put one off one’s chicky… well, not quite!
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