A Tale of a Tail...

Well... she finally managed her revenge...

Eliza Doolittle, our Garman GPS (so named because we have the English accent turned on AND for reason you'll soon understand) has gotten her 'evens' for all the times she has had to "recalculate".

I had a route programmed in after we left the Blue Ridge Parkway that would take us down the Great Smoky Mountain Expressway for a bit, then turn off to head over to Tellico Plains, TN so we could enjoy a BIT of curvy mountain roads.

And as you saw from Sunday and Monday's photos, the drive was beautiful.

But then we started seeing signs like this...

...and this...

I was really getting confused because I didn't remember the curvy roads I planned for being THIS curvy.

And then I saw it...

We were on The Dragon!!

And the only way out was to go right on down "The Tail of the Dragon".  

That stupid GPS reprogrammed itself.  Really!  When I checked the route, it was a new one over the one I had put in.

Oh. My. Goodness.

The Dragon...

Yes, it is that bad!

Which is why it is THE hot spot drive for motorcycle and sports car nuts.  In those 11 miles there are no intersecting roads or driveways.  We're talking Bucket List sort of drive folks.  And it wasn't on MY bucket list...

The Dragon gets someone every single weekend... sometimes the 'bite' is little and sometimes the bite is fatal.

Yes, it's that bad.

Don't believe me?  Here's a few photos from other sources.

Curves and hills and lumps and wiggles.  However, the tarmac is as close to perfect as I've seen on a roadway.

This is a 'curve'.

Car clubs come every weekend for an outing.  One guy said he'd seen 44 Ferrari in one day.

Plus every sort of motorcycle known to mankind... too many driven by questionable riders...

Uh-huh.

(Killboy dot com is a photo company that sets up on the pull outs and shots photos that you can purchase from their web site.  Unfortunately we went along about 20 minutes after they quit or I would have had a photo of us.  They also are often the ones who call 911 and are the first responders to the accidents.  It takes 40 minutes to an hour for medical response to get to the accidents.)

The dude only broke his arm.

Serious question here.  WHY do motorcyclists ride the center line??  There is absolutely no margin for error... as the above shows.

This one broke a few more things, but survived.

Now here is the unbelievable part.  This road was open to semi trucks until Jan 2016.  That is insane!

So I guess I can write in on my Bucket List "drive The Dragon", and check it off at the same time.  Then I'll head over to the "Tail of the Dragon" web site and order my T shirt!

Been there...done that!

Ready to Store Up Summer

My summer learning project has come to an end... and to a whole new beginning!  I love canning, and so does Himself.

We are already talking about next year.  Our garden is planned for canning and we will be hitting the Amish produce auction regularly (we haven't managed the time this year...at least not yet).

I have canned two different types of strawberry jam without any instructors to help.  I decided that I want to do small batch preserving.  So much easier doing pints and half pints plus you can do all sorts of different recipes for variety.

I had 8 pounds of strawberries we'd picked to work with.  They were already pre-cut, so that made it much easier.  The big deal was cooking them down...

...and cooking...

Not ready yet...

OK my darling husband... it's YOUR turn to stir...

Then all of a sudden they were done!  Into the hot water bath for the allotted time.

DING!  Time to take them out.  (Isn't that a cute little half pint jar?)

First stop - the counter to dry the lids so I don't drip all the way across the kitchen.

Then to the table to cool.  Three pops and I was in happy land... they had all sealed!

This batch is honey-sweetened strawberry thyme jam.

And the four on the outside is my second batch: vanilla strawberry jam.  

Four more pops and I'm hooked on small batch canning.

OH!  If anyone has a really good tart dill pickle recipe to share, I would love to have it.  We aren't much for sweet pickles (except sweet Gerkins... love Gerkins) so we'd like something more like a deli pickle.

http://www.earnesthomeco.com/12-weeks-to-playing-the-ukulele/  

Ready... Aim... Fire!!

Last month Himself's Special Forces Group had its annual reunion.  There was a cook out, an open house, various competitions, and a family day at the indoor shooting range.

No surprise I was all over it to be there for the shooting day!

After signing a ton of waivers, we headed into the range.  This is what we were given the opportunity to shoot.  There was an M4 carbine (at the top of the table).  It's basically a smaller version of an M16.

A 9mm Glock.

A 9mm Beretta.

Listening to the Sergeant's instructions.

Time to load!

And time to fire!

Now this is the one I was looking forward to trying out!

Took a bit to get used to the sight but once I did, it was so easy to shoot.

Yep, had a lot of fun playing with this one!

For those who are interested, my unbiased opinion on the hand guns is that I like the Glock better.  I thought it had better action and came back nicely into my hand with each shot (rather than kicking up strongly as did the Beretta).  

Check! Another Bucket List Item Marked Off!

Do you have a bucket list?  I certainly do!  And while I was in Winona I was able to check one of the items off that list.

Ride in a motorcycle sidecar.

'That Guy' has worked on Harley's all his life... literally.  His Dad owned the Harley dealership in Winona from 1933 to 1971.  That Guy was born in to it.

So it was natural that he put together the sidecar jobbie-do his friend purchased.  That Guy is an old hand at sidecars.

Yep... a Harley!

"Jawa" is checking out his new ride.

When I was offered a spin around the park, you KNOW I jumped on the chance!

Ready to go!!  That Guy is driving.

Down the driveway...

And out on the open road!

After an nice long ride we came back.

Was it fun?

YES!!!!  Thank you so much Jawa and That Guy!!

Birthday for a Balloon

Do you know what happened in 1783? 

The very first hot air balloon ride…that’s what! 

Two hundred and thirty one years later the hot air balloon ride seems to have soared to the top ten of most people’s bucket list.  And for good reason; it is an incredible experience.

I learned this first hand on our trip to Kenya in ’06.  During our safari on the Masai Mara I booked a balloon ride through Keekorok Lodge.  Oh my goodness!

We were up BEFORE the crack of dawn and out to the launch site.  As we arrived they were starting to fill the balloons.  

The process took quite a while under the dawning skies.

As the balloons filled they slowly shifted into an upright position.  They were firmly tied down with just enough hot air being put into them to keep them upright. 

Our group loaded up, ready for our adventure.  Himself and I are to the far left.  The others on our side of the basket were from England.

Floating along.

A shot of all three balloons in our group (the third being ours… though you can just see the rigging). 

With the roar of the burners, we went up pretty high.  There is nothing quiet or peaceful about a hot air balloon as it goes up!  The burners are loud and hot. 

But once you are ‘up’… oh my!  The pilot cuts the burners and you float along with the only sounds being the creak of the basket and whatever chatter of the people in the basket.  (Our pilot told some people to hush so the quiet could be enjoyed.  Bless him!)

We were in Kenya at the start of The Great Migration where the wildebeest and zebra head over to the Serengeti in Tanzania.  The herds were gathering and the lines of wildebeest went for miles and miles.

Without the burner we slowly sank closer and closer.  They didn’t even know we were there…

…until our pilot hit the burners to make the roar!  They knew we were there then!  Off they would run, kicking up their heels and grunting.  (They really sound like the Budweiser beer bull frogs!)

We floated along for about 2 hours with this sort of view.  Sometimes we were high up… sometimes we got pretty close to the ground.

Eventually we landed (about one hundred feet from where a hyena had been having brunch on a lion’s breakfast!). 

Oh what a day!