DAY 3: Wednesday Oct 22th The hotel was right next to a Waffle House, so we decided in the spirit of authentic food to eat there. Talk about a FLUFFY omelet!! It was really amazingly tasty too. The woman there said that everybody always comments on how fluffy the omelets are and that they have a special whipper to get them that way. We headed southeast. Our aim for today was yet another twisty, windy road - one of the most famous in the US for motorcycles. It's called the "Dragon" and you earn a special dragon sticker for your bike by riding it. So west we went into Tennessee. We stopped at a McDonalds that had a stray cat roaming around. I kept looking at it thinking, "Why would a cat hang out here? All there are are french fries. Cats don't eat french fries. Those cute little birds eat the french fries ..." and then it struck me just WHY that cat enjoyed the McDonalds area so much.

OK, south into Tennessee and the Dragon. There were a ton of motorcycles in this area, and signs about "entering the dragon" and such. This was VERY twisty, as you can imagine, with lots of hairpin turns and back-and-forths. The landscapes here were simply gorgeous, with forests up against big lakes and rivers and such.

We hit the very end at 4:30, and there was the motorcycle shop with the stickers and tshirts and the rest. We got a bunch of things and merrily put stickers on our helmets and the bike. Little dragons everywhere!

The Dragon Sticker

Click for larger version

Click for larger version

We then kept going south, crossing into North Carolina on more windy roads. We stopped at a gas station for some trail mix and a guy there said he liked our "Cadillac". I told him that he must have thought we were a Gold Wing for that comment :) Gold Wings are a bit more luxurious than our bike is!

Now we headed east, crossing into Georgia, South Carolina, and Georgia again. We saw many orchards but couldn't tell if they were apples or peaches. The stars were out and gorgeous, and we saw 2 deer along the way. One star in particular was always in front of us, encouraging me to sing "Youuuuuu Are My Shining Star!" much to Bob's Delight. I think he was more delighted that the only words I knew to the "Georgia" song were "Georgia ..... Georgia ...."

We stopped at a GIANT mall in Georgia to get a backpack to put some of our stuff into, and then went to an Outback for dinner at 9:30pm. The mall looked just like any mall anywhere else, as you might expect, big and brick.

The Outback had an interesting fish on the menu - "tilapia" with crawfish and other local sauces. I chose that! I love Outbacks for their fresh grilled fish, their delicious salad and their really friendly staff and this was no exception. The tilapia was delicous and the crawish topping was tasty too :) It went well with my Black Opal Chardonnay. Bob had an 8oz prime rib. Plus our table had a cool picture of a big-eyed tree frog at it. Who could ask for anything more? Well Bob wanted to watch the game, but you know, you can't have everything.

Off to bed!

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