A Rally on the Reservation

It was sedate as such things go. 

Here's a 1927 Indian on the Wall of Death.

This next one is just for fun with one bike, and becomes a challenge with two or more. At one point we had a Marine on leave before his next duty station volunteer to stand inside it while they rode around him. I didn't video that to protect him from his chain of command, who would have had a fit if they'd learned of it. 

These are just games, of course. The real dangers are on the highway. We rode to the rally Friday, camped in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, rode the Park on Saturday with lunch in Gatlinburg, and then back home via the Blue Ridge Parkway on Sunday. 

I saw some magnificent elk, including late at night and also including a magnificent bull with 14 points we counted. Sadly I was moving too fast to get a picture of him. Here’s a smaller fellow who wasn’t with the main herd, probably having been chased off by the big bull. 

The event was called the Blue Ridge Run, and in addition to games and the like there was music. The closing bands on Friday and Saturday were both notable. The Friday night band was billed as a Black Sabbath tribute band, called Sabbath, which proved to secretly be a Dio tribute band in disguise. They were serviceable on the Sabbath covers, but at some point the singer said, "To give you the full experience we should do some Dio, as they toured together so often over the years." Those songs proved to be the heart of their set.

The headline band was led by Jasmine Cain, a female rocker out of Nashville who was absolutely delightful. Her band has played this rally every year it's ever been held, but always as opening act. This year she was asked to headline the show, and you could tell it meant the world to her. She has a lot of spirit and a good little three-piece band. You may hear of her again. 

You'll be happy to know, Mike, that I never set foot in the casino.