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Banner City Bikers Summer Travels: The Tail of the Dragon

Article and Photos by Blake Scharine

Previous installments: The Journey Begins | Part II

The week continues with more incredible rides!

As I told all of our bikers this year “its about the roads”. This area of north Georgia and the Carolinas, simply hands down, has the best roads and routes in the USA.

Whats on tap for next few days? “The Gauntlet” & the infamous “Tail of the Dragon.”

The first couple hours of the gauntlet brought us through Suches, GA. A wild curvy route that kept us alert the whole time all the way to our lunch destination, Big Daddy’s Smokehouse, in Helen, GA. Helen is big touristy town; waterparks, tubing, ATVs and tons of shopping and restaurants. Also a thigh burner, as traffic was backed up coming into town for a mile or better, one road in and one road out. I guess this can be expected. Big Daddy’s did not disappoint with great burgers, ribs, chicken and more. I highly recommend it. 

We saw rain rolling in on the radar, losing a lot of time in Helen. We decided to cut the Gauntlet short and head back to the lodge directly. Oh that wont take long! Mountain driving is always an education. My running response to “how far to our next stop?” is “oh about 15 mi but about 2 1/2 hrs” WHAT! Is the typical response.. but I’m not always that far off, just kidding. Anywho, we got into Blairsville (10 min from the lodge) and some of us wanted to fuel up and/or grab some groceries. Well, 3 couples got under a gas station roof before the market visit, and the rest got drenched on the way back. Hard rain, couldn’t see, and pulled over to get even wetter. Good thing is the entire week, what rain we got nearly always came at the very end of the ride home. God has blessed us with his perfect timing.

The next day “the Tail of the Dragon” on Highway 129 was our destination. The roads going up to 129 were almost as good as the dragon. We stopped for some pics & souvies at Deal’s Gap, the self proclaimed entrance to the dragon. After our t-shirts got packed away, we set our sights on the pavement of the tail. This ride is best known for its 318 curves in 11 miles. This is 100% designed for honing your biking skills. The curves have aggressive banked angles and nearly all are 10 -15 mph twisties. Great pavement too! Another cool situation was once you’ve been thru the dragon, there are not a multitude of options to head back, so about half of us decided to ride it back down again and the other half took a slightly longer route back south/west. This worked out great as they discovered hwy 68 and hwy 60 which we all got to enjoy later in the week. We all got back safe and sound that night. 

The Cherahala Skyway would be our next days adventure and WOW! Beautiful scenery and lots of paved pull offs. This road had just the right sweeping angles and banked turns. We got a little rain just before lunch but had a chance to dry off over some good food.  The Smokies come by their name honestly. The fog rolled in on a daily basis, beautiful and enduring, making it difficult to predict the weather. But we’ll push on! God most certainly created a gem in the Cherehala. Stopping at a Harley dealer at the entrance of the skyway and hitting lunch at Lynn’s made this a memorable ride.

Till my next installment!

Update on Banner City Biker – Sturgis contingent

Bruce Parker & Dick Jones arrived in Sturgis at Katmandu campground Friday and not far behind was Gary Kiger & Cliff Floerke.

Campground was set up, tents and all! Cliff Storlie left Georgia thursday am with Russ/Mary as they had a Nebraska appointment to get to Sturgis & join the others. He gets in at midnight and throws his sleeping bag on top a picnic table and is out like a lite. Black Hills activities will wait til morning! Have fun guys!!

UW-Whitewater welcomes Dwight C. Watson as 17th chancellor

Dwight Watson begins his tenure today as the 17th chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The UW System Board of Regents named Watson to lead the university on May 23.

Dwight C. Watson

“For more than 150 years, dedicated people at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater have been transforming the lives of students and positively impacting the region we serve. We have much to be proud of as we begin a new academic year. I am humbled and honored to serve as chancellor, and I am looking forward to continuing to move the university forward,” Watson said.

“I want to assure members of the Warhawk family that I will listen, learn and lead. I plan to listen to students, faculty, staff and the community. I plan to learn all I can about UW-Whitewater and the region. And I will then work collaboratively to help lead the university to greater achievements.”

Watson will hold listening sessions at the Whitewater and Rock County campuses, and in the communities of Whitewater and Janesville. “I want to hear from as many people as possible, and I especially want to hear from those people whose voices aren’t always heard,” Watson said.

“This is an exciting time of year for the university. It won’t be long before our students and faculty return for the fall semester, and are engaged in our vibrant campuses. I am energized by the activity of the students, faculty and staff. The enthusiasm of the Warhawk family fuels our commitment to our goals,” he said.

Watson served since 2015 as the provost and vice president of academic and student affairs at Southwest Minnesota State University, an institution serving about 7,300 students as part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. In this role, he focused on student achievement and removing barriers to success. He designed and implemented policies and practices pertaining to diversity, inclusion, access, and equity. Watson helped build collaborative relationships with two-year community and technical colleges, including creating transfer pathways and place-bound 2+2 programs. Working collaboratively with shared governance, he has overseen successful accreditation, assessment, and strategic planning. He has fundraising and government relations expertise.

Previously, Watson served as dean of the College of Education at the University of Northern Iowa (2010-2015); associate dean of the teacher education program at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (2007-2010); and chair of the Department of Education at Hamline University (2002-2007). As a professor, his primary teaching focus was literacy development for young and adolescent readers. His scholarship has focused on applied research connected to the literacy and language acquisition of students of color and urban learners. Currently, his research is on leadership development, faculty recruitment and hiring practices, and teacher pathways to diversify the workforce. His professional experience also includes pre-K-12 teaching in his home state of South Carolina as well as North Carolina and Minnesota.

Do You Have the Best Chocolate Cake in Walworth County?

Do you think you bake the best chocolate cake? Do your friends rave about it? Then you need to enter your cake into Studio 84’s Chocolate Cake War!

The event will take place Saturday, September 14, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Studio 84. All cake baker entry forms must be received by September 4 or until 20 entries have been received. For details and an entry form visit www.studio84inc.org, email info@studio84inc.org or call 262-473-9845.

The entry fee is $25 with prizes being awarded for the Best Chocolate Cake and honorable mentions. Cake bakers will bake their cakes and serve bite sized pieces to cake tasters, members of the greater community, during the event on September 14. Tickets for the tasters are $5 per person and $15 for family of four or more. The tasters will be given a ticket to cast their vote for the best cake after tasting all the entries.

Get your entry form in early as space is limited to the first 20 entries!

  • Jeanne Jonely of Whitewater claims SHE makes the best chocolate cake. Dare to challenge her in Studio 84’s Chocolate Cake War!
  • Stephanie Bailey of Beloit claims SHE makes the best chocolate cake! Dare to challenge her in Studio 84’s Chocolate Cake War.

Studio 84 is at 121 W. Center St. in Whitewater. It’s a non-profit art studio that provides experiences in the arts for the community. The studio specializes in the creative and vocational development of people with disabilities, including those with Autism, physical disabilities, cognitive limitations, and mental illness.

To learn more visit www.studio84inc.org or check them out on Facebook. Also, you can shop and donate to Studio 84 at https://givingassistant.org/np#studio-84-inc and www.smile.amazon.com.

Whitewater LEADS presents No Small Matter August 5

Whitewater LEADS partners with the United Way of Jefferson and Northern Walworth County and the Greater Whitewater Committee, Inc., to present No Small Matter at the Whitewater Cinemas.

On Monday, August 5 starting at 6:30 p.m. the documentary No Small Matter will play at Whitewater Cinemas to the public for free. A brief discussion will follow the showing of the documentary.

“Over the last twenty years, a revolution in our understanding of early childhood has led to one, inescapable conclusion: the experience we have in the first five years of life shapes our brains and bodies in profound and lasting ways,” Whitewater LEADS President Jim Winship said.

Winship also mentioned adults are shaped by nature and nurture working together, rather than being one or the other.

The purpose of showing the documentary is to inform the Whitewater community and surrounding communities of the need to improve early childhood development.

No Small Matter is the first feature documentary to explore the most overlooked, underestimated, and powerful force for good in America today: early childhood education.

Through poignant stories and surprising humor, the film lays out the overwhelming evidence for the importance of the first five years and reveals how our failure to act on that evidence has resulted in an everyday crisis for American families, and a slow-motion catastrophe for the country.

This documentary is firmly grounded in science, opening up the “black box” of what’s happening inside children’s brains with exciting, stimulating animation and the voices of compelling scientists, physicians, and Early Childhood Education experts.

“Access to quality and affordable childcare has become one of the top issues facing families in our communities,” United Way of Jefferson and Northern Walworth Counties Executive Director Megan Hartwick said.

No Small Matter dives into the crucial importance of quality care, and how deeply that care can impact a child as they move throughout their adolescence and into adulthood, but it also highlights the financial barrier most families have to accessing quality care, Hartwick mentioned.

She also detailed that in the United States alone, the average cost of childcare for one infant and one preschooler is $1,424 per month – about 37 percent higher than the average cost of housing.

“Unfortunately, the reality is that most families have to sacrifice quality for cost-savings, which has a dramatic impact on those children,” Hartwick said.

Part of the efforts to improve early childhood development in the greater Whitewater area, Whitewater LEADS introduced the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL) program in 2017.

The DPIL is a book/reading program wherein children (within the Whitewater Unified School District) newborn to five years old receive free, age-appropriate books mailed to their home. It is meant to engage children in the world of reading early and prepare them for schooling.

Dolly Parton, country music legend, started the Dollywood Foundation which started the DPIL. It was originally a charity in Sevier County, Tennessee, Parton’s home county.

Parton started the program so every preschool child in her home county could have books in their home. The program currently distributes over one million high quality books monthly to children around the world.

Whitewater LEADS is a nonprofit organization established in 2015 to support literacy in the greater Whitewater area.

Parents who live in the Whitewater Unified School District area with children under the age of five can register their children to receive free books by going to imaginationlibrary.com.

For more information or to volunteer with Whitewater LEADS, email whitewaterleads@gmail.com.

Banner City Bikers Summer Travels: Part II

Article and Photos provided by Blake Scharine

For part one, click here.

When we left Maggie valley, all of us commented on how impressive the wheels through time museum was. If you have any reason to be that direction, do stop there, it’s well worth the time and money. Hundreds of antique functional motorcycles and well informed museum staff to answer questions – Great stop.

Onward to Copperhead lodge! Hwy 19 was our route, Wow! The route is spectacular, long sweeping turns mixed with plenty of 25 mph 90-120° turns with the occasional 10-15 mph hairpins without the freezing and thawing seasons the pavement down here is amazing.

With the exception of Harrah’s Casino in Cherokee (our first real thigh burner) traffic has been great. By the way “thigh burner” is when you’re stuck in a start and stop traffic jam, your bike runs very hot, and that heat has to go somewhere, well you can figure out the rest… ouch.

Speakin of backups, we were all ecstatic to be traveling south on I-40 as we observed a 20 mile standstill on I-40 northbound on a 90° aftern. Yuck. Anyhoo… we arrived safe and sound at the lodge Friday afternoon: 10 bikes, 16 people. Eddie and the Hamlins would arrive a bit later and by Saturday we would be 12 bikes & 19 people.

As is in most great motorcycling spots the area has given certain rides “names,” so Saturday we set out on “the Moonshiner 28.” Again pristine pavement and challenging twisties, we stopped to see several water falls including Dry Falls. We were able to go right down underneath the spill for pics, very cool, literally.

Lunch was at the Highland Smokehouse on 28. Excellent grub and great service. Well, maybe not Jessica’s service but pretty good ;). 

Finishing up the “Moonshiner 28” we headed back “home” stopping to fuel for the next day and get a few groceries. Big day on Sunday: The Gauntlet! And, yes, “Tail of the Dragon” is in the itinerary too.

Til next time, soak in God’s spectacular creation!

Golf Fore! Whitewater Kids Golf Outing ONLINE AUCTION Now Open

The Golf Fore! Whitewater Kids Golf Outing Online Auction is now open. Check out the auction items at https://www.32auctions.com/golfforekids2019.

New items will be added. Auction will end on Sunday, August 18, 2019, at 5:00 pm.

How can you support Whitewater Kids Golf Outing?
– Register a team/individuals
– Donate a raffle/auction item
– Become a hole sponsor

Sunday, August 18, 2019

11:00 Registration
12:00 Gunshot start
5:00 Dinner/ Auction Closes

This golf outing was started in 2014 and is sponsored by the District Leadership Team. The money raised through this golf outing helps support Whitewater kids through scholarships, Family Emergency Fund, Whippet Booster Club, Whitewater Music Parents Association, and Rise Grants.

More information on how you can support our golf outing can be found at https://www.wwusd.org/page/2927

Improv Comedy Fundraiser for MS Set for August 3

Come join us for an afternoon of comedy for a cause on August 3! JPAC Improv Comedy Troupe will be performing at 2:00 to help raise funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. 

  • Penny Ardelt

While the show is free, there will be 50/50 Raffles, Meat Raffles, and a Silent Auction to help a Troupe member (Penny Ardelt from Whitewater) raise the $1500 she needs to participate in Challenge Walk MS – a 3 day, 50 mile walk to help people living with MS. Naturally, free will donations will also be gratefully accepted!

We will be performing a couple of new games-as well as bringing back fan favorites such as Helping Hands, Opera, and The Dating Game!

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Lucy’s Hideaway
5847 County Road N
Milton, Wisconsin 53563

1:00 PM: Silent Auction and Raffle Ticket Sales Begin
2:00 PM: Improv Comedy Show Begins
3:30 PM: Silent Auction Ends