COFSTA

All we heard lately is how all the roads were either under water or impassible due to the gravel and landslides. We wanted to find out for ourselves so we set out Sunday from the Gate, first up 181, then Squirrel Creek to 19E to Roan Mtn, and across the mtn to Bakersville where we lunched at Helen's. Chicken and dumplings were tasty. Then we rode 197, backtracked over to 19E, Bee Branch, Coxes Creek, Jacks Creek, then back to Micaville for some mocha ice cream. Then down NC 80, but there was a barricade on the downhill side to Marion (see pics). But that didn't stop the perilous pair. Not one bit. We jumped the barricade and careened down the mountain to discover a (gasp) LANDSLIDE--with a huge tree tetering over the roadway (see pic)----barely missing a date with death, we wheelied past the tetering trunk, stopping briefly to check out the Tahoma dam that was on the brink of collapse, and then rode 126 back to the Gate, where we camped out in the beer cooler room for a few minutes. It was getting hot outside. Then one last fling down Old 18 and we were done for the day. U shudda been there!

(if you zoom in on the dam pic, there are some large floating trees clogging the spillway at the top--the lake was covered with fallen trees)