Mike and I walk in while the other guys were securing their bikes. There are three people in there , all Af Am's--two eating and the waitress. They all see us come in and she runs to the door to lock it as a father and son are entering--both white and not with us. Meanwhile all three are looking at each other. She tells us that she will be closing at 9a (it's not 830 yet), what do we want--I answer "breakfast," and Mike definitely gets the vibe that we are not welcome. I am blinded by hunger and say we;d hurry, but as the door is now locked and the father and son have departed, Mike and I leave also. As we do the sole male patron says something to the owner and they both start laughing. I just thought the whole thing was bizarre and perplexing, but on the way out we see the Louis Farrakan flyer on the front door and this completes the picture for Mike. He points out that she just turned away 7 customers for breakfast at a diner at 825am on a weekday because she had to close at 9? Very strange, to be sure, but I really had problems with accepting the racism explanation, because I pointed out that Farrakan was for self-sufficiency and he respected the color green more than any other.
We went away--still bothers me because I really don't want to believe that in 2007 we were the victims, but I realized that I very well could have been VERY naive about the whole thing.
Lyles Diner aka Flava Flav cafe in Greensboro, Al on SR69--beware
But back to more pleasant stuff...
All over the area we saw pronounced evidence of the drought that is plaguing the southeast. Fontana Lake and dam were not atypical as there were dried river beds all over
For time factors we decided to slab it home, but with a stop here
The parking lot was nearly as interesting as the interior
But, inside was quite a world apart
This is a D S K Japanese knock-of of a vintage Beemer
"ElectraGlide in Blue"
And there was a collection of vintage Lotuses, significant to me because I had an Elan, back in the day, that looked a lot like this one (minus the drip pan)
As a little lagniappe, I got a little artsy-fartsy with a few shots
We departed early am Last Saturday
leaving Robbinsville
Hope you enjoyed it and I must mention that not all of the photos are mine; We have two photogs on the trip--many of the foregoing were shot by another "old (wild?) fart," Darryl.
John