I moved here from the Toronto area and the first time I went to the Smokies I was in awe...this was in a Car about 20 some years ago, years after I was lucky enough to make the trip several times on my Harley....
Glad you enjoyed our beautiful state. I am going to New Brunswick in about 4 weeks to visit the family and when I get back I am planning some time up there.
Last edited by Notgrownup; 06-29-2015 at 06:25 AM.
I thank you for letting me live your moments. Truly entertaining and hope that one day in the not too long distant future, I will be able to take a trip like yours. In the meantime, I will just read from somewhere in a sand-dune in the middle-east.
You've got an absolutely gorgeous bike -- do you mind if I ask where you got your wheels? Very nice.
Originally Posted by Dark Knight
When I listened closely I can hear the banjo's playing in the distance (okay, not really but it felt that way). Some of the locals were driving by in their old pick-ups as I prayed that there wouldn't be a hillbilly who thought that I had a "purdy mouth".
You were in my neck of the woods as you came through. I'm about an hour and a half west of Mt Airy and about an hour north of Blowing Rock. I know you said this in jest, but I think you've seen too many movies. Those hillbillies in their old trucks would probably turn out to be some of the nicest people you'd ever meet and none of them would give your mouth a second thought. Next time you come down, give us a fair shake and I think you'll find that to be true.
Monday was going to be a nice easy day for me. The plan was to ride part of the Blue Ridge Parkway into Cherokee and then ride over to the Two Wheel Inn where I would be staying in Robbinsville.
I had breakfast at this Pancake house which was just up the road.
After brekkie, I hopped onto the Blue Ridge and enjoyed a very scenic ride. I didn't cross one other vehicle going in the same direction as me but I did have a little adventure when I came around a corner and stumbled upon a bear and her cub! Once I saw them I went for both brakes but new that I wasn't going to be able to stop in time. Mama bear faked towards the hills but changed her mind and ran across the road in front of me. Her cub wisely headed back into the hills. If the cub had decided to follow her there was a good chance I would have hit it.
Luckily, I had my GoPro filming at the time and got a clip of it. For some reason, you can't see the cub in the video but here it is.
This was my second year in a row staying at the Two Wheel Inn. It has clean rooms and each room comes with a private garage for your bike.
After dropping off my luggage and putting on my short windshield, so I can get some wind in my face, I headed for the Tail of the Dragon and Pigeon Forge for lunch. On the way there I got stuck behind a group of Harley's that were holding me up. Not unlike your typical Harley rider they would slow down on the corners but then speed up on the straights making it difficult to pass. Rather than get frustrated I pulled off when I saw a good photo opportunity.
On Hwy 129 just before the Tail of the Dragon.
Before I left, I promised my wife that I would take it easy this trip and not take corners like I usually do but once on the Dragon you just want to go faster, and faster. I passed one Harley rider who was kind enough to wave me by quickly. I managed the scrape my floorboard extenders a number of times. For those who own these extenders be careful as they do lower the clearance of your bike and have not "give".
Deals Gap to the left of me, Killboy to the right here I am...
Stopped at the turnoff at the end of the Dragon.
The reason why I always take my vacation during the last week of June is that it's before the kids are out of school so it will be a bit less busy. Plus, it won't be as damn hot - but this wasn't the case this year as temperatures were in the high 90's the whole time I was there.
Didn't run into many slow cars on the Foothills Parkway. Had to only pass one group of trikes and that was about it. Stopped once for a quick photo opp.
Enjoyed a great barbeque lunch at this place.
Mandatory stop at the local Harley Dealer.
The best thing about staying at a Motorcycle Resort or motel is the people that you meet. Met some great folks from Minneapolis, North Carolina, and Colorado the first night. I saw a couple on their dual sport BMW's and figure that they would be the best people to ask about my Garmin problems as Adventure Rider's seem to be more tech savvy - or at least that was my perception. It turned out that I was right. This husband and wife group both had the exact same Garmin. I started to suspect that the cable I was using for the Garmin to connect to my laptop might be the issue since it wasn't letting my GoPro communicate to the laptop either. So after borrowing theirs I tried to reload the map onto my Garmin but that didn't seem to fix the issue. Mr. Adventure Rider hopped onto Google for me (which I had already tried searching on already) and was able to find a way to do a hard reset on the device. It worked and returned the map to my Garmin! This meant that I would now be able to take the route back that I had spent all that time planning right? We'll find out later on.
I enjoyed a beer with my new friends and called it a night.
Last edited by Dark Knight; 06-29-2015 at 08:17 PM.
06-29-2015, 06:23 AM
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