Well, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. It finally happened! We left NJ at 4pm Friday, July 29 headed for North Alabama. Hit 3 major traffic jams. One trying to bypass Phila... another trying to get on the PA Turnpike and another on I81 (this one due to construction). Arrived in Staunton, VA just before midnight. All in all, not too bad of a ride for the 1st day. Day 2 (Saturday) was hightailing it down I81 to TN, thru Knoxville, then on to my Mom and Dad's in N. Alabama for a week. Good day on the bike untill we landed in my home town when the FLHTC decided to foul the front cylinder plug. No problem as we were at our destination and a quick change of plugs would take place on Monday morning. The next five days were spent visiting with my family whom I rarely get to see. We had a great visit! On Saturday, Aug. 6th, we headed to South Georgia to visit my grown and married daughter and her husband. Again, another great visit. Bike ran great in the AL/GA heat. Sunday morning we were up bright and early for our trek up to the Smokies from S. GA. All was well untill we got thru Atlanta when we hit rain. Not really a big deal just steady rain for the rest of the trip. It finally quit once we got to our destination of Cherokee, NC. A hot shower and comfortable bed and visions of riding the Smokies and Dragon's tail for the rest of the evening. Monday morning, kinda dreary weather but we were gonna tuff it out anyway. Turned out to be a great day! Got a few sprinkles but nothing major until just before dark. Had a BLAST on the tail, rode the roads thru the Smokey Mountains park, Cherohala Skyway, and surrounding area. Got drenched on our way to dinner in Pigeon Forge but we didn't care. We had a fantastic time, rain and all. Going back to our room in Cherokee proved to be a bit tougher than we had anticipated. Pitch black night with a steady rain crossing the mountains thru the national park on US441... NOT something I'd care to do again... Tuesday morning, day 12 proved to be BEAUTIFUL! Sunny, cool, little traffic in the park... We enjoyed this day! Rode for hours and hours... decided to stay another night in the area and got a room in Pigeon Forge. Wed. day 13, went back to Cherokee, NC but along the way stopped to climb Clingman's Dome and checkout some overviews one last time. That afternoon, we headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway for our trek home. The Parkway was fantastic! No comerical traffic... NO TRUCKS!!! WOOHOO! Rarely did we have anyone behind or in front of us. Encountered as many bikes on the BRP as cars! Beautiful road! We stayed Wed. night at the Mt. Pisgah Inn. Had the most fantastic view from our room. Met some really cool bikers there too. And the meals we had there were GREAT! I truly recommend this place! We will go back! Spent Thursday and Friday on the Parkway. Stopped at Linville Falls and the Mabry Mill... back to Staunton, VA for the night Friday. Saturday was "head for home" day. But not before doing Skyline Drive in the Shanandoah National Park. Another great road and beautiful park. And, we got up close and personal with some deer. 2 does and their fawns! We walked within 10 feet them while taking pics and talking!!! Amazing! Around 3pm, we were thru the park and on I66 headed for DC and home. Got thru the DC Beltway alive (thank you, Lord) and a few miles from the Delaware Memorial Bridge (and about 50 miles from home) we ran into major problems... the bike starting running like crap so I pulled over... it started running normal again so back to I95 we went. A couple of miles later... we lost a cylinder! [:'(] Nursed the bike and ourselves to Mike's Famous HD in New Castle, DE where we had our daughter pick us up. The bike is in their shop as of now waiting to be looked at. Should know something by tomorrow... Anyway, we had a wonderful time even with the occassional rain and bike problems. Can't wait to do it all again! And now.... a couple of pics...

THIS is why they're called th

 

Thanks for the pictures Phil.
The wife and I will be down at the Dragon Tail on the 26th or the 27th[8D][8D]
Glad you had fun.

 

Thanks for the pics, looks like you had some great country to ride in.

 

Nice pics, you're right it is a very beautiful area, we rode the Shenandoah Skyway and the BRP last year, hate you had trouble with the bike. I believe you could ride around in the Smokies for a couple of weeks and still have plenty of roads left to ride.

 

Beautiful pictures, Bill. I wish we had more threads like this!

Mac

 

Agreed.. This is great! Wow, I'm impressed and I live here.. Asheville, NC
It's so cool to see this place I take for granted through the eyes of other folks from other places.
If you head down here in the fall, I'll tell ya to be careful around the blue hairs in big cadillacs that came up from Florida to peep at the leaves. hehe In good fall's where it's dry enough, the mountains are like fruit loops.

Great pics!! That's one thing about it around here.. Year long riding season. I put the bike up maybe 1 month out of the year just because I have this thing about riding in 20 degrees or below.

 

Great pics. What a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing.

 

Phil
Those are great shots! We liked the Blue Ridge Parkway too, found that the southern end in NC was way more twisty than the northern end in Va, but a pleasure to ride as you said. Hope it's just something minor with the bike.

 

Talked to the service manager at Mike's Famous HD in New Castle, DE a little while ago. Bike is being put back together after having the valve seals replaced on both cylinders. Seems as if the leaky one finally failed totally and saturated any plug as soon as it was installed. I guess the tales of the 05 valve seal failures are true! Something for everyone with an '05 to keep an eye on. Anyway, It's a warranty repair so nothing out of pocket for me. Mike's Famous may charge a lot for their bikes but their service department is top notch! They've bent over backwards for me twice now and I didn't even purchase from them.

 

WOW.....that was really cool im gonna get some pics from my trip soon... they arent as cool as yours tho, my wife doesnt like to lean...hehehehe...but glad to be able to see those. i enjoyed them