Hi guys. Planning a trip with my BSR toward the end of June. My wife's job limits her to taking 1 week of vacation at a time so we have to push hard on the way there and home. It's about 950 miles and we want to arrive within 2 days. Want to do the same on the way home. This leaves only 3 full days to explore the area around Deals Gap and Maggie Valley.

I know I do not want to stay around the Gatlinburg area due to congestion. I have also read that Cherokee, NC is too busy as well. Looking for suggestions on a nice central location to start each day that will allow us to ride in different directions during our stay but take us back to the same area by sun down.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

you cant go wrong staying right in Maggie Valley IMO......we stay at A Holiday Motel.....there is another bike friendly hotel next door but i forget the name.....

its worth the ride to go thru the park to Gatlinburg even if you dont stay there.....

you can also ride the southern end of the BRP if you arent comming or going from the Parkway.....

its not the leaf peepin season so traffic shouldnt be to bad.......Gatlinburg is most busy in the afternoon and on the weekend......

http://holidaymotel.net/

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your input. I forgot to mention our riding will most likely be mid week because we will leave Sunday and return home Saturday.

 

no problem....i know you said you werent gonna go to Gatlinburg but it is kind of a neat town, if ya do it around the traffic. The trick to it is comming and going in the am. We usually do at least one nite there on our trips up. Get in, park the bike and walk around, shop, sightsee, eat/drink, whatever and leave the next morning. Lots to do and see there and there is a nice little loop ride thru the woods to see the critters.

whatever you do, you cant go wrong riding most anyplace around that area. Some of the best riding in the country (IMO) is the Ga, Tenn, Va, and N.C. mountains. I am from N.C. and have a small house outside of Elkin and always enjoy riding around there.

 

You are very fortunate. Te be honest, my twins are graduating from high school in 2016 so my wife and I were looking at moving back down south (we used to live in Ft. Benning/Columbus, GA). We have been eyeballing N. and S. Carolina. I would love to live a cpl hours from the beach and have the mountains just to my backside. Best of both worlds IMO. I know it still gets cold and snows there but I would still gain a lot more riding season compared to where I now live.

 

Our youngest is 22 today and all are out of the house! (3).....we are free!!!....lol......we hope to make the final move back to N.C. in the next year or so. Real estate is still a good buy in N.C., if you stay away from the big cities. I think it was 12 this am at the place in N.C. and 45 here in Ft.Lauderdale this am!......ha.....

 

I live in southern Iowa and it is no problem getting to Maggie in 2 days, More like a day and a half on the interstate. A good way is to go down the river to Alton Il , nice ride with little traffic and east on rt 140 to rt 4 south to I 64 east. After that it's Interstate to the Smokeys. The 2 lanes south of Mt Vernon aren't bad with small towns and good diners. Cave in Rock area into Kentucky is nice and so is Daniel Boone Nat Forrest and Mammoth Cave areas. Something about 2 lanes and traveling really appeals to me. We stay at A Holiday Motel also. Inexpensive and clean.
Remember it's the journey, not the destination.
WUZFUZ

 

Yeah it's really cold everywhere this year. Must be global warming. Thank God we are going on a Caribbean cruise next month!

 

Thanks for the input fellow Iowan. I was planning all 4 lane all the way out to reduce time. We like to do a trip to the Mississippi once a year though. Usually head over to Sabula and then up into McGregor and over to Wisconsin.

I64 looks like a good option but no real easy way to get to it from where we are. I could take Hwy 20 east to 380 South and then take 218 south into St Louis I suppose?

 

Check out Microtel in Robbinsville, NC. Very good rates and very biker friendly...